Dayan was as gentle as ever, his expression never changing as he continued to look directly into Lisa’s eyes. “I am sorry to cause you pain, Lisa. You love Corinne. I know that. I will be happy to get anything from the house that you need, and I guarantee that no quack ever touches Corinne. We are becoming friends, beginning to trust one another.” His voice was utterly beautiful, a soft melody of words, the cadence pure and perfectly pitched so that they all strained to hear him.
Corinne framed Dayan’s face between her small hands and turned him to face her. “You are doing something I don’t like.” She said each word distinctly. “Don’t do it again.”
“You can come with me back to your house,” he said very gently, smiling at her, looking more handsome than she wanted to admit. He could rob her of her ability to breathe. It astonished her just how much he could affect her.
“Put me down.”
“Can you stand up without my help?” he asked softly, teasingly, whispering the words against her ear.
“Of course,” she lied. “And just to set the record straight, Lisa, I’m allowing him to come to the house with me.”
Lisa and Cullen burst out laughing. “It looks like it,” Lisa said.
The house was dark and forbidding, giving off a strange vibration of evil to Corinne. As she looked uncertainly at her home, she began to shake. “Dayan?” She whispered his name, suddenly very afraid.
At once he leaned close, his arm sliding around her slender shoulders. “Do not worry, honey. I will not allow anything to happen to you. Not now. Not ever.”
“Something’s wrong, Dayan, I can feel it. Let’s get out of here. Maybe the police should go in with us.”
“The police will never stop this group.”
“I don’t care if they can stop them or not. I think the point is not to get hurt right now. If we ask them, they’ll go into the house with us,” Corinne pleaded with Dayan. As she looked at him, she found herself touching his mind. She read his resolve. Dayan was determined, casual about the danger, completely confident in himself. Corinne sighed. “You’re going in there, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. You and Lisa need clothes.”
She caught his arm. “Dayan, forget it. We can shop for clothes. Nothing is worth your getting even a scratch. I don’t like the feel of the house. I think someone is either in there or watching it.”
He leaned close to kiss her irresistible mouth. “I think you are absolutely right. The house is being watched. But you are perfectly safe right here.”
“I’m not waiting here while you go alone. If you insist on being pigheaded about this, I insist on going along. I can do extraordinary things, Dayan. I know I’ll be of some help.” She was not about to let him go off alone again.
Dayan smiled, his teeth very white in the darkness, making him look like a predator. Why the image flashed into her mind she had no idea, but she shivered all the same. Occasionally she caught glimpses in his mind of predatory wildlife. Weird things, like leopards and night raptors. Swirling images of mist and fog, of lightning bolts and fierce storms. It was all there in his mind mixed up with what and who he was.
There were images of Dayan as a child with other children, running free in a wild jungle, but alongside him were leopards, savage-looking guardians that seemed to be watching over him. She was uncertain whether she was catching glimpses of actual memories or a jumble of memories and fantasy images. It was a dark world, unsuitable for the poet she thought him. In these visions he was a dark predator running with jungle cats in search of prey.
Corinne locked those images away to examine later. She was aware that Dayan was not exactly what he seemed. Dayan was a strong psychic with enormous talent. She had no idea what he was capable of.
“There you go again, honey” – he sounded amused – “scaring yourself for no reason at all. Such thoughts! You stay here while I check to see that the house is not occupied.”