“And did you say beneath the river?”
“Yes.”
“What, exactly, is beneath the river?”
“An old cave network and something that, I think, is a cavern, from the way Hanner described it.”
“A cavern? Under the river?”
“Under it or close to it, which is why I need you now.”
Allison, who was tuned into my mind and following my thoughts almost as fast as I could think them, said, “Oh, gross.”
“It’s the only way, Allison. I can’t lock onto my sister or Fang or even Danny. And even if I could, my range only goes so far.”
Her range was, of course, potentially global. In fact, there didn’t seem to be any limit to Allison’s ability to see distantly. Remote viewing, as it was called in psychic circles.
Earlier, after getting directions to the underground caverns beneath the Los Angeles River, I’d dashed back in the house, where I had found the newlyweds sitting and standing in the same position I had left them in, and snatched the finger and the napkin.
Now, it was sitting in front of Allison, who’d been staring down at it for the past ten minutes.
“Please, Allison. I need your help.”
The color had drained from her face instantly when she’s caught on what was inside the napkin. She’d been pale ever since. I was fairly certain she’d yet to look away from the wrapped package sitting before her. Finally, she nodded. “He went through a lot of pain, Sam.”
“I can imagine.”
“But...” she trailed off, but I caught her psychic hit just as it occurred to her.
“Jesus,” I said.
“Yes, Sam. He’s involved with this somehow. Entangled. Not completely innocent.”
I shook my head and swore and cursed my ex-husband all over again. My stupid, stupid ex-husband. So stupid that he had lost a finger.
“He was trying to exact revenge,” said Allison.
“Did you just say exact revenge?”
“Yes. I know it sounds cheesy, but that’s the feeling I get. He was trying to get back at you, somehow. To stop you somehow. To control you somehow.”
“And he teamed up with Hanner.”
“Or she teamed up with him,” said Allison.
“He made a deal with the devil,” I said. “Literally.”
Allison nodded and we both looked down at the wrapped finger. Yes, Danny had paid a heavy price for his stupidity—and his hate for me, but I didn’t have time to think about that now. I had to see what I was up against. I had to see—through Allison’s remote viewing—what the hell was going on.
“It’s time, Allison,” I said.
We both knew what that meant. She nodded, then slowly reached forward and began unrolling the greasy napkin. As she did so, she calmly got up, walked over to the nearby bathroom, and wretched for a half minute. She came back, wiping her mouth, gave me a weak smile, and then sat before the still-rolled up napkin.
She undid it completely...and, after taking a deep breath and visibly fighting the rising vomit at the back of her throat, took hold of the severed finger in both her hands.
Chapter Thirty-five
“I see him,” said Allison.
I saw him, too, but I waited for her to make sense of what she was seeing, for her to focus, to hone in, to get a feel for the place. To, quite literally, slip inside.
More details came through.
In her thoughts, I saw Danny in a chair. No, a desk. Perhaps a high school desk, as he seemed to fit in it well enough. Both arms were lying across the flat surface of the desk. Both arms were secured with duct tape. Both hands hung over the lip of the desk. Blood dripped steadily from the gaping maw where his right pinkie had been. The wound itself looked badly infected...and old. How long Danny had been down there, I didn’t know. I realized I hadn’t heard from him in about a week. Nothing unusual about that. He saw the kids every other week. And sometimes, he even missed those dates. I’d gone as long as two or three weeks without hearing from the sleazy bastard.
Danny looked like hell, and my heart went out to him, despite everything. I forgot that he had turned on me...and that his current situation was, apparently, a direct result of him trying to hurt me.
As I watched him sobbing and shaking, I saw the chains around his bare ankles. The skin was bloody and raw and mostly peeled away. Dried blood pooled around his bare feet. For once, in a long time, the sight of blood did not trigger a hunger in me. The sight of Danny and his wounds, instead, triggered a deep sadness...
And anger.
Although I could see what Allison could see, she got a far better picture than I ever could: “I see a big room. Rock walls. Yes, a cavern. It appears natural, although some of it could have been chiseled. Danny is in the room, crying softly to himself. I can feel his fear, his pain, his self-hatred. He hates that he put himself into this mess, hates you even more for introducing him to this dark world. A part of him, a very small part of him, understands that this wasn’t your fault, that your attack seven years ago was unprovoked, that you, in fact, never asked for this. That small part of him is overshadowed by his fear and hatred for you, Sam. He feels abandoned and humiliated and angry.”
“Is he alone?” I asked.
“Hold on...”
And now, Allison’s perspective widened further as she searched the room. She might as well have been an actual bat, swooping around the room. Her remote viewing ability was uncanny. Then again, I didn’t know much about any of this. Maybe her abilities were normal for one who allowed a vampire to feed from her. Maybe the newlyweds in Hanner’s home had such abilities, too.
Or not. I knew Allison had started out as psychic, and that my feeding upon her only made her more psychic. And, of course, she had been a witch down through the ages. And so had I.
But not in this life. No. And if my immortality held up, perhaps never again.
As Allison swooped mentally through the room, I followed her thoughts as best as I could, her path, as if I was swooping right there with her. It was thrilling and bizarre, but I didn’t think much of any of that. This was, after all, a recon mission. Meaning, we were here to gather information—anything that would help me save Mary Lou and, yes, Danny, and help get us all out alive.
“There,” I said. I directed her thoughts toward a dark opening in the far wall.
Allison oriented on that and we swooped down through the cavern and into the opening and into yet another cavern, this one smaller, and this one occupied by more people.
I saw them through Allison’s perception. Unfortunately, this cavern was mostly dark...and Allison could not see through the dark. Or, perhaps, her distance sight could not see through the dark. But there were a few touches on the wall, and enough to see a handful of people I didn’t recognize.