Piper closed her eyes, rested her hand on the other woman’s head, and thrust her consciousness into hers. Piper ‘flipped’ through her worst memories until—there.
Taking a deep breath, she sank into the real-life nightmare. She experienced it all through Missy’s senses—him sitting on her bed as he announced they’d be a family, days of watching him smile and laugh but also brood and rant, his declaration that he wouldn’t kill her as he’d killed the others.
She felt Missy’s fear and powerlessness and fury as if those emotions were her own. Emotions that beat at her soul, roiled her stomach, seized her lungs, and overworked her heart.
When Piper finally withdrew from the memory, she realized she was shaking. Strong hands snatched her from the floor, and then Levi was holding her tightly to him. And God help her, she didn’t fight him. She leaned against him while Missy’s emotions bled from her system. Fucking hell that had been brutal.
“Did you see his face?” asked Missy.
Finally pulling back—which wasn’t easy to do, because Levi wasn’t inclined to release her—Piper gave a slow shake of the head. “He was a blur the whole time, I’m sorry.” Unsurprised by the disappointment thickening the air, she added, “He kept whistling a tune. I don’t recognize it.” Piper hummed it aloud.
“I know it,” said Knox. “‘Dreamers Dream.’ What else can you tell us?”
“He once ranted about a witch who apparently held him responsible for a crime he didn’t commit,” replied Piper. “She was convinced he’d raped and murdered her sister.”
Knox pursed his lips. “In that case, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was she who cursed him.”
A question plaguing his mind, Levi telepathically reached out to Piper and asked, Did he rape Missy during one of the times she withdrew into her mind?
No, Piper told him. He never once touched her sexually. “His demon surfaced at one point.”
Missy jerked back. “It did?”
Piper nodded. “It laughed. Not at you, at him. It regards him as weak because he won’t admit to himself that he likes to kill; that he likes the control he’s able to wield over others.”
“He does seem to view himself as a victim,” mused Harper.
“Agreed,” said Piper. “He holds the witch responsible for what he’s been ‘forced’ to do to ‘emotionally survive.’”
Missy’s eyes flared. “The only person who was forced to do anything was me.”
“Indeed,” said Levi. “So I’d have to side with his demon on one thing—the bastard’s weak.”
After Piper relayed other details that Missy hadn’t reported—all of which seemed inconsequential—Knox announced it was time for them all to let Missy rest more.
As they walked down the front yard toward the cars, Harper gently nudged Piper. “You okay? You don’t look good.”
Piper shrugged. “Comes with the territory. I’ll be fine in an hour or so.”
Levi felt his mouth tighten. It was one thing to accept that there was a cost to using her ability, it was another to dismiss her own emotional reaction as if it had no relevance.
She licked her lips as she ran her gaze along everyone. “There was something else he said. Something I didn’t think you’d want me to say in front of Missy and Lois.”
Knox’s gaze sharpened. “And that is?”
Piper looked at Levi. “He mentioned you. Said you’re not as worked up about the murders as he thought you’d be.”
Levi went very still, his stomach dropping.
“Also … I’m sorry to tell you this, but … he killed your aunt,” she went on. “He talked about her. Said her mind was very dark—something he hadn’t expected—and that he doubted you’d be the man you are today if you’d grown up with her as your guardian. He seemed to take pride in who you are. As if making you an orphan means he can take the credit and …” She studied his face. “You don’t look surprised by any of it. You were already aware of it.”
He winced and opened his mouth to speak.
Piper lifted a hand. “It was a need-to-know thing. I didn’t need to know, I get it.”
She didn’t seem upset or offended, but Levi still felt like a sack of shit. There’d been several times when he’d come close to telling her what she’d now learned for herself, but he’d always held back. And now he wished he hadn’t.
“Thank you for your help today, Piper,” said Knox.
She grimaced. “I don’t feel like I did help much.”
“You should,” Knox insisted, taking the words from Levi’s mouth. “We now know he literally is cursed. We know he truly is the man who murdered Levi’s aunt—we assumed he was, of course, but we couldn’t be one hundred percent sure until now. And we can be positive that he is in fact a demon, since his entity surfaced.”
“I wasn’t able to do what I came here to do, though. I wasn’t able to get a glimpse of his face.”