7

Rayne needed air. Badly. And she still wanted a cigarette. Damn.

She stood up and headed toward the door that she assumed led to the outside world. A hand caught her wrist. She turned, looking into Mark's eyes. For once he wasn't squeezing. There was that at least.

"I just need a minute...to think..." She found it hard to talk. He sighed and released her hand.

"Going outside is not a good idea." Mark shared a look with Randy. "We do not know if anyone is watching the house." Randy got up, went to a cabinet and rummaged around. He turned back to Rayne with a smile on his face, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in his hand.

"I think I love you." She took them from him, ignoring the way he flushed at her comment. "One smoke. Outside." She looked at Mark. He nodded slowly.

"Stay right by the door. I mean it," He added as if she had argued. Rayne rolled her eyes and moved once again toward the door, pulled it open and stepped out.

Rayne leaned against the wall next to the door, and opened the pack, pulling one out. She started counting in her head as she lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. Ahh...better already. She eyed the cigarette and smiled. And here she had thought the only thing out to get her was the addiction to nicotine she couldn't seem to shake.

She got all the way to ninety before the kitchen door opened beside her. "Not even two minutes and you're coming to check on me. Where the hell do you think I'd run off to? I don't even know where I am."

She turned her head and looked at Mark. He walked to the edge of the porch and scanned the overgrown yard. "I realize that it is a lot to deal with..."

"No shit."

He leaned against one of the sagging roof supports, back to her, staring out into the day. "There was nothing I could do for the other girls. Nothing."

"You trying to convince me or yourself?" Rayne asked. She finished the cigarette and tossed the filter into the dirt that surrounded the porch. "What...exactly...are you?"

"I am exactly nothing," He said slowly. "I am caught between being a demon and a human. I have certain...powers that no demon possesses. And I do not feel things as a human would."

"What kind of powers?" She moved to stand next to him on the other side of the rail.

Mark eyed her. "I can not read thoughts like Randy. That is his base power. The strongest that he has. He also has the touch. He can lay his hand on something and manipulate it however he wants."

"Uh huh. I suppose I had the demo of those already. So what do you do? Bend spoons from across the room?"

"No." He sighed. "It is...difficult to explain."

"Try me." Rayne laughed. "So far today I've been kidnapped, knocked out, and told I was hunted by a demon. So it can't be too damn weird."

"Give me a cigarette."

Rayne looked confused by the change in conversational direction, but handed one over. She held out the lighter but he shook his head. Mark put the filter to his lips. Rayne's mouth dropped open when the tip suddenly lit up in a flare of red fire that come from nowhere.

Mark took a drag, then blew smoke out, watching her as she took it in.

"Pyrokenesis?" Rayne finally said.

"Yes." He looked at the cigarette in his hand, then at her. "You might want to smoke that before it burns down."

"Smoke what?" She raised her hand. The cigarette was now between two of her fingers. "Shit. What is that, some slight of hand?"

"Telekenesis. Psychokenesis. The only thing I can't do is telepathy. But I'm sure I can unlock that too if I work at it enough."

Rayne took a drag from the cigarette. "Randy said you could...astral project?" Mark nodded. "Where do you go?"

"Just...away. To the past sometimes." He looked out across the yard again. It was obvious he did not want to talk about it.

"Shit. This is like walking into an episode of the X-Files or something," Rayne flipped the cigarette into the dirt. She laughed shakily. "You know...as odd as being able to do that stuff is, that's still not all that strange. I mean, humans can do that stuff, right?"

"A few of them."

"So what else is there?" She saw the way his jaw tightened. Plucking a nerve. She was good at it.

"You'll find out. Probably sooner than you think." He pushed away from the rail and rolled his shoulders, stretching his neck. "You should go back inside. It is too...exposed out here."

"Um...am I being held prisoner here? Because...I have friends that are going to worry. A job. My whole life. What am I supposed to do about that?"

"I am not overly worried about your friends or your job." He eyed her. "You can not contact anyone. Not if you want to be able to go back to your life when this is over."

"But..."

"No. It would be too easy to track you that way. To bring the wrong...people...here."

"All of this drama...all so you can get back at your father for what he did to you." Rayne said quietly. Mark refused to look at her. "Maybe if you had just come up to me and told me all of this..."

"You would not have believed it." He met her eyes again. "Do not feel sorry for me. Do not get too comfortable around me or Randy. We are as dangerous if not more dangerous than those who are hunting you now."

Rayne raised an eyebrow. Looked like happy friendly hour was over for Mark.

"I thought that you were going to protect me."

"No. I only said that you would come with me if you wanted to live." He began to walk back toward the door. "Killing you would be the only sure way to make sure that Dominic does not get what he wants. It remains an option. You should keep that thought in your head, just in case you get any ideas about taking off or trying anything." He stopped at the door and looked back at her. "Don't think that I would hesitate to do what I would have to do. There is too much at stake." With that he slammed into the house.

Rayne stared after him, the day's warmth lost on her so suddenly that she shivered. Ok. She'd let down her guard and he'd just reminded her of why she should be scared. And she was. He was good. Did she think he'd kill her? Yes. Absolutely. There had been no doubt in his voice, his eyes. He wouldn't even have a second thought about it.

She finally forced herself to go to the door. She had no choice. She would either cooperate with them or die. Rayne was going to have to figure this whole mess out, and soon. She felt as if she were already running out of time.