Tempting Evil (Riley Jenson Guardian 3)

She fell silent. While these three didn't look particularly old, they were still vampires, and I was going to need every ounce of concentration against them.

"It case you haven't noticed, little girl," the leader said, amusement rich in his harsh, annoying voice, "there's three of us, and only one of you."

"Unfair odds, I agree," I said. "You want me to keep one hand behind my back?"

They glanced at each other, then broke into laughter.

That's when I dropped my shields and hit the minds of the backup vamps, stripping through their meager shields and ordering them to run away, as far and as fast as they could. Their laughter stopped abruptly and their eyes went wide, the whites seeming to gleam brightly in the darkness. Then they turned and retreated into the night.

Even as they ran, pain lanced through my head, needle sharp and fiery hot. I wasn't entirely sure why, especially given I'd done similar things in the past and hadn't felt a reaction like this. But right then, I didn't have time to worry about it. Even as tears touched my eyes, the air stirred, brushing anger and the force of movement past my nose. I ducked away from the last vamp's fist, letting it skim past my cheek, then dropped and spun, kicking his legs out from underneath him. He grunted as his rump hit the ground, and his look of surprise might have been funny if it wasn't for the murderous expression that almost instantly followed.

He snarled, then scrambled to his feet and launched at me. I dodged, but his fingers caught my arm, his nails needle sharp and tearing into flesh. I yelped and he laughed, a sharp sound that was quickly cut off when my fist slammed into his mouth. He staggered backward, arms flailing, spitting out blood and teeth as he did so. I followed the force of my punch with another, this time chopping into his throat, crushing his larynx and dropping him to the ground. He didn't stay down, but scrambled on all fours toward Dia Jones. Blind or not, she seemed to sense his approach, because she gasped and backed away.

I grabbed his leg and dragged him away from her. He struggled like a madman, his kicks landing heavily on my already bloodied arm and bruising the hell out of my fingers. A growl of fury rumbled up my throat, and without thought, I dropped my shields again and let him have it. His mind fled before mine like a pebble before a landslide, and just as uselessly. Within seconds, I had him still and unmoving.

But, oh God, how it hurt.

I dropped to my knees, and, for too many seconds, did nothing more than try to breathe as the pain in my head intensified, and all I could see were pinpoints of bright lights flashing before my eyes. They eased after a few seconds, but the pain didn't.

Why was this happening? When I'd controlled the two lab-made werecats in Moneisha, there'd been pain, but nothing as intense as this. Even when I'd attacked Quinn, there hadn't been a backlash like this - had there?

I frowned, and remembered the wash of pain that had briefly hit before I'd picked my panties off the floor and stormed into the other room.

Maybe it was a simple matter of being too angry to even notice just how bad the pain actually was.

A hand touched my elbow, helped me to my feet.

"We must go," Dia said. "Before he recovers enough to attack again."

He wasn't going anywhere until I released him, but given the blinding pain, that was probably going to be sooner rather than later. I stumbled along after Dia, guided more by her touch and the sound of her footsteps than my own sight, which was at best blurry, and filled with heated white spots that danced about crazily. A situation that wasn't helped when the control I had on the vamp snapped. The pain of it rebounded through me, as sharp as glass. I gasped, stumbling and almost going down. Dia's grip tightened on my arm, and with almost inhuman strength, she kept me upright and kept me going.

Of course, Dia Jones wasn't exactly human, so inhuman strength wasn't exactly surprising. What I really wanted to know was how the hell she was moving so surely when she couldn't see and hadn't even a cane or a guide animal to help her.

A car loomed through the blurriness ahead. A man in a dark suit opened the rear door of a car that seemed to go on forever, then I was being shoved inside. I crawled across the soft leather, then leaned my head back against the thick seat cushioning and closed my eyes. Doors slammed shut, twin sounds that seemed to reverberate through the silence, through my head, then the car was moving.

Silence reigned for several minutes. I could feel Dia's gaze on me - it was a weight that was at once both curious and cautious - but she didn't touch me. Of that, I was glad. I had a feeling that she might learn far too many secrets if she did so right now.

"Telepathy is new to you, isn't it?" she said eventually.

I opened my eyes. Even though the limo was dark, the glare of the streetlights as we passed them were a brightness that was hard to stand. My eyes watered, and the ache in my head briefly intensified.

"What makes you think I'm telepathic?"

She smiled. "While I am not telepathic myself, I am sensitive to the use of psychic power. Generally, it feels like the caress of a warm summer breeze that swirls across my skin - something I can sense, but never catch." She paused, tilting her head slightly to one side, her amazing blue eyes seeming to follow even my slightest movement. How was that possible? This woman was blind - I was certain of that, if nothing else.

"With you tonight," she continued, "it was not a breeze, but a cyclone. An overuse of power if ever I felt one. Has no one ever taught you control?"

"I shield. I can protect myself. What else is there to know?" And Jack had been coaching me, but I couldn't exactly admit that.

"Power of any kind should be treated similar to an onion. There may be many different layers, but you should only ever strip away as many as you need to get the job done." She smiled as she reached forward and took a small cloth from a compartment under the seat opposite, then handed it to me. "The only time problems generally arise for the trained is when the power is still new, or it increases in strength for some reason."

I wrapped the cloth around my bleeding arm. "How would either of those cause problems?"

She shrugged lightly. "You cannot control something when you do not know its boundaries."

That made sense. But was that what was actually happening? I'd been telepathic most of my life, and the last test done at the Directorate had not indicated any increase in psychic output.

Of course, those tests had been done several months ago. Who knew what the result would be now.