Start | Chapter Sixteen Part One | Index | Chapter Sixteen Part Three

“Indeed, let’s focus on what’s important and urgent,” Daniel said. “I don’t suppose either of you got a lock on him when you chased him away from Dave?”

“Sadly no,” Sarah said. “He leapt the canal, climbed an apartment block like bloody spiderman and then turned into mist before we could get close enough.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say,” Daniel sighed. “Pity, that would have made life easier.”

“We do know where his procurer lives,” Sarah suggested. “Why not grab him and force him to tell us where this Ragnar is holed up. I mean he must know right?”

“He would know,” Leisa agreed. “But I think that should be a last resort. It would alert Ragnar that we knew where he was and he had flee before we reached there.”

“That’s a good point.” Tanya said and then gave Meredith a speculative look. “What about psychometry? Would that work?” she asked.

“Hmm, it’s very possible that it would,” Meredith said. “But it’s not one of my specific talents, however I do think that it may be one of David’s from what I saw the other day. I can guide him through it if it is, but we’ll need something of hers to form a connection to her if we’re to stand a chance of it working.”

“Would her brother count as something of hers?” Leisa asked.

“I still have some of her hunting journals,” David added. “They’ll do won’t they?”

“Either would work, I think,” Meredith said. “Both would be even better.”

“Wait!” Jason interrupted. “What do you mean Anna’s hunting journals? What the hell?”

“Your sister is a vampire hunter, Jason,” Tanya said softly. “You can yell about it later if you want. For now let’s concentrate on getting her back.”

“I-” he began. Then he paused and shook his head. “That’s really crazy, you know. I never even realised something was amiss. Is that how she attracted this bastard’s attention?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Leisa said. “But don’t be too hard on them. No one get’s recruited by the order unless something had already happened to make them a good candidate.”

“What do you mean? Something like what?” he asked.

“Well, generally hunters are recruited after they have witnessed, or even managed to survive an attack,” Meredith said wryly. “Or in the case of the Order’s spectral branch they may well just have experienced a lot of weird shit repeatedly.”

“Something happened to Anna and she never told me?” he said wretchedly.

“Actually it happened to one of her school friends,” Tanya replied, “but Anna saw it happen and intevened. It’s a long story and we really do need to track your sister down soon.” She turned and looked at Merry. “Okay, so journals and her brother are enough. Shall we do this?”

“Sure, if David’s willing,” Meredith replied.

“Of course I am,” David said. “But I have no idea how to do it.”

“That’s okay,” Meredith reassured him. “Like I said, I know the theory. I’ll guide you through it. It’s worked okay with my other students anyway, though none of them had to learn in a crisis. Of course, it being a crisis should actually help. Psi works better in emergencies.” She turned and gestured Jason over. “Could you sit by David, please? He needs to be touching you for this to work.”

“Of course,” he agreed.

Once Jason and Tanya had shuffled seats to allow Jason to sit by David she turned back to him. He was rummaging in his bag for something.

“Thank goodness I left my bag here,”he said as he pulled a leatherbound journal from it. It would have been destroyed in the fire otherwise.”

“You’re one step ahead of me there, David,” she said with a grin. “Now place your other hand on Jason’s arm, close your eyes and relax.”

“Okay,” David leaned back into his chair and did as she asked.

Now you need to reach out and find Anna’s aura in her journal and in her brother, she told him mentally. He wondered briefly why she had switched to mind speech but then realised it would probably be wasier to explain this way. Still he had no idea what she meant by finding Anna’s aura in her journal, let alone her brother.

Er, what? He broadcast his bafflement at her.

You do it like this. A mental image was inserted into his mind. extend your mind into and seek out the feeling you associate with Anna in your head. It’s good that you know her – it’s a hell of a lot easier to find someone or something if you are familiar with what you seek.

Okay, he said dubiously. He sort of understood but he was still uncertain. I’ll try anyway. He did as she had suggested, imagining his mind flowing into Jason and the book looking for the mental sensation he associated with Anna. immediately he felt like he was sucked in and Anna’s aura buzzed around him. What the hell!

Oh my, you are precocious, aren’t you, David? Are you sure that you’re human? That of course brought up Tanya’s musing on the same question because he could see werewolves’ eyes. Interesting, I’d say she’s right – it would be a good idea to talk to Liam. But back to the business at hand. Jason and the diary both resonate with Anna because of their relationship to her. The resonance will create a trail to her – follow it with your mind.

David was about to ask what that meant when he realised that there were shining threads of psychic energy stretching out from the journal and from Jason. Threads that felt like Anna. He took hold of them and began following them mentally.

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