Max meowed again and butted his head against her shoulder. Automatically she reached out to stroke him.
She looked at Judson. With her senses lowered, he no longer appeared enveloped in hot ultra-light. In the deep shadows, she could tell that he was wearing the crewneck T-shirt and the khakis he’d had on earlier.
“Oh, crap,” she said. “Sorry about that. I should have locked the door. Didn’t mean to alarm you.”
Judson did not let go of her hand. “It was just a dream.”
“No, it wasn’t just a dream. It was a trance dream, and you don’t have to act like it fell into the category of normal. People are always freaked out by the way I dream. I told you, my talent is a serious problem when it comes to relationships.”
“Oh, yeah, right. You send men screaming from your bed. You know, I have to tell you, that sounds interesting.”
“Okay, maybe not screaming. But there were some extremely awkward partings back in the days when I was trying to fall in love and pretend that I was normal.”
“I know where you’re coming from,” he said. “I told you, my talent gets in the way of relationships, too.”
She was very conscious of the feel of his strong hand wrapped around hers. His eyes still burned.
She knew that she was out of the dream, but there was a familiar, dreamlike quality in the atmosphere. An effervescent energy swirled around her, teasing and arousing her senses. A liquid heat built inside her lower body.
High wire, she reminded herself. No net.
“Do you always talk out loud to the ghosts in your trance dreams?” Judson asked.
He didn’t sound worried. He sounded curious.
Bored by the proceedings, Max jumped down to the floor and wandered off toward the other room, tail high.
“Not always,” she said. But in this case, I was talking to Evelyn again. I deliberately put myself into the dream to see if I could understand what she was trying to tell me with the map. It has to be important. Otherwise she wouldn’t have hidden it inside the mirror engine. And she wouldn’t have left that message on the back of the photo for me to find.”
Judson looked at the map unfolded across her thighs. “Get any ideas from your dream?”
“Nothing concrete.” She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it loosely back behind her ears while she struggled to pull facts from her visions. “In my dream, I set out on a road trip. I was walking from one circled town to the next. Evelyn’s ghost told me that the names she wrote on that map and the six circled towns were important. But she also told me that I should go back to the beginning.”
“Back to Wilby?”
“That’s just it—I’m not sure what it all means. I went into the dream assuming that the places she marked were sites of paranormal activity that she had researched online, places that she planned to check out as potential Dead of Night episodes. I thought one of them might be a clue to whatever is going on here in Wilby.” She stabbed a finger at Reno. “I got this far before Evelyn appeared and told me I have to go back to the beginning.”
“Wilby.”
“I suppose so, one way or another.” She tightened her hand into a frustrated fist. “Sometimes my talent is so damn frustrating.”
“It’s been a long day,” Judson said. “You need rest.”
“Probably.” She sank back against the pillows. “So do you. Sorry I woke you.”
“I wasn’t asleep, at least not very soundly.”
She gave a small sniff. “I’m not surprised, given all that psychic noise you’ve got going on in your aura.”
He tensed. “Don’t start with the therapy talk. I am not in the mood.”
“Okay, okay, you’ve made that clear. But for the record, if you ever do decide that you’d like help getting a good night’s sleep, let me know. I’m the only psychic counselor in town, and it just so happens I specialize in dream therapy. What with you being a Coppersmith and all, I’m sure you can afford me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Now, about our mutual issues with bed partners.”
She stilled. “What about them?”
“I’m willing to discuss possible therapeutic solutions to that problem.”
She was suddenly a little breathless. Her pulse was kicking up again but not from the rush of adrenaline and anxiety that always accompanied the crossing of the dream river. This new, unfamiliar exhilaration was a good kind of rush. There was certainly risk here, but at the moment she could not find a reason to care about the potential downside.
No net.
“Are you absolutely sure it doesn’t bother you that I talk to ghosts?” she said.
“It’s no big deal.”
“You don’t think I’m maybe borderline crazy?”
“I’ve met crazy. I know crazy. Trust me, you don’t qualify as crazy.”
“What makes you so sure of that?”
He smiled slowly, deliberately. “I’m psychic, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, right.” She smiled. “I almost forgot.”
He pulled her into his arms, giving her time to change her mind. But changing her mind was the last thing she planned to do.
When his mouth closed over hers, a sweeping tide of certainty crashed through her, the same kind of certainty that she got when she reached the shores of the surface world after a harrowing journey to the underworld of dreams. This was solid. This was real.
At least for tonight.
She sank her fingers into Judson’s shoulders, finding the rock-hard muscle beneath warm skin. He responded with a low, husky growl that conveyed male hunger and need in the most elemental language of all. He deepened the kiss. She opened her mouth for him.
He pushed her back down onto the bed and covered her body with his own. A raging thrill flashed across her senses. She curled her leg around his thigh. The fabric of his trousers was rough against her skin. When she thrust one hand beneath his T-shirt, she discovered that his back was already damp with sweat.
She knew that he had heightened his talent. He wasn’t focusing his psychic senses, she realized. He had simply opened them wide to savor all of the raw energy of the passion they were generating. She was doing the same thing.
“Judson.” She twisted beneath him, threaded her fingers in his hair. “Oh my goodness, Judson.”
She kissed him with a ferocity that he took as a challenge, returning the embrace with the same passionate intensity. It was as if both of them had been waiting for this to happen for a very long time, and now that the moment was upon them, they were each determined to seize the opportunity.
Locked in sensual battle, they rolled together across the bed. For an exhilarating time, she was on top, glorying in her power. And then he was pinning her beneath him, and she was relishing the sensual assault he waged on her body.
He wrenched his mouth away from hers and caught her wrists on either side of her head. He was breathing hard now. There was a hot, dark energy about him that radiated across the spectrum. His ring burned in the shadows.
He got her out of the robe and the nightgown and kissed his way down the length of her. When she felt the edge of his teeth on the inside of her thigh, she gasped and twisted her fingers in his hair.
He used his hands and his tongue on her until she was melting and desperate for him. Only then did he pause to sit on the side of the bed. She heard some soft rustling sounds. There was a muffled clunk when he put the ankle holster and the gun on the bedside table.
He stood and stripped off his T-shirt, khakis and briefs. When he came back to her, she made a place for him between her legs and wrapped him close.
He thrust into her. The thrilling shock of the heavy, deep invasion was almost too much. But even as she caught her breath, her body was already adjusting, her core clenching around him. She held him prisoner, demanding that he deliver on the sexual promises he had made.
He drove slowly in and out of her until she was mindless with need, until she could not abide the sweet, piercing tension for a
nother instant.
Her release surged through her in waves. The experience was shattering, dazzling—unlike anything she had ever known. She opened her lips on a scream of astonishment and wonder. Judson covered her mouth with his own, swallowing her cries, even as he rocked forward.
His climax powered through both of them.
She could have sworn that for a timeless, joyful moment, the currents of their auras seemed to resonate together. The sensation was at once unnerving and breathtakingly intimate. It was as if for a split second they were looking into each other’s very souls.
I know you, Judson Coppersmith, she thought. I’ve been waiting for you.
Eighteen
The wind chimes clashed and clattered, sounding the alarm. But Louise Fuller knew that the music was not powerful enough to stop the demon from entering her house. It came and went as it pleased. It had been months since the last visit. Every time it went away, she dared to hope that it would not come back. But it was here now. She could sense its presence.
She stopped in the center of the darkened basement and swung the beam of her flashlight toward the top of the stairs. She could hear the demon coming down the hall.
The lights had gone out a few minutes earlier. She had come downstairs to check the electrical panel, but now she knew that the demon had tricked her. The only question was why had it gone to the trouble of luring her down here into the darkness tonight?
The demon had controlled her for years. She was its slave and they both knew it. The demon laughed at her puny attempts to protect herself. In the end she always did its bidding. She would do it again tonight.
Why drive her down here into the basement?
The footsteps in the hall were closer now. The chimes rattled and thrashed in a rising crescendo. The music was frantic, desperate, ominous. Hopeless.
The demon appeared at the top of the stairs, a dark shadow silhouetted against the weak glow of the emergency nightlight that illuminated the hallway.
“Hello, Louise,” the demon said. “I have to tell you that those chimes of yours have become really irritating. Good to know you won’t be making any more.”
The demon raised one hand. Louise felt a terrible chill, as though her heart was freezing in her chest.
Now she knew why the demon had forced her into the basement. In this place there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. She was trapped.
She had always known that one day the demon would kill her. Tonight was the night. A part of her welcomed the promise of release. At last the torment would end.
But a strange, unfamiliar anger surfaced out of the depths.
She would be avenged. The other witch was in town, and she had brought a man of power with her. Sooner or later they would come around, wanting to ask questions about what had happened to Evelyn and the others.
Louise knew that she would be dead when the other witch arrived, but that was not a problem. Gwendolyn Frazier could talk to ghosts.
Nineteen
Judson contemplated the shadowed ceiling, one arm folded behind his head, the other wrapped around Gwen’s soft, sleek body. She was snuggled against him, her head nestled on his shoulder. Their bodies were still damp from the heat and energy that had gone into the lovemaking. The scent in the air was primal. He felt good, really good—satisfied in every conceivable way that a man could be satisfied.
“Okay, that was different,” Gwen said.
She sounded so bemused—so serious—that he laughed, startling both of them. She levered herself up on one elbow and glared down at him.
“You think there’s something amusing going on here?” she asked.
“No, absolutely not,” he said, sobering fast.
“Yes, you do. I can tell.”
He threaded his fingers through her tangled hair. The tendrils felt like strands of silk. In the darkened room, her witchy eyes smoldered.
“Well, maybe a little,” he conceded. “But I liked hearing you scream.”
“I didn’t scream.”
He smiled, savoring the memories.
“You screamed,” he said. “If I hadn’t muffled the noise, you would have awakened the whole damn inn.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you might have a problem with arrogance?” she asked.
“Just stating the facts, ma’am.”
“I wasn’t expecting what happened,” she admitted. She flushed. “I was taken by surprise. That’s all.”
“Not me. I knew we would be good together.”
“Hmm.”
A trickle of unease feathered his senses. He cleared his throat. “Are you going to tell me it wasn’t that good for you? Because I will be happy to try again.”
“No, no, that’s okay.”
“Okay?” He sat up. “It was just okay?”
“It was more like a first.”
“First what? First time with another strong talent?”
“That, too. But what I meant was that it was the first time I’ve ever had a climax that did not involve a small home appliance.”
Relief, delight and an exultant sense of euphoria surged through him. He laughed and flopped back down on the pillows. He dragged her down across his chest.
“You had me worried there for a while, Dream Eyes,” he said. “Glad I could be of service.”
“That is a terribly tacky thing to say.” She punched him lightly on the arm.
“Ouch. What am I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know, but that definitely wasn’t it.”
He framed her face with both hands. “How about ‘That was the best it’s ever been for me, and I will remember this night for the rest of my life’?”
She looked dubious. “Would it be the truth?”
“It would be the truth.”
Her soft mouth curved in a wry smile. “Okay, even if it’s not the truth, it’s a lot better than ‘Glad I could be of service.’”
“I’ll remember that. Tell me about the first guy you sent screaming into the night.”
She blinked, caught off guard. “Are you sure you want to hear about my boring past life experiences?”
“I want to know everything about you.”
“Well, it wasn’t at night, and there were two of them the first time.”
“What the hell? Two?”
“I was thirteen,” she said quietly. “I had just arrived at Summerlight. I was alone and vulnerable because I hadn’t connected with Nick and Abby yet. Two of the older boys cornered me outside a storage room and dragged me inside.”
“Bastards.” Rage ripped through him.
“I was terrified and I was furious and I was desperate. I fought with everything I had, and I discovered that I had more weapons than I knew I possessed.”
“You used your talent to defend yourself?”
“It was a shock to all three of us, believe me,” she said. “My talent was still developing, and I was still learning to cope with it. I honestly didn’t know what I could do until I realized that one of the creeps was screaming in panic and looking at me as if he was seeing a monster. I had unintentionally put him into a dream trance—a waking nightmare.”
“You can do that?”
“Sure. It requires physical contact, of course. But I use my ability to put my therapy clients into a light trance all the time. It’s how I work. I can make the experience very . . . unpleasant if I want.”
“What happened that day when you were attacked at the school?” he asked.
“The first creep freaked. His reaction caused his friend to freak, too. They both let go of me as if they’d been scalded and turned to run. But when they opened the door, they ran straight into Nick, who had sensed something bad was going down and decided to investigate.”
“This is Nick Sawyer, the friend you’ve mentioned?”
“Right.” She smiled. “He claims that he was born to be a really good cat burglar. He can see in the dark better than most people can see in daylight. And I’m pretty sure he’s never found a l
ock he couldn’t get through. He claims that if it hadn’t been for Abby and me, he probably would have pursued a career as a jewel thief. We talked him into going into the hot books business—antiquarian books with a paranormal provenance—instead.”
“What did Sawyer do to the two sociopaths who tried to assault you?”
“Nick caught the first guy coming out of the storage room and slammed him into a wall with such force that the jerk’s nose was broken. Nick sent the second one down the gym stairs. The result was a broken wrist and some cracked ribs.”
“Did the bastards complain?”
“Sure, but the authorities didn’t take them seriously. They were known bullies, and Nick was smaller and lighter. He looks more like a professional dancer than a street fighter. At any rate, from that day on, I was a member of Nick and Abby’s crew. The three of us stuck together until we graduated. We’re still family.”
He knew it was dumb, but he couldn’t suppress the flicker of jealousy that crackled through him.
“Was Nick your high school sweetheart?” he asked.
Gwen shook her head. “Nick is gay. He became my brother, not my boyfriend. I didn’t go out on any real dates until I left Summerlight and went off to college.”
“No high school dances? No prom night? No trips to lovers’ lane?”
“Nope, nope and nope. You don’t do that kind of stuff when you’re attending a boarding school that has bars on the windows.”
“It sounds awful.”
Gwen made a face. “Summerlight was not a normal high school. The students were all there because we were considered abnormal. Some of us were more abnormal than others. And some of the kids were downright dangerous. The atmosphere was not conducive to dating, believe me. Besides, we wouldn’t have been able to go off the grounds.”
“Were all of the kids psychic?”
“No, a percentage were genuinely disturbed. But a surprisingly large number of students showed traits that Abby and Nick and I have come to associate with forms of psychic talent. That’s what brought Evelyn to the school. She somehow discovered that there was a high proportion of talents at Summerlight. Abby and Sam found out recently that the school deliberately searched for teens with strong para-psych profiles.”