Page 8 of Dark Visions (Strange Gifts #1)

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.