AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Do," he said seriously. "Anytime."
"So," she said, pushing a half-full cup of coffee back. "In your expert opinion, what do dreams like that one mean?"
"Expert?" he asked, taking one more bite of the cake before setting it aside, as she had her coffee.
"You teach psychology, right?"
For a moment he looked confused, then chagrined. "No. I teach parapsychology."
"Parapsychology," she repeated.
"It's the study of phenomena which have not yet been explained by conventional science. You know," he said when she did not respond. "Extrasensory perception, clairvoyance and clairaudience, telepathy, psychometry, remote viewing, precognition."
Ruby felt deflated. Shit. Zane Benedict was good-looking and smart and sexy, and she had really enjoyed his company tonight. She was even beginning to forgive his insistence on eating healthy and shunning her favorite food groups. Too bad he was a flake.
Zane knew this look. He'd seen it many times in his lifetime. It wasn't as bad for him as it had been for his father. These days there were a greater number of people willing to admit that there was more to life than what could be seen and explained in a rational fashion. Of course there were skeptics. He should've known Ruby was one of them. "You're not a believer."
"In woowoo stuff?" she asked. "No."
Woowoo was one of his least-favorite words. "I could try to convince you, but I suspect we don't have enough time for that, not tonight."
"Nope. I'd be a hard sell." She did smile a little, which assured him that while she was not a believer, she wasn't afraid of him, either. Sadly, she would be a believer before all was said and done, but by then it would be too late.
Shortly after that awkward moment, he said good night and accepted a huge piece of chocolate cake she insisted he carry home. Death by Chocolate, she called it. Normally, he might find that an amusing name for a dessert, but at the moment there was nothing at all amusing about death.
While Zane did not claim to have any psychic ability of his own, he felt as if eyes were watching him as he crossed the street. Curious neighbors? A jealous would-be suitor? Or a servant of II Colletore who was watching over the latest sacrifice?
Ruby was so tired she didn't have any trouble falling asleep. After placing the anonymous gift on the bookcase in the living room and double-checking all the doors and windows, she crawled into bed, pulled the blanket to her shoulders, and almost instantly dropped into a deep sleep.
Aiyana ran, cutting into the deepest part of the forest to make her escape. Her long black braid whipped as she ran. Her bare feet had been battered against the harshest part of the path, and already her legs were scratched. They bled, a little, they stung horribly. She did not slow down.
When she had found the pretty rock in the creek, she had thought it a gift from the earth, and she had treasured it, hiding it among those few things she called her own, taking it out and stroking it when she could not sleep. The stone was shaped like an animal and had the face of a small panther. Many nights she had passed studying that face, feeling as if it were alive. Now she knew that the stone was not a gift but a curse. A terrible curse. It had come for her soul. Helaku had told her so, right before he'd unleashed the darkness.
She grabbed the protective totem she wore around her neck and squeezed tight, and as she did so she heard the movement behind her. Footsteps crashing through the forest she called home came closer and closer, stealing the last of her hope. She looked up to the full and brilliant moon, which she could see through an opening in the limbs above. The moon was too large, an omen that all was not as it should be. She had always thought the moon was her friend, but tonight it was not. It shone down upon her, offering no place to hide.
Helaku grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. He held the cursed stone on the palm of his hand as he pressed her body to the ground with his foot.
Aiyana gripped the totem that lay against her chest. It would protect her from darkness, as it was meant to do. Helaku reached down and pried her fingers apart. He forcibly took the totem from her, throwing it aside to land on the littered forest floor, where it would do her no good at all.
"II Gatto Nero has chosen you," Helaku said. "Your soul will feed him well."
"Why, Helaku?" she asked. "Why do you do this to me?"
The old man who had been her father's friend for all of Aiyana's too-short life did not answer. Instead, he looked to the moon and began to speak in a language she did not understand. From the green stone in his hand a dark shape rose.
Aiyana screamed, realizing that the darkness was coming for her. That blackness would take her spirit, it would take all that she was, and she would be no more.
It hurt. . . . *
Ruby sat up sharply. There was a pain in her chest, a deep pain just like the one that had made a young girl scream for help that had not come. She glanced at the bedside clock. One fifteen in the morning, and she was wide-awake and terrified of returning to sleep. Drugs. She needed drugs to knock her out, so she would not dream.
Unfortunately, she had no such drugs, and besides, that might make matters worse. What if another dream came and she couldn't wake up? She shuddered and rolled over to face the window.
The moon was not quite full, but it was getting there. Just a couple more days. Both of her disturbing dreams had included a full moon. Was it a warning of some kind? Was something going to happen during the full moon?
All was silent, so she could not mistake the soft sound that captured her attention. A deep purr resonated from the very walls, as if a large, satisfied cat hid within them. A large, satisfied black cat?
No, just a cat. One of Hester's kitties must've crawled under the house and gotten stuck. Great. Ruby rolled over, intent on grabbing her bathrobe and a flashlight so she could check under the house for a stray cat. She didn't get far before her plans changed.
