Survivor Reborn (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter) Page 14

  She ushered me out the door back to the lounge in a hurry. She sat me down, then placed a small trash can at my feet in case I needed it.

  Thoughts of the girl being branded raised a question in my mind. My hand flew up to my neck, checking for nonexistent burn scars. I hadn’t seen any before, but I couldn’t stop myself from checking.

  Kieran had been looking for Jacob when she was attacked, what if he’d gotten to her? Wouldn’t he have branded her as well? What if Jacob wasn’t the one that wiped her mind? What if we’re looking for the wrong guy?

  I sat there in silence with my thoughts until the world stopped spinning.

  Ren broke the long silence first, “That girl was tortured just like the others, with one difference. . . .”

  I looked up at Ren. She had on a poker face, not showing any emotion. A good cop face.

  “You mean the leg?” I made it a question.

  “No, the other girls also had limbs gnawed off, an arm here or a leg there. The difference is simple. SHE. IS. ALIVE! All of the other girls were found long dead. Each one branded. Each one with a different message from Jacob. He’s one sick son of a bitch.” She sat down across from me shaking slightly. “I’ve touched the bodies with my bare hands. I’ve seen what he did to them. I haven’t slept in months. We have to stop this bastard, soon!”

  “What can I do to help?” I was feeling better. Anger had taken over the nausea. I really wanted to stop Jacob now.

  The vision of that girl being branded, and the gnawed off limbs . . . this son of a bitch is pissing me off, and I haven’t even met him yet!

  “For starters, let me touch you, the real you. Maybe I can see what happened to you. It might help us get him.” She started to take off her gloves.

  “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

  “Just drop your shields and let me touch your face. I promise not to hurt you.”

  I agreed to help her with the thought that maybe she could see something in the body that no one else had. Once my shields were down she touched my face with her bare hand. I didn’t know what to expect when being read by a touch-clairvoyant. I’d half expected sparks to shoot off my skin, or to see my memories flash before my eyes. None of that happened. It was simply her warm fingers resting gently on my cheek. She sat there with a look of intense concentration on her face. Then she sat back several seconds later, wide eyed, staring at me.

  “Emmy told me that you’d changed, that I would understand once I touched you. I didn’t see anything that would help us, but. . . . You’ve been a busy boy haven’t you, Kevin?”

  I’d forgotten about my old self for a moment. I really was becoming Kieran. “Well, now you know my secret. It kind’a gives you an advantage over me.”

  She smiled at me then looked around the room making sure we were alone. “Okay, I’ll tell you a secret then and we’ll be even. Do you know what my real name is?” I shook my head no. “It’s Serenity. I go by Ren because if the rest of the department ever found out my real name they would tease me to no end.”

  I kept from laughing at her. She was serious. I had to take her seriously.

  “It is a pretty name. It suits you. So what else can I do to help you?”

  “I want you to come with me to the girl’s apartment. That’s where she was found. Perhaps you can see something there that the rest of us didn’t.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  Chapter 12

  It was a short drive to the victim’s apartment from the hospital. Ren held out her badge to the uniforms guarding the door to the crime scene. They looked at me, but didn’t question who I was or why I was there. I didn’t know if it was because I was with Ren, of if they saw my badge and actually understood what it meant. Either way it was an improvement.

  Good. I do not want a repeat of earlier today ever again.

  “No one’s been in since you were here last, Detective,” one of the guards said.

  “Thank you.” Ren opened the door stooping underneath the police tape.

  I followed her through. We stood in the hallway of the apartment when I heard glass shattering. Someone, or something, was inside the kitchen breaking plates. Ren pulled her gun. She told the uniforms to remain at the door and call for backup. I followed her inside. It sounded like a large animal was tearing apart the apartment. Ren flattened her back against the wall and leaned over to glance around the corner into the kitchen, then spun around to the other side of the doorway in a move I’d seen on dozens of cop shows. She motioned for me to look inside. I crept up mirroring her with my back against the wall, then peeked around the corner.

  There was a large brown dog tearing through the cupboards. The dog backed out and stood up on its hind legs looking around. Then I realized that it wasn’t a dog at all. It was a werewolf as tall as Nikolai but broader with more muscles. It appeared to be searching for something. Then it lifted its head sniffing the air. The creature suddenly turned to glare at us with those hollow amber animal eyes. Both Ren and I were caught looking around the doorway at the thing. Throwing its head back it let out a great howl. Movement came from deeper inside the apartment.

  There’s more than one of them!?

  “Police! You are in a restricted crime scene. Place your hands on your head and surrender. You’re under arrest!” Ren sounded as if she was talking to just a normal person, not a werewolf.

  “You are weak! Not able to stop us. We are gods among men!” the werewolf growled at us.

  Why is it that everyone is having delusions of godhood lately? Did I miss a memo or something? Attention; bingo night is Thursday and all psionics, werewolves, and vampires are now considered gods. Have a nice day.

  The werewolf charged us.

  Ren opened fire.

  The bullets did nothing to slow the beast down. I was reaching for my gun when the wolf crashed through the doorway.

  Why didn’t I have a gun out sooner? Stupid! I’m carrying a fucking arsenal under my jacket that’s useless because I have no idea what I’m doing. I really need to get Tanaka or someone to train me to do this stuff the right way before I get someone killed.

  Claws slashed harmlessly at my shields.

  Ren screamed.

  I looked at her. She was on the floor holding her freshly bleeding arm.

  I threw out my shields, hitting the beast in the back. The force of the blow threw it farther into the apartment. A black werewolf came into view and gathered its friend from the floor. The black one held a small camcorder videocassette in its hand.

  “Stop them!” Ren yelled at me cradling her arm.

  I lifted the gun from the holster at my back. My body knew what it was doing as I fired.

  The silent bullet left a light-blue trail straight into the center of the chest of the brown werewolf. Its chest exploded in a rain of blood and thicker things. It dropped instantly, crumpling into a heap on the ground. I was almost positive it was dead. Almost.

  I aimed at the other one and fired. At the last second it jumped out of the way. The bullet hit the bookcase on the other side of the room. I waited for it to explode like the other round had. Nothing happened.

  It must’ve imploded like Jamison said it would.

  The sound of a window shattering brought me to my feet. I rushed down the hall after the black werewolf. Not once stopping to think about using any tactical maneuvers I’d ever seen to safely clear the rest of the apartment like I knew the cops did. I barreled through with tunnel-vision determination, knowing my shields would protect me.

  Once I entered the living room I saw a hole in the wall where there should’ve been a window. Gun first I looked out through the hole. Broken glass and brick littered the alley below. Then I heard a scraping noise above me. I looked up in time to see the black werewolf climbing the wall of the neighboring building. It climbed the wall as if it had handholds, claws digging in-between the bricks, the videocassette in its mouth. I aimed recklessly and fired, missing the werewolf. The round hit the brick next to the thing’s h
ead and exploded, since the bricks were the target the bullet recognized when I pulled the trigger. The wolf turned to snarl at me through the rain of mortar and debris, then vaulted up to the roof.

  Ren was behind me now. She was cursing about it getting away. The other uniforms were entering the room, guns trained on the dead werewolf on the floor. They’ll take care of her. I flexed my shields then jumped out through the hole in the wall. For a split second I fell before I shot up to the roof across the alley. Ren stood in the hole in the wall gasping. Her eyes were wide with amazement.

  I guess she didn’t know I could fly.

  Once I reached the roof, I stood on foot and had to look around for the running werewolf. The black fur was a blur as it ran from me. Spurred on by a rush of adrenaline I took off running after it. Three steps later I watched in an exaggerated slow motion as the snow covered roof filled my vision when I twisted my foot in my heels and tripped.

  High heels and a skirt may look good, but they’re hell to try to chase anything in!

  Once I was back on my feet, I used the psionic shower to force the snow and dirt away from my body. That took vital seconds away before I remembered why I was there. I scanned the roofs for another sign of the werewolf. Two buildings over I saw a peek of the blur of black fur as it darted away.

  I’ll never catch it running. I don’t think I’m that fast even without the heels. But, I can out fly it. Can’t I?

  I launched myself in the direction it was running. My shields propelled me through the air towards it. I gained ground incredibly fast. I wanted to know what it was doing back at the apartment. I wanted it alive.

  In seconds I crashed into it from behind, knocking it down onto the roof in the snow. Drawing my gun, I landed a few feet away.

  “HOW!?!” it snapped at me.

  “I’m GCP, a psionic. What were you doing in the apartment?” I circled the werewolf. Gun trained on it with both hands, ready to fire.

  It stayed crouched where it’d landed. It only briefly glanced at the tape in its left hand.

  Is that what they’re after?

  “What’s on the tape?” I inquired flicking the gun barrel towards it instead of pointing.

  “You will not live to see the moon rise!” It lunged at me.

  I fired.

  The shot hit the elbow of the left arm. It exploded into a cloud of red, dropping the tape. The werewolf howled and spat at me. It kept screaming. The bloody stump that once was the left arm was causing the thing great pain. It tried to claw the rest of the arm off, as if that would stop the pain. Then it clawed at its chest and throat. The silver nitrate was in its blood. Burning like acid. The creature took one last ditch effort. It threw itself at me. I fired again, hitting its head this time. The headless corpse crashed to the bloody snow-covered roof.

  I felt no anger, no relief. The only thing I could feel was the rush of adrenaline. I felt so alive. I’d faced death and beat it. At that one moment I felt untouchable. I felt like I could control the world. At that instant I understood why everyone I’d fought recently had a god complex. The thought sobered me a little.

  No wonder psionics with power go rogue.

  I picked up the blood-and-snow-covered videocassette. I had to pry away the dead fingers of the werewolf’s severed hand from the tape. Eeeww! I felt like I needed a hot shower again–minus the personal release of course. I also felt the headache coming on. I took a painkiller from my belt pack, hoping that it would stop me from getting worse.

  I flew back to Ren and the growing number of cops inside the apartment, landing quietly in the hole that I’d left from earlier. No one saw me land, they all acted like I just appeared from nowhere. I had the tape tucked in my belt behind the holsters at my back. For some reason I didn’t want to admit I had it with so many new cops I didn’t know around.

  The shooting team was already on site by the time I got back to the apartment. They all kept switching between staring at me and at the gaping hole in the dead werewolf. One of them finally asked me just how I made that hole. I told him it was a secret, because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to tell the locals about my special guns or not. They all seemed to stare at me more with that.

  Since I was the highest ranking officer on scene, and had made the killing shot, the team saw no reason to investigate further. They declared it a GCP issue and left it for forensics to clean up. That meant that Ren wasn’t going to be put on suspension, and could keep working the case unless she felt that she needed time off. She did have to report for a routine psych evaluation later on, but that was it. I was glad. The idea of switching to another detective didn’t settle well. Too many things to explain.

  * * *

  Ren had her arm wrapped in towels that were rapidly becoming bloodily soaked. She’d refused to allow any of the paramedics that had arrived at the apartment to even examine her arm, but she did borrow the towels from them to keep from bleeding all over the place.

  I went with her back to the hospital. She kept the wrapping covered with her jacket from the trunk of her car over her shoulder and arm as we walked through the hospital to the pediatric ward. I wanted to question why we were there, but somehow I knew I would find out soon enough. Ren flashed her badge at the head nurse, then led me into an examination room. The room was decorated like a little kid’s room with clowns and balloons. Once inside she closed the door behind us. She sat on the exam table, wincing in pain.

  “Do you know what the greatest psionic power is?” she asked through the pain.

  “Well my shields have helped me so far.” It was the only answer I could give.

  “That they have. When’d you learn to fly?”

  “Actually, just yesterday,” I admitted sheepishly.

  “Cool power. I’m kind’a jealous of that. Look, the greatest psionic power is healing. Healers can either heal just themselves, or they can only heal others. Psionics that can heal others are worth a thousand times their weight in gold. They’re also in the most danger as psionics. They can heal others from great injuries almost instantly, but they can only heal themselves human slow. Also, every group in the world wants them on their side, from military, to hospitals, to crime syndicates. Everyone wants a field medic that can heal almost any wound virtually instantly without complicated surgeries or expensive medications. The GCP keeps most of the psionic healers hidden. Like a witness protection program. They’re hidden away, for their own safety, and so that the enemies can’t use their powers against the GCP.

  “There’s a psionic healer in this hospital. You have to keep her secret, or else you’re putting her life in danger. If you can’t keep her secret, then please leave before she shows up. Otherwise I’m sure she would love to meet you. Besides I think she could help us.”

  I smiled at her. It was a wicked smile, I know. But it was a funny situation. Well, funny to me anyway. “I can keep a secret. I’m good at keeping secrets.” I took out the videocassette and handed it to her.

  “Where’d you get this?”

  “It’s the tape the black werewolf took. I caught up to him and took it from him. He was reluctant to give it up though. What’s left of the body is on the roof of the fifth building to the east of the girl’s apartment.”

  “He didn’t say anything did he?” she asked me with wide eyes.

  “Only that I wouldn’t live to see the moon rise, or something like that.”

  Ren laughed at that shortly, then she doubled over in pain again. I offered her a painkiller. She took it willingly.

  “Where’d you get all your new toys? You never had stuff like this before. That gun blew one hell of a hole in that werewolf. And this painkiller is already working great. Who’ve you been making friends with?” She looked at me suspiciously with one eyebrow lifted while she once again used her good arm to brush the hair out of her eyes.

  “The painkillers are part of the regular gear they gave me. The guns, well, they’re a gift . . . from the Vampire Council.”

  Her eyes went wid
e. “You mean THE Vampire Council. The one that governs all vampires across the globe?”

  “Yeah, they were impressed that I’d survived meeting Jacob. Even though Kieran really didn’t, but they don’t know that. They pledged their support to my stopping Jacob. They want him dead worse than we do.”

  KNOCK! KNOCK!

  The door opened into the room. A nurse in her early twenties walked in. She was taller than I was, since we were eye level with me in the heels and her in sneakers. I’d have sworn she was a model. She was thin, but not sickly so. More like she was just the right thinness for her, and athletic to boot. She wore bright pink scrubs. There were little teddy bears kissing on top of floating hearts plastered all over them. Her bright blond hair was cut short and feathery around her head. The style looked good on her. She was very attractive. Not just in my mind either. Something deep inside me let me know that the body liked her as well. Her deep blue-green eyes looked back and forth between Ren and myself.

  “I’m sorry, I think I have the wrong room.” She smiled a bright cheerful smile then turned to leave.

  “It’s okay Vicki. This is Kieran Grey, GCP Hunter Class. You can trust her, I promise.”

  Something about the way she said that last part, it was like I was missing out on a personal conversation or something. Ren started to uncovered her torn arm. She was taking effort to unwrap the bloody towels without causing worse injury.

  Vicki closed the door and turned around. She still had that same smile. She put out her hand. I shook it. She seemed to smile more.

  “It’s always nice to meet someone I can trust.” Her smile faded as she looked at Ren and her torn arm. “What did that?”

  “Werewolf. I don’t need any vaccine or painkillers, just healing. If it’s okay with you?” Ren said it like a question.

  Vicki leaned over Ren. Her face all business now. “Oh Serenity sweetie, you know I would do anything to help you.” She placed her hands on the torn flesh. The hands began to softly glow. Then, like magic, the torn flesh mended itself. It was all over in under a minute, like watching months of time-lapse photography at high speed. Ren flexed her newly healed arm. She looked pleased with the results.