Deadly Chaos (24 page)

“I’m sure.”

“Then I’m ready.”

Dakota pushed the door open and held it for her. Chaos stepped into the room and smiled. Linda lay sleeping on the bed. She was propped up so much she was almost sitting. She wore blue satin pajamas and her hair looked perfect. If it weren’t for the bandage on the side of her head, you’d never know she was sick, or dying. Chaos took a step toward her and stopped.

“What’s the matter, Chaos?”

She felt Dakota’s arm around her and fought the urge to melt into his strength. “It doesn’t feel like a hospital in here,” she said stepping away.

“What? Oh, you’re right,” he chuckled and looked around. “She’s been busy.”

“What do you mean?”

“She cleaned the room of negative energy and protected it. No death and dying in here.”

“But she’s dying.”

“Not today, dear.”

“Linda, you’re awake.” Chaos felt immediately guilty for talking about death in her room and for waking her up. “I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” Linda pushed herself up so she was sitting completely upright.

“This is all my fault.”

Linda laughed. “You caused my brain cancer? I think I’m the one who caused it, not you, dear.” She patted the bed beside her. “Come over here. You don’t have to stand by the door. It makes me feel like you’re ready to run.”

“Who is ready to run?”

Chaos turned and saw Sheila and Kat standing in the door. Sheila held out a beautiful bouquet of at least two dozen sunflowers. It almost looked like more than she could carry. “I brought flowers for you.”

“Sunflowers are hard to find this time of year,” Kat grumbled. “She made me drive to three different florists.”

“Thank you both. I’d like them right by my bed, if you don’t mind.”

Chaos stepped aside so Sheila could set the vase down on the table beside Linda’s bed. As she was stepping back, Linda grabbed her arm.

“What’s wrong, Sheila?”

“Nothing.” Sheila patted Linda on the hand holding her arm and sat down on the bed. “I’m just worried about you.”

Linda didn’t say anything else. She just sat silently and waited for Sheila to say something more. Looking at Sheila, Linda knew she was right. There was something going on. Her normally cheerful face bore the look of a hard night’s sleep and an abundance of worry.

No one talked. It was as if Linda had sent up a silent message to everyone in the room to stay quiet until Sheila caved.

“Fine,” Sheila said. “Do you remember that call we received from the family in Estes Park?”

“Old town? With the little girl?”

“Yes. That’s the one. They’ve been living with an active spirit for about three years now, since they moved in. Small things happened at first. And only occasionally.”

“Like what?” Chaos asked.

“Like she’d set something down on the kitchen table and five minutes later it would be gone. She’d find it in the living room or somewhere. Small things that make you think you’re getting forgetful or losing your mind. But these folks are open-minded and spiritual so they quickly realized they had a ghost on their hands. It wasn’t malicious so they didn’t do anything about it.”

“And now?”

“Claire, that’s the mom, she thinks it is targeting her daughter. Their little girl just turned three and she keeps talking about the ugly lady. They actually put a camera up in the girl’s room and claim to have captured footage of the girl’s bed moving.”

“That’s not good,” Linda said, shaking her head.

“The mom is hysterical. She called me this morning. Julia, the little girl, has been having nightmares lately. She woke up this morning saying the ugly lady wanted to get inside her. Sometimes when they hear Julia crying at night they’ll try to get into her room and the door is locked. Julia says she didn’t lock it.”

“She’s trying to possess?”

“Maybe,” Sheila nodded. “They’re desperate for help.”

“Then you must help them. Tonight.”

“Without you?”

“Dakota and Chaos,” Linda said. “Would you go get us some coffee?”

Chaos realized Linda was about to break the news of her illness to them. With a heavy heart, Chaos forced a smile. “Of course.” She left the room behind Dakota. He closed the door and she turned to him. “She’s going to tell them,  isn’t she?”

He nodded. “It’s past time that she did. I think the coffee shop is this way.”

Chaos walked beside him, lost in her thoughts. “How long does she have?”

“No one knows.”

Thirty minutes and two cups of coffee later they returned to Linda’s room. Sheila and Kat were gone. “Where’d they go?”

“To make preparations for tonight.”

“What’s happening tonight?” Chaos asked.

“They’re going to Estes Park to investigate and help that little girl. There’s no time to lose if that spirit is trying to possess. Chaos?”

“Yes?”

“I’d like you to go with them in my place.”

Chaos took a step backwards. “Oh, Linda. Why did you ask me to do that? The faster I get out of here, the safer it is for everyone.” Chaos felt shitty. She wanted to help. She wanted to stay but she couldn’t. Chaos knew what happened when she got attached to people and the clock was ticking away. She’d been here too long as it was. Linda had gotten hurt because of her and Dakota had almost died. If she went with them tonight there was a very real chance someone would die. It sounded dramatic and crazy but she knew from past experiences that she’d pushed her luck too far.

“They need your help. That little girl’s life may be in danger.”

“You’re all in danger if I stay.”

“Nonsense.”

“Look at you,” Chaos said, throwing her hands up in the air. “You’re in the hospital because of me. You were trying to help me and almost got killed.”

“I bumped my head. That’s all. I’m getting out of here tomorrow. I’m fine.”

“Then investigate tomorrow. Tell the family to get a hotel tonight and investigate tomorrow.”

“I don’t think it can wait, Chaos. Remember how desperate you felt when you came to us?”

Chaos nodded. She remembered all too well how she felt.

“Now imagine you have a three year old that’s being attacked. It’s ten times the fear and anxiety. Please help them tonight. I promise to have answers about your necklace tomorrow. You can go home tomorrow. Will you help, Chaos? Will you help us help that little girl?”

Chapter Thirty-One

Yes, Please.

The sound of a low rumble in the parking lot woke Chaos from her afternoon nap. She’d agreed to go on the investigation tonight and figured a few hours of sleep were required beforehand. These late nights were killing her. Stretching, Chaos rose from the bed and peered out the window. Someone was walking toward her room. She recognized the smile behind the helmet glass. Dakota. Chaos opened the door. “I’ll be ready in a minute. How’s Linda?”

He took off his helmet. She saw him glance at the open suitcase on the floor.

“She says she’s fine. You’re packing?”

Chaos nodded. “You know I can’t stay.” Dakota moved over to sit on the bed. He carried himself with such confidence and effortlessness that she couldn’t help but watch him move. His muscular thighs made her mouth water. Chaos shook her head and returned to her packing to distract herself. There was nothing sexy or romantic about folding t-shirts.

“When Sheila saw you, when she had her vision about you coming, we thought you'd stick around. We thought you'd be our new cleaner.”

“I don’t know how to clean spirits.”

“You can learn. You already know so much.”

“I can’t replace Linda.” She set a stack of shirts into the small suitcase.

“Not replace her. Just be yourself and do what you do best.”

“What is that?” she laughed. “Kill people?”

“Share your amazing energy with everyone.”

He said it with such reverence that Chaos felt a tear come to her eye. “That may be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“I believe in you, Chaos. You know that I didn't at first. I let my dreams cloud what was real and right in front of me. You're amazing. I wish you could see it.”

“I know who I am, Dakota. I think you must have bumped your head or something. You hated me when I got here and that was just a few days ago.”

“I was wrong. I dreamed about you and I misinterpreted them. Well, maybe not all of them.”

“What do you mean not all of them?” The tension in the room was building. Chaos felt like she couldn’t breathe. He wanted her to stay. She wanted to stay. She couldn’t. She had a life in New Mexico. She was responsible for a business. She had employees to pay and a mortgage to cover. You’re afraid, she thought. Damn right she was afraid. Afraid that something horrible would happen to these people that she liked. These people that she loved.

“Let me show you,” Dakota said.

Chaos didn’t miss the heat in his look. She remembered the way his lips felt on hers. The way his hands scorched every inch of her body. She’d longed for those hands to touch her again, but it wasn’t possible. She wanted nothing more than to let him show her his dreams, but life didn’t work that way. Her life didn’t anyway. “I am a threat, Dakota. Your dreams were right. Every single person I’ve ever gotten remotely close to has died because of me. I’ve even killed people I didn’t know. My name is Chaos!”

“Your name is Annie.”

“Chaos is all I’ve ever known. I destroy everyone I love.”

“Have a little faith.”

“It doesn’t work like that. I have spirits flying around my head right now, remember?” She waved her hands in the air to stir them up and wondered if they could hear the conversation or if they were just vampires focused on trying to find a way to feed from her. “They’re just waiting for an opportunity to do something. Bill is gone. I have to leave. I should be gone already but I promised Linda I’d help so I’m keeping my promise and then I’m gone.” Chaos sat on the bed and pulled on her work boots.

Dakota stood up and walked to the window. “We need you, Chaos. We need your strength and your power.”

“What about you?” Chaos asked, not wanting to talk about her power anymore. It was silly. It didn’t exist. “You can do whatever it is that you do. Why can’t you fill her shoes?”

“I can't do what you do. I protect. That’s it.”

“Then protect them! You don’t need me.”

Dakota turned and stalked across the room to Chaos. Clutching her shoulders, he held her and waited. “Can you stop for a minute and look at me?”

Chaos was afraid to look him in the eyes. Her heart pounded. The attraction was so strong if she looked at him she feared she'd get sucked in. Dakota put his fingers on her chin and tipped her head up.

“Look at me.”

Having wanted him since the moment he opened Linda’s front door and snapped at her, she’d kept her hopes and her libido stashed away. Chaos had told herself every reason in the world why she wanted him and why it was a terrible idea. She missed human contact, she’d told herself. He was attractive and she was lonely. There was nothing between them. No, that wasn’t true. There was something between them. There always had been. Her head was too cloudy for clarity, her need too intense. He wanted her and she was unable, unwilling, to deny him. Chaos looked up and met his eyes. “Fuck,” she whispered. She was done for. There was no turning back.

“Yes.” Dakota took her mouth in his.

Chaos felt her entire body respond as if she were being kissed by a million tiny butterflies. The sensation started in her chest and spread like the first rays of sunlight throughout her limbs. The awareness spread from her through to Dakota. Eyes closed, she could feel the tingling light pass through her body and into his. They were bound and there was no turning back. She couldn’t have pulled her body away from his if she wanted to. She didn’t want to.

Unable to control herself, and no longer seeing any need for decorum, Chaos reached out and ran her thumb over his thick bottom lip. He pulled her thumb into his mouth, sucking it, dancing his tongue around it. Chaos felt her body responding. Her mind warred with her libido – “We’ve got to stop,” she said. “You’ll get hurt.”

“I’m safe.”

Chaos felt herself succumbing as he started pulling her tee shirt over her head. “I can’t believe I’m putting him in danger” warred with “don’t stop” for a mere second and then all conscious thought evaporated – poof. into the abyss. Like a woman who’d had too much to drink, she felt lustful, overtaken by sensation and need. The only thing she was aware of was the man in front of her and the incredible sensations coursing through her body. She knew, or rather sensed, that he was feeling the same overwhelming hunger. Closing her eyes, she inhaled. The scent of fresh air lingered with the scent of arousal. It fed her longing. The desire to lick him surfaced.

“Do it,” he whispered, reading her thoughts. Wrapping her hair around his hand, he pulled her head back and exposed her neck. Starting at that soft spot between her collar bone, he licked upwards. Chaos shivered, delighted by his hot breath on her neck. She felt the delicate nibble of teeth on her chin.

“I don’t understand this,” she said, shivering from his touch. “I’ve never felt like this. What’s going on? How can you read my thoughts? How can I stop my body from responding to you like this? You’re not safe with me.”

“Shhh,” he said easing her back onto his bed. “We don’t have to understand.”  Pulling her shirt open, he kissed her collarbone. It was quickly becoming his favorite spot and yet there were so many other places she wanted him to explore.

He moved his lips upward and kissed below her ear. “We don’t have to know what this strange electricity is that surrounds us when we’re together. It’s good. It’s safe. We’re safe.” Moving his lips along her jawbone, he stopped on her waiting lips. Chaos’s eyes, barely closed, fluttered in anticipation. “We don’t have to understand why I have to be inside you – now.”

Letting go of her struggle to maintain some level of control, Chaos raised her hips and allowed him to slide her jeans off. He eased her legs apart and buried himself in her damp curls. “Let me taste you.”

She felt the soft caress of his tongue brush the inside of her swollen lips. Biting her bottom lip, she whimpered. As the pressure increased so too did her need. Gripping the bed sheets beneath her, she fought the urge to press his face into her. Harder, she thought.