Blade Song - By J.C. Daniels Page 0,85

was a mist at first and it seemed like he formed out of the steam that danced above my bath, solidifying by my feet and staring down at me with that slight smile of his. That one that made me think of superior gods looking down on their creations with indulgent if puzzled amusement and thinking…whatever is that silly thing doing now?…right before they swatted the fools back into the stone age.

Glaring at him, I said flatly, “Get out.”

“Oh, come now, darling Kit…you don’t really want me to leave you alone while you’re asleep in the bathtub,” he drawled, kneeling down.

I glared at him.

“You look so happy to see me,” he teased. “As always. Judging by your light mood, does that mean you’ve completed your job and you’ll return home?”

“Job’s not done.”

He cocked his head. “You still haven’t found the boy?”

“Oh, we found him.” But I wasn’t done. I was done when I found the fuckers behind this and ended them. “Now go away.”

“Really, Kit. All I want to do is talk…”

“Yeah, well, find somebody else.” I gave him a sour look as I drew my legs up to my chest and glared at him. Blond hair framed his face and for all the world, he looked like an angel. A deadly one.

“But I like talking to you.” He smiled again and trailed a hand through the water. “I like watching over you. I like being near you.”

I snorted.

His brows dropped low over his eyes. “It’s the truth. You…the energy in you is pleasant. I could feel it without even having fed from you, but ever since I have?” A ruby red gleam settled in the back of his gaze and my heart jittered in my throat. “It’s a pleasure like no other, Kit, and I can’t wait to have it again. It’s unparalleled. I suspected it would be wonderful. I underestimated.”

Was this the way a mouse felt when it was thrown into a cage with a snake, I wondered? Even in the dream, I was feeling freaked out. Very freaked out.

“I want to be alone,” I said flatly. I want you the hell away from me. “I’m tired.”

“All the more reason I should be here.” A slow smile curved his lips. “At least if I’m here, I can make you wake if you start to slip under.”

Then he narrowed his eyes and murmured, “Or worse…damn it, I knew this was going to happen. You can’t trust the cats, Kit.”

“Just get ou—”

Cooler air danced on my flesh.

“Wake up, Kit. He’s coming. You have to wake up,” Jude said. I saw him staring past me. “Damn it, wake up!”

I sneered at him even as my mind started to move in that direction. But something wouldn’t let me—

Something grabbed me. Shoved me under.

Voices yelling. Jude’s, a roar in my mind.

“The fucking cat—he’s trying to kill you—the bitch had her job done. Stop fighting me—”

Other voices, over the rush of water in my ears.

But I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t—

“Let me in,” Jude demanded.

Couldn’t breathe…couldn’t…couldn’t…

“Damn it, you stubborn little bitch! Breathe!”

Something pushed down on my chest and I thought my ribs were going to crack under the pressure.

Choking.

I was choking.

A sensation that was all too familiar.

Hard hands shoved me, rolled me over as I emptied my gut, my lungs of the water, of every bit of food I’d put in my belly.

Even when I’d purged myself, I couldn’t stop retching. Couldn’t stop coughing. My heart thundered in my ears and I was cold. So fucking cold. Shivers wracked me and fear pummeled me. Part of me kept thinking…what…what…what…

But my brain wouldn’t let me even complete the thought because if I did, I might have to answer the damn question.

An eternity might have passed before I managed to get past that what…what…what… stage.

“Kit…”

Damon’s voice…

I shoved away from him as terror took back over.

Jude’s voice was a whisper in the back of my mind. An insidious, ugly little whisper. “He tried to kill you, Kit. Let me in. I can help, but not if I can’t get to you in time…”

Shivering, cold, I scrambled to my feet and stumbled out into the bedroom. Grabbing the blanket, I wrapped it around me before I let myself turn around. It was something of a shock to realize there were a half-dozen people in there. Damon, Kori, Es, Jo, Tate, and a witch I didn’t know.

“What…?” I cleared my throat and tried again. “What in the hell is going on?”

“That fucking leech was in your head again, wasn’t he?”

I was