Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian 5)

"There is always one. But there are others. One will hurt One will heal. And one will always be there, regardless."

I hesitated, part of me wanting to ask the question, the other fearing it. "Is one of them my soul mate?"

"Can a spirit with two souls have one soul mate? That is a. question only time can answer."

"Well, that's a crappy sort of answer, if you ask me."

She blinked, then squeezed my fingers and released them. "I'm sorry I couldn't concentrate more on the murders, but as I warned, sometimes my foresight goes where it wills."

Yeah, and it didn't exactly give us more than what we already had. Still, if these murders weren't new, as Dia had implied, then a trip into the files for a closer look at past murders was obviously in order. The clues might lay in the past. Whether they'd help us solve the present crimes was anyone's guess.

"Be careful with this thing you hunt," Dia said, rubbing her arms lightly. "I do not think it will be easy to stop."

"The things we hunt never arc."

"No." She hesitated. "I'm sorry for dipping into your private life. I know you didn't want to hear that, and it wasn't my intention - "

I waved her apology away. "Don't worry. At least it wasn't totally bad. And at least there's some hope of my dreams coming true, even if not in the form I desire."

She smiled. "Which makes no sense when said like that."

"Tell me about it," I said wryly.

She pressed her hands against the sofa and stood up. "Would you like tea? Coffee? My next reading isn't for another hour, and it's so nice to see someone other than clients for a change."

Technically, I could be classed as a client, given she now worked for the Directorate, but I knew what she meant. While I had my doubts that Dia and I could ever be pals, I wasn't about to walk away from a prospective friendship. I had few enough of those, too.

All of which was my fault. I tended to be the prickly, standoffish type - a leftover of my hellish days with the pack, no doubt.

"Coffee would be good," I said with a smile.

"Good." She walked around the sofa and headed to a side door, but stopped as her daughter came choofing around the corner again.

"Where does she get the energy?" I asked with a grin.

"Heaven only knows," Dia muttered, then bent and asked, "Risa, would you like a drink? And some cookies?"

The little girl nodded so fast her pigtails were a blur of white. And then she stilled, looked at me, and pointed.

"Death, Mommy. Death." sed my eyes and took a deep breath. It didn't do too much to ease the tension running through me. I didn't want to face the destruction I'd faced yesterday. Didn't want to face the horror and pain of another soul. Didn't want to feel her in me or around me. Two in as many days was at least one too many.

"Exactly the same?" I asked, after a moment.

"Apparently so."

"Where?"

"Essendon."

Which was a northern suburb, and nowhere near Richmond. Which meant whatever the hell was going on wasn't being restricted to the one area. "Cole on his way?"

"Yep. Should be there in five."

"It'll take me twenty or so," I paused. "Were there any witnesses?"

"No neighbors reported anything. The woman's sister found her this morning. She's currently in the hospital under sedation."

As she would be, if this morning's murder was anything like yesterday's. "Did she say anything to the cops beforehand?"