Knock, knock... (2 page)

He sighed. "I thought I could save you... I have to admit that even now I'm having doubts..." He cocked his head and stared at her. She could barely see a softening in his features. A pondering. A weighing of options.

Then he straightened, stuck out his chin and shook his head. "No. It has to be this way." The moonlight shone in through the crack between the blinds. "Too bad though; you showed such promise."

Shay closed her eyes as his words and tones filtered through the growing fog in her brain.

Stefan, Dear God, I need help.

It's coming. Stay with me.

I don't know if I can. I don't know what's happening.

Nothing good! Damn it, I told you there was someone better out there for you.

She'd have laughed if she could. Instead a strange lassitude had filled her veins, mixed into her bloodstream.
I can't think.

The buzz of Stefan's thoughts disturbed the clouds fogging her mind.

Shay, read his energy. Shay? Shay! Damn it, stay with me. You need to read his energy.

She didn't want to. It was difficult. She could barely understand Stefan's instructions. Something about Darren's energy. Her head lolled to the side. "What did you do to me?"

"Well, I'm punishing you, of course. Actually it's not that much of a punishment. If I thought I could control you, I'd keep you around, but I can't. The decision has been made." He paused and tilted his head. "You're strong, you know. Not as strong as me, of course, but still strong."

He hesitated; his gaze turned inward as if listening to an inner voice. Then sighed and shook his head. "No. I can't change my plans. If you ever found out what you could do with all that strength... If you could be trained to use it properly… But no. You aren't trainable. I've seen that already." He walked around the bed, studying her. "It's almost over. See? This is a nice way to go. Just fall asleep and you'll be gone. But of course, everyone resists it. Too bad. So sad. Everyone keeps clinging to their pathetic little lives even when that point is long gone."

Then she got it.
Oh God.

"You're going to kill me?" The fog deepened. She struggled to push it back. To find clarity. To find answers. To find a way out of this hell.

Stefan had said, ‘Read his energy.’ Not an easy task. The fog thinned slightly, a small victory, and she tried to shift her vision to see Darren's energy.

As she'd done when things became serious between them. It was almost instinctive self-preservation to do so. She’d discovered he had a few anger issues, a few regrets, some energy heading into his past. A few walls saying he had a few secrets, but nothing to make her feel like she should delve deeper into the core of the man.

And now she realized her mistake. When it was too late to do anything about it.

She'd believed what she'd seen. The façade he'd presented. And had missed seeing him for who he really was. On the inside.

He was talking again, preening. "You live out your days worrying about what to do with all that lovely money. Oh poor you. You were so focused you never even saw who came knocking on your door. Didn’t really see me. Not as I am inside. Only as I wanted you to see me."

She closed her eyes and opened her senses. With her fading strength, it was easier to function entirely on a soul energy level. The physical form was so much harder to sustain and control as it failed around her.

Clouds of dark black, sickly green energy surrounded him. Like a hard shell, it protected him on the inside, while he…
While he what?

She couldn't see clearly enough. Fog rolled in. She blinked several times, trying hard to understand. There was a long cord from his root chakra to…the bed. And then to her.
He'd connected a cord to her.

That connection, in itself wasn't the issue. Most people had hooks or cords into others, but not like this one.

Stefan's voice murmured deep in her psyche.
Stay with me, Shay. The cops will be there within minutes.

Too late
, she whispered.
His energy… It's sick. Deep, dark, diseased. Dying. Stefan, see it for yourself. I can see him. The real him. He's been hiding all this time. Somehow masking who he really was.

And that betrayal hurt. So much. She'd loved Darren. Had planned to marry him and bear his children. She had planned to link her life with this man, who now stood so separate from her, watching her die by his own intent. Dear God. How had this happened? How had she not seen the man for who he was?

Because he could hide himself. And his personality is what's sick. He's not dying. You are!

Her thoughts drifted, scattered.
How is he doing this? I feel so weak. It's as if he's draining my very soul.
She couldn't hold a focus. She understood in theory what Stefan had said…but reality felt distant. Like this was happening to someone else.

He's opened your heart chakra. Draining your energy in a torrential wash. He's going to syphon you dry.

She pondered that bit of information. She should be upset about it. Should probably care. But it was hard to connect the information to its logical outcome – to use it.

You have to do something
, urged Stefan.
Don't fight it. Embrace him with love. Start from that power position. Remember, energy is everywhere. You cannot be drained if you remember that universal energy flows through you at all times.

She blinked at the tidbits of understanding as they filtered in.

Know that I am here. Part of you. As he drains you, I'm refilling you with love.

She couldn't move, she couldn't do anything but exist, caught in a war between life and death.

How?

Open your crown chakra to the universal energy. Create a spinning loop between your chakras to build power. But protect yourself; don't let him see you turn the tide of the energy flow. I will start it for you, but you have to help yourself.

His words penetrated slower than the energy. By the time she understood what Stefan meant, she was working on her crown chakra, opening it. She already felt the effects and, bolstered by the rise in her own energy, she immediately picked up the pace, refilling her body, enlivening her soul.

Don't feed the anger. Feed the love. Feel the power in the loving energy. Feel it strengthen you on all levels. You don't have to be his victim.

I can make him my victim.
She had to admit, a part of her loved that idea.

Don't. It will change you. It will be something you will never forget. We need to find another way.

There isn't one. We can't hold him off forever
, she whispered.
And how else can anyone stop him? Or others like him?

Stefan's silence gave her the answer. She could stay in this unlimited loop, or she could do something about it. Something lethal. What choice was there? She had to do something before Darren realized what was happening. Shay focused on funneling more and more universal energy though her body, creating a swirling vortex within her. Gaining strength. Gaining purpose. Gaining determination for what was to come.

"How many have you killed?" she whispered, letting her eyes close weakly. He needed to believe she was dying. That he'd won. And she needed to know the extent of the damage he'd inflicted on those around him. To know she was doing the right thing in destroying him.

Darren stepped closer to hear her question. "How many? Is that what you asked?"

"Yes." She kept her eyes closed, focused on the energy pouring through her, gathering, waiting for the right time.

He laughed. "So many. It's really easy once you understand how. The biggest trick is hiding what I'm doing until I'm ready for people to know. Like you. You're very intuitive. Very astute. I had to be especially alert, in your case. It was good for a while. Kept me on my toes. But tonight I deposited a nice fat check you were kind enough to write out for me." He laughed. "Oh, you don't remember writing me a check, do you? That's okay. I'm great at forging signatures, too. I stole the checks awhile ago… It's not like you'll need them after today."

"How many?" Her voice gained a desperate strength. She needed to know. Even one death was too many. If he’d killed other people, she'd have no problem doing what needed to be done. She'd have to. He had to be stopped before he went on to kill again.

In the far distance, she heard sirens.

"Isn't that nice? You're curious. You can't stop the process now, you know. I chose Friday on purpose. No one will find you until Monday. When you don't show up for work, they will come looking." He glanced around the bedroom. "It's really too bad. I'd so hoped that this would be my forever home." He chuckled. "Odd to think I'm still using that childhood phrase. So few would understand it."

"How many?" she insisted, her voice stronger as anger stirred dangerously close to the surface. She had to keep herself in check. Had to keep her anger reined in. She had to take him out the right way. Or her actions would be impossible to live with.

He laughed. "Dozens, over the years."

Dozens.
And with that, she knew there was no one else, no other way to stop him. He had ways of killing people that no one would ever know. That no one would ever understand. That no one would be able to prove. He had to be stopped. And there were so few people capable to do that.

She was one of them. Stefan was another.

Stefan. I need all you can channel my way.

I'm open and pouring. Do it. We can't hang on like this for much longer.

She opened her eyes and stared at the man she'd once loved. Now, her heart was filled with loathing for what he'd done – she hated him with a passion that fed her actions like she'd never felt before. But she had to find a way past that to the core of love from one human being to another. She had to come from a soul level.

She could do that.

"Darren."

He looked up at her, a sarcastic smile on his face. "What's the matter, Shay? Aren’t you going to plead for your life?" he said mockingly.

She made it look agonizingly difficult to raise her arm and motion him closer. And to make that arm drop down weakly to the bed. He thought he’d almost drained her dry and had no idea what she could do. Good. She just needed him a little closer.

He sat down on the bed with his hip pushing up again her thigh. Now, if she could only reach… Her arm trembled with effort as she stretched it out and placed her hand on his chest. Right over his heart.

Barely holding the building energy force back, she asked,
Stefan, Are you ready?

"What did you want to say, dearest Shay?" Darren’s mocking voice floated through the room, surrounding her. Filling her. Firing her actions.

She opened up her swirling vortex. In her mind, she said to Stefan,
Now
.

She looked Darren in the eyes and whispered, "Go to hell."

She channeled the vortex to jettison the stream of loving soul energy forward to his heart – the actual organ – with all the energy that she could manage. With all the caring she could find.

He gasped once, his eyes going wide.

Shock and disbelief flashed livid on his face. Understanding lit the deep depths of his gaze. But it was too late for him to act. His opportunity was gone before he ever saw it.

Or, maybe, it wasn't.

Even as his eyes darkened, a firestorm of energy ricocheted through his heart chakra and back into her, burning though her palm as some type of fireball lit the room.

Something else –
someone else
– had joined the fray. And combined, they were stronger, more powerful and…desperate…to survive.

Shay poured energy, opening herself up to the universe and channeling everything she could access into the fight.

Stefan. What's happening?

I don't know. Another element has been added. Possibly another person…

Then we can't win,
she cried out in pain and frustration
. That's two against two. And they have the advantage. How do we save this?

Look out!

A small blue fireball leapt from her bed and flew into the energy torrenting through her hand.

No!
Shay cried out.

It was too late. Morris, her ghostly feline, had joined the fight – and turned the tide as his loving, protective energy joined hers. There was a momentary pause, as if both sides were re-evaluating the balance of power, and then a deep purr sounded from the center of the maelstrom.

The space beneath her hand exploded.

Shay was thrown back against the headboard.