Dessie watched herself sleep. A storm kicked up outside, and rain splattered the window, turning the room even colder. “Nothing.”
“The girl in the bed knows nothing. You are not in that bed. That means all is clear to you.” Lily’s voice was soft and held a comforting rhythm.
“I…I don’t know.” None of this was right. Dessie frowned and tried to look beyond the veil. “I’m not in the bed any longer.” The chilly room was gone. Where was she?
Lily pressed closer, and the smell of strawberries came with her. “Where are you?”
She looked around. “Downstairs.” In the monk’s living quarters. How in the world had she gotten there? She was still so cold. She could see herself on a chair in the center of the room. It looked like a modern dentist’s chair—like the ones she’d seen on television during her trek west. “That’s me,” she said hollowly. “How did I get there?”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re there now. What is happening?”
She could see the monks. They were all around at different workstations with computers. One full wall held medical equipment. As she watched, the girl in the chair slowly came awake. One of the monks hurried over and pressed a needle in her arm. In Dessie’s arm. Then she fell asleep again.
In the present, her heart rate increased. Her blood rushed through her veins; there was a roaring in her head. One of the monks took a large syringe, one much bigger than she’d ever seen, and stuck a needle into the center of her head.
She screamed and sat up in the bed, her temples pounding.
The lights flicked on. Garrett was instantly at her side. “Dessie?”
She gulped, tears streaking down her face. “They injected me with something. Something dark red.” Her scalp hurt even now. “Something they putdirectlyinto my head.” It was shocking she hadn’t sustained brain damage. Well, more than the damage that forced her to either kill or lose consciousness. She wanted to kill them. All of them.
What had been in that syringe?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Garrett was going to kill somebody. Probably everybody ever connected to the Kurjan nation. He waited for Dessie to finish dressing in the other room after a full fucking day of tests. After the hypnotism, Emma had triggered Dessie three times by having Garrett reveal his back. Dessie had gone ballistic each time, even though she’d been restrained. Then they’d had to sedate her before trying again.
The final test was having her skim through the ancient book until she passed out.
“Hey.” Hope walked into the waiting room, her brown hair in a ponytail and a bruise across her jaw. “Where’s the book?”
“What happened to your face?” Garrett stood and gently touched his niece’s face.
She grinned. “Training. We learned some new demon counterattacks today.”
He frowned. “Can’t you heal that?”
She looked away.
Shit. She couldn’t heal a little bruise? “Hope—”
“I know.” She threw up her hands. “I normally can heal myself to a certain degree, but when I have a cold or an ear infection, then my healing powers are all used up. There have been many tests, and Emma is working on it, so can we just move on?”
He didn’t like this at all. Hope was a combination of several species, including vampire, and she should be the strongest being on the planet. Instead, she was more human than immortal. “Sure.” Ducking, he reached beneath his chair. “Here’s the book. She passed out when she got to page seven hundred, near the end, which has a series of symbols I’ve never seen.”
“Excellent. I’ve pretty much learned everything possible about the geometrodynamics of cylindrical systems in order to solve the mystery of the dream worlds, so I’m your gal when it comes to ancient texts. The humans have made some decent discoveries, but they don’t come close to what our people have learned through the years. I’ll study this and get back to you.”
“Thanks. I’m hoping you can find something.”
“Me too.” She grinned, looking so much like her mother that she could pass for Janie. “Not for nothin’, but Dessie is pretty amazing at deciphering these symbols and texts. It’s like she can make connections nobody else can see.” Hope tucked the heavy volume beneath one arm. “Maybe that’s her enhancement. Or it was her enhancement before the Kurjans got to her.”
Garrett tuned in to his surroundings, finding two guards outside the door and small footsteps coming from the examination room. “I think her enhancement has to do with flowers and plants. They all come alive around her.”
Hope pursed her lips. “Well, nobody said she couldn’t have two enhancements, right?”
Right. If Dessie was so powerful the Kurjans had tracked her down and tried to mold her into a weapon, she no doubt had some strong enhancements. “Good point.” He tried not to stare at Hope’s bruise. Somebody should talk to her father about her training sessions if she was going to get hurt. “How are you liking the work in the computer hub?” A much safer place for her.
Her smile widened. “I love it. The intelligence gathering is okay, but I’m really enjoying covert ops. I’m running two from here.” Then she sobered. “Though I do worry about our assets—especially those who are family.”
