GODDESS OF THE MOON (A Diana Racine Psychic Suspense) (20 page)

Go away
. But the racket continued.
Shit
.

She swung her legs off the bed
to sit on the edge
and
realized she was still dressed in last night’s clothes.
What the hell?
The room spun in circles, and s
he
steadied herself on the
footboard
. Nausea rose from the pit of her stomach into her throat. She’d suffered hangovers before, but she didn’t remember drinking.
T
his felt different.
Worse.
She strained to stand, fir
mly gripping the bedside table.

“Coming, coming.”
She shuffled to the door, dragging
sluggish
legs
and
squint
ed
through the peephole
.
Lucier.
He knew where the key was.
Why didn’t he use
it
? Then she realized the door was double bolted and
chain latched. She didn’t remember doing that. S
he
unlocked everything and turned the knob.
Lucier barged in.

“I’ve been calling you all morning. Why haven’t you answered? I’ve been
out of my mind with worry
.” He stopped his rampage and put both hands on her shoulders. “What’s wrong? You look terrible.
Are you sick?
”

He led her to
the sofa
and she fell into
the cushions
,
curling up in a fetal ball
.
He sat down beside her.

“I’m fine.” She wasn’t, but she didn’t want to tell him that because she didn’t know why she felt so bad. She rubbed her eyes, but it made everything fuzzier so she closed them.

“I don’t want to seem like an overprotective parent―
God,
one
father
like yours is enough
―but frankly, if you weren’t here this morning, I would have put out a BOLO. I called you the whole day, then there was an ugly murder in the Quarter last evening, and I
didn’t finish up until the wee hours of the morning. By then,
it was too late to call
or come over
.”

“I’m sorry, Ernie. I went to the Sunrise Mission yesterday, and while I was there Silas Compton
came in
. He asked if I had time to do his reading. After that everything happened so fast.”

“Jesus, Diana, what the hell’s wrong with you? Do you always have to tempt fate?”

“I didn’t think it would turn into a whole day and evening. And please don’t yell at me. I feel like I’ve been in a train wreck.”

“I’m sorry, but you’ve received two warning notes, and no matter what you think, th
at mission
connects
to four people we’re investigating, including Silas Compton, who might very well be the head of a satanic cult. Doesn’t any of that make an impression on you? And don’t even mention Brother Osiris, a man you seem to trust because he fed you some bullshit about his tragic past that you’re determined not to tell me about.”

Her cheeks burned a
t Slater
’s name
. She didn’t know why
unless
than she
had
a fever.
“Stop
.
I can’t have this conversation right now.”

Lucier got up and paced the floor in a short circle.
“Well, that’s tough. I need to know what happened. This is serious.”

She’d never seen Lucier so mad or
speak
with such force, even when she took off after a serial killer on her own. He’d
always been steady
and
calm.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time. And yes, I do trust Edward. I’m convinced he’s incapable of anything evil. He’s
only
trying to make his life count.”

Lucier bristled, his topaz eyes flashed in anger. “So now it’s Edward. Getting chummy, aren’t you?”

“Stop this, Ernie. You sound like a jealous schoolboy.”

He looked
as if
he’d been hit with a foul ball.
“Jealous
?
I’m not jealous. I was worried, and now I’m pissed.” He got up from the sofa. “I’m going back to the station. I don’t like where this is going. I’ll hear all about Compton
after
we’ve both calmed down.”

“Fine.
Go. I’m tired anyway. You woke me up.”

“Sorry. That’s what happens when you stay out all night with the big do
gs of society. Go back to bed.”

The sound of the door slamming left Diana wondering what just happened. She really wanted to tell him about Compton’s reading. She wanted to, but she couldn’t remember anything after getting into his limo. Not even how she got home or into bed, which is exactly where she was going now to ease the pounding in her head and soothe a stomach that
churned
like she’d eaten road kill.

* * * * *

T
he room, bathed in red light, spun around as dozens of dark eyes stared at her naked body.
Murky faces, featureless and unrecognizable in the shadows, chanted strange, unintelligible words in an a cappella
staccato
drumbeat, worshipping as if some divine creature lay supine before them.
She understood only one word in a repetitive drone:
Diana
…
Diana
…
Diana
.

She tried raising her head to protest, but her voice locked in her throat, her numb body the immobilized object of voyeuristic concentration.
T
he slightest sensation
tickled
her desensitized skin as hands groped from out of the darkness and took turns caressing her breasts and abdomen and hips
.
S
he
knew their final destination
, felt it.

A naked figure hovered above her on all fours, straddling her body. His face, transformed by either makeup or a mask, darted back and
forth,
eyes squeezed shut in rapturous ecstasy. The chanting
increased,
monotonous sounds with no melody.

Gibberish words.

Louder and louder.

She uttered something unrecognizable, then a hand cradled her head and another placed a glass of liquid to her lips. She drank greedily to moisten her dry mouth,
then
she fell back. Her body disappeared into oblivion. She couldn’t move. Not even her little finger.

* * * * *

D
iana jerked awake, feverish, sweat oozing from every pore
, plastering her clothes to her body
. Tendrils
of
hair
clung to her damp face and neck and back. Gasping for air, she struggled to breathe. What was happening to her? She looked around, panic subsiding as she
recognized
the familiar room
and
the comfort of her own bed.

Where was Ernie? Why did she drive him away? Her first impulse was to call him, to apologize and tell him what happened. But what
had
happened?
A bad dream.
T
hat’s all it was.

Her body tingled, nerve endings retaining the memory of unwanted touches slithering down her
torso
. Sweat turned icy on her skin. Uncontrollable shivers. Her head pounded with excruciating pain, pulverizing her thoughts into worthless powder. Then nausea swept over her. She ran to the bathroom and collapsed onto the floor with her head hanging over the toilet while she purged black bile. The foul sight shocked her, but she couldn’t concentrate for the infernal beating inside her head. She needed a shower.
Needed hot water pouring down on her to wash away the sickness.

As she mustered her strength to rise from the floor, the dizziness overwhelmed her, and she slumped back
onto the cold tile floor. Her head hit the side of the tub and she slid into unconsciousness, silencing the drumbeat in her brain.

* * * * *

L
ucier
spent the next two hours alternating between being mad and feeling like a shit. He
called half a dozen times to apologize. No answer. Guilt took hold and he raced back to her house
first chance he was free
. He’d acted stupidly, and yes, he
was jealous
without
good reason.

He
knew where she kept
a key, but
he was unwilling to take that liberty
. Not when she’d been so angry. He rang the bell. Again, no answer, so he pounded o
n the door. Frightened now, he snatched
the
key
from its hiding place
and slipped it into the lock.

“Diana.” The small house answered in deafening silence. He hurried through the living room to the bedroom and found her lying naked on the bathroom floor, vomit in the toilet bowl.
Her skin
was so pale he thought she was dead. H
e swore h
is heart stopped beating.

No. You can’t be
.

He got down on his knees and
t
ouched his finger to her throat, relieved to feel the strong pulse.
She was soaked in sweat.
He picked her up
,
laid her on the bed, and covered her with a blanket. Then, hands shaking, picked up the bedside phone to call an ambulance.

Her eyes fluttered open. “Ernie?”

“Yes,” he said, sitting down by her side. “I’m here.”

She reached out her hand and he took it. “Don’t leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m get
ting
you to the hospital.”

“No
.
No, please. I felt nause
ated
and fainted.
I must have hit my head on the tub.
I’ll be all right.
Really.”

Lucier considered the situation. Diana didn’t need another high profile incident to call attention to her. She’d endured enough of that. But he
wouldn’t chance
risk
ing
her health because of publicity. “What happened?”

She tried to
raise herself
up but
collapsed
on the bed. Lucier wedged a pillow behind her back and helped her sit. Her voice came out in a raspy croak. “I don’t kno
w. I honest to God don’t know.”

“I’m going to
phone
a doctor friend of my father’s. He’ll make a house call for me.” Lucier called Dr. Reginald Haley and explained what happened over the phone. Haley promised he’d be there within
the
hour. Lucier got on the bed next to Diana and held her while she dozed. He hoped he was doing the right thing.

Dr. Haley arrived and performed the usual procedures: blood pressure―a little low, heart rate―a little high.
Neither in the danger zone.
He took a blood
and
urine sample, and bagged a sample for analysis of whatever she vomited to eliminate the possibility she’d been poisoned.

“She’ll be all right, won’t she, Reggie?” Lucier asked.

Before he could answer, Diana said, “I’ll be fine. Did you see the vomit?”

“Yes, what did you eat?”

“I don’t remember eating anything.
Certainly nothing to cause me to vomit black liquid.”

Lucier and Haley exchanged glances. “There was nothing black in the toilet, Diana,” Lucier said.

“Ernie, I
…I
vomited something black. You saw it, didn’t you, Doctor?”

“I didn’t see anything unusual, Ms. Racine.”

“I swear it was black.” She tried to get up, but
again
fell back onto the bed. “It was black when I threw up. I’m not crazy.”

“Black vomit is usually associated with yellow fever, my dear, or with excess blood in your stomach. I feel certain you have neither. My guess is that you caught a virulent stomach virus. Those things can put you down and pass just as quickly once you’ve flushed out your system.”

“You were delirious,” Lucier said. “You probably thought you saw it.”

“I’m not crazy,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “I know what I saw.”

“I’m going to give you an antibiotic shot,
”
Dr. Haley said
, “and I’m leaving you something to take for your stomach.
You should feel better in a few hours. You have a low-grade fever and you
’
r
e
slightly
dehydrat
ed from v
omiting.
I
’ll send the samples I took to the lab as soon as I get back to the office and let you know if there’s anything to worry about. I doubt there is
.
”