Read Online Ultimate Warriors by Joy Nash, Jaide Fox, Michelle Pillow - Free Book Online Page B

soon.
          Shayne
ceased pacing and turned to study her speculatively for several moments.
"I don’t think it’s something that can, or should, be put off. I think
you’re in danger."
          Nari’s
heart skipped a beat, remembering that pervasive feeling of being followed …
hunted. "Why? How? From whom?"
          He
frowned, seemed to wrestle with his thoughts for several moments. "Have
you considered the possibility that your mother actually was impregnated by a
demon?"
          "That’s
insane!" Nariko snapped, jumping to her feet. In a moment of weakness, she
had toyed with the possibility, but she knew damned well there was no such
thing and to consider it was to slide a little deeper toward the madness that
had consumed her mother.
          "You’re
that certain?"
          Nariko
stared at him, wondering yet again if he was entirely sane himself. He seemed
perfectly lucid, and yet he’d done a lot of things that were certainly rash for
a man in his position. "I don’t believe in ghosts, or goblins, or things
that go bump in the night!" she said irritably.
          He
looked away from her and began pacing once more. "Humor me, then. Let’s,
just for a moment, consider it as a possibility.
          "According
to the records, your mother wasn’t committed. She went into the sanitarium
voluntarily, and I believe she did it because she was hiding … or hoping to
hide. I think she placed you in the orphanage to keep you safe and then
committed herself, hoping they wouldn’t find her."
          "Hoping
who wouldn’t find her?"
          "The demons looking for the child … you. But they did
find her. Maybe they killed her trying to find out where you were.
          "Maybe
they managed to get the information out of her before she died."
          Nari
glared at him angrily. "You’re saying I haven’t been dreaming? That the
demons have found me? And they want me, why? Why would they have any interest
in me at all?"
          "Because you’re half demon."
          Nariko’s
anger boiled over. "Get out! You’re as crazy as she was!"
          He
stopped, his lips tightening angrily. "Be reasonable. You could be in
danger."
          "I
think I am. I think you’re crazy and I want you out of my house! Leave now, or
I’ll call the cops!"
          He took
a step toward her and Nariko skipped aside, putting the coffee table between
them--insubstantial as it was as a barrier. He stopped.
          "I
have to go if you’re determined to send me away, but I’m asking you to
reconsider. You need protection. You haven’t found your powers."
          "I’m
not a demon!" Nariko shouted at him. "Half or
otherwise! I’m not evil!"
          "I
didn’t say you were," Shayne said tightly. "Your father wasn’t.
Everything in nature has a balance, a dark side and a light side. Not all
demons are evil."
          Nariko
gaped at him. "You’re trying to say you knew my father?"
          "I
did."
          Nariko
leapt toward her phone. Grabbing it up, she punched the numbers with a shaking
finger.
          "911.
What’s your emergency?" said a feminine voice on the other end of the
line.
          Nariko
glanced at Shayne. "There’s a man in my house."
          He
glared at her furiously for several moments and finally strode out, slamming
the door behind him. Nariko depressed the button on the phone, threw it down
and ran to bolt her door.
          She
might be confused, but she damned well wasn’t so nuts that she was going to
take advice from somebody that was crazier than she was!
           
          ****
           
          Nariko
hadn’t expected to sleep. She had hoped she would be able to compose herself
for rest. She had tried a hot, soothing bath. She had read for a while in bed.
She had finally gotten up, put on an exercise video and worked out until she’d
begun to feel like she would drop in her tracks, but