Page 6 of Dark Visions (Strange Gifts #1)

Aislinn’s fork stilled inside the Chinese food box. She set the box on the table and scooted a little further away from Kane, turning to look directly into his eyes.

“That’s cruel, Kane. I can’t help what happens to me. It’s not nice to make fun of me or commiserate by trying to pretend that you see, too.”

“Aislinn, I swear to fuck, I’m not teasing you. Believe me. I would give anything if I could joke about this, but I can’t. I wish to fuck I could.”

“You-you get visions?” she asked.

“No. I don’t get visions. It’s different for me.”

She stared at him, waiting patiently for the words to come. Kane let out a long slow breath and leaned back against the sofa, running his long fingers through the tangled mess that was his hair.

“This is so fucked up, but here goes. I joined the military when I was seventeen because I thought I was going crazy and just needed discipline. Every time I touched someone evil, there would be this harsh zap up my arm, like a stun gun or an electrical shock or something. At first, I couldn’t control it. I would literally scream at the suddenness.”

“Jesus,” she whispered.

“Yea, it’s kind of funny you say that. The first person it happened with was the family priest. I knew the bastard was no good. When he touched my arm, my whole body shook with an electrical jolt. I tried to tell my parents, but they punished me for not wanting to go to church. I was seven. It got worse when puberty really set things in motion for me. I don’t remember feeling a whole lot of anything before then, but after? After was a fucking nightmare.”

Aislinn nodded, remembering that her visions came more frequently and clearer as she got older.

“Then, when I was seventeen, it was my old man. I’d never felt it before with him. He was an angry asshole of a drunk and rarely touched me anyway, but he grabbed my arm. I knew he was planning something. I knew he was going to do something. I just didn’t know what. I didn’t really understand what I was experiencing back then. I left the next day for boot camp. A week later, I got word that he killed my mother and then killed himself.”

“I’m so sorry, Kane,” she said, reaching for his hand.

She moved closer to the heat of his body and laid her head against his shoulder. It was so easy, so natural, to seek his warmth and strength, and yet she barely knew this man. Something about Kane Jackson made Aislinn want to be in his presence. Being in the presence of any man, any human, was difficult for her. So, the question in her mind was why it was so easy to be around Kane Jackson.

“In the Army, I learned to really hone the skill, to understand it and use it to my advantage. Many of the men I served with weren’t exactly choir boys, but you can weed those out. The guys that just fuck every woman they lay their hands on, cheat on them, cheat at cards, drink too much, that sort of thing.” She nodded.

“When the zap, as I call it, is nearly electrifying, I know that something, or someone, is really going to be shitty. That’s how I knew the Taliban leader was so evil. He tried to pass himself off as being an ally. When I shook his hand, I knew. He was pure evil. I could feel it if I was within twenty feet of him.”

“Did you, did you shake the doctor’s hand?” she asked.

“No. But our fingers touched when he took my business card. Just a small touch, and I thought my arm would burn off. That’s why I believe you, Aislinn. I believe you because it happens to me but without the vision. I know that someone is evil and can pretty much tell you what level of evil they are. I just can’t predict what they will do or when.” Kane took a long breath and let it out.

“Although I know your gift must be a burden, and you probably don’t see it as a gift, I actually wish I had visions. Maybe then I could have prevented the deaths of some of my teammates.”

“I would never want to lay this gift on you, Kane. It’s a horrible thing. I’ve never been able to control it, and I have no way of knowing when the next vision will happen. They are all violent and uncontrollable, blood and terror. There’s this horror in the victim’s faces. We’re a sorry pair, aren’t we?” she said, smiling up at him with a sad smile.

“I guess we are,” he grinned. “Aislinn, I want you to stay here tonight. You can have the bed, but I get this feeling that the doctor… I don’t know. I just get this feeling.”

She nodded at him, a sad look crossing her face. Looking around the loft, she felt the warmth flood through her body once again. The empty Chinese take-out containers cluttered the coffee table.

“Your home is beautiful. I didn’t get to tell you that earlier, but when we walked in, I can’t explain it, but I immediately felt at home here.”

It was an odd sensation to experience, considering the space was mostly concrete and steel, no warm, homey touches to it. Just Kane. Everything felt like Kane, smelled like Kane. That’s what made her feel at home.

“You don’t feel at home in your own place?” he asked.

“It’s not that really. I have to sterilize an apartment before I enter it. Anything, I mean anything, can trigger the nightmares. When I moved into my current place, I forgot to wipe down the knobs on the cabinets. It was awful. I was sick for days.”

“I never thought about that,” he said, staring down at her.

“Kane? Why did you help me? I mean, I am completely and totally grateful, but why? And, don’t you have a job to go to?” She turned her body slightly, tucking one leg beneath the other.

“I do have a job. I’m a bit of a freelance security specialist. I offer protection services and, well, on occasion, I find individuals.”

“Like a bounty hunter?” she asked innocently.

“Sort of,” he grinned. “As for why I helped you? I don’t know, Aislinn. I really don’t. I’m not the sweep in on the white horse kind of guy. I mean, my face doesn’t exactly say, ‘hop on, baby, and I’ll save you.’ I just saw you, and something… it was as if something called to me and demanded me to go with you to the hospital.”

“Well, I’m very glad you did. And for the record, Kane, I like your face. I like every inch of it. It’s strong and carries wisdom beyond its years. I look at your face and see courage, honor, and a survivor.” She reached up and laid her hand against his burned cheek, her fingers feather-light. “I like this face a lot.”

That’s when Aislinn Carter did something she never did. She leaned forward and touched her lips, her skin to another’s. Tentatively, easing forward, she stared into Kane’s eyes, hoping he wouldn’t push her away. With each breath, she waited until she was so close she could feel the heat from his mouth. Gently touching her lips to his, she kissed him softly at first, waiting for the visions to assail her, but when none came, she wound her arms around his neck and pleaded for more.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kane couldn’t believe it. This beautiful woman was touching him, touching his face, his neck, his lips, and she was practically crawling over him, begging for more. He let his thoughts briefly think evil thoughts. She wanted something. She needed something. But the honest desire and passion emanating from her body were more than even his logical brain could argue with.

“Aislinn, baby, you taste so good,” he whispered against her lips.

“So do you,” she smiled. “Like eggrolls and something totally decadent.”

“Decadent?” he laughed.

“Yes, decadent. You taste like you. No nightmares, no visions, nothing except kindness, goodness. It’s, well, it’s refreshing.”

“Aislinn, honey, how many men have you kissed?” He looked down at her waiting for her answer. In his head, he knew that she must have risked a great deal to allow a man to kiss her or touch her.

“Four, counting you. Two were… two were evil. They didn’t murder anyone, but I saw the visions just the same. They were planning to rape me. I ended both relationships immediately.”

“Who are they?” he asked in a low growl. His alpha male instincts went on high alert, and he couldn’t help his own reaction.

“They live in another city,” she said, kissing him again.

“And the third?” he asked.

“The third man I dated for a while, but there was nothing there. No spark, no passion. He wanted to move the relationship along, but I knew it was only because he was safe, and that wouldn’t have been fair to him.”

Kane looked into her rich brown eyes, melting into their sweetness. She was an innocent.

“You’ve never been with a man.” He made it a statement, not a question.

Aislinn looked at him as if he were stating the obvious. Speaking of such things had never bothered her. When you see visions of violence as she did, something as natural as sex wasn’t exactly off-limits for her.

“No. I’ve never been with a man.”

Kane let out a long breath and leaned his head back on the sofa. Being with a woman like Aislinn was something he never dreamed would happen for him. She was beautiful, intelligent, sexy as all fuck, and the best part was, she didn’t even know it.

“Is that a problem? My not having been with a man? I mean, I would think it would be a good thing.”

“It is a good thing, Aislinn,” he said, grinning at her. “I just want to be sure we take this slow. I also want to be sure that we’re both not doing this for anything other than the right reasons. You’re recovering from the visions, the headaches. I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

“The right reasons? You mean you want to be sure I’m not a willing partner only because touching you doesn’t send me into nightmares?” She gave him a sly grin, and at first, he felt the need to defend his statement, then he understood that she was teasing.

“It’s more than that, Aislinn. I haven’t had a significant relationship since my injuries. I won’t lie to you. I’ve had my fair share of one-night stands. Women that thought it was their duty to make a wounded warrior have a good time or had some perverse need to help the guy with the mangled face. But I haven’t had a true relationship where I truly cared about another person.”

“That’s awful!” she said, sitting up straight.

“I can’t claim innocence in that, Aislinn. I took advantage of that, having my own needs to think of. I was a typical male, and I regret doing it.” She nodded again, tugging on her bottom lip between her teeth. “I guess what I’m saying is I feel something for you, Aislinn. Something different, something foreign to me, and I want to be sure I do this right. That I do right by you.”

“I’m a grown woman, Kane. I know what I’m doing.”

“You are a grown woman, Aislinn, but you’ve never been with a man, in a full-on relationship with a man. I want to do this right.”

She nodded again, staring into his eyes. For the first time, Aislinn noticed the green of his eyes, the thick covering of black lashes draped around them. He really was a beautiful man. Beyond the scars, because of the scars, he was a beautiful man.

“Kane? What do we do about my vision? I mean, I can’t call the police. We both know how that turns out. I can’t just sit here knowing that he is going to murder someone or several someones tonight.”

Kane nodded and pulled Aislinn closer, hoping just to have her near him for a while longer. Instead, she crawled onto his lap, the growing bulge in his sweatpants becoming more difficult to hide. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, laid her soft, smooth cheek against the crook of his neck, the skin rough and textured from the skin grafts.

No woman had ever sought out his touch, the feel of him. At least not since his injuries. She made him feel as though the world didn’t exist. He was the only person that mattered to her.

“I want you to stay here and wait for me. I’m going to go back to the hospital and see if I can follow him.”

“Why don’t we call and see if his shift has ended? If not, then you could catch him. If it has ended, we may not be able to find him tonight.”

“That’s actually a great idea,” he said, grinning at her. “We make quite a team, don’t we?”

“I think so,” she said, staring up at him. She kissed his lips once more, and he gripped her hips, stilling her movement against him. Aislinn might be innocent, but she was more than aware of how a man reacted to a woman he was attracted to.

“Aislinn, baby,” he said, moving, slightly hoping she wouldn’t feel his growing attraction.

Instead, she felt the full-on heat and hardness he was sporting. The little vixen had the audacity to smile at him. “Let me call the hospital,” he said breathlessly.

She nodded and moved to the sofa again. The butterflies in her stomach were swarming back and forth. Aislinn had avoided men for so long she wasn’t entirely sure she was doing anything right with Kane. What she did know was that he was a good, decent man. She watched his tall, muscled figure reach for his cell phone, his forearms flexing with the simple movement of picking up his phone.

“Yes, I was wondering if Dr. Krauss is still available,” he asked. “I see. No, no message. Thank you.” He turned toward Aislinn, the bulge slightly less noticeable now.

“He’s gone?”

“Yea, he left about an hour ago.” Kane walked toward the large metal desk in the corner of the loft. Tapping on his keyboard, he pulled up a directory. Seven Dr. Krauss’s popped up on the screen. “Damn! Who would have thought there were seven with the same name?”

“That is unusual, but maybe they’re related. I mean, sometimes sons and fathers work together.”

“True. These two are related, but they work in endocrinology on the West Side. They wouldn’t have been working emergency medicine.” She nodded, looking over his shoulder, her long brown hair brushing against his face. He gritted his teeth, trying not to be distracted by her every movement. She reached over his shoulder and pointed at the screen.

“This one and this one, they work together downtown, but it’s oncology. Again, I’m not sure they would have been in the emergency room.”

“None of them are emergency medicine. It doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Could he have been a fake?”

“Geez, that would be seriously fucked up, wouldn’t it?” She nodded, a frown crossing her face, the lines on her forehead deep with concern. “I don’t think we can do anything except wait.”

“I hate this. This is the worst part for me. I wait for hours, days, sometimes weeks before I know that the vision was real. I’ve never had a vision that wasn’t real, but this could be the first. God! I hope it’s the first.” She stood and pulled her hair away from her face, twisting it into a long ponytail.

“You’re exhausted and it’s late. Why don’t you take the bed, and we’ll just wait and see what happens in the morning?”

“I can take the sofa. I’m smaller.”

“Aislinn, I’m not letting you take the sofa. Besides, it’s huge. It’s why I bought it so that it could accommodate my size or the size of some of my former teammates. For a while, they would come into town once a month to check on me.”

“That’s really nice to have friends like that.”

He stared at her and wondered if she had friends that she could confide in, friends that would have her back. As if she sent a message to his brain, he knew the answer.

“Why don’t you have a friend to rely on, Aislinn?” he asked with compassion.

“I-I just… It’s easier. Women aren’t nice sometimes, Kane. When I would get my headaches, I was so sick sometimes that their boyfriends or husbands would offer to take me home. The women, well, they thought it was all a ploy to get their men. I seriously didn’t understand it. The last roommate I had was six years ago. I decided to move out when I got this vision of her. She wasn’t killing anyone, but it was anger and so hate-filled it made me choke. I realized later the vision was about me.”

“Fucking hell! Dudes certainly have their shit with each other, but we usually just punch it out and move on.”

“Yea,” she laughed, “well, I would have been happy to do that, but it didn’t seem she was a willing participant.”

Aislinn stood and moved toward the big bed. It was larger than a normal king-sized bed. It seemed longer and wider, maybe to suit his larger body. Sliding the sweatpants down, she wore only her plain white panties and the sweatshirt.

Kane couldn’t look away. He knew he should. He should give her some privacy, but she had no inhibitions about stripping in front of him at all. She was innocent as to the effect she had on him. She never even looked up. Her long hair spread across his pillows, and he thought he would never wash those sheets again. Sitting up, she stared across the room at him.

Busted!

“Kane? Sleep in the bed with me. Not to, I mean not to do anything, just…”

“Aislinn, are you sure? I won’t do anything you’re not ready for, but this is all very fast.”

“I know it is. I can’t explain it, Kane. I’ve never met anyone like you before. Certainly, never met anyone that understood what was happening with me. I just, I just can’t lie here alone tonight. Not when I know that you’re only a few feet away.”

The sweet, sexy tones of her voice glided over his body, enveloping him in a warmth and peace he hadn’t experienced in his lifetime. He nodded his head and slid between the sheets, his sweats and t-shirt still on. Unlike Aislinn, he wore no boxers or briefs beneath his sweats.

Her eyes closed immediately, and she rolled to her side, facing him. He did the same, staring into her beautiful, perfect face. He noticed every inch of her. The small dimple in her left cheek. The thick black lashes that lay against the contrasting white of her cheeks. She had a tiny pair of diamond earrings glittering from each lobe. Her lips were red and slightly swollen from their simple kisses, another sure sign that she was as innocent as he suspected.

Aislinn’s hands lay in prayer on the pillow, and Kane mimicked her. Closing his eyes, he felt her reach for him, lying her small hand between his two larger ones and then the other on top. It was such a sweet, simple gesture. But for Kane Jackson, it was something he never dreamed he would have.

Drifting off to sleep, he felt the familiar zing in his dreams but let the euphoria that was Aislinn Carter take him away.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Aislinn felt the beat of her heart pounding against her rib cage, the banging so loud, so harsh she thought her ribs would crack. Blood. There was so much blood. The face of the blonde woman appeared to be smiling. No, she wasn’t smiling; she was laughing. Her body was covered in blood, and she was laughing. Another woman lay beside her. Her short black hair matted to her head with the same blood, her own. Her chest was split open, the hands of a man wrapped around her throat.

Kane saw the faces. He saw the blood, but he couldn’t break away from it. He couldn’t stop the madness before him. The amount of blood was overwhelming, even for a battle-hardened warrior like himself. He could feel Aislinn’s presence, but not in the dream. Somewhere else. He could feel her heartbeat, her panic. His only concern was getting to her, finding Aislinn, and leaving this hell.

Aislinn knew that Kane was there, he was close to her, but she couldn’t find him. She couldn’t see him. Her eyes scanned the room, and all she saw were the two women covered in blood, one lifeless, one laughing. Dr. Krauss’s face flashed before her, and she gasped for air.

She felt Kane near her and gripped what she believed to be his hand tighter. He was holding her hand. She knew he was, and he was reaching for her. Squeezing his fingers tighter, she dared not let go, or the vision would consume her. The laughter of the blonde woman was making her sick. Something in her tone was more than Aislinn could stand. She felt the bile rise in her throat but instead searched for Kane.

Aislinn! Aislinn! Wake up, baby. Wake up!

Aislinn sat up with a start. Her body drenched in sweat. The long stray hairs matted against her forehead, the sweatshirt completely soaked. Kane sat beside her, gripping her shoulders as he pulled her closer, enveloping her in his warmth.

“Christ, Aislinn! Honey, look at me. Aislinn, is that what it’s like? Is that what it’s like, baby? Is that what you experience?”

She nodded and let the tears fall down her face. She’d never shared a vision with anyone before, and she certainly never had a recurring vision. It was as if her connection to Kane allowed her to release the dream to him.

“God, baby! That was terrible. Aislinn, honey, I can’t, I can’t imagine… All these years, seeing things like that. It was all so clear, so fucking horrifically clear.”

“I’ve never… I never shared. I didn’t know I could share. I don’t know how that happened, Kane. I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, “I’m so, so sorry.”

Kane lifted her onto his lap and held her tight. Not caring anymore about sensibilities, he pulled the wet sweatshirt from her body and then immediately felt her shake from the cool night air against her damp skin.

Pulling the blankets higher, he wrapped her in their warmth and sunk deeper into the bed. Kane had suffered his fair share of nightmares, but what Aislinn experienced was on an entirely different level. It was real, more than real. It was real-time. He knew it without question. The nightmares, the visions, whatever she wanted to call them, were like experiencing the horror in real-time.

“I’m sorry, K-Kane. I didn’t mean for you to see that,” she sobbed against his chest.

“Baby, it’s not your fault. I think… I think maybe because we were touching our hands, our hands linked. I don’t know, Aislinn. This is so far beyond my expertise.”

“What do w-we do?” she choked out.

“We stay together. I think we are supposed to be together, honey. I can’t explain it, but I’m pretty damn sure we’re supposed to be together.” She nodded and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “Tomorrow, we need to figure this out. Maybe find someone that has experience in this.”

“The university has a paranormal department that studies things like this. I was going to see them a few months back and chickened out.”

“Then that’s where we’ll start. I have no fucking clue what’s happening here, but we will make sure we figure this out together, Aislinn.” She nodded again.

“M-my job… I just know Mr. Lewis is going to fire me.”

“What do you do for them, baby?” he asked. He wanted to tell her to just quit the fucking job, and he’d beat the shit out of Lewis.

“I’m a paralegal. I was going to attend law school, but the idea of having to shake hands with criminals wasn’t exactly high on my list. So, I got through paralegal school and stopped.” He nodded and kissed the top of her head.

“What sort of cases do you handle?”

“Mostly corporate law, some discrimination or harassment cases, but it’s all to do with corporate work environments.”

“Can you take a leave of absence?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I mean, technically, they should allow that, but I’ve taken a lot of sick leave in the last year.”

“Aislinn, I think you need to quit if they don’t give you the leave of absence.” She started to protest, and he held up a hand. “Listen to me, honey. There is something happening between you and me that I can’t figure out. I also want to be able to watch and help you, but I can’t do that if you’re at work, potentially finding your next nightmare. If you have to quit, I have plenty of savings that will hold us over.”

“Kane, it’s not that. I don’t need to work. My mother left me a sizeable estate when she died. She was born in Ireland County Wicklow and left a nice trust and a small house there. I’ve never been there because it’s so hard for me to travel, all the touching and stuff. I don’t have to work. I choose to work, Kane. But what about your work? You can’t just stop doing what you do to watch over me. That’s not fair. And let’s not even get started on the fact that we barely know one another.”

“You let me worry about my work, okay? And us? We’ll figure that out as we go. Then the next question is, do you like your work?”

“Like my work?” she said, staring at him. “I-I don’t know. I mean, no, no, I don’t like my work. I’m not even sure why I went to school for law.” She started laughing and stared at his concerned expression. “I’m sorry, Kane. I promise you I’m not losing my mind. You just may have asked the million-dollar question. I honestly have no idea why I chose my career path. I hate what I do. The law never seems to be on the side of the victims, but on the side of corporations or big dollars.”

“Well, then, I guess we know what you should do.”

“But what will I do to make a living? I can’t live off my trust forever.”

“All in good time, baby. For now, let’s get some sleep and hold hands while we do it.”

He grinned down at her, kissing her sweetly. Her bare breasts pressed against the heat of his t-shirt, and Kane cursed himself for not getting her something else to wear. Not that he minded her being nearly naked next to him, but it would damn sure interfere with his sleep.

Kane’s mind drifted back to the nightmare, the vision, whatever it was. He saw every detail, every drop of blood. He heard the laughter of the woman and the excitement in Krauss’s eyes as he strangled the butchered woman. It was like something from a horror film.

The soft breathing sounds emanating from Aislinn indicated that she had finally fallen back to sleep. Kane was reluctant to close his eyes, unsure if the visions would return. He admired Aislinn even more after seeing the images in her mind.

His time in the service had exposed him to humanity’s worst. Yet somehow, the images projected in Aislinn’s mind were nearly his undoing. Maybe because he felt her fear and panic as well. Either way, Kane was going to make sure that they figured out what was happening to them both.

Drifting off to sleep, his eyes fluttered at the still-falling rain outside the massive windows. The blackness of night covered the city in its veil of secrets and lies.