Raintree Read online

  One swipe and this job would be done, but Tabby didn’t want it to be over too soon. Her gift was one of empathy, but rather than experiencing others’ emotions, she craved their fear. Hate and horror tasted sweet when Tabby allowed her gift free rein. The dark sensations she drank in made her stronger. At this moment she fed off Echo Raintree’s terror, and it felt good. It made her strong, physically and mentally. That terror fed the giddiness.

  “I don’t have much money,” Echo said, pathetic and whining, and growing more and more afraid with every second that passed. “Whatever you want…”

  “Whatever I want,” Tabby repeated as she forced Echo away until her back was against the wall. Literally. What she really wanted was this girl’s power. Prophecy. There was power in prophecy, properly used, though judging by this crappy apartment, Echo had not made the best of her talents. What a shame that something so extraordinary had to be wasted on this trembling doormat.

  Tabby sometimes dreamed that when she killed, she absorbed the powers of her victim. It should be possible, should be an extension of her gift, but so far she hadn’t been able to make it happen. One day, when her power was properly nourished as it should be, she would find the dark magic to take the next step in her own evolution.

  Wishing the gift of prophecy could somehow fly from this Raintree’s soul into her own, Tabby touched the girl’s slender, pale throat with the tip of her knife. She made a small cut, and the girl gasped, and oh, the rush of fear that filled the air was tasty, and very, very strong.

  She could play with Echo Raintree all night, but Cael wanted the job done quickly and efficiently. He’d stressed that to Tabby more than once, when she’d received her assignment. This was not the time to play but to be a soldier. A warrior. Much as she would love to stay here a while and amuse herself with the Raintree, Tabby definitely didn’t want to end up on Cael’s bad side.

  She smiled and drew the knife very slightly away from the drop of blood on the girl’s pale throat. Echo looked slightly relieved, and Tabby let the frightened woman believe, for that moment, that this was a simple robbery that would soon be over.

  Nothing was over. It had just begun.

  ONE

  Monday—3:37 a.m.

  When Gideon’s phone rang in the middle of the night, it meant someone was dead. “Raintree,” he answered, his voice rumbling with the edges of sleep.

  “Sorry to wake you.”

  Surprised to hear his brother Dante’s voice, Gideon came instantly awake. “What’s wrong?”

  “There’s a fire at the casino. Could be worse,” Dante added before Gideon could ask, “but it’s bad enough. I didn’t want you to see it on the morning news without some warning. Call Mercy in a couple of hours and tell her I’m all right. I’d call her myself, but I’m going to have my hands full for the next few days.”

  Gideon sat up, wide awake. “If you need me, I’m there.”

  “No, thanks. You’ve got no business getting on an airplane this week, and everything here is fine. I just wanted to call you before I got so tied up in red tape I couldn’t get to a phone.”

  Gideon ran his fingers through his hair. Outside his window, the waves of the Atlantic crashed and rolled. He offered again to go to Reno and help. He could drive, if necessary. But once again Dante told him everything was fine, and they ended the call. Gideon reset his alarm for five-thirty. He would call Mercy before she started her day. The fire must have been a bad one for Dante to be so certain it would make the national news.

  Alarm reset, Gideon fell back onto the bed. Maybe he’d sleep, maybe not. He listened to the ocean waves and let his mind wander. With the solstice coming in less than a week, his normal electric abnormalities were really out of whack. The surges usually spiraled out of control only when a ghost was nearby, but for the past few days, and for the week to come, it didn’t take the addition of an electrically charged spirit to make appliances and electronics in his path go haywire. There was nothing he could do but be cautious. Maybe he should take a few days off, stay away from the station altogether and lie low. He closed his eyes and fell back asleep.

  She appeared without warning, floating over the end of the bed and smiling down at him, as she always did. Tonight she wore a plain white dress that touched her bare ankles, and her long dark hair was unbound. Emma, as she said she would one day be called, always came to him in the form of a child. She was very much unlike the ghosts who haunted him. This child came only in dreams and was untainted by the pain of life’s hardships. She carried with her no need for justice, no heartbreak, no gnawing deed left undone. Instead, she brought with her light and love, and a sense of peace. And she insisted on calling him Daddy.

  “Good morning, Daddy.”

  Gideon sighed and sat up. He’d first seen this particular spirit three months ago, but lately her visits had become more and more frequent. More and more real. Who knew? Maybe he had been her father in another life, but he wasn’t going to be anyone’s daddy in this one.

  “Good morning, Emma.”

  The spirit of the little girl drifted down to stand on the foot of the bed. “I’m so excited.” She laughed, and the sound was oddly familiar. Gideon liked that laugh. It made his heart do strange things. He convinced himself that the sense of warm familiarity meant nothing. Nothing at all.

  “Why are you excited?”

  “I’m coming to you soon, Daddy.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed. “Emma, honey, I’ve told you a hundred times, I’m not going to have kids in this lifetime, so you can stop calling me Daddy.”

  She just laughed again. “Don’t be silly, Daddy. You always have me.”

  The spirit who had told him that her name would be Emma in this lifetime did have the Raintree eyes, his own dark brown hair and a touch of honey in her skin. But he knew better than to trust what he saw. After all, she only showed up in dreams. He was going to have to stop eating nachos before going to bed.

  “I hate to tell you this, sweetheart, but in order to make a baby there has to be a mommy as well as a daddy. I’m not getting married and I’m not having kids, so you’ll just have to choose someone else to be your daddy this time around.”

  Emma was not at all perturbed. “You’re always so stubborn. I am coming to you, Daddy, I am. I’m coming to you in a moonbeam.”

  Gideon had tried romantic relationships before, and they never worked. He had to hide so much of himself from the women in his life; it would never do to have someone that close. And a wife and kid? Forget it. He already had to answer to the new chief, his family and a never-ending stream of ghosts. He wasn’t about to put himself in a position where he would be obligated to answer to anyone else. Women came and went, but he made sure none ever got too close or stayed too long.

  It was Dante’s job to reproduce, not his. Gideon glanced toward the dresser, where the latest fertility charm sat ready to be packaged up and mailed. Once Dante had kids of his own, Gideon would no longer be next in line for the position of Dranir, head of the Raintree family. He couldn’t think of anything worse than being Dranir, except maybe getting married and having kids of his own.

  Big brother had his hands full at the moment, though, so maybe he would hold off a few days before mailing that charm. Maybe.

  “Be careful,” Emma said as she floated a bit closer. “She’s very bad, Daddy. Very bad. You have to be careful.”

  “Don’t call me Daddy,” Gideon said. As an afterthought he added, “Who’s very bad?”

  “You’ll know soon. Take care of my moonbeam, Daddy.”

  “In a moonbeam,” he said softly. “What a load of…”

  “It’s just begun,” Emma said, her voice and her body fading away.

  The alarm went off, and Gideon woke with a start. He hated that freakin’ dream. He glanced toward the dresser where Dante’s fertility charm sat, and then he looked up, almost as if he expected to see Emma floating there. The dreams that were touched with reality were always hardest to shake.