But Dr. Drake wasn't any other woman. She had very, very special talents.
The lady only treated paranormal patients. Word on the street held that she could immediately sense any Other.
And she was heavily empathic.
No hiding from this therapist. Nope, no denial would ever work with her.
The doctor glanced at her watch. "Running behind, are we?"
"Seriously, you don't want to hear about my day." Demon heritage. Ex-fiance from hell.
Possible murderer/stalker.
Emily laughed and shut the door. "Oh, come on now, Holly, you know that's what I'm here for-
listening." She motioned toward the couch and walked back to her desk. A small notebook lay in the middle of the wooden surface.
Holly crossed the room. The couch. Just looking at it made her nervous, and this was her sixth visit to the doctor's office.
She'd originally come to see Dr. Drake because she'd been…desperate.
Carl had been the first to mention Emily's name. The first to talk about just how the Monster Doctor had helped him.
She'd thought that maybe Emily could help her, too.
Holly hadn't wanted to be helpless anymore. The world was full of beasts, predators-she got that.
Both human and Other.
She never wanted to be as weak as she'd been in that alley. Not again. There had to be some way for her to protect her mind from those attacks. Some way…
And if anyone would know a way, Holly had figured it would be Dr. Drake.
So their sessions had started. Half-therapy, half-mind-shielding.
The weird thing-both parts were working.
Which was one of the reasons she hadn't flipped out when she saw old Zack. Without Dr.
Drake's help, she would have tried to rip the guy a new one.
"I-I need to ask you some things." Holly sat on the edge of the couch, feeling awkward. The first time she'd come into the office, she'd felt the same tension, but she'd bluffed her way through the forty-five minutes.
I know about the Other. She'd said that confidently. You don't have to pretend with me.
Emily hadn't spoken.
I know, and I'm here because I want to learn how to protect myself.
Emily had known about what happened in that godforsaken alley. Her lover, Detective Colin Gyth, had been on the scene within moments. Holly didn't think there were many, if any, secrets between the cop and the good doctor.
The first time she'd come face-to-face with Emily, the knowledge of that dark night had been in the Monster Doctor's eyes.
Emily had agreed to take her on as a patient. She'd started teaching her how to visualize shields for her mind-and to actually make those damn things work through a focused concentration that sometimes left Holly's head aching and her heart racing.
And…more had developed in the sessions. Holly had found herself talking about Zack. Her parents.
Her brother.
Christ, the first time she'd talked about Peter, she'd bawled for an hour.
"You can ask me anything," Emily said as she picked up her pen. "But keep in mind I'll have my turn to ask questions, too."
She always did. Sneaky questions that seemed easy enough to answer on the surface but were really designed to rip the scabs off all the old wounds Holly had locked inside.
She pulled in a deep breath of air. "Why-why did you originally agree to see me? You knew that I was a reporter, I could have just been scamming you-trying to get a story-"
"You're not like that." Instant response.
Those empathic powers? "You sure of that?"
A nod.
" Why did you see me?" Holly repeated. The answer was very, very important.
"You need me." One shoulder lifted, then fell. "I don't make a habit of turning away people who need me."
Hell, yes, she'd needed the doctor's help-so she would never be helpless again. But…"I'm not like the other patients you treat." She'd only seen a few of them, passed them briefly in the hallway.
Not the chatting type.
All of the others were paranormals, while she was-was-
Emily's eyes narrowed behind her glasses. "I'm not sure I'm following you, Holly."
"You treat Other, okay? And I'm not. I'm just-" Human.
Right?
Silence.
Then Emily put her pen down and licked her lips. "I think I'm a bit confused."
Join the club.
"Holly, despite what you may have heard, I do treat some human patients."
Freaking relief. Her hand pushed against her chest. "Right, right, of course-"
A slow shake of Dr. Drake's dark head. "But, um, you know you're not human, don't you?"
Good thing she was sitting down. Emily had the distinct feeling her knees would have done a Jell-O routine and she would have wound up on the floor. "Run that by me again?" A squeak that wasn't her normal voice.
Emily snatched up her pen and scribbled a quick note. "You didn't know…"
"I still don't know." Okay, so Niol had told her. Dr. Drake was telling her, but-but-
Christ.
But how the hell could she have gone through her entire life without knowing she was Other ?
"You don't have much power, I'd probably label you as a one or two on the demon scale…"
Demon scale.
"But I knew from the first moment I met you, Holly, that you were Other ."
That hard thump-it wasn't her heart. It was her world falling off its axis.
CHAPTER 9
Holly walked down the hallway in Mistro Tower, putting one foot doggedly in front of the other as Dr. Drake's words rang in her head.
Haven't you ever noticed that you heal faster than normal?
Okay, yeah, she had-but she'd chalked it up to being a fast healer. All of the bruises and most of the cuts from the hit-and-run were almost gone now, and, yeah, in hindsight, she could see that was a bit, uh, too fast.
Haven't you ever been aware of a thickening in the air around you? As if pressure is pushing on you?
Just when she'd been around Niol. But she'd thought that was his power.
Not hers.
Certain powerful instances or stressful situations may trigger the latent powers in you. An adrenaline surge-that could ratchet up the strength you have…
Maybe Niol brought out the inner demon in her.
Your parents-surely they knew. Didn't they say anything to you?
Not a word about being a demon. Just the stay out of trouble and God, whatever you do, don't take Peter's path.
Peter. Her steps faltered. Had he been-
Her cell phone chimed. Fumbling, she yanked it out of her purse. "Storm-"
"Get down to the warehouse district." Niol's voice. Hard. Furious. "The bastard's killed again."
No. Not another slaughtered victim. "How do you know? Niol-"