Soul Seducer (2 page)

“Good news!”

Jaxon’s too-chipper voice made her start. Her eyes flew open, and a fresh wave of pain shot through her body. Since being gifted with the nearly decapitated Teddy Bear, she’d been as skittish as a deer at a firing range.

She scowled, allowing the pain to ebb before she replied. “Yeah? What’s that?”

Her jaw was still sore, but it didn’t hurt as much to talk, or to breathe since they’d taken out the chest tube from the punctured lung, and her ribs had started to mend. Her mind had also apparently mended. The apparitions hadn’t been back.

“At the rate you’re healing, it looks like you can go home tomorrow.”

Unexpected dread spiked her blood. “Tomorrow? So soon?”

Jaxon studied her in silence, a troubled frown marring his brow. She tried to mold her expression into something resembling happiness, but knew she didn’t succeed when he reached out and gently stroked her arm. Her heart did the tiniest bit of a flutter, signaling something she’d known all along. She still wasn’t over him.

Fat lot of good it did. Granted, if Jaxon could ever love a woman, she was sure it would be her. That was the problem, though. He could never love a
woman
. She’d accepted that long ago.

“Is something wrong?” he asked softly. “You don’t seem happy about leaving. Are you frightened?”

“A little.”
Actually, I’m a crybaby, chicken shit, and I’m afraid to leave this room in case the big bad men come after me again.
She forced cheerfulness into her voice. “I’m happy about going home. I just didn’t expect it to be this soon.”

“Physically, you’re doing remarkably well. We’ll talk about it tomorrow and see if you feel ready to be released.”

“Any updates on the case?”

“Dunham is outside waiting to speak with you. I told him I’d see if you’re up to it before I send him in.”

“I’m up to it.”

He gave her an affectionate smile. “You need anything? How’s the pain?”

She chuckled. “You know, I’ve asked patients that same thing a million times and didn’t realize until now how stupid it sounds. The pain’s awesome, thanks for asking.”

Jaxon shook his head. “You know what I meant. Is it manageable or do you need something before you talk to the sheriff?”

“I’m okay for now. Thanks.”

“I’ll send him in.”

As soon as Jaxon left, Shane entered. He wore a troubled frown, and the lines around his eyes seemed deeper.

“Did you find out anything about where the bear came from?” she asked almost before he was fully in the room.

He shook his head. “’Fraid not. It didn’t come from the gift shop downstairs, and I couldn’t find any others like it around town. We’re expanding the search, but I’ve got a feeling it wasn’t purchased here. It was delivered to the information desk downstairs, but no one saw who brought it. We checked hospital security cameras but found nothing.”

She choked back a rush of terror. Exactly what she’d feared. They’d been to the hospital. Or, at least one of them had. Didn’t take a gang to deliver a Teddy Bear. Not like it did to beat the shit out of a woman.

“So, you have no leads? You’re not even close to catching them?”

“I’m sorry, Audra. You know we’re doing all we can.” His jaw tightened. “Can’t imagine what kind of sick bastards would want to do this to you.”

“Can’t either.” What kind of sick bastards would do this to anyone?

“A witness saw four men running from the area that night. She didn’t get a good look at them, but she said one wore a hoodie with some kind of emblem on it. I thought if you’d gotten a look at the emblem, could identify it, it might help us track him down.”

“No,” Audra whispered, dejected. She couldn’t recall a damn thing. The cowards had blind-sided her, and once the beating started, everything became a blur. Her voice shook with fear and frustration. “They attacked so fast. So viciously, out of nowhere. It was dark...”

“I know. It’s okay.” He awkwardly patted her shoulder. “If you think of anything else to tell us, anything that might give us a lead, you be sure to give me a call.” He smiled, his brown eyes kind, concerned. “Or, you can give me a call if you just want to talk, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Shane left, and she was once more alone. For the first few days, Riley had been at the hospital most of the time, but she had a job and a child. She couldn’t stay twenty-four/seven. Selfishly, Audra wished she could. When Riley—or anyone for that matter—was with her, she didn’t feel so alone…so scared.

“Damn you,” she muttered to her unidentified assailants. She’d gone from being an independent, take-charge woman to a sniveling wreck.

She comforted herself with the possibility that she’d get over her fear and things would go back to normal once she was home, then finally able to go back to work. Surely, that would be the case. It had to be. She refused to live like this, waiting for danger and pain and death to strike.

Of course, there was always a chance the bastards would make good on their threat and finish the job. That would certainly put an end to the paranoia and the whole ‘living in fear’ thing. Put an end to it for good.

Shaking off the morose thought, she reached into the nightstand drawer for a
People
magazine. Maybe the problems of the rich and famous would take her mind off her own.

~*~

Later that night, Wilton Starkley, one of the aides, came into her room.

“How are you?” Wilton was a chunky, nerdy guy whose reddish brown hair always looked as though it needed a comb.

“About as good as can be expected,” Audra said.

He handed her a plastic cup that held antibiotics. His face colored, making his hair appear more red than brown. “I was supposed to bring these a few hours ago. You won’t tell Nurse Ratched, will you?”

She grinned at the nickname he’d given Mary Lou, the charge nurse. She berated him non-stop, looking for reasons to discipline him. Then again, Wilton was kind of a screw up, so it wasn’t difficult to find a reason.

“I won’t. I promise.” She swallowed the pills, grimacing as a twinge shot through her ribs. She hadn’t had pain meds in hours. If she was going home tomorrow, she needed to toughen up and ride out the discomfort.

After Wilton left, Audra turned off the light above her head and slid under the sheets, shifting until she was as comfortable as she could get in the hospital-issue bed. One thing about it, after this, she would likely become a better nurse. Or, at the very least, one who was more attuned to what her patients had to deal with.

Later, somewhere amidst a deep, restful sleep, the pain came back with a vengeance. Agony stabbed through her ribs, moving like a rocket through her fractured wrist and into her shoulder. Eyes still closed, she moaned loud enough to wake the entire floor. Tears squeezed beneath her lids as she grimaced, waiting for the pain to ease enough that she could hit the call button and request a big dose of morphine.

She felt the merest flutter of a touch at her hairline. A voice said, “Shhhhh...it’s going to be okay.”

Her heart thudded, and her eyes flew open. One of her hallucinations—the blond—sat next to her bed, gently stroking the bangs off her damp forehead.

She gasped. “What the...?”

“I can make it go away.” His voice was mesmerizing, hypnotic. His golden eyes, the exact same shade as his hair, gleamed in the semi-darkness. His teeth were perfectly white and straight, his skin as smooth and flawless as ivory. “I can take away all your pain.”

Take away my pain?
Oh, yes—

“No!” A harsh voice rang out, and Audra jerked her gaze to the foot of the bed. The dark specter was there, too. He scowled, his arms folded over his chest. He still wore the leather jacket from when she’d seen him in the alley. “She has to work through the pain. That is how it must be.”

Asshole.
If she were going to hallucinate, why couldn’t she hallucinate
two
nice guys instead of only one?

She focused her attention on her angel of mercy. Dimly, she realized that while she could see him stroking her forehead, she couldn’t really
feel
his fingers...only the odd sensation of a near touch.

“How?” she whispered. “How can you make it go away?”

A beatific smile lit his face. “She can see us,” he called over his shoulder, keeping his gaze on Audra.

“No. That can’t be,” the dark one said.

“You can see us, right?” Angel’s golden eyes looked hopefully into hers.

“Of course I can.” She smiled. Something about the wonder of this mirage seemed to take the edge off her pain. “You’re beautiful.” She turned a scowl on the other figment of her imagination. “You’re hateful.”

The blond threw his head back and laughed, a sound both melodic and haunting at the same time. “I believe she prefers me over you.” He glanced toward his companion. “And, you were wrong. She
can
see us.”

The realization seemed to delight him as much as it infuriated the other. The dark one strode to her bedside, his blue eyes glittering dangerously, his jaw set as he glared down at her. A tremor trickled through her body.

Why was he so angry with her? What had she done? They were the ones invading her room…her dreams.

She turned to Angel, ignoring the other. “How can you make it go away?” she asked again.

He smiled and opened his mouth to answer, but the mean one cut him off.

“He can’t. Don’t believe his lies.”

“Now, now,” Angel said. “Testy, aren’t we? At least let her hear me out.”

The dark one cast a baleful look at the blond, then turned back to Audra “You never saw us. We were never here. Call for someone to bring you the chemicals that will ease your pain and forget all about this.”

“You think that’s going to work?” Angel sounded amused. “What’s done is done.”

The leather-clad apparition shook his head, a hank of dark hair falling over his forehead. “No. She’s out of her mind with pain. They’ve been pumping drugs into her for nearly a week. She’ll never remember this. Never believe it happened if she does.”

Now she was coming more fully awake, and the pain was increasing, as was the fear. This kind of fear had nothing to do with dying a horrible and painful death. Now, she was afraid for her sanity.

“Go away,” she rasped. “Just go away and leave me alone.”

Angel lifted his brows. “A moment ago, you were—”

“No!” She screwed her eyes shut, blocking out his perfect features, his tempting, sympathetic tone, his promise of nirvana. With it, she knew, surely came madness.

“I told you,” he murmured softly. “I can give you peace. Please. Just look at me, my sweet.”

“Leave it alone.”

Without opening her eyes, she knew the dark one spoke again. She recognized his harsh, raspy voice, such a contrast to the soothing tones of the blond. She fumbled blindly for the nurse call button. When it landed in her hand, she opened her eyes to find the dark one leaning over her. His fingers brushed hers in that same, strange almost touch before he released the hard plastic into her grip.

For a brief moment, their eyes locked, and the blue flames of his stole her breath. How long the moment lasted, she couldn’t be sure, but suddenly he straightened, backing away, and it was over. She suffered a twinge of inexplicable disappointment.

She pressed the call button for the nurse. Almost as if the device were some kind of cosmic eraser, the phantoms vanished.

“Can I help you?” Kyle, the ward clerk, said through the speaker.

“Can I get something for the pain?” Audra gasped.

“I’ll send your nurse in.”

As Audra waited for the dose of narcotic candy, she wavered between believing the men were real one second, to being certain she was losing her mind the next. She wasn’t sure which scenario was more frightening. Regardless of which proved to be true, she realized she’d missed a golden opportunity to quiz them.

Who are you? What are you? Why were you in the alley? Why the hell am I seeing you?

Of course, if their existence was all in her head, they couldn’t answer with anything more than she already knew, so the interrogation would have been futile.

Victoria, a cheerful petite brunette nurse, bustled into the room, carrying a small plastic cup. Audra swallowed the pills, then lay back, letting the questions slip from her mind as she waited for the morphine to take effect. Before long, bliss flooded her system.

Ah, sweet, blessed relief.

As the pain meds lulled her back into sleep, one last thought flitted through her mind.
Real or not, please don’t ever let me see them again.

Chapter 3

Six weeks later

Audra brought a hand to her eyes to shade them from the sun as she searched the sea of grade schoolers until her gaze landed on a bobbing silver-blonde head. She smiled. From a distance, Sadie’s pageboy haircut made it look as if she wore a silver cap.

Today was Audra’s last day of sick leave before going back to work. Riley, a lawyer, had court, so Audra offered to pick Sadie up and hang out with her until her parents got home. There wasn’t much she’d rather do on her last day of freedom.

The child’s face lit with delight when she saw Audra. Her slow, plodding gait became a full on sprint.

“Audra! Hey Audra!” she shouted, waving her hands to get Audra’s attention, even though they’d already made eye contact, so she had to know Audra had seen her.

When Sadie drew near, Audra squatted and took her weight full into her body for a tight hug.

“Hey, kiddo.” Audra stood and ruffled her hair, taking the stack of skewered papers from her hand. Unzipping the nearly empty denim backpack, she placed the papers inside. “How was school?”

Her small shoulders lifted. “It was okay.”

“Just okay? What did you—” Audra paused when she saw what Sadie wore beneath her coat. “Why are you wearing your shirt wrong side out?”

“They made me.”

A slow burn started at the thought of kids picking on her, playing cruel tricks. “Who made you?”

“The princ-ta-pal.”

“Why would the principal make you turn your shirt wrong side out?”

“So I wouldn’t have to go home and change.”

Audra took a deep breath. The kid was a nonstop chatterbox, but sometimes getting to the pertinent information was a slow and winding process. “Why would you have to go home and change?”

“Cause she said my Chucky shirt isn’t ’propriate for school.”

Audra halted. “Wait. Your Chucky the killer doll shirt?” She laughed. “Hmmm. I wonder why she didn’t think it was appropriate.”

“Cause it scared some of the kids.”

“Oh, I see.” Audra nodded as if her comment hadn’t been facetious.

“They’re a bunch of babies.”

“I can’t believe your mom let you wear that to school.”

“She didn’t know. She left early, and my dad took me.”

That explained a lot. Brent was a good man, a good dad, but not the most attentive parent in the world. Sadie was a little twisted when it came to her likes and dislikes, which weren’t the usual five-year-old fare. Her parents allowed her to watch scary movies, and Sadie loved them. They didn’t keep her up nights, didn’t make her have bad dreams, and she was one of the happiest, smartest, most well-adjusted kids Audra had ever seen. Perhaps they weren’t damaging her psyche too much.

Audra took Sadie’s hand and led her out of the schoolyard, keeping her stride short to match Sadie’s. With the limp she’d acquired from the beating, it helped to pace herself anyway.

Leaves crunched beneath their feet, and a brisk fall breeze blew as they made their way along the sidewalks leading toward downtown Boon Springs. Halloween was just over two weeks away and nearly every house they passed displayed an assortment of decorations--pumpkins, scarecrows, and various other creatures of the season.

“Hey, want to go to Sally’s Sundries?” Audra asked.

Sadie lifted her face, squinting up at Audra. “Yes! Can we really?” She bounced up and down. “Please, can we?”

“You betcha.”

The bouncing turned to skipping, and she tugged Audra along behind her.

Sally’s Sundries was a combo ice cream parlor, coffee house, and gift shop that was only a ten-minute walk from the school. The original owner, Sally Wright, had died forty years earlier. She’d been found hanging by a rope in her attic. Her hands were tied behind her back, so suicide had been ruled out. Later, her husband—seemingly a normal, loving man—confessed. He was tried, convicted, and put to death.

Some blamed the town’s tragic history for Calvin Wright’s murderous act. Twenty years before Oklahoma became a state, a group of settlers had stopped to make camp. A band of outlaws attacked, murdering them all. Boon Springs was built on the site and superstitions had it that, due to the horrific beginnings, the town would be seeped in tragedy forever. Judging from some of the incidents that had happened over the years, Audra wasn’t sure it was too far-fetched.

Sadie kept up a steady stream of chatter during the walk to the shop. She didn’t slow down when they arrived, other than to exclaim, “Can I get mine in a cone?” as Audra opened the door, inhaling the fragrance of potpourri, candles and espresso.

At the counter, Audra ordered chocolate Swiss while Sadie chose rainbow sherbet. Once they had their ice cream, they slid into a blue plastic-upholstered booth.

Audra glanced around, unable to shake the lingering fear that she was still in danger, even though nothing had happened since the night of the beating. There had been no more threats, no more mangled gifts. The best the police could conclude, the men—teenagers, boys, whatever they’d been—had chosen her randomly, decided to have some evil fun and stretch it out a bit with the Teddy Bear, and had then gotten bored and moved on.

The concern in Shane’s eyes when Audra last spoke with him indicated he wasn’t entirely convinced, but with no leads, no clues, there wasn’t much more to conclude. He promised they’d keep working on it but didn’t seem optimistic they’d solve it. Neither was Audra. So, she’d made a determined effort to put the attack behind her, even though the scar running along her jaw line was a daily reminder.

“Look at you, you’re a mess.” Audra smiled, using a napkin to wipe the colorful liquid streams dribbling down Sadie’s chin.

“Mom and Dad never let me get cones,” she complained. “They make me get a cup with a lid.”

“That’s because you’re usually driving home after, and they know you’ll get ice cream all over the car.”

“Yeah. We hardly ever get to stay here and eat. Or, walk home like I do with you.”

“I live closer than your parents.”

“I like your house. It looks like Hansel and Gretel’s. It’s a lot better than ours.”

“
Your
house is a mansion.” Audra laughed. Riley earned a healthy salary as an attorney and Brent was an executive for a computer software company. Two houses the size of Audra’s small bungalow would fit into theirs. “You’re a very lucky little girl, you know. You have great parents and a beautiful house and lots of people who love you.”

Sadie frowned at her cone and darted her multi-hued tongue out to take a lick. She seemed to be considering whether to lament further about her parents or accept that they weren’t such bad people after all.

After taking another couple of swipes at the sherbet, she said, “So, how come you don’t have a little girl of your own?”

“Well...” Audra swallowed as she searched for an answer. Sadie’s question took her by surprise and made her heart ache just a little. In a too-cheerful tone, she said, “Because I have you. I don’t need my own.”

Sadie smiled, showing a space between her teeth where a sliver of white enamel was just starting to poke through the gum. “So, you’re my second mom?”

“Something like that. If I had a little girl, I’d want her to be just like you.”
Minus the penchant for serial killers,
she added silently.

“Momma said you don’t have a kid because you need a daddy first and you don’t have one. You had one but y’all got ’vorced.”

Audra pushed her cup of ice cream aside, the last bite she’d taken sitting like a lump at the base of her throat. “Yes. You can have kids without daddies, but it’s much easier if you have one.”

“Why did you ’vorce Jaxon?”

Jesus. How had the conversation turned from ice cream and real estate to the complexities of marital relations?

“We had some differences.”

Actually, they had more similarities than differences. They both liked men.

Sadie zipped straight into another topic—her upcoming dance recital and the sparkly red-and-black costume she would wear. Audra let her prattle, relieved that her personal life was no longer the focus of the discussion.

Listening with half her attention, she glanced around the room. She’d gotten in the habit of being ultra aware of her surroundings. A small part of her—and sometimes a not-so-small part—still expected another assault. She’d also become diligent in watching for reporters. For the first few weeks after the attack, she’d been bombarded by media hounds. Granted, the media in Boon Springs was comprised of two wannabe journalists, but still, hounding was hounding.

Audra sucked in a breath when she glimpsed a familiar figure. “Stay right here, Sadie.”

“Huh? You’re leaving me?”

“I’ll be close. Just wait here.”

Audra made her way toward a row of shelves that held jars of apple butter, jams, and every kind of food that could possibly be pickled.

“Maria?”

The woman turned, her eyes rounding, then darting from side to side as if searching for an escape route. Audra hadn’t spoken to her since the attack, but it wasn’t from lack of trying. She’d attempted to get in touch with her several times, but it was obvious Maria was avoiding her. With Scott in jail at the time of the attack, and Maria’s assertion she knew nothing about the incident, there was little need for the police to pursue the interrogation. Audra, however, wanted some answers. She wanted to make sure Maria was okay and find out why she’d changed her mind about leaving Scott.

“Hello, Audra.” Maria’s voice quivered, and she wouldn’t meet Audra’s eyes. She was delicate-boned, with dark hair and haunted brown eyes. Two of her three children were with her. They both had Maria’s dark coloring. The oldest had her fragile frame, while the younger child was tall and stocky like their father.

Audra smiled at the girls. “Brooke, Stacy, how are you?”

“Fine,” they said in unison.

Audra turned her attention back to their mother. “Is everything okay? I haven’t heard from you since that night we were supposed to meet.” Her gaze darted to the children. “Did…anyone…do anything to make you...uh...change your mind?”

“I realized I was making a mistake.” Maria replaced the candle she held with shaking hands. “Scott is a good man. He’s out of jail now, and he’s trying really hard.”

The bastard had threatened her, no doubt about it. Audra searched her face for bruises but saw none. Perhaps he’d delivered blows in places that were hidden by her clothing. In the past, he hadn’t cared to hide the abuse, but maybe he’d guessed Maria came to Audra and decided he should be more cautious. Or, and she fervently hoped this was true, maybe his stint in jail had frightened him and he wouldn’t beat her anymore.

Yeah, right.
He was probably as harmless as a rabid pit bull.

Audra brushed back an errant strand of hair and moved so she could keep an eye on the table where Sadie munched on her cone. She said to Maria, “So, you’re okay? You sure?”

“Scott’s my husband. He loves me.”

Yeah, and love hurts like a son of a bitch.
“I hope he’s really changed.” Audra glanced at the girls once more. “You know, someone could end up getting badly hurt.”

Maria’s face colored and, as if remembering Audra’s injuries for the first time, she said, “Are you okay? I heard what happened. I was going to come see you but…”

Audra waited, but Maria didn’t come up with a reason why she hadn’t visited.

“I’m fine,” Audra said after an awkward silence. “Much better. I’ll be back at work tomorrow.”

“That’s good. Scott was in jail, you know,” Maria said almost defiantly.

“Yes, I know.” In Audra’s peripheral vision, she saw Sadie climb from her seat, tugging her book bag off the back of the chair “I have to go. Take care of yourself. Call me if you need anything.”

“I will,” Maria promised.

Audra headed back to Sadie, her mind going over the conversation with Maria. Why had she felt the need to mention Scott’s whereabouts on the night of the attack? And why had she seemed so wary, so defensive?

~*~

Dimitri leaned against a porch column at the house across the street from Audra’s. The front door opened, and she appeared. His throat closed. A trickle of warmth moved through the cold recesses of his insides. The glow from the porch light crawled over her olive skin, giving it a golden hue. Her thick mane of dark hair lifted in the breeze. She rounded the side of the house and took hold of the trash dumpster, dragging it to the curb. Even such a menial, normally unprovocative task, was a pleasure to watch when it was performed by Audra.

Her limp was more evident when no one was around. She’d become adept at hiding her imperfections, her weaknesses. The gesture tugged at him, evoking an emotion he didn’t want to experience.

He shook his head. What was wrong with him? No use asking, really. There was no answer. He’d questioned himself multiple times about the unnatural fascination this woman held for him...had held for nearly thirty years, since the night her mother died. Back then, his interest had been admiration at such intelligence and bravery in one so young. As she’d grown into womanhood, his feelings had become something different. Something as uncomfortable as it was futile.