Tested in Fire by E. J. Russell

Author:E. J. Russell [Russell, E. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626497573
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Published: 2018-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

At four in the morning, Stefan gave up on sleep as a bad bet. Knowing that Luke was only yards away, but separated not just by walls and distance, but by some weird psychic displacement— Well, it wasn’t exactly soothing. Every time Stefan closed his eyes, he saw Luke’s desperate fear staring out of somebody else’s eyes. Sometimes those eyes were DiBartolo’s pale blue. Sometimes they were the inky black of Arcoletti’s possession.

So Stefan staggered downstairs, started the coffee maker, and doused his head in cold water.

Which succeeded in giving him a headache, but not much else. As he consumed two pots of coffee over the next few hours, he studied the sketches he’d done of Luke, both before and after the mind-body takeover.

Stefan was realistic about his abilities—when he wasn’t blocked, that is. He didn’t have an inflated idea of his talent, but he wasn’t affectedly modest either. The sketches were good, bordering on excellent, considering they hadn’t been intended as anything but quick, rough studies. They captured Luke’s essence and attitude in addition to the contours of his body, and other than being the same basic size and shape, the before and after sketches might as well be of two different men.

Because they are.

The clues were there, damn it—clues that the person inside Luke was DiBartolo, if only Stefan had paid freaking attention. The accent, the way he’d draped his jacket over his shoulders, his hostile demeanor. Did Antoinette know? It’s not as if Luke could communicate with her any more than he could with Stefan, and there wasn’t much opportunity to observe changed behavior. When she had observed it—Luke’s flailing when he saw Stefan the first time—she’d taken action by asking Stefan to stay away, but that was reasonable under the circumstances.

Stefan checked his watch, stroking its face with a finger. Luke always gave him shit about wearing a watch, since people nowadays used their phones for that like they used them for so much else. But last night, Luke had used it to communicate with Stefan. I’m wearing this damn thing forever. Because the warning had come none too soon. Stefan hadn’t been locked tight in his studio for more than five minutes before he’d heard footsteps pass his door.

He couldn’t tell who it was, or even how many people there were, but it had spiked his anxiety so much that sleep was out of the question. Who was it? What were they doing to Luke? Would they hurt him? Do something else to him? Christ, move him?

Rudy had talked about the possibility of a long-term care facility. If that happened, even if he could locate Luke, Stefan wouldn’t be allowed time with him. And as for arranging visits from Psychic Counselors? Not a chance in hell.

Therefore, he needed to act fast. What time did Peg don her Marguerite persona and open the shop? He contemplated trying her emergency number, but since she’d already said she wouldn’t give him the time of day unless she saw proof, he looked up the shop’s number and called the main line.

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