The Haunting (Immortals) (9 page)

Mai set the books on the counter so she’d remember to give them to Sarah later, then returned to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner. As her thoughts drifted back to the incident at the grocery store, she wondered if she’d been too hasty in canceling her therapy appointments.

Then she remembered that her therapist was dead. Murdered. She wondered who would have killed him and then answered her own question—anyone who’d been going to
him for therapy, she imagined. Even she hadn’t liked him that much, but she hadn’t wanted him dead.

She forced herself to stop thinking about Dr. Barbour, but then her thoughts turned to Nick Blackhawk. Why he came to mind, she had no idea. He was the last person she wanted to think about. Sure, he was attractive in a rugged outdoorsy kind of way, and he had that arrogant cockiness that was both incredibly annoying and sexy.

She closed her eyes to clear her head and saw Nick’s laughing brown eyes. Ugh. Maybe she should go to Ricco’s tonight and let one of his vampires help her forget all her worries. Except that old routine no longer sounded appealing to her, either. She could have better sex in her dreams. How pathetic was that?

Even worse was that once the idea was planted, she actually became excited at the prospect of possibly having another erotic dream that night.

It was enough to make her go to bed early.

Mai wasn’t conscious of dreaming, though she knew she must be. One instant she was caught in a never-ending loop of typing at her laptop only to discover that the words of her article were disappearing as fast as she could type them. The next instant,
he
was there.

It was her rescuer, the same man she’d dreamed of the night before.

“You came,” she whispered, rising from her chair to cross the room to him.

She felt one of his hands settle at her waist as the other cupped the side of her face in a gentle caress. His gaze was filled with a barely suppressed hunger that, even in the dream, caused her breath to catch. “I can’t stay away.” He bent his head close so his lips could sample hers. Once. Twice. Brief, gentle kisses that left her craving more.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she held him to
her, drinking deeply from his lips. His demanding response was exactly what she’d hoped for.

“This is crazy,” she whispered when they stopped to catch their breath. “I don’t even know your name.” She peered into his face, but in her dreamlike haze, his features swam in and out of focus.

“What is in a name?” he whispered back, trailing kisses across her lips and throat. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

“A man who knows Shakespeare. Be still my heart.”

He chuckled and pulled her into a hug. “I’ve missed you.”

Taking her by the hand, they started walking. Between one step and the next, they went from standing in her apartment to walking barefoot along a sandy beach. Mai thought she could feel the sun beating down on them as their feet squished in the cool, damp sand along the water’s edge. The gulls’ cries mingled with the rhythmic rush of waves cascading ashore. Once again, Mai was filled with that same sense of total contentment and peace that she’d found only once before and it was with this man.

The part of her that recognized she was dreaming warned her it wouldn’t last, but she refused to listen. Not right now.

As the sun set over the horizon and the sky glowed in hues of red and orange, they stopped to sit. Mai put her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her.

“I wish we could stay here forever,” she said.

He smiled down at her and with his free hand, brushed the hair from her face. “Me, too, love.”

His endearment warmed her and she closed her eyes, savoring the moment. The loud clap of thunder that suddenly struck startled her. Opening her eyes, she saw that the clear night sky had been replaced by dark, angry, roiling clouds. A chill wind blew across where they still sat.

“What’s going on?” Mai shouted, trying to be heard above the next clap of thunder. “Where did this storm come from?”

“You need to wake up,” he shouted back.

“What?”

He stood and pulled her to her feet. Then he kissed her while the wind buffeted them from all directions. Finally, he lifted his head. “Wake up.”

The command was so insistent, Mai opened her eyes, immediately wide-awake. The silence of her room was especially stark compared to the thunderous noise of her dream. She didn’t understand what had awakened her and was thinking that if she fell back asleep right away, she might find
him
again when she heard someone pound on her front door.

Who would be knocking at this hour? She glanced at the clock beside her bed. Three in the morning. Scowling, she climbed out from under the covers and pulled a sweater on over her pajamas.

Tiptoeing to the door, she held her breath and leaned close enough to peer out the peephole. Jenna stood on the other side, looking upset. Mai turned the lock and opened the door.

“I’m sorry to wake you up, but is Sarah here?” Jenna asked.

“What? No.” Mai struggled to make sense of the conversation. “What’s going on?”

Jenna frowned. “She’s not at home and I don’t know where she is. She’s never just gone off without telling me where she’s going.” It was obvious that Jenna didn’t know whether to be irritated or scared.

“Why don’t you come in? Let me get dressed and then I’ll help you look for her.” Mai knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep until she, too, knew what had happened to Sarah.

Jenna looked uncertain. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

Mai shook her head. “Not at all.”

After Jenna stepped into the apartment, Mai closed the door. “I saw Sarah earlier this evening. She said Will was fixing the closet at your place.”

“Did she seem okay?” Jenna asked. “There wasn’t anything bothering her?”

“No, she seemed fine. She didn’t want to be alone with Will so decided to take a study break and come chat. That was all.”

“Did she say anything that would make you think she was planning to run away?”

Did a twenty-year-old run away? Mai wondered. Or did she just get tired of being treated like a kid and move out?

“No,” Mai said thoughtfully. “I didn’t get the impression that she was thinking of leaving.”

“Damn it!” Jenna exclaimed suddenly. “It’s not like her to just disappear. If she’s gone and gotten herself hurt…” Her voice cracked with emotion and she fell silent.

“Jenna, I don’t mean to suggest anything here, but when you got home, you didn’t notice anything…odd, did you?”

“Odd, how?”

“A broken lock on the door? Signs of a struggle inside the apartment?”
Blood on the walls or floor
? Jenna would have said something if that had been the case.

Jenna shook her head. “No. Nothing.”

“Did you call the police?”

“Yes, and they said disappearing isn’t against the law. They suggested I talk to Sarah’s friends to see if they know anything and after that, if I still feel she’s missing, then I should go down to the station to file a report. I don’t know any of her school friends.” She heaved a shuddering breath. “It’s like she’s vanished without a trace.”

Mai’s thoughts raced. According to Nick Blackhawk, it didn’t matter if Sarah left on her own or someone abducted
her, she would have left a residual energy trail behind. And Nick knew how to follow that trail. “Maybe not entirely without a trace,” Mai suggested slowly.

“What do you mean?” Jenna asked.

Mai quickly explained her idea to Jenna. “It’s no guarantee,” she quickly added, “but it’s something.” Did she dare call Nick Blackhawk at this hour? It would be rude.

Absolutely. By her way of thinking, she owed him one for thinking she was a stripper.

Grabbing her purse, she searched through its contents until she found his card. Mai had no doubt he could help her. The question was, would he?

Nick rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. He was exhausted despite getting plenty of sleep. For the last two nights, his dreams had been erotically charged and extremely realistic.

Normally, that wouldn’t have bothered him in the slightest, but he’d been with the same woman in each dream—and that was unusual. Unless he’d been with his spirit mate, in which case that wasn’t unusual—it was disturbing. Nick’s life was planned and those plans didn’t include a spirit mate.

At that moment, his cell phone rang and he picked it up off the nightstand, wondering who the hell thought it was okay to call him this early in the morning. “Hello?” he growled.

“Mr. Blackhawk?” a female voice asked. “This is Mai Groves—I spoke to you yesterday?”

Nick frowned, remembering the wood nymph. “Ms. Groves. It’s a bit early in the day for an interview, don’t you think?”

“I’m sorry that I woke you. I have a…situation and you’re the only person who can help me.”

He wasn’t at all sure he should believe her. “I can understand why you’re still pissed at me, but don’t you think
it’s a bit childish to make crank calls?” He heard her heavy sigh.

“If this was a crank call, would I have told you my name?”

She had a point.

“What’s the problem?”

“My friend has disappeared, possibly kidnapped. I was hoping you could come over and, you know, follow her energy trail.”

“I don’t do parlor tricks, Ms. Groves. I try to save my talent for legitimate emergencies. Just because a friend isn’t answering your calls or isn’t where you think she needs to be, doesn’t make it an emergency.”

“Mr. Blackhawk. Please believe me when I tell you that you are the last person on earth I would call for help, but this is important. A young woman is missing and her older sister swears that she would never go off without leaving word where she was going or when she’d be back. Her sister has looked everywhere for her. I can’t shake the feeling that something bad has happened to her, but unfortunately, that’s not enough for the police. I’d hoped it might be enough for you. And knowing that the residual energy trails dissipate over time, I thought it best to call you right away. I should have known you wouldn’t help.”

For reasons he couldn’t explain, it bothered him that he had disappointed her. “Where was she last seen?”

“My apartment. She came over while I was fixing dinner, we talked and then while I was in the bedroom, she left. Presumably to go back to her place, but I didn’t go check to be sure.”

Nick rubbed his forehead. “Her apartment will be filled with her own spiritual tracings—it will be nearly impossible to pick out the most recent one and follow it—which is what you’re asking me to do.”

“I’ll pay you,” she offered.

He hesitated. “You really think you can afford me?”

“Please.”

“My standard rate is a thousand the first hour and five hundred every hour after that.” He paused, knowing he’d shocked her. “But I’ll offer you a special discount.”

“I’m not sleeping with you,” she said sharply.

“My loss, I’m sure, but that wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“Oh.”

He smiled. “I’ll come over in exchange for you having dinner with me.”

“You want to go out for dinner? With me?” She sounded wary.

“Yes, is that so hard to believe? But since I’m doing you a favor by coming over to help you look for a friend, dinner will be your treat and I leave it up to you whether you want to cook for me or we go out.”

He heard her sigh. “Deal. How soon can you be here?”

“Hang on a second,” he said, searching for pen and paper in the nightstand drawer. “Okay. Give me your address.”

He wrote it down, realizing that she didn’t live that far away. “I’m on my way. Try to keep people out of the apartment for now. It’ll be less confusing for me.”

“All right—and thank you.”

Mai was on edge. She didn’t know if it was because of the mysterious circumstances surrounding Sarah’s disappearance or because she’d be seeing Nick Blackhawk again. Not that there was any reason she should look forward to that encounter. Her thoughts flashed back to the memory of him towering over her like a wall of sheer masculine strength. And the way he’d looked without his shirt, his tousled hair and knowing smirk giving him that rakish air.

Mai sighed. The last thing she needed was to romanticize Nick Blackhawk. No doubt, as soon as she saw him
again, he’d open his mouth and say something totally irritating. Sarah was missing—Mai needed to stay focused on that.

She hurried out of her apartment and knocked on Jenna’s door. Jenna answered with a look of expectant hope on her face. It died the instant she saw who was at the door.

“You haven’t heard from Sarah?” Mai asked, though the answer was obvious.

“No. What about you—any luck?”

“Yes. He’s on his way.”

Jenna nodded, wrapping her arms about herself. “At this point, I’m willing to give anything a try.”

Mai’s heart went out to the woman. She might appear tough, but Jenna obviously loved her sister. Mai gave Jenna’s arm a sympathetic squeeze. “I’m going to run downstairs and wait. Nick should be here shortly.”

She turned to go, but Jenna’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Thank you.” Her voice broke over the words as she obviously struggled to control her emotions.

Mai wanted to tell her not to worry, that they would find Sarah; but she knew that might not be true—not in today’s world. So instead she merely nodded and then hurried to the elevator.

When she reached the lobby, she saw Nick hadn’t arrived yet. With nothing else to do, she decided to check her mail.

“Morning, Mai—how are you?”

Almost to the mailboxes, Mai nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Will’s voice. She turned and saw him standing a short distance off and would have sworn he hadn’t been there a second ago. “Will. You startled me. What are you doing up at this hour?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he countered, coming
toward her, his gaze traveling over her. It was a grossly obvious attempt at being seductive and would have been funny if it hadn’t been so creepy.

“I’m waiting for someone,” Mai explained, hoping it would discourage him. She should have known better.

Giving her a smile, he stepped closer. “You know, I only do the maintenance work as a hobby. I don’t really need to work at all.”