Lightbringer (3 page)

Yet
. She just needed a pretext to touch him. Normally she didn’t pry. But she figured he’d made himself fair game when he and Gideon had joined them for dinner. He’d made the first move back in the bar, after all. She was only protecting herself.

The waiter brought their drinks and took their dinner orders.

“Once you’ve fully funded your 401K and contributed to a Roth, you should start saving for college tuition if you have kids,” Jared said.

Cassie glanced at her friend, expecting her to change the subject. That’s what she usually did when the subject of kids came up. Linda had been trying to get pregnant for over a year, with no luck. Greg came from a big family and wanted one of his own.

“My husband wants to open one of those 529 things. Is that a good idea, if we don’t have kids yet?” Linda surprised Cassie by asking.

“Sorry, I’m not up on the rules for those.”

“Can you use the money in them for other things if your kid doesn’t go to college?” Linda leaned forward, tapping the table to punctuate her question.

“Give the man a break, Linnie,” Cassie reached across the table and put her hand over her friend’s. “Let him enjoy—”

A door smashing open. A burst of fear
. Cassie’s vision overwhelmed her senses.
Flee! Run! Sharp, hard blows. One. Two. Three. Pain. Bones breaking. Blood. Linda’s blood. All over her kitchen floor. She could smell its coppery tang. See Linda’s body lying face down, her spirit flown.

Cassie jerked back, gasping, her heart pounding.

CHAPTER 3

JARED BLINKED IN surprise as Cassie’s hand flew back so fast she smacked his shoulder. Her unseeing eyes were wide with horror, her face pale.

“Cassie?” Linda started to reach across the table for her friend, but Gideon pulled her back.

Jared took Cassie’s hand between both of his. It was cold and shaking. The tingle that came from her being Progeny stung like ice crystals in a driving wind. “Cassie? What is it? What did you see?” he asked softly. Her hand tightened on his, and snatches of thought and images smashed into his mind.
Linda in a pool of blood. Despair. Loss
. Cassie’s fear washed over him and Jared closed the connection, untangling her emotions from his own feelings of shock and dismay.

“I—” Cassie swallowed hard and turned to Linda. “You can’t go home! It’s not safe.”

“Not safe? How? What do you mean?” Linda demanded.

“Give her a second,” Gideon said, patting Linda’s hand. Linda jerked away and glared at him, but held her questions.

Jared clenched his jaw and flicked a glance at Gideon, but the other man didn’t meet his gaze. It was Cassie they were supposed to be protecting. Now her friend was in danger too? Gideon had said nothing about that.
Is that why he needs backup?
Jared returned his attention to the woman whose hand he still held.

Cassie squinched her eyes shut and drew in a deep shuddering breath, then another. Her vision had shaken her badly. Jared gritted his teeth, wishing he could do something to ease her, but there was nothing. Nothing he was willing to do, anyway.

“You’re in danger, Linnie.” Cassie’s voice was steadier than her hand. “Someone’s going to break into your house. Please, you can’t go home. He’ll hurt you.”

Linda’s brows drew down. “Greg has a gun. He taught me to shoot—”

“No!” Cassie leaned forward, pressing against the table. “You won’t have time to use it. Listen to me! You can stay at my house tonight.”

“You know I can’t do that. I’m allergic to Edgar.”

“Then go to a hotel. Just don’t go home!”

“I can’t afford that. We just bought a house.”

Jared clenched his jaw, annoyed with Linda’s stubbornness. Couldn’t she see how upset Cassie was? “A house won’t do you much good,” he said, cocking a brow at Linda, “if you’re not around to enjoy it.”

“I’ll pay for the hotel,” Cassie declared. “Just don’t go home.”

“Okay! Okay.” Linda lifted her hands in surrender. “Greg is out of town on business, anyway.” Her face brightened. “I know, you can stay with me, and we can have an all-night gabfest like we did in college.”

Cassie bit her lip. “I need to go home first to feed Edgar.”

Linda sighed and slumped back into the corner of the booth. “Never mind. I’ll grab a few things from home and—”

“No!” Cassie’s tone was fierce. “I don’t know when this will happen, but it’ll be at night and it will be soon. You know I don’t see that far ahead. You. Can. Not. Go. Home.”

“What if we go together?” Linda asked.

Cassie’s fear and anxiety crawled up Jared’s arms like electrified spiders. “Do you believe Cassie is psychic?” he asked Linda.

Linda’s brows drew down. “Of course.”

“Then trust her on this.”

He could see the struggle on Linda’s face. Clearly, she didn’t like being told she couldn’t handle something.

“I do trust her. I just—”

Jared looked Linda full in the eyes, willing her to think clearly, but held back, just barely, from actually influencing her thoughts.

Linda abruptly stopped speaking, stared back for a moment, then nodded. “Oh, all right. I’ll go straight to the hotel.”

Cassie slumped against the back of the banquette. Relief made her light-headed. Linda was safe, for now. And Jared had supported her. She was grateful, though she hardly knew what to make of it.

She still held his hand, its comforting warmth wrapped around her fingers. But she wasn’t getting anything from him psychically, not even the heat she’d felt before. Maybe if she concentrated—

“Did you see who broke into Linda’s house?” Gideon interrupted her thoughts, drawing her back to that horror.

“Not now, Gideon,” Jared growled.

Cassie grimaced. “Just Linda. On the floor.”

“Here you go.” The waiter arrived with their food, deftly balancing a large tray on one hand while opening a stand with the other.

Cassie’s stomach clenched as the waiter placed a plate of chile relleños in front of her. She was grateful for the interruption, but she couldn’t eat. Not now. She wasn’t sure she could sit here after what she’d seen. Cassie took a sip of her water, then leaned back and shut her eyes on the bustle of meals being served. A moment later they popped open again as Jared lightly touched the back of her hand.

“Are you all right?” he asked softly.

A line of heat raced up her arm from that small point of contact. Cassie started to say, no, but her stomach suddenly settled. The smell of her food appealed where just moments before it had not.

“I—”

Gideon lifted his glass. “To new friends!”

Cassie pulled her hand away from Jared’s tingling touch and lifted her glass in response, wondering if “friend” was the best word to describe him.

Jared stood with Gideon in the foyer of the restaurant after dinner. The women had disappeared into the restroom, no doubt to compare notes, as well as for the more obvious reasons.

“That went well,” Gideon said.

Jared cocked an eyebrow. “Except for Cassie’s vision of potential tragedy. Now we have two women to protect instead of one—something you failed to mention, by the way.”

“Why do you think I need you as backup?”

Jared just shook his head. “So who protects who?”

Gideon grinned and nodded to the restroom. “I think Cassie would prefer you. Listen.”

Jared tilted his head, listening carefully with his heightened hearing, sifting through the ambient noise. It was easy to pick out Cassie’s rich contralto, even though tension had sharpened it.

“Thanks for going to the hotel, Linnie. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Neither do I. Are you sure these guys don’t have anything to do with your vision?” Linda asked.

Clothing rustled. “I can’t be completely sure, but I don’t think so. I haven’t been able to read them, but if they wanted to hurt you, I think they would have argued for you to go home alone tonight, not agree you should go to a hotel. You were surprised and frightened in my vision, not greeting someone you know.”

“Good. I’d hate to think they’re the bad guys. Gideon is gorgeous!”

“He’s nice enough, but don’t you think you have more important things to think about?” Cassie replied.

Jared suppressed a snicker.

Beside him, Gideon humphed. “‘Nice enough’? Talk about damning with faint praise. I like ‘gorgeous’ better.”

“Sh,” Jared whispered.

“And what would Greg say, if he heard you talking about another man like that?”

“That looking isn’t touching. I’m married, not dead. And don’t think I didn’t notice you ogling Jared. He really does it for you, doesn’t he?

Jared’s attention sharpened. Without realizing, he took a half step closer to the restroom, listening hard. He’d sensed her arousal, and though he’d tried not to dwell on it he couldn’t help wondering how she felt about it. Was she as attracted to him as he was to her?

Not that it matters
.

“We’re not talking about me. You have to—”

A flushing sound obscured whatever Cassie said. Jared almost took another step closer, but stopped as an image of himself with his ear pressed against the women’s room door rose in his mind. He stepped back.
Whether Cassie finds me appealing is immaterial
.

“… and not everybody is like Andy-the-Jerk,” Linda said.

“I’m not going to talk about this.” Cassie’s voice was sharp and definite.

Who’s Andy? What did he do to her?

“It’s been four years! You have to talk about it sometime.”

Yes, talk about it
, Jared thought.

“Well it’s certainly not going to be here in the ladies’ room. Andrew and I—” Another flushing sound covered the rest of Cassie’s response.

Damn
.

“Too bad.” Gideon’s eyes were laughing. “But at least you know you do it for her.”

“So what? She’s—”

The women emerged from the restroom.

She’s Progeny. Psychic. Off limits. Beautiful. Sexy
. Jared searched Cassie’s face, trying to read her without invading her privacy. Her eyes dropped away, then lifted back to his defiantly. She didn’t look like a woman who found him attractive.

They walked out into the bracing chill of the parking lot, where the sodium-vapor lamps cast an unnatural glow over the remaining cars. “I’ll follow you over to the Hilton,” Cassie said as they stopped beside Linda’s car.

“You don’t have to do that. I promise I won’t go home,” Linda protested.

Cassie put a hand on Linda’s arm. “I know. But I won’t be able to sleep until I make sure you’re settled. Besides, I promised to pay for your room, remember?”

Linda gave Cassie a lopsided smile. “I’d forgotten how pushy and stubborn The Cass could be.”

Cassie gave a little laugh, lifted her chin, and spoke in an arch tone. “I prefer ‘determined.’”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay with Linda?” Jared asked Cassie.

Cassie shook her head. “I’m not the one in danger, and I still have a cat to feed.”

Not in danger? Is Gideon wrong about this? It wouldn’t be the first time the signs and portents were misinterpreted
.

“So you can see your own future as well as others’?” Gideon asked.

Cassie’s gaze slipped away to the left. “Well, no.”

Jared’s heart jumped.
She’s still a target
. “Would you like an escort?”

Cassie shook her head, a small smile playing around her lips as if she were amused. “Not tonight.”

Jared suppressed a frown. “Be careful.”

“I always am.”

He hoped that was true. And it was his job now, to make sure of it. His and Gideon’s. To do that, they had to stay in touch with her. “May I call you?”

Cassie hesitated, then smiled and said, “Sure, I’m in the book.”

“If you need anything, call me.” Jared pressed a card into her hand. Her touch lingered against his palm as she took it. Her fingers were warm, and they sent a frisson of pleasure up his arm. He knew she was trying to read him, and he let her see just enough so she’d know he meant her no harm.

Blood soaked Linda’s cream-colored bathrobe and stained the grout on her kitchen floor
.

The horrific image kept returning to Cassie’s mind, more vivid than the cars on the road around her. Her life had never been touched by real violence before.
It still hasn’t
, she reminded herself, gripping the steering wheel tightly. She’d done what she could to make sure of that. Linda was safe for the night in the Hilton.
It’s just a vision. It can change
.

A horn blared behind her, making her jump. The traffic signal had turned green.
And so can the light.
Cassie waved an apology and drove on.
I’d better start paying attention to my driving, or I’ll be the one in danger
.

But her mind kept returning to the vision, and to how Jared and Gideon had accepted it without question. That was a rare experience for her. Men were usually skeptical, wanting proof, unless they were New Age types. She was grateful she hadn’t had to explain and justify herself to them, but she couldn’t help wondering, why not?

She’d let her touch tarry on Jared’s long fingers when he’d handed her his card, so she could read a little of his intent. He’d smiled slightly as she’d done it, warming his expression and making her toes curl. She’d almost been too distracted to read him, but his love of Truth, of complete honesty, had burned like a flame in him; she couldn’t miss it. Beyond that, she hadn’t seen much. Certainly not anything that would tell her why he accepted her gift so readily.

Finally Cassie turned onto her street, and the muscles in her shoulders started to relax. She’d done everything she could do to protect her friend.

Cassie parked her old green Volvo on the street in front of her Craftsman bungalow. The detached garage had been converted into an office, and the driveway had been replaced with a brick walk bordered by frost-shriveled roses. She needed to dead-head and mulch for winter. Those were two of the reasons why she’d bought this property three years ago: She loved to putter in the garden, and she liked having her Reading room right next to her home. It cut way down on the commute.

The waxing moon cast a faint silvery glow over her dark neighborhood.

Too dark.

She’d left the porch light on. Now it wasn’t. A chill tap-danced down her spine. She stared at the house for a minute, then another. Small plastic ghosts dangled from the skeletal branches of the acacia tree in her yard, and Styrofoam tombstones canted spookily at the same angle she’d placed them in. Everything looked normal.

“Damn.” Maybe she should call Scott, her friend from tai chi class, to come walk through the house with her. But then she remembered: Scott was in Bisbee researching an article on the old copper mines. Or she could call Peter, but he lived all the way across town. It would take him forty minutes to get here. She certainly was
not
going to call her mom and stepdad just because she had “a feeling.”

I could call Jared
. He
had
asked her to phone if she needed anything.

Cassie shivered. That probably wasn’t a good idea. She felt off balance around him, as if she couldn’t decide whether to get closer or run away. Hot and nervous and hungry. Feelings she hadn’t felt in a long time, feelings she didn’t trust. Had he seen what Linda noticed? God, she hoped not.

This is ridiculous. The light burned out. I’m just nervous because of these visions
. She clutched her keys tighter and made her way carefully in the dark to the door.

Her steps slowed as she approached the house, and she looked around her, behind her, and up and down the street. A couple of the neighbors’ cars were parked in their usual spots. She saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Good grief, I really am spooked
.