They stood a moment in the entryway of the mostly empty house. To Cade it felt as if no one had ever really lived there. It didn't have the feel of a home. It was just a house. A place to pass through.
Raine pointed to the right. "Kitchen," she mostly grunted. With a small bag slung over her shoulder she went towards the back of the house, leaving him standing in the darkened foyer.
Taking the bags of chinese food towards the kitchen he noted that the living room was empty of furniture. The kitchen, however, held a small wooden table. Four matching oak chairs surrounded it. A cheap plastic drying rack was on the counter next to the sink. It held a few plates, cups and a couple of items of silverware. After setting the food on the table, Cade put the plates and silverware next to it. After a moment of consideration, Cade grabbed one of the big plastic glasses as well.
When Raine joined him she was dressed as she had been that morning. Blue cotton boxers and a gray tank top. He came close to asking her how she'd managed to get into new clothes but one look at her hand told him.
It was slowly oozing blood once again. Without the pressure of bandages it never seemed to completely stop. The angry red color was shiny in the light. When she moved closer he could see that the swelling had increased. The red seemed to radiate from the wound, slowly creeping towards her fingers.
Dumping a handful of items to the tabletop that had been clutched between her good hand and her chest, she looked at Cade. "Need to wrap it again," she told him as she pulled two pill bottles from the waistband of her boxers and plopped them on the table as well.
"What are those for?" he asked as he carefully applied antibiotic gel to the wound.
"Antibiotics," she hissed, "And a pain killer."
He paused looking up to search her face. "What do you need pain killers for?"
A snort. "What, you don't think I'm in pain?"
"I think," he started calmly, careful to keep his tone neutral, "that they don't give painkillers like that without a damn good reason."
Violet eyes met his. The defensiveness crept between them, slowly rising up like a wall. Finally she nodded curtly. "Finish wrapping and I'll tell you."
Finished, Cade pushed the pill bottles towards her. Taking one of the sodas from the six pack he opened it then upended the can into the plastic cup. She didn't look up as he pushed the drink towards her. Instead she kept her eyes down to the bottle between her knees. She wrestled with the childproof lid with her good hand, grumbling under her breath.
"Want some help?"
"Nah, I got it." She held up a bright yellow capsule in triumph.
"You want the others?"
Raine shook her head. "I hate those things," she confided, indicating the analgesic with her head. "They're worse than being drunk. Fuzzy up your head. Like my head needs help with that."
From the corner of his eye he watched as she washed down the yellow pill with soda. Without a word he dug into the bags of take out and divided up the food properly.
"Tell me," he requested when they were finally settled.
"Serial rapist from St. Louis," she replied before taking a bite. "He was running rampant."
"Cutting women up I think you said before."
"Right. He started off just raping them. Then he started cutting them up. He had struck a dozen times before they called me. They were worried he was going to kill his next victim. He snatched her off the street a few hours before I got the call. She was dead before I got there."
Cade felt his blood grow cold. "He didn't"
"No." She shrugged, her tone mild. "He wasn't interested in me. I wasn't really his type. He was more into blondes."
Food offered a distraction as he tried to let her continue at her own pace. After a few minutes she started again.
"We finally tracked him down to an old loft."
"We?"
"Aaron and I," she replied. Her voice was enough to let him know that Aaron had been more than a mere coworker. "He was the lead detective on the case. The person who called me in." He could see her mentally shake herself. "Anyway, we tracked him to one of the old lofts that were being rented in the warehouse district. It was storming. Lots of thunder and lightning.
"At first we didn't think he was there. But then I felt him. Back up was called and we decided to go in."
Cade protested, "But you're not a cop!"
"No, I'm not," she agreed between bites. "But I can take care of myself. And we really didn't have a lot of time to go over options."
He nearly protested again but managed to hold his tongue.
"We were inside and he snuck up on us. He managed to knock Aaron out then he turned his attention to me."
"I thought you said he didn't-"
"Oh, he didn't rape me. I wasn't kidding when I said I wasn't his type. But that didn't mean that cutting me into pieces wouldn't be fun."
"Oh God."
"He slammed me into a wall. Totally blindsided me. Didn't see it coming. My head bounced off the cinderblocks. I thought I was going to pass out. He must have thought so too because he risked turning me around to face him. Then he cut me."
She rose abruptly at that, picking up her dishes. At the sink she rinsed them and set them in the other side of the stainless steel sink. He could see her hands tremble but wisely chose to say nothing. Taking a minute to stare out the window over the sink Raine tried to calm her nerves. After a moment or two she turned back to face him and leaned back against the counter.
"The back up was close. Both of us could hear the sirens. He grinned at me and told me that they wouldn't be fast enough to save me."
"What did you do?" he asked quietly.
"Kneed him in the crotch." A small smile slipped onto her face at his laugh. "Then I made sure he was out. When the back up got there I was passed out. They brought the ambulance around and took me to the hospital. I woke up a few days later. He cracked my skull when I hit the wall. Managed to break a few ribs as well. So they gave me some painkillers. I guess a few broken bones and some bumps and bruises warrants some drugs when they happen in the line of duty."
Cade started to speak, but at that moment she turned and the light caught the flesh of her abdomen. And the white-pink scar there. She pulled the edge of the tank top down when she saw where his eyes were.
"It's not as bad as it looks. Really," she offered.
His voice was hoarse. "Come here."
Slowly she shuffled across the linoleum floor until she came to stand in front of him. His hand shook as he reached out for the edge of the material. Hesitantly he lifted it. The bullet wound she received while blowing the Gua installation was about the same height as her belly button and nearly centered between her side and her navel. Even though he was there when the wound happened, had even healed it with his own hands, it still rocked him.
But it didn't rock him nearly as much as the jagged pink line that ran from a few inches below the old wound, up through it and across towards her left side. It nicked the upper edge of her belly button and stopped just below the low point of her rib cage.
The monster hadn't merely tried to cut her. He had tried to gut her like a fish. Rip her intestines out while she watched. He didn't have to rape her to defile her.
With fingers that trembled in the air he reached out and traced that line. He opened his mouth to speak but suddenly he was pitched back to that moment in time.
***
Lightning lit up the large, dirty gray building as she stared at it. The miserable drizzle that had fallen all day turned into a full-fledged downpour, cutting off words as she started to speak. Thunder rumbled overheard and she could feel the tremor from inside the patrol car. Casting a glance at him as the lighting flashed again she could see that he was as unsure of the place as she was.
The warehouse district was becoming more and more trendy. The lofts inside were rented at inflated prices to people for whom looks meant a great deal. But their guy wasn't interested in trendy. He just wanted private and isolated. Even the trendies hadn't come this far into that part of town so he had gotten exactly what he wanted. It did make hunting harder. Pretty young blondes didn't usually come this way. Finding them and getting them back to the loft was part of the challenge now.
"Are you sure this is it?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.
He peered out the windshield again and nodded slightly. "The loft at the top has been rented under one of his aliases." He smiled at her. "All of which came from leads you gave us."
She blushed and looked away from him. He had been gushing about her since they had met. Of course he had been the one to bring her in amid the skepticism. At first it had been to help assure his superiors they had done the right thing. But along the way it had developed into something else. They had developed into something else.
Turning her attention back to the building she hoped he hadn't noticed the blush in the strobes of lightning that were happening every few seconds now. The storm was escalating quickly.
With a deep breath she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. Somewhere deep inside she hoped he wouldn't be there. That they wouldn't have to go in. She wasn't sure why that hope had sparked inside of her, but it had. Shoving it away, she tried to tune out the static on the police radio and tune into the static of her own head. The white noise that was always in her head was much dimmer than normal. Concentrating, she tried to give it a boost. Then she let her mind float across the space of the street and to the building. The wave of thought recoiled when it touched the slimy, black aura of the structure. The part of her that was still inside her body was aware of the whimper that came from her at that contact. Of his hand sliding across the seat to gently cover hers. Taking courage and energy from that contact she shoved through the darkness. Once inside she tried to feel the energies. Tried to ride them. Even if she could get an impression of the place, that would help. But all she got was the feel of the natural open space of a loft. She frowned and he noticed.
"Not getting anything?" he asked softly, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Storms mess me up," she admitted in a distant voice. "I think it has something to do with all the electrical energy in the air." A small smile played on her face even though she didn't look at him. "Of course it's not exactly a hard science so I can't really be sure."
Lightning flared again. When it fell away she felt it. Her breath caught in her throat. Gingerly she tried to poke it. Get a sense of it as a whole. But it was dark. The kind of dark that wasn't just an absence of light. It swallowed light. It was cold and greasy. Churning around her.
He could see the change in her. "Hey Let it go. We'll call in someone else to watch."
The warmth of his hand leaked into her. Pressed back against the darkness. But she still felt it as it slithered down her spine.
"We can't do that," she replied, her voice still distant. "He's getting antsy. He's going to strike again soon." A pause as she tried to feel for a time. A sharp intake of breath. "Tonight."
A dark brow rose skeptically. "In this mess?"
"It's not ideal," she agreed, "But it can make it easier to bring them here." Her voice shook. "Oh God. He rapes them here. Cuts them here." A whisper now. "The need keeps building. He has to do it soon."
"Is he in there then?"
"He's there."
Letting go, she returned to herself.
"He knows we're here."
She could see him cursing himself silently. The patrol car had given them away. Their man would be even more cautious than usual knowing they were around.
"We need to call for back up," she said.
"Maybe we can wait him out? If he really does feel the need to take another one tonight then he has to come out sometime."
"He knows the building better than we do. The whole area. He won't bring her back here now." She sighed. "And I can't track him in this storm. He'll slip us easily."
Aaron swore loudly then. Desperation swept across his face.
"You can't go in there," he told her.
"You can't very well go in there alone."
"We'll wait here for back up. If he sees us down here then he'll hesitate to leave. SWAT can go in after him."
She said nothing. She knew what he was thinking. Hell, anyone who had ever simply been around a cop knew what he was thinking. If they waited he could very well slip away for good. He had already had more time than he should have to prepare for them. Their hesitation could easily get someone killed either way.
"You're a civilian," he reminded her. "If I take you in there, I could lose my badge."
"You'll lose more than that if you don't," she warned quietly. Her hand slid across the vinyl seat to cover his. "If you want to wait for back up, then we wait for back up."
The decision warred within him. She could see the emotions flicker across his face. With a show of lightning came a flash of understanding. He didn't care about going in. He just didn't want her there. Didn't want her within a ten-mile radius of the place. A bad feeling had started and was growing rapidly. Cops trusted their feelings. Now he was risking her or risking more deaths.
"We both know we can't wait," he didn't like it. He didn't have to like it. "But you're going in armed."
"You know I'm a crappy shot," she reminded him as he called in for back up.
When his request was complete he replied, "You've gotten better. Hopefully you won't have to use it anyway."
She accepted the small 9mm and holster he pulled from the small of his back. Thunder drowned out all other sound as she tucked the weapon into nearly the same spot he had kept it.
"Back up will only take a few minutes to get here," he assured her. "We just have to stall him." Aaron's fingers twined with hers. "Be careful in there."
She offered him a rare full smile. "Don't worry about that."
Cop superstition kicked in when he opened his mouth to say more. Doing so would only jinx the whole thing.
At his nod they both left the car. Rain instantly soaked them as they hurried across the street. He took the lead at the door, kicking it in and doing a rapid sweep. There was some consideration given to telling him that she could have opened it a little more easily and quietly but it was something he didn't know about her and she really didn't think it was time for such revelations. She followed him in, crouching low like he indicated.
The bottom of the building was empty. Open space. Broken windows allowed the sickly yellow light from the unbroken streetlights to fall in but it didn't do much good. Static electricity from the storm danced along her skin making it tingle. Another time she might have welcomed the chance to experiment. Now it was just distracting. They paused along a wall.
"Two ways up," he told her, indicating the stairs just in front of them and the elevator behind them. "Which one?"
Once again she reached out with her mind. Carefully it crept up the stairs, floating along the currents of air to the top. She drifted to the door and lightly stroked it trying to feel him through the metal. Even though he felt far away he beckoned her closer. Her mind snapped back to her body.
"I think he's clear of both. He wants us to come up."
"Kinda makes an argument for staying here doesn't it?"
With a slight grin she nodded in agreement.
"Why can't it ever be that easy?" he wondered aloud.
"Because they're laws about putting fire escapes on these buildings?"
"Smart ass."
"Usually," she recognized. The banter helped her hands to stop shaking. She wondered if it did the same for him.
"When I get up to that first landing, then you start up," Aaron instructed. The rusted metal stairs looked rickety at best. If they were lucky the whole thing wouldn't collapse under them. "There's no way we can be quiet, so let's just be fast."
She nodded once as the flash of light managed to penetrate the grime to illuminate the massive empty space. Thunder overrode his first steps onto the stairs. When he hit the designated landing she moved swiftly up the steps behind him. After hitting the top of the stairs, a well placed kick sent the door she had touched earlier flying. The frame splintered sending shards of wood in all directions.
The whispering started then. Very quiet. Very insistent.
I don't have time for this, she thought.
But it kept coming. Used to splitting her attention, she followed the cop while she tried to understand the sounds in her head. Normally she didn't have to make much of an effort to hear it and make sense of it. It was mostly a matter of focus. But with the storm, focus wasn't enough. The information didn't come to her like it normally would. Instead it came in jagged pieces. Sometimes a few words. Sometimes a smell or an image. During storms she had to actually string these things together to make sense of them. Deciphering the information that storms scrambled required actual effort and concentration. Something she really didn't have time for at the moment.
More lighting lit up the room so they could see where they were. The door they had come through led to a small hallway. Cinder block walls were on both sides of them. The hall opened on the right. A closed door was on the left.
They moved silently, each keeping their backs to the wall. He held his gun tightly, pointed towards the ceiling. Absently she reached behind her. Fingers brushed the body warmed steel. She wasn't a great shot but the feel of it did make her slightly more relaxed. Easing the gun from the leather holster she mimicked Aaron's grip on it preferring two hands to his one.
Fear spiked within her as they reached the end of the short wall. She shouldn't be here. The feeling hit her hard, but she wasn't sure if it was Aaron's feeling that were infecting her or the voice that was still persisting in her head. With a mental shake she shoved the thought aside. She was already here. Now she would have to do whatever it took to keep them both alive.
Easing around the corner of the short wall he motioned her to follow. When she rounded the stone she could see the rest of the loft.
Unlike most loft apartments, this one still had a few walls. Some of them rose all the way to the ceiling and some were merely half walls that came to about her waist. It was enough to make her wonder if this floor had held offices at one time. She could see some furniture scattered about as well when the next flash hit. A large sectional sofa. A few chairs. Three bookshelves full of books. A desk holding a computer in one corner. The head of a shower could be seen about the walls that were six feet tall in her estimation. In the corner opposite the computer desk was a closed door. Mostly likely an office at some point. Walls rose completely to the top and they both assumed it was a completely contained room on its own.
She was drawn to it even as the voice in her brain became louder.
The gun drifted to her side as the pull forced her feet to cross the room. She could hear Aaron hiss something to her but she was already in that place where the outside world had little influence.
The door appeared gray to her in the meager light but she felt it actually held some color. With a shaking hand she pressed her fingertips to the cool surface.
"He does it here," she whispered. "There's blood. Rivers of it. I can feel it."
The voices in her head rose to a fever pitch.
A small thump behind her made her turn.
The shadow loomed over the prone form on the floor.
"Aaron!" she screamed. The sound echoed around them.
Then he was coming towards her.
Spinning on a heel she started to run. But she wasn't fast enough and he slammed into her like a linebacker. The door gave way under the force of their weight and he continued through the room taking her with him. Cinder block met her head and she groaned. He threw her into the wall again. Stars flashed behind her eyes. Darkness was filling her head and she clawed at it, desperately trying to keep it from taking over. Something slammed into her side. The cracking sound brought another moan from her.
Dazed, she tried to orient herself. He would kill her. She knew that. The voices in her head screamed at her to fight back, now having forgotten the warning they had been trying to give her. Do something. Anything.
The darkness offered her a place away from the pain. It was so very tempting.
Her body was being turned then. Her mind fought the darkness, reaching for a familiar sound.
Sirens.
The back up they had called for was coming. They were close. She had a chance.
Almost as if he could read her thoughts he leaned in close. His face was blurry but it struck her as handsome. Deep brown eyes drew her focus. There was mint on his breath.
"They won't get here in time to save you."
He grinned madly at her. One arm was at her throat, holding her to the wall. Something glinted in the strobe of lightning from the other hand. From the corner of her eye she could see the gleam from the blade of the wickedly sharp fillet knife he held firmly in his hand. He was going to slice her open and play with her insides.
She knew this.
The steel point plunged into her skin. Searing pain nearly sent her spiraling into the darkness, out of control. Then it began to move. And then it hit the scar tissue that was already there.
Power flared to life within her even as the blade continued to carve her up.
He was laughing. The smell of blood filled the air. Eyes snapped open, glowing violet.
"Son of a bitch," she hissed at him. "You fucking cut me."
Laughter died on his lips just as she drew her knee up and drove it into his groin.
As he fell to the floor the blade slid from her skin, catching once on bone. It skittered across the floor leaving a trail of shiny wet blood drops on the gray, painted cement.
Smiling cruelly at him, she bent down. Electricity filled her as more than a dozen bolts of lightning rained down from the heavens consecutively. The charge grew until her hand snaked out for him. A finger touched the skin of his forehead and his body jerked with spasms of electricity. When his eyes rolled back into his head she broke the contact.
He was still.
Abruptly she realized she still held the gun in her hand. She stared at it blankly a moment before casting it aside with a flick of her wrist.
Then she sank to the floor, the darkness rising up to meet her.
***
As suddenly as he had been sucked into the memory he was cast out.
His breath came in shuddering gasps. Her face was pale when she looked at him. She tried to swallow, couldn't. Cade ran a finger across the scar one more time before looking at her.
"Aaron?"
"Out cold. Bastard had tried to cave his head in with a brick." Pulling away from his inquisitive fingers, she took a step back. "Mostly tore skin. Gave him quite a concussion. Probably would have finished the job after he had killed me."
"Most likely," Cade agreed. "And after?"
At first he thought she was going to play dumb. But that really wasn't her style. Instead she shrugged.
"A few visits while I was in the hospital. Told me they decided not to take his badge for letting me go in."
He prodded, "And?"
"And we decided to end it. I decided not to go to the Academy. Not to stay in St. Louis." The pain was in her voice. "He didn't want to look at me anymore. So he stayed away until I left."
"He couldn't look at you," Cade told her softly. He met her eyes. "He nearly got you killed and he couldn't deal with that. And he couldn't deal with the fact that he made the right call about going in. The right call, but it still went horribly wrong."
Her tone was unconvinced, "If you say so."
"He couldn't save you and it eats at him."
Something smart-ass was on her tongue but she held it. Instead she studied him for a minute. Then, quietly, "Just like you couldn't save Hannah."
"Like I couldn't save Hannah."