Chapter 21

Something woke me. My eyes popped open and instantly wondered where I was. An arm lay across my chest and something was on my legs. I looked and Rachel was asleep next to me, her head resting on my shoulder. I could feel feathers behind her. They were as warm as the rest of her. Memories from the night before rushed back to me. The headache, the feeling of danger, and her not wanting to be alone.

Nothing happened throughout the night. I’d slept like a hibernating bear. Considering Rachel was still asleep, I could only guess that she’d slept peacefully too. So what woke me up?

A pulsing noise came from the nightstand on the other side of Rachel. It had to be her phone. It was probably Grace, calling to find out where Rachel had been last night. The phone rang twice more and then nothing. Not even thirty seconds later, it was ringing again.

I shook Rachel gently. “Rachel, you’re phone’s ringing.”

She rubbed her cheek against my shoulder and then looked up at me. “Mornin’.”

I smiled and resisted the urge to kiss her. “Good morning yourself.” Her phone rang again.

She didn’t pull away or try to get closer. I could feel her body along the length of mine. Hell, she was all but draped over me. My heart raced with the very idea. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

“The headache is gone,” I said. Her phone rang again.

She rolled over and picked up her phone. “I don’t know this number,” she said.

I glanced at it. “It’s Ellen,” I said.

Rachel answered. “Hello?”

It was so quiet in the apartment, I could hear Ellen. “Rachel! Thank God. Is Ral there with you?”

She glanced at me. “Yeah, do you need to talk to him?”

“Both of you really,” Ellen said.

Rachel blinked and then put the phone on speaker.

“What’s going on, Ellen?” I asked.

“Eric’s hurt,” she said. “He’s being taken to the hospital.”

Both of us sat up. “How? What happened?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “The police found him unconscious in his car. And Rachel, Grace seems to be missing. Her front door was smashed in. I think you should get over here.”

I nodded at Rachel. She said, “We’re on our way.”

“I’m heading to the hospital to be with Eric,” Ellen said. “Ral, the police have Eric’s car keys. You might want to collect them so they don’t impound his car.”

“I’ll try,” I said. “I’ll see you at the hospital.”

“Okay,” Ellen said and then hung up.

Rachel almost flew out of bed. She grabbed some clothes from her dresser and went into the bathroom without a word. I grabbed my clothes and pulled them on as quickly as I could. I considered going to my apartment to put on something else, but I didn’t want to waste the time. When she returned, wearing a loose t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes, I noticed she was wearing a halter top under the t-shirt. Her attire wasn’t my main concern at the moment. I went to the bathroom and then we left.

Once we were on the road I asked, “Are you ready to fly out over the city to look for Grace?”

She looked at me. “What?”

I nodded at her. “The halter top. It’s similar to what you wore last night at House Vikkor.”

She hesitated in answering. “You and I both know what happened. Dan happened.”

I nodded. I couldn’t argue with that. “Okay, Dan showed up, beat up Eric, left him in his car, and then bashed down Grace’s door? Why didn’t she call the police herself while he was fighting with Eric?”

Rachel shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he waited for Eric to leave, caught him in the parking lot, and beat him up before going to take Grace.”

I nodded. “That makes more sense.” I looked at Rachel again. “Do you know where Dan lives?”

She nodded. “I’m tempted to drive right over there.”

I shook my head. “No, let the police handle this. All we need to do is help make it possible for them to find Grace, and arrest Dan.”

She looked at me. Anger flooded her aura. “I can’t just sit by and do nothing.”

I nodded at the street. “Right now, please, focus on the road.”

She did, but she continued fuming.

I couldn’t think of anything else to talk about. Since Eric was either on his way or already at a hospital, I could put my thoughts of him aside for the time being. I had to know more about the relationship between Grace and Dan. “Did Grace ever show any signs of abuse while she was with Dan?” I asked.

She glanced at me and then shook her head. “No, but she bitched about him a lot. It took a lot of convincing to get her to break it off with him.”

“If she complained so much, why did she need to be convinced to leave?” I asked.

Rachel thought for a second. “She loved him, and somewhere, deep inside, I’m sure he loved her too, but he was the jealous type.”

“Why? Was she doing anything to make him jealous?” I asked.

Rachel shook her head. “No.”

“What was he doing then?” I asked.

“He was always accusing her of seeing other guys behind his back,” she said.

“You know the cops will probably ask, and you’re her best friend, so ... did she?” I asked.

Rachel shook her head. “No. I tried to get her to date a couple of other guys so he would have a legitimate reason to break it off with her, but she wouldn’t do it.”

“So, in the end, she finally told him off and left?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yes, and he’s been hounding her ever since, trying to convince her to take him back.”

“Was he ever violent with her?” I asked.

She shook her head again. “No. One boyfriend she had before Dan hit her once. She dropped him on the spot.”

I arched my eyebrows. “It sounds like more than she just broke up with him.”

Rachel nodded and for the first time since we got into the car, she grinned. It was a wicked grin. “She decked him.”

“Did you see it?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, but she told me all about it.”

I nodded. “So the real question about Dan now is why he decided to get violent?” I said.

Rachel thought about that. “Ral,” she said in that softer, secretive tone she used back at Charlie’s Café. “You said last night that Dan has power. If Dan fights the police, they may not be able to handle the situation.”

“If he hurts any of them in a struggle, he’ll face hefty charges,” I said. “Assaulting a police officer in any state is punished severely.”

“That may be,” she said, “but we’re talking about Dan being able to do something the police simply cannot stop him from doing. If it were anyone else with a knife, they’d be able to disarm them, but if Dan can cut with his skin, how do they defend against that? How do they disarm him?”

She had a very good point. I glanced at my hand, recalling how subtle the cut had been. “Well, he may be able to cut with his skin, but he’d have to get close to do that.”

“Ral, you’re not thinking,” she said. “He could just raise his hands and surrender, wait for them to put cuffs on him, and then attack. And if we try to warn them, they’d think we were nuts.”

I sighed. “Yeah, just like me trying to convince the Detective that I know the identity of the woman from the alley without having seen her face.”

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “All we can do is hope that Dan doesn’t know about his abilities.”

“First, we need to find Grace,” I said. “We don’t have to worry about anything else until we do that.” I looked over at Rachel. She was focused on driving, her brow furrowed and her mouth drawn down into a frown. Her anger had been replaced by grim determination in her aura. She was gearing up to do something she wasn’t entirely willing to do. Yet, she nodded. She was willing to do what she had to, to help her friend.