"How could Stevens possibly have gotten out of my control?" Paul's
voice quaked with rage. He paced the floor in his dark bedroom cracking
his knuckles as he went. Karma lay stretched out on his bed underneath the
covers. "And on top of that," Paul said turning to her. "How could his
wife...girlfriend, whatever she is be alive?"
Karma's expression changed, and she sat up. "What are you talking
about? She was killed. The wolves ripped her to shreds. It was so bad
that at the funeral the coffins were closed."
"I sensed her presence in Dakota's mind before he came here." He paced
again and stared out the window with his hands in his pockets.
"Maybe you were wrong-"
"No," he said with his back still to her. "It was Julia."
Karma now stood and pulled on her robe. She walked over to Paul and
slid long nails across his bare back. The muscles tensed. "There is no
way she can be alive," Karma reassured him.
"I am afraid you are mistaken."
The two turned to see Mira, Paul's witch, standing in the doorway to his
room. Paul looked at her with raised eyebrows and turned away from the
window. The little woman took this as an invitation and
limped inside. She smiled a cruel smile and began:
"Paul, you have been doped." She waited for an objection but when she
none came she continued to tell them how Bip had found out about their
plan to kill Julia and had fooled everyone by kidnapping her, changing
her identity and replacing her with a projection. As she told her tale
Paul's eyes lit with anger. Then, without a word, he threw on a shirt,
and left the room muttering something about business he had to attend
to.
Karma looked at Mira with a curious expression. "How did he find out
our plans?"
Mira smiled and cackled a bit. "No one can be sure." She walked to the
door, but turned around in its entrance. "He has the power to read
people's thoughts, and it may be very well that he was simply on a
mission to stop Paul's plans. However, there may also be a leak. Be
careful Karma, not everyone hates humans as much as you and Paul do.
Even the ones who seem to."
