Slipping the Past (7 page)

“Relax, Nate. They have to have my permission or a family member’s to run my profile. I’m safe from the reapers. It’s the hospital I fear. The energies.”

“You should be afraid of that reaper. I think the bastard healed you so he can give your body to someone else.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Hello? He’s a reaper. He doesn’t help criminals.”

“I’m not a criminal.”

“That warrant you’ve had from birth says otherwise.”

“I didn’t murder my husband to run away with a lover. I was protecting lives. I saw it all when I slipped the past in the museum.”

“And how do you plan to prove it?”

“He buried the bodies of his victims behind the house in the pecan grove. I need you to go back to the museum and find the location of the plantation. Her name was Josette. See if you can track where the items in the case came from.”

“Even if I can find the location, we can’t just go and dig up bodies. That’s somebody’s property. The legal system frowns on grave robbery.”

“We can call the authorities and report a mass grave. I only need to prove they’re there and it was a matter of defense.” If she could show that, she might be able to plead her innocence in the rest of the crimes she was accused of.

Jocelyn reached for the I.V.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Nate snagged her wrist. He set her hand back down on the bed. “The doctor said you were unconscious when you came in. You need to rest.”

“I have
a
week. That’s it.” Jocelyn rubbed her temple, trying to remember. “How’d I get here?” She couldn’t stay. “We can’t pay for this.”

“Some guy carried you in and left. The hospital staff said he didn’t leave an address or name. He paid all charges for your treatment and anything further you might need. He requested to remain anonymous. A good Samaritan.”

A voice slid from her memories into clarity, and belonged to one man. Jocelyn’s heart skipped.

I’ve got you
.

“Joce?” Nate leaned in closer. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s nothing.”

“That look on your face isn’t nothing. You’re hiding something.”

She snorted. Telling him the reaper had brought her here wouldn’t sit well. He already had it in for Gabriel. How could she tell him that Gabriel had been with her in the past? That dream wasn’t a dream: it was a memory from Rome, and the vision in the museum placed him with her in the South. How many times had it repeated, and had that kiss opened it all up? Chances were good it had triggered the visions, and if that was the case, she needed him if she was going to gain amnesty.

No options. When she got out of here, she’d find him. Deep inside, she knew the most dangerous man walking this world would never hurt her, never intentionally. She and Gabriel were meant to be together, and would be.

“Jocelyn?” Nate used
that
tone, the one that made her want to scream.

She clamped her teeth together and counted backward from ten. “I hate hospitals. The energies here drive my brain haywire. I need to get out.”

“You rest or I’ll tie you to the bed. I’m keeping watch and I told you, we can run from this reaper.”

“No, we can’t. He’s different from the others.” He’d always come for her and to prove her suspicions correct, he’d found her in the museum. For all she knew, he’d been watching her since he’d left her at the scene of the robbery.

Nate huffed and got to his feet. Angry energy blasted from him. “He’s only different because you’re hot for him. He’s not someone you want to be touching or kissing. He’ll take your soul and turn you into a battery.”

“A battery?” Jocelyn started laughing. “Well, I do have a copper top.” More laughter.

“This is hardly funny. I can’t lose you.” He stormed from the room, but would be back when he settled. He never stayed angry long. Jocelyn kicked the blanket off again.
Brothers!

***

“Where’s the remote?” Jocelyn called to the nurse.

“We didn’t think you’d want a holo-vis in your room.”

“Because I’m blind? I hear fine and enjoy a show as much as a sighted person. Just for the record, I’m not deaf.”

“I’ll move you to the empty room next door that has one.” She popped the brakes and wheeled her bed out. They stopped after a couple of turns and twenty or so feet. There was a click as the wheels were locked down. The nurse reached over and handed her a remote. Jocelyn jumped into the woman, letting her gaze sweep the room. Bigger, better than she could have dreamed of, even if it was a windowless basement suite.

“Excuse me. When are they releasing me?” She sat up and pulled out of the nurse’s head.

The nurse lifted the chart on the end of her bed and pressed the screen. Clicking sounds commenced as she scrolled through data. “They’re keeping you overnight for observation and to run a couple more tests.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“Once the doctor releases you.”

The woman wasn’t going to give her a straight answer. They were probably trying to figure out where the scars on her brain had gone, to cover their asses. She could tell them the reaper did it, but drawing attention to the fact she was wanted wouldn’t be a good move. Especially since she had an active warrant.

“I’ll check on you later.” The nurse’s footsteps retreated and Jocelyn switched on the holo-vis and listened for a news channel as she scrolled through the stations.

Nate would be back with the information from the exhibit soon. Angry or not, he wouldn’t let her down. She might as well catch up on world events while she waited. She didn’t have the chance very often, and it was nice to know what happened outside her personal bubble.

A loud crash echoed from the corridor. Jocelyn turned toward the sound and held her breath. She picked out several voices, jumped, and stared through the eyes of a nurse backing down the hall and away from the room she’d moved from. She returned to her own body and took another breath, jumping into another of the staff, one with a direct view inside the vacated room. Her eyes stopped on a reaper.

Not Gabriel.

Tall, with blond hair tied in a ponytail, he wore jeans and a brown leather bomber jacket. He turned his eyes on the person Jocelyn occupied and eyed him up and down. No, not the biggest or the baddest reaper she’d had the occasion to cross auras with, but he was scary.

“You.” He pointed. The ride froze in his tracks and gasped.

Shit
. He’d recognized her soul and had caught her hopping.
A tracer
. He’d follow her energy trail like a hound. Jocelyn snapped back into her body and swung her legs over the bed. She had seconds to get the hell out of his path. She grabbed the I.V. attached to the top of her hand, took a deep breath, and yanked, sinking her teeth into the meaty part of her cheek to keep from making a sound.

Her backless gown gaped open, leaving her rear exposed to the world. She reached around to pull the opening shut and held it with one hand as she crept toward the door. This time she skipped, jumping from body to body, until she sighted in on a candidate. Her target stood by the nurse’s station fifty feet down the hall, holding a urine sample. Jocelyn seized control and stared down at the woman’s hand. “Hey you,” she manipulated the nurse and bellowed over to the reaper. Tracers were drawn to energy and she planned to give him something to chase. Fear produced a lot of energy and the nurse was terrified.

His head snapped around and he narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah, you.” Jocelyn forced the woman to heft the urine at him. “Catch!”

The reaper knocked the hurling container away, spattering piss all over the hall and his jacket. He glanced down at the stains and back up at her. A growl rumbled from his throat.

“Nice catch.”

He charged down the hall, knocking carts and people out of the way like a linebacker. His gaze was locked on and blazing.

Hold
. The nurse twitched, fighting the urge to flee. Her stomach twisted and her throat closed, making it difficult to draw a breath.
Relax, just a little bit longer
. Her puppet swallowed and balled her hands into fists. Jocelyn’s vision fuzzed in and out.
Damn. She’s fighting me
. Not a good thing, since it would take more energy to maintain control. Jocelyn pushed back, forcing the woman’s compliance. Free will didn’t matter when her soul was on the line. The reaper would back off when he realized he’d targeted the wrong girl. Until then….

Hold
. The woman’s feet shuffled backward.
Come on, don’t do this. He needs to be closer
.

With as much force as she could muster, Jocelyn screamed into the woman’s mind.
I said hold!
For a second she locked, standing frozen in one spot, and then natural instinct took over. The nurse whipped around and tore down the hall, her heart racing, one primary objective—escape—overriding any control Jocelyn had been able to maintain.
Okay, we run
.

She glanced back. Even though the nurse chose to flee, it ended up working for the better. The reaper might not be close enough to sense her energy in the woman, but he clearly had targeted her. This meant he was using visual means to track, instead of psychic. Less chance he’d catch that he had the wrong target until she’d lured him far enough away.

The reaper leaped over an upended cart and picked up speed. Good thing he wasn’t a shifter. A teleporter would be on her in seconds, and she needed to get him as far away from the room as she could, if she wanted to escape before he caught on to her smoke-and-mirror stunt.

Faster
. She moved full bolt for the stairs. As soon as she ripped the door open and started down, Jocelyn let go of the nurse and shot toward her body. She rushed past the reaper and down the hall like a stone from a slingshot. He didn’t feel her pass, he was so focused on the nurse’s fear, which was a good thing. She doubted he’d fall for the trick a second time.

The impact knocked the air from her lungs and almost took her off her feet. Jocelyn grabbed the door to steady herself. She caught her breath and slipped from her room. She sprinted in the opposite direction, hoping she had enough time and distance to disappear before he noticed.

She bounced from person to person, borrowing the eyes of people who’d gathered to see what was going on. Popping from patients hanging their heads out of their rooms, to doctors, nurses, visitors, skipping from body to body down the hall, staying one step ahead of herself. She slid around a corner and faced off with another reaper, not ten feet from her. Her eyes traveled from the toes of his boots, up.

Shit
.

Black hair, a dusky complexion, and an all-too-familiar brand in a tribal design that marred an otherwise perfect male specimen. The brand ran from his forehead, down the side of his face and neck, disappearing into a black T-shirt.
Psycho reaper
.

“Ian.”

“Jocelyn Miller. It’s been a long time.”

“This isn’t my day.”

“No, sweetheart.” The reaper tilted his head side to side, cracking his neck each time. “It isn’t.” Jocelyn backed up. A cold breeze from behind fluttered her gown and she spun around.

“Going somewhere?”

“I forgot you can teleport.”

“Yes.” He strode forward. Calm. He knew he had her. “Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?” His ebony eyes cut into her like shards of obsidian.

“I’ll take option two.”

“I hoped you’d say that.” He yanked a long, black staff off his back. Red sparks danced from its surface, hissing like a cat. Ian was one of the old ones, a bit harder to take down than the young buck that had chased her earlier. He wouldn’t fall for tricks. Never did. Even worse, Ian gave soul suckers a bad name.

“Let’s talk about this, Ian.”

“What’s to talk about?” He shrugged and spun his staff. “This is going to hurt. I could make it quick, but the energy you give off when you feel pain—I get hard thinking about it.” He smiled and his eyes seemed to darken. “You do remember the last time we danced, love?”

Oh God, that. Unforgettable in all the wrong ways.

***

New Stratus City

Eight years earlier

“Where are we going?” Nate asked as Jocelyn prepared to circle the block for the hundredth time.

She downshifted. No idea what she was doing. Not going to admit it. She could only use the vehicle to escape if she had her brother’s eyes and promised herself she would only run if he stayed behind. What a rather inconvenient game of monkey-in-the-middle.

“Get out, Nate.”

“And you’re going to drive this vehicle how, without me?”

Everything looked quiet and the lights were off. No transporters sat on the street outside the house, but that didn’t mean anything. Since the Enforcers didn’t drive, they could still be waiting for her at the house. She could never go home and since she couldn’t go home, neither would he, and that was unacceptable.

For the last hour they’d circled and argued. Nate still refused to get out. He’d promised their mother he’d take care of her, and no amount of reasoning with him would convince him she didn’t need a babysitter.

Regardless that she couldn’t go back, Jocelyn wasn’t ready to face the reality of the situation, and definitely wasn’t ready to take him down with her. She needed to come up with a way to ditch him—leave him behind. She couldn’t. He’d made a point. Without him, she couldn’t see. Without him, she couldn’t drive her escape vehicle away, and the reapers would get her.

Convincing him to abandon her under these circumstances proved impossible. He wasn’t going to let her sacrifice her life. So here they were, in front of the house again, as though looking at it would change anything. She wasn’t taking him, and she wasn’t able to drive off without him. They couldn’t continue to do this. Soon she’d have to grab some courage and leave, and unfortunately, she’d have to take Nate with her.

“Jocelyn?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying to think.” Which was hard when she was being hunted.

“Stop thinking. I told you I’m not getting out, and I’m not leaving you. Where you go—I go. You’re wasting the charge in this vehicle. We need to put as much distance as we can between us and that reaper.”