Shattered: A Psychic Visions Novel (4 page)

Ah, then there wasn’t much chance of getting out of this. Besides, it was important to make it look to the world like she was completely fine. Just a stupid accident was all.

“Then send them in,” she said quietly, “But do please warn them I’m really tired, so it needs to be a short visit.”

“I can do that.” She smiled. “And while they are here, I’ll see about getting you a little food.”

“Make that a lot of food and you’re on. I’m starving,” she admitted. She truly was. She also couldn’t identify what her last meal had been or when. That bothered her a lot. She took a big sip of coffee and leaned back to wait for her visitors.

She didn’t have to wait long.

Two men walked in.

She gave them a faint smile, her gaze assessing. Inside her stomach sank. She didn’t
know
either of them. But in the back of her mind…there was something…familiar about both of them…

*

“Interesting,” Trevor said
as they stood at the doorway watching the two women interact.

“What is?”

“Her aura, it’s non-existent. Normally I’d see that in a dying person, at least comatose.”

“I can see how tiny and tight against her body it is, it’s why I thought she was severely hurt last night,” Stefan admitted. “But she’s looking damn lively to me.”

“She is.” Trevor contemplated the woman in the bed before him. He gave a slight snort in understanding. “She’s doing it on purpose. She’s tucking all the energy in close to hide something.”

“Why? And how, that’s a huge drain on a person,” Stefan said. “But you’re right. Look, a corner flared off just now.”

“Hmm, I saw it. I wish I knew what the nurse said to her for that to have happened.”

He watched as the woman leaned back and the nurse walked toward them.

As she approached, he asked, “What did she say?”

“She was perturbed at the idea,” the nurse said. “However, she did say yes, but only for a short while. And she emphasized
short
so you can’t ask too much or be there too long. I will be back in ten minutes,” she warned as she walked past them. “I’ll be bringing her breakfast with me.”

And she walked away.

With a raised eyebrow look at Stefan, Trevor walked into the hospital room.

“Good morning,” he said. “I’m Dr. Trevor Johnson and this is Stefan Kronos. Thank you for seeing us.”

She gave them a veiled look and pulled her aura in closer. Very interesting. She considered them a threat.

“Interesting flight response,” Stefan muttered as he approached the bed. In a normal tone, he said, “I’m glad to see you looking as healthy as you are this morning. You had me scared last night.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, her gaze shuttered. “I wasn’t in very good shape. Thank you for helping me out.”

“No, you weren’t,” Stefan said with a smile. “I’m glad I was able to help.”

Her gaze narrowed, and Trevor almost gasped as he watched an energy probe, light blue to almost pure white slide out from under the bedding to check out the powerful energy of the room now that they’d arrived. The probe shifted silently with great stealth as it checked out Stefan’s energy. Interestingly enough his friend let the probe do its thing.

Then the probe turned on Trevor. Its movement was more hesitant. As if he was a stranger she was unsure of. Sure she’d met Stefan last night but hardly enough to be sure of him. Then again, Trevor was a complete unknown. He also had to decide quickly if he was going to allow the probe to retrieve the information it wanted to access.

It went against the grain to give blind access, so he let it in slightly. It didn’t appear to want to do more than a cursory glance before she withdrew it. She sat up a little straighter when she’d pulled it back. As if the threat assessment came back negative.

“Interesting trick,” he said and wondered what it was about this woman that had him going about things all wrong. Normally, he’d never have mentioned the probe issue to anyone.

She frowned, confusion clouding her gaze. “What trick?”

He waited and studied her. Was she for real? But there was no awareness, no guilt. Nothing at all in her gaze. Was it possible she had no idea?

“He meant getting to me and my house. I’m generally very reticent to meet new people,” Stefan said smoothly. “Pardon our intrusion, but I needed to know you were okay. I honestly thought you were dying last night, but apparently, although you lost a lot of blood, you aren’t badly hurt.”

“I don’t remember much of last night, so I can only imagine how horrific I must have looked.” She gave a mock shudder. “I really appreciate you helping me out.” This part she added with a warm gratitude that came across as completely genuine.

The men responded in kind.

“I’m just glad it all turned out well,” Stefan said. “And that you are going to be fine. The police arrived not long after, asking questions,” he added. “But there wasn’t much I could say as I didn’t see your vehicle, and I live too far out for you to have come from a bus or other mode of transportation.”

At the word police, her fingers clenched around the sheet and squeezed until her knuckles turned white. So the police bothered her. Why? Trevor studied the energy around her head as she listened to Stefan.

The energy was still snug, still white, and still locked down. The only flares they’d seen were when they’d watched her interact with the nurse. But with him and Stefan, she wasn’t letting herself relax even a little.

There was that air of wariness that only intensified as Stefan continued.

This woman was trying to get through this visit, but it was painful for her. Unnerving. As if she was afraid of them, of what they might ask of her. Something she didn’t want to share.

Then he got it.

“You don’t remember anything about last night, do you?”

His comment out of the blue cut through her conversation with Stefan.

She gasped, her shoulders hunching in. This woman wasn’t just guarded – she was terrified. And he could feel his protective instincts rising to the surface. He didn’t know what was going on, but this waif triggered feelings in him he didn’t recognize.

He couldn’t walk away. Not from this level of fear.

And maybe she should be scared. Not only could that memory loss show signs of more serious injuries, there could be something else involved as well. He caught sight of the turmoil inside her gaze before she lowered her lashes, and he realized her energy never once shifted with the shock of his question.

Had she been through so many shocks that nothing phased her energy, or did she keep herself so locked down, so protected that even when the shocks
could
affect her aura, she wouldn’t let them do so? Or there wasn’t enough running to allow it to be affected. It was all needed to keep her alive.

The nurse came bustling in just then with a tray.

Watching Hannah, Trevor caught the relief in her gaze at the nurse’s arrival as if knowing the interview was almost over.

“Now look at this, Hannah, I managed to find you some breakfast. It might not be to your liking as there wasn’t much choice, but at least I found lots.” She placed the tray on the small table and moved it over to Hannah. “I hope you like muffins. There wasn’t anything hot left, but I found some cheese and a scone and a couple of muffins.”

“This is lovely, thank you,” Hannah said with a delighted smile. “I’m happy to have anything.” Her gaze locked on the food in front of her. “The men are leaving. Could you escort them out, please?”

She glanced up at Stefan, and in a much warmer voice, she said, “Thanks again for coming to my rescue last night.”

“You’re welcome,” Stefan called back. Already moving to the door, he snagged Trevor’s arm as he went, dragging him out to the hallway. “Hope you feel better soon.”

Out in the hallway the two stood and watched as Hannah waited until the nurse walked past them before lifting the lid on the tray. There was no change in her expression as she studied the selection of food in front of her. Then she dove in and ate like she hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks.

“Look at that,” Stefan muttered. “I’d have fed her last night if I’d known.”

“How could you have? It’s like she keeps everything hidden inside. I doubt she’d have told you she was hungry even if she wasn’t injured.” They watched her go for the second muffin and polish it off in six bites. By the time she turned to the scone, she’d slowed enough to actually butter that one.

As she relaxed back, and ate a slower pace, Trevor shifted, ready to walk away but struggling to separate from her. Talk about a weird day already – then it got a whole lot weirder.

He froze.

He reached out and grabbed Stefan. “Look.”

“I see it.”

They stared, hoping to see if the same phenomena happened to repeat.

Their patience was rewarded. As she finished the last bite and relaxed back, closing her eyes, a shadow drifted across her face.

A dark shadow.

“What the hell is that?” Trevor asked.

“It’s not a what – it’s a who…”

*

He’d watched her
grow from a wild teenager trying to stretch her wings to a beautiful woman. But like all women, she was weak. Pliable. Malleable. He needed malleable. That’s how he made his world fun. He could manipulate most women and children, young animals. Boys were a different animal. But he was doing wonders with them too. It took practice. The world of today didn’t understand that. The kids were into instant gratification or nothing. As in life had to be the way they wanted it and now.

No one wanted to put in the work required to get where they wanted to be.

Today’s world was all about short relationships, finding better jobs, building a bigger house.

It wasn’t about learning long-term skills or developing budding talent. No, even the best musicians of today were still those of yesteryear working on their craft. They weren’t has-beens as the young kids of today assumed.

They were artists doing what they could do to stay in the game as it shifted and changed around them. It was the fleeting overnight fame of the Internet that everyone crushed on. As if they could go viral then they could keep their grasp on the top spot in that world of power and influence.

When in truth they never had a spot in the first place.

The fickle audience that put them into the spotlight had already moved on. Without substance there was nothing and without hard work, there was no substance. So nothing sustained their position. The hard truth was that even with talent and hard work, nothing could keep them up there.

He, on the other hand, had put in decades of time and effort. He’d had some piddling success to make him cocky early on, his original talent showing up by accident giving him the enthusiasm to move forward. The simple success had made him giddy, and he’d gone after bigger and better tricks. He’d been young. Arrogant. With the inherent problems of youth. He’d also had the hormonal issues of the developing teenager to contend with. It wasn’t until later he’d finally managed to gain some measure of control.

Now he was after more yet again.

Hannah was naught but a pawn. A practice piece of long ago. But she presented wonderful research of the long term benefits of his work. As such he found himself toying with her. A love a long time ago kept him tied to her – in many ways. But the impact of his research twisted with his emotions, the lure of whom she was drew him back constantly.

She was special in so many ways. But she was also draining his energy. She had so much power and was gaining more. It took so much more for him to shut her down. And it was getting worse.

What had been easy back then, was nothing to the effort he was forced to exert now. He couldn’t release her nor kill her. But he knew she’d be the end of him if he couldn’t do either. In fact, he had needed to do the latter a long time ago. She was dangerous to him.

Yet flirting with danger presented its own appeal.