Kay Hooper - Blood Dreams

Sometimes she thought the universe had a sense of humor.

This wasn't one of those times.

"We have to assume he is," Marc replied to Jordan. "Dani believes this was his goal all along, to collect himself a few psychics. Divide and conquer, so to speak, and build up his own resume. He probably wanted to start with Paris because her ability could be used as a weapon, but…"

Dani finished, "But I think he wants any ability he can grab." She eyed the darkening sky uneasily.

Gabriel was checking his weapon, and said with a grunt, "He'll be disappointed in Rox and me. Each of us is psychic only when we're asleep. A bit like Dani used to be. Hell. Dani-"

"Sorry."

"You're shocking all of us," Jordan said, shifting just a bit to put another inch of space between his arm and hers. "All except Marc, that is."

Dani and Marc exchanged glances, and she said, "Yeah, we noticed that. Sorry for the static discharge, guys. I don't know if it's the coming storm or… well, whatever we find in there, but I can't seem to control it very well right now."

Roxanne said, "As intense as this is, I'm not surprised." She took a closer look at the plans, and added, "Two main buildings, both presumably with basements. We split up to search?"

Marc was nodding. "No other way to cover the ground, not if we need to hurry. And we do. Dani, do you sense anything from the buildings?"

She frowned, concentrating, then winced. "General pain and sadness, old echoes. This was not a positive place at any stage of its life."

"Bishop? Are you getting anything?"

He shook his head. "Miranda and I have each closed down the connection between us as far as we could. Without that, I'm at less than half strength. And the weather affects me more without the benefit of her shields. I can barely read Jordan, and he's broadcasting like a beacon."

Jordan blinked. "I am?"

"You are. Remind me to talk to you about shielding, if we have a minute at the end of this."

"You mean if we're still standing at the end of this? Because I got the impression that wasn't likely."

"Don't be a pessimist," Marc said. "Dani, if you don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other, I'm picking the front building for you, me, and Bishop. Gabriel, Roxanne, and Jordan will take the one in the back."

Roxanne exchanged a look with her brother, and then said to Marc, "I need to be with you guys."

"Why?"

"Because if this monster is bent on collecting psychics, each group needs at least one nonpsychic with a gun ready who won't be affected by any kind of mental attack. That'll be me. When I'm awake, I have zero psychic abilities."

"My ability is passive," Marc pointed out.

"It's evolved. Probably the connection with Dani. And, trust me, if this guy is collecting neat abilities, he'll want yours; being able to identify another psychic can come in mighty handy when those are the folks hunting you."

"She has a point," Dani said.

"Meant to tell you," Bishop murmured. "Right now you're also a bit like a conduit for Dani. Which means he could get to her through you."

"And vice versa," Dani said.

Bishop nodded.

Jordan said, "The rear building is quite a bit smaller than the one in front, so I think Gabriel and I can search it fairly quickly alone. That is-Dani, are you sure it's a basement?"

"All I know is that I don't remember seeing any windows," she told him.

Jordan sighed. "We'll hurry."

"Yeah, I would."

"Marc, if we do meet up with this guy, then what are our orders?"

"Shoot to kill."

Jordan blinked again. "That always sounds so melodramatic in movies. In real life, not so much. What if he isn't armed?"

"He is. Armed and dangerous. That is my official statement as sheriff of Prophet County." Marc looked at his chief deputy steadily. "We couldn't come out here in force, and we're short on time. Hollis is in there, probably being tortured. It's a monster, Jordan. If you see one, shoot it."

"Copy that," Jordan said.

Marc looked at the others. "Okay, then. Roxanne, you're with us."

"Copy that," she said.

By the time they reached the buildings, moving cautiously, the storm was upon them. And it was a very dangerous storm for an area that hadn't seen any decent rain for weeks: It was a dry electrical storm.

The raw energy swirling all around them didn't do much for Dani's control; when she reached for a metal door handle, the sparks ignited a clump of long grass growing wild at its base.

"Damn," she said.

"Let me." Bishop brushed past her, ignoring the skittering of sparks that danced across the arm of his leather jacket, and paused only to stamp out the little fire before going to work on the lock.

Worried, Dani said to Marc, "If all this energy is feeding him the way it's feeding me, this is worse than a trap. The deeper we go into this building, the easier it'll be to contain energy, focus it. The walls, the ceilings, the floors, everything will help. Help him, if he's been practicing his control. But I haven't been practicing. I don't know if I can control this. At all."

"Make it a weapon," Roxanne suggested, her own at the ready. "Dunno if it's lethal, but you could sure surprise the hell out of somebody." She followed Bishop into the building.

"She's right," Marc said. "I know you don't want to carry a gun, so use what you've got."

"You're getting more psychic all the time." When he questioned silently with a lifted brow, she added, "The gun thing. We haven't discussed it. Out loud, anyway."

They eased into the building behind the other two, and as she looked around, Dani saw absolutely nothing that looked familiar.

And nothing that looked like a warehouse.

They had entered through a huge kitchen and from there found their way out into the central area of what appeared to be the ground floor.

It was a strange and uneasy mix of Victorian hospital and Art Deco hotel decor-the furnishings still in place, brass fixtures, and dusty velvet draperies cloaking all the windows so that the space was dim and filled with shadows.

"Creepy place," Roxanne said. "Big creepy place. How we doing on time?"

Dani didn't have to look at a clock or watch. "We're running out of it. Hollis is running out of it. And I don't see a damn thing that looks familiar."

"One plus is that the building isn't on fire," Marc said. "A symbolic representation of energy, maybe?"

"Maybe," Dani agreed.

"This place could take a lightning hit yet and go up like a match." Roxanne shrugged. "I say expect the worst and then you can only be surprised pleasantly. We split up?"

Marc looked at Dani, then nodded. "Have to. We're looking for stairs down. But nobody goes down alone. Understand?"

Bishop and Roxanne both nodded and went in separate directions.

"Marc, this isn't the vision."

"Is that such a surprise? You said yourself it had been changing all along. Maybe this is just the final version."

"I guess. But if so much changed, or was symbolic and not literal, then are we still looking for a basement?"

He considered. "If I remember correctly, you said the only constants were that we all knew we were going down into a trap and that the building was falling in behind us."

"Pretty much."

"Sounds like a very final trap. Doom. Maybe that's why it was all so… elaborate. The burning building, with smoke preventing you from being able to tell much about it. Going down into a basement to face a killer. Maybe it was only the signposts that mattered. Maybe the rest was just your mind conjuring the worst sort of trap it could imagine."

Despite the closed stuffiness of the space around them, Dani shivered. "Maybe. I hate fire. Scares the hell out of me."

"There you go, then."

"Okay. But-"