Fatal Sight (Harbingers Of Death Book 2) by LeAnn Mason (book club reads .TXT) 📕

Torgny leaped over the counter like he wasn’t at least two-hundred pounds of muscle, landing lightly on the backside of the divide with the douchebag-pawn-guy and prowled the nearest wall.

Gunhilde watched on, an amused tilt to her lips.

Torgny lifted a frame from the wall and truly smiled for the first time since I’d laid eyes on him. The signed print and record sealed behind the frame was flung casually over his shoulder to land with a tinkling crunch, more glass littering the ugly blue-gray industrial carpeting.

“Have you ever wronged a customer?” I asked, inspecting my nails. “Based on the last guy, your clientele probably isn’t very peaceable. Maybe you pissed someone off who’s… no longer with us. Tell me, do you believe in ghosts?”

“That was fun,” Gunhilde laughed, breezing back into the motel room in my wake with Torgny bringing up the rear and nudging the door closed.

After a few more launched items, one of which happened to be a knife aimed toward Mr. Sleeze’s head, the pawn guy had finally conceded. The realization that he would keep losing sellable items of worth until he gave in was pretty convincing. Of course, the thought of a vengeful ghost greased his palms as well, especially once he realized it wasn’t me… and surveillance tapes wouldn’t help him to say it was.

I’d thought about keeping the money, mostly for the trouble he gave me, but decided against it when I realized I’d be on the hook for theft and readily seen on the aforementioned surveillance. Better to not give the cops any ammunition against me.

Hell, who was I kidding? Without the help of the supernatural world hiding me, I’d be locked up again in no time.

Once you’re caught, you’re screwed. You’re in the system, and it will screw you.

I’d already broken my parent’s all-important rule of “never get caught” several months ago when I’d been arrested at a murder scene. They were all over my pasty ass even after Seke arranged my release. My fingerprints and face were marked. And the proof was in my latest little visit, once again requiring Seke to come to my rescue.

“Shit. I really can’t go back to being normal, can I?” I mumbled, falling backward to sit atop the closest bed. “Coming here was a waste.”

“How’s that?” Gunhilde hopped onto the desk to scrutinize me.

“Well, if I hadn’t been looking for a druid, I wouldn’t have been arrested again. I’d still have a shot to slip into the night. To be human.”

“Maybe,” Gunhilde replied dispassionately. “You were never human. Your parents never should have tried to convince you otherwise. But nothing in the past can be changed. We are here to focus on the future. On saving your mother. You still want that, yes?” The longer she spoke, the more passionate she became. Her steely eyes lit, and she leaned forward, hands gripping the desktop with such force I feared it would crumble under her fingers.

“Yes, I want that.” It was the only thing I wanted right then.

“Good,” she nodded with satisfaction. “Let’s get started.”

I sat up, ready.

“Hold the ring, and concentrate. Think about what you want to see. Your goal is going to be to pull as much information about your surroundings as possible. The more information you can gather, the easier it will be to find. Make sense?”

I hesitated. “How is it that Seke couldn’t teach me this? Seems like a fairly straightforward process.”

“It is not something you can always do. It can be hard to acquire a tether to a random death. That usually has to be done while on the job,” Gunhilde explained.

Seke had brought the ring though… Had he intended to teach me this before I told him to scram?

Gunhilde sat back against the already damaged mirror, relaxed now that we’d established that I wasn’t going to bail. “Are you ready?”

Taking a deep breath, I clenched the recovered ring within my fist so tightly my nails bit into my flesh and I felt every contour of the metal enclosed within. Closing my eyes, I prayed my “sight” would take over and show me my mother, where she was being kept, and by whom, so that I could ride in like the cavalry and rescue her like a white knight, a hero.

It was my turn.

21

I blinked afew times, but everything remained dark. Had I messed up? The directions weren’t hard: close your eyes and concentrate. This was supposed to be a vision though, and thus far, my literal sight could see nothing.

Just as I opened my mouth to ask Gunhilde what I was missing, I heard a splash to my left. I recognized the noise despite the fact that it had a far-off dreamlike quality making it sound muted and lethargic.

Whipping to my left, I stared at... still nothing. Reaching one hand forward tentatively, I found... air. Sweeping my arm wide around me, I spun in a slow circle, and the swishing sound of water came again.

I paused. Gunhilde had said to pay attention to my surroundings. Feeling like I’d been blinded, I refocused my attention on my other senses just as I’d been taught that day in the training room. Cole had blinded me and forced me to use my ears and touch to follow Raven’s movements. Then, Seke… he’d taught with a lighter touch, his shadows blacking out my vision, his touch and smooth voice the delivery devices. That lesson had ended in our first kiss. This was unlikely to go that way, but as soon as I considered my other senses, I noticed a lot more clues to my location.

What do you know? Training is useful even outside HD missions.

A steady dripping echoed faintly along with the gentle trickle of flowing water. When I shuffled my feet a bit, spinning more, I felt water press back against my feet, ankles, and halfway up my shins, slowing my movements. It was... cold. The water was