Page 5 of Dark Visions (Strange Gifts #1)

Kane watched her features as she spoke. The pain that filled her face when she mentioned the headaches was nearly his undoing.

“So, when did this happen? I mean this time. When did you meet the doctor?” he asked.

“I didn’t meet him,” she said, staring up at him. “I think, I think I bumped into him at the coffee shop yesterday. It usually takes twenty-four hours for the vision to come on full force. It happens so casually I never know what I will see. I try to avoid touching people altogether, but it’s nearly impossible. I’ve even tried wearing gloves, but that’s no good.”

“I see,” he said, looking into the fire.

“You don’t believe me,” she said, staring at him. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t believe me either. I wish I could tell you it isn’t the truth, but unfortunately, my track record is pretty spot on. I used to call the police and report that a crime was about to take place . You can imagine how well that went over. Then when the murder happened, they knocked on my door.”

“Jesus! That must suck,” he said with a sideways grin.

“Oh yea, especially when three of them happened out of state. The thing is, Kane, the thing is, I think this guy has done it before. This vision was beyond what I normally see. It was so painful, so violent. I thought I would die.”

“Could that happen?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. I’ve always only seen one murder. Usually, a husband kills his wife or another man. Once, I had a woman who killed her mother-in-law. But as far as I know, they’re all one-time murders. This one, this one had flashes of others. Other people than the one I know will be killed tonight.”

He nodded at her and stared at the fire once more. He didn’t move, didn’t try to make her leave, didn’t look at her as though she were crazy.

“You don’t believe me.”

“Actually, Aislinn, I do believe you. I believe every word of what you’re saying.”

“You do?” she said with a shocked expression.

“I do,” he said.

The doorbell broke the moment, and Kane stood to ring the deliveryman up. Aislinn watched his every move. He was so large yet moved like a cat, slow and lazy, sleek and smooth. It occurred to her that she knew nothing of the man who brought her home. All she knew was that when he touched her, the visions lessened. She would pay a million dollars for that blessing. No one had ever found a way to lessen the severity of her headaches.

“Hungry?” he asked, setting out the boxes of food. She nodded and immediately started in on a box of lo mein.

“Tell me about you,” she said between bites. “How were you burned?”

He stopped mid-bite and looked up at her. He had to give her credit; she had courage. Most men didn’t dare ask him about his scars, let alone a small woman.

“Afghanistan. Courtesy of a Taliban leader that didn’t like the fact that my unit took out his weapons cache. It was my sixth tour.”

“Six? Wow! That’s impressive and awful at the same time. Thank you for your service, though, sincerely, I mean that.”

He looked up at her and smiled, nodding his head ever so slightly.

“Thank you. We were just about out of that shithole when our Humvee was attacked. Three guys in my vehicle were killed. Me? I was the lucky one,” he said with a dark laugh. “He decided to torture me for a few days before killing me. He broke a few bones, tried to… well, he tried to make sure my manhood was inoperable, and then the burning started. First, it was just hot pokers against my skin. Then they got creative. Anything they could heat up and lay against me was used.”

“Oh, God,” she said quietly, holding her stomach. It was the pain she felt when she touched him, the agony of those burns.

“I was in and out of it for a while. Then I woke up one morning staring up at fluorescent lights in a hospital room. Some SEAL team saved my ass and got me to Germany and then home to D.C.”

“I’m so sorry, Kane. I wish I could have been there for you, I mean, at the hospital.” She said the words without thinking, but the pit in his stomach grew wide, and somehow he knew that Aislinn meant the words.

“I wish you could have been there as well, Aislinn. I needed someone at that point in my life. I honestly didn’t think I would live. I didn’t want to live. I dreamed of ways to kill myself every night.”

“Please don’t do that. Please don’t ever…” she held tight to his fingers, searching his face.

“I would never, Aislinn, I promise.” She let out a long, slow sigh of relief and nodded.

“My mother killed herself,” she said quietly.

Shit! Way to go, asshole! He winced and looked down at her, still holding his large hand in her own.

“It’s okay, Kane. You couldn’t have known. I don’t know why she killed herself. My father just said she was always sad. I think she had dreams like mine and didn’t know how to control them, but she never told me, and neither did my father.”

“Can you control them?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. Aislinn laughed, a soft, beautiful lilting laugh.

“No, I can’t.” He nodded and grinned at her. “Believe me. I’ve tried everything. Meditation, anxiety medication, marijuana, anything, and everything. Nothing works.”

“So, the doctor?”

“Right, the doctor. The visions happen when I touch someone. You know that already. But it’s not usually about past acts. It’s about what will occur in the near future. These are pre-meditated murders. Thought out, planned, and ready to execute. My vision with the doctor, it was… it was the worst I’ve ever experienced. It had several people in it. Two women and one man that I could see.”

“Could you tell where they were?” he asked.

“No. I only saw, I only saw his eyes. He was happy. He was enjoying what he was doing. The victims, the way they looked, the way they looked at him, I think they knew him.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I-I don’t know. They were looking at him the way you would if you had a relationship with someone. I tend to see visions from the view of the victim. It’s as if I’m inside their heads, like I’m looking through their eyes.” She looked at his face once more, their fingers still linked. “You believe me, don’t you?”

“I believe you, Aislinn.”

“Why? Why do you believe me? No one, and I do mean no one, has ever believed me. I can tell when people lie, and everything you’ve told me has been the truth.”

He looked down at her face, the full red lips, the smooth creamy white of her skin, flush with color, the deep rich chocolate of her eyes, her hair matching almost identically. Everything about this woman made him want to be a good man.

“I believe you because I felt it, too.”