The Unwanted

Chapter Six

“I haven’t ever seen any place where people run so much.” Destin watched yet another runner cut around them, heading up the winding streets that made up much of the area around the University of Virginia.

“They run because there’s no place to park. Driving isn’t an option,” Caleb said blandly.

She grimaced. It sounded laughable, but it might almost be true. Twenty minutes trying to find a parking space. “We’re calling a cab from here on out,” she said, following the ebb and flow of people.

A police car slowed just ahead as students thronged around one of the crosswalks. “Campus police,” she murmured.

“Yeah. The place has its own police department. So far, they haven’t found anything.”

She gave him a sidelong look. “I figured that. If they had, we wouldn’t be here, would we?”

Sighing, he dipped a hand into his pocket to touch the ID Oz had provided for him. It would get them around on campus, but it wasn’t going to open any doors if they had to ask questions. His Bureau ID wasn’t going to help there either, because unless he had a reason to be there, people weren’t as likely to talk.

In a smaller town, maybe. And it was always possible he could find a few people who’d talk out of curiosity, but the people who would have the answers weren’t the ones who’d answer questions just for the hell of it.

“If you keep staring so hard at that cop car, somebody is going to notice,” Destin pointed out.

He cut a look her way and grimaced. “Sorry. Trying to figure out how to handle this. It’s new territory for me.”

“Wow. You mean there’s something you’re not perfectly equipped to handle?” She blinked at him as she slowed to a stop in front of a storefront. “What exactly do you suppose makes your clothes fabulously British or un-British?”

Caleb shot a look at the display in the window. “If that’s fabulously British, then I’m going to be forever unfabulous.”

Somebody bumped into him.

Just one of those accidental bumps…a rush of images swelled inside his head and he whipped around to stare, the movement automatic even though it was useless.

A girl on the ground. Struggling. Hands gripping her wrists while a man laughed. Grunts, more laughter, a little ragged this time, while the girl whimpered. She went to scream, but it was cut off by a cruel hand against her mouth.

The images flooded him, drowned him.

And as quick as they came on, they were gone.

Whenever he did have a solid connection, it always hit him like this—just like this. Too insubstantial for him to link on, like trying to grip cotton candy, and it was already fading away.

“Caleb?”

Her hand touched his and he heard her quick, startled breath, followed by her hand closing around his wrist as he dropped his shields. She had already done the same.

He couldn’t process this the way Destin could but they merged their abilities too late. It was already gone.

“Where did he go?” she asked, her fingers still gripping his arm.

Still trying to clear his head, Caleb turned his head and stared. “I don’t know,” he said, his voice tight and rusty while a headache started to pulse at the base of his skull.

“Damn it.” Destin shot him a narrow look. “You up for a walk?”

He grimaced. “Doesn’t matter if I am or not.”

A look flickered across her face as she studied him and then she reached into her pocket, pulled out a little tin box. “Here. Tylenol. I expected I’d need them, not you.”

He took a couple and tossed them back dry as they started to walk. “We’re looking for a needle in a haystack here,” he said. There was still an annoying tightness in his throat and the headache was swelling to massive proportions. Pressing the heel of his hand to his eye socket, he dodged a group of laughing girls and met back up with Destin as she stopped at a crosswalk.

“Yes.”

Maybe he was off-balance from the connection. Maybe it was from the headache. Or maybe he needed to see a reaction from Destin, he didn’t know. But he looked over at her and instead of trying to find a subtle way to say it, he just threw it out there. “You know, we might be able to work this a lot faster if your boss wasn’t holding back on us.”

Her spine went straight and tight. Slowly, she turned her head to look at him, her mouth flattened out into a thin, flat line. Her eyes flashed cold fire at him. “Excuse me?”

“She’s hiding something.”

“Oz knows how we work,” she said coldly. “She’s given us everything we need to do our job.”

The kid next to them looked at them strangely and Caleb moved in, grabbing her arm. “Keep it down.”

She jerked her arm away. “Kiss my ass.” Spinning on her heel, she said, “I’ve been doing my job solo a long time and I’ve been working with her a lot longer than you have. She gave us what we need. If we need more? It’s up to us to find it.”

It went from nothing to overload in the blink of an eye.

That wasn’t the case, not really, but it sure as hell seemed that way, and all because of that one moment on the street. If it had been her who’d gotten bumped instead of Caleb, she could have already found that connection, she knew it. Still, even with their fumbling around, they were getting closer.

“It won’t be much longer.” Destin could feel it, the dark, ominous weight hovering around her. Each day they’d returned to the same area and Destin had gone unshielded each time, hoping to catch something. She’d caught something, all right, a headache from the sheer amount of stimuli. She was tuned into the vibes from sexual predators, but she was still psychic and nobody had emotions running on high the way college students revved up on life, nerves and caffeine did.

But that wasn’t what she needed.

What she needed was…this. This dark, ugly connection that was just out of her reach.

But so close.

She just needed one thing to close that gap.

“I feel like something is missing.” The second she said it she wanted to kick herself.

Caleb said nothing, just continued to stare out over the campus.

It had been a quiet two days. They’d both watched the police reports, listened to the radio. And Destin slept unshielded. Because she did, she knew he was doing the same. Heaven help her if she picked up on a rape in progress. Her control was paper-thin right now, but she’d get through it without losing control again, because she had no choice.

Caleb’s words came back to haunt her.

Something is missing…

We might be able to work this a lot faster if your boss wasn’t holding back on us… Was there more going on than what Oz had led them to believe? Shit, of course there was, but did Oz know more?

It was enough to make her head hurt even more than it already did and after the past two days, it hurt plenty. She’d taken to carrying around an entire bottle of Tylenol, plus the medications that had been prescribed for migraines. She hated taking those because they left her head all muzzy, but if a migraine grabbed her, she’d be at the mercy of her gift and that wasn’t acceptable in a place where there was a rapist running free.

She had to be logical about this.

Could Oz be holding something back on her? Loyalty tried to insist no. There was no reason for that, right? What reason did Oz have for holding anything back?

Destin knew there was something out there, a missing piece that she needed to make that connection, but it could be any number of things. She was working blind. She hadn’t talked to a victim yet. Hadn’t even tried. Hadn’t talked to any law enforcement. Hadn’t tried to do that, either. Hadn’t tried to talk to any of the suspects and that would have been easy enough too, thanks to Oz’s list.

All she’d done was wander the town and visit the crime scenes.

And they’d hit the mother lode at the first crime scene. Alleged crime scene, a sardonic voice inside her head reminded her. To that voice, she said shut up. She wasn’t an agent anymore and she knew the rapes had happened. She felt the vibe in the air, felt the hum in her blood. She didn’t have to worry about all the legal trappings of alleged, didn’t have to worry about those lines anymore. Caleb did, but she didn’t.

She’d been standing right where it had happened and when she’d lowered her shields? The rush of fear, lust, pain and the need to hurt had grabbed her, threatened to suck her under. It had gripped her for so long Caleb had ended up walking her near-zombified form off the campus after they’d started to attract attention.

That night, she’d had the first nosebleed but the connection had hovered just out of reach.

With each passing hour, that darkness moved in more and more, until it felt like it was going to choke her. And now…it was just moments away. It could hit in an instant. Of course, it could also take a week. She needed that one missing piece.

The echo was turning into a hum even now and every step she took made the awful music grow louder.

Caleb sensed it too. He was watching her with those dark eyes, watching and waiting for the time to step in. “Do we need to leave?” he asked quietly.

“No. It’s better if we stay.” She shook her head and continued to stare out over the campus.

One of the buildings loomed in front of her and her gaze landed on the doorway—logically, she shouldn’t know what it was. Logically.

But she did.

And…click…

“It was here,” she said, her mouth going dry. The images slammed into her brain. Caleb was silent as everything played out in her head, her vision blurring as the girl’s vision superimposed with her own. Right there—that was where he stopped me/her…

“I need to walk. I’ve finally got something,” she said, forcing her shields up enough so she could focus and talk to Caleb.

“Okay.” Caleb blew out a breath. “Do you need me?”

She could feel the warmth of his presence, hovering just beyond herself and all she had to do was reach for him. “No.” Yes…but she wasn’t going to lose herself in the relaxing comfort of his presence yet. She needed to feel everything the girl had felt for now. “I’m good. I just need to be…somewhere.”

Her instincts would take her to the right spot.

They started up the path away from the library, heading toward the Rotunda. “She’s going to medical school,” Destin said quietly, tuning back into the pain, the vision slicing into her.

“Yes. Her father died of cancer.”

Of course, he knew. He would have read all about the victims, as much as he could find anyway. She had to take that in bit by bit or it colored too much of what she was searching for.

The knowledge hurt even more. It was an old, familiar pain, all that bright and determined hope, so carelessly damaged.

“She hasn’t gone home.”

“No.” He glanced over at her. “Four others did. She hasn’t.”

Destin nodded. A wash of darkness crept across her field of vision, followed by a flicker of bright lights, the ghostly echo of laughter. “There…” She stumbled into him. He steadied her with his hand on her arm.

“Easy,” he murmured. “I got you.”

He passed a hand down her hair. “Let me in now, Destin.”

“No.” She shook her head, hating that she was tempted. So tempted. “Not yet.”

This was what she had to do. She’d rely on him later, but for now, this was up to her. This was what she’d been made for. She hated their suffering, their pain. This was what she needed. But as much as she hated their pain, there was a part of her that lived for this, because this was how she brought down monsters.

She was every bit as monstrous as they were, she thought…waiting for the next job, living for the next time she could go on a chase like this. It didn’t matter that she worked to hunt them down, make them stop.

They were predators who loved to cause fear…and she was a predator who loved to hunt them.

Monsters, the lot of them, and she was no better. Without them, she had no purpose.

Her feet stumbled on the path as the darkness edged in closer. If Caleb hadn’t been so close, she might have gone to the ground. “Easy,” he murmured, sliding an arm around her waist. Anybody watching them would think they were just walking arm and arm, but he was all but carrying her now, the weakness draining out of her as the connection deepened.

….laughing…why is he laughing…the confusion from the girl tore into her. Confusion, a fog of fear.

“Shit, Destin,” he muttered. “You should have said it was coming at you this hard. How bad is it going to be?”

“It’s not going to be bad,” she said, her voice thick as they settled onto a low-lying brick wall and stared back toward the library. “It’s just strong.”

From here, she could see where the girl had stumbled through the doors just after the library had opened in the morning. Three months ago, and the remnants of what had been done to her still lingered.

All those bits and pieces worked together into a fabric, forming a more cohesive image, her breath coming in harsh, heavy pants as image after image slammed into her.

His face…she could almost see his face.

Through her lashes, she stared at the walkway, already seeing vague echoes of that night superimposing itself over what was taking place now.

“Not bad?” Caleb echoed.

She dragged her attention back to the present and focused on Caleb, staring at him through her lashes. His dark brown eyes were locked on her face, intense, staring at her like he was trying to see clear through to her soul. Once upon a time, she’d thought maybe he could. But those days were done.

“You’re white as a ghost and stumbling. You can’t fight it off and you’re trying to tell me it’s not bad?” he said.

“It’s not.” She swallowed and dashed the back of her hand over her mouth. “It’s strong. Felt the echoes off and on all day. I can push it off if I have to, but it’s right there and I think I need to see what it’s trying to show me now.”

She felt his surprise. She’d never been able to fight them back before. But then again, she’d never been that interested in trying. Control had become vital for her, though.

“Talk to me,” she said as the darkness tugged on her harder and harder. “Tell me something about her, about the girl.” He’d know. He would have gone through every last detail he could get his hands on.

Taut seconds stretched out between them and slowly, he started to speak. “She was in here until it closed. It’s one of the smaller libraries—they’ve got four on the campus, but from what I can tell, they all stay pretty busy. According to the police report, she remembers leaving…”

As he talked, she closed her eyes and let her mind drift with his voice until she placed herself there. And then she was there. Back with the girl…back within the girl.

It came on hard, fast.

Too cold…shouldn’t have stayed so late. Why didn’t I bring a jacket—oh, hey, look who is here—features…Destin could barely make them out, but she made a mental catalog of them and something about them was familiar. Look at him closer, let me see him…but she knew it was useless. All of this had already happened and she couldn’t change the events. She’d have to take her clues from what was already there to find.

Still, if she’d seen him before, when she saw him again, she’d know.

Something is off…in the part of her mind where Destin was still herself, she realized that, knew it. She should be able to get her mind to settle better, lock in better on the assailant. But she couldn’t get a better lock and she couldn’t alter or shift things that had already happened.

He’s so fucking hot. Why can’t he be a student…Destin seized on that thought. That…now that was useful.

So nice, so funny…but my dad would kill me…oh, screw it. Why do I always have to be the good girl…I can have a fucking beer if I want, right? He’s not going to tell on me, right? This was the point where Destin would have mentally shied away, if she knew what was good for her, because she already knew what was coming.

Gross. This is nasty. Why do people drink… That was the last clear thought.

After that, everything was clouded and muzzy. She would have been drugged, Destin suspected. As quick as her thoughts went from clear and bright to dark and clouded, there was no way a beer had hit her that hard.

So cold…oh, he has nice hands. I like that. Wait—

Have to stop. Fear tried to push in. Destin felt that flicker of fear ignite her rage, but she battled it down. No more blind rages. Not for her. She didn’t give in to them, didn’t feel them, and didn’t feed on them.

Vague memories of a calming, deep voice, teasing and soft. That quick, light burn of lust, dazed heat. Okay…maybe some more beer instead. Yeah…no. Wait. Have to stop…scholarship.

Cold. So cold—

Oh. That’s nice…the thoughts got blurrier then. The confusion and chaos grew stronger.

Wait—who is that? A voice. The girl didn’t see anybody, but that voice, she knew that voice. A smell, one that triggered instant panic assaulted her, and through the bond of memories, Destin as well.

No, no, no, nononono…what are you doing here?

Clear thought burst through the confusion. Panic.

What is going on—

And then the pain started.

Caleb kept his hands on Destin’s even when she flinched and pull away from him. She moaned quietly and all he wanted to do was push inside now, use his ability to cut through what she was picking up on and stop the pain.

But now wasn’t the time.

If he intruded now, she might miss something she needed to see to stop this.

So instead of pushing inside and filtering the pain away, he shared it with her.

It was one thing she’d never realized he could do and maybe there wasn’t any point to it, but he wouldn’t let her suffer alone.

Just as he hadn’t let her suffer her nightmares alone.

When the girl tried to scream, Caleb knew the reason nobody heard was because somebody had clamped a hand over her mouth and he felt the same sensation of smothering that Destin now suffered. The pain that had her sweating and trembling gripped him as well.

And when the connection ended, he lowered his head and focused on the scarred wooden surface of the picnic table. Destin would need a few minutes to settle back inside her skin after that and he’d use it because he needed to settle himself.

It hadn’t been just one son of a bitch who’d hurt the girl.

The police report hadn’t made any mention of that, but the girl had been confused and scared when it started, then it only got worse. She’d been dumped out behind the library, unconscious, and had stayed out there all night, the doctors believed. Her clothes had been torn. Her panties, wool tights and one leather boot had been missing. She had been one of the victims with more serious bruising, but nothing had led the police to believe there was more than one perpetrator.

But Destin’s vision had been pretty clear.

The girl had been held down by one man while another raped her.

Whether or not both men had assaulted her, Caleb didn’t know. The girl had lost consciousness during the assault. Tests at the hospital had proven inconclusive as to whether or not she’d been slipped any sort of drugs that might have incapacitated her.

Caleb was certain she’d been given something. The confusion in the memories Destin had lifted from the vision were too muddled for anything else, and that had started before the rape.

Some of the more popular date-rape drugs left the system pretty damn quick and she’d been outside, unconscious, alone, for hours, and then it had taken the college another hour to get her to the hospital while they wrung their hands and worried about this latest attack.

Two perpetrators.

This changed the game.

Untangling his hands from Destin’s, he swiped one over his forehead and then pressed the heels against his eye sockets, waiting for his brain to settle, the rage to fade.

They’d find them. They’d find them, stop them.

That was all they could do.

It wasn’t enough.

But then again, it never had been.

Sucking in a breath as the connection abruptly ended, Destin closed her eyes and groaned. Disjointed thoughts, sensation and images circled through her head. The connection had ended, but it was like she was still in the middle of a download and the shit she downloaded was like a video straight out of hell.

Across from her, Caleb waited. Patient and quiet, unperturbed.

It was beyond fucked up that she was in this kind of turmoil and he was like the Rock of Gibraltar, she thought disgustedly.

Man, what she wouldn’t give to let him take some of these nightmares for a while.

“It’s coming,” she said sourly. “Too much of it.”

He held out a hand.

As their palms touched, she felt him reaching out, felt his shields lower.

She lowered hers, almost eagerly, ready to let him ease some of the noise away.

The confusion in her head faded almost instantly. The pain. The fear.

All of it gone…and then she opened her eyes, staring at the small building just off to the side of the parking lot.

“There were two of them there that night,” she said quietly. “And one of them was a security guard.”