Blood Gifts by Kara Lockley Read Free Book Online Page B

his. He
put himself inside her, then made love to her. More gently than the
first time, but they still worked themselves up to a frenzied
crescendo. Her orgasm crashed through her and she felt herself lose
control as she screamed into his neck. He groaned as he came. Then
he pulled her closer to him as their breathing began to calm down.
She opened her eyes dreamily, exhausted by pleasure, and glanced
around the room.
    "Oops," she said. Their belongings were
scattered everywhere, and a piece of pizza was sliding down the
wall.
    He glanced around the room too, and
laughed.
     
     

Chapter 14
     
    She heard the sound of metal groaning and
glass breaking, she heard tires squealing against the pavement. Her
body flew forward, and slammed against the seat belts holding her
in place.
    She screamed. She woke screaming. It was just
a dream. A dream of a memory. The hotel room door burst open and
she jumped, sitting up in the bed.
    Luke stood in the doorway with takeout food
in his hands.
    "Oh, thank God," he said, seeing her alone.
"I thought Geric had gotten to you."
    He closed the door quickly, set the food
down, and came over to her. He sat on the bed and wrapped her up in
his arms.
    "What happened?" he asked as he stroked her
hair. She held him tight, driving away the nightmare.
    "I had a bad dream about something that
happened to me, in my past," Karina said. "It must be the stress of
being chased. It's getting to me. I only dream about it when my
life is bad."
    "I'm sorry," Luke said, squeezing her
tighter. He felt guilty for involving her in his life at all, in
his world and the dangers of it.
    He held her for a few moments, then said, "Do
you want to talk about it?"
    She had her cheek pressed to his chest, and
her eyes were closed. "In the dream, there was all this smashing of
glass and metal, tires squealing, a car crash."
    Karina pulled away from him and moved to sit
on the edge of the bed. She wiped the tears off her face that Luke
hadn't noticed before. She continued her story.
    "I was driving with my parents. There was an
accident. I was in the back seat. I had been in the middle of a
sentence, asking my mother in the front seat what she thought of
this green prom dress we'd just seen. My father was driving.
Inexplicably…" Karina closed her eyes as she remembered, "a pickup
truck drifted across the center line on the highway. It happened a
second before the crash, no time to process. There were these loud
crushing metal sounds. I was jerked forward against my seat belts.
And then there was silence.
    "My parents were killed instantly. I was in
the back seat in shock, unable to move. Later I found out I only
had bumps and bruises and a strained neck. But I swear at the time
I couldn’t feel my body.
    "Then a sudden scraping noise broke the
silence. The totaled pickup truck slid backwards away from our car,
as if it were dragged. Later, at the man's trial, he described his
truck moving for no reason after the accident, and people assumed
he didn't really know because he was drunk. They assumed the car
and truck bounced away from each other after colliding.
    "But I know. I was there, I remember. I did
it. It was the first time I used my psychic powers, or even knew I
had them. Though it took me years to realize it. At the time I
didn't really care. I had just lost my parents. I was only 15."
    "I'm so sorry," Luke said. She was standing
now, in front of him, and he pulled her close, so he could hug her,
pressing his cheek against her chest, his arms wrapped around her
waist.
    "Come here," Luke said, standing up and
taking Karina's hand. He gently led her to the small round table.
"I brought you Chinese food."
    She sat down at the table and he let her hand
go. She rested her chin on her hands and stared into space.
Thinking about her parents. Thinking about her life.
    He scooted the bag of food closer to her as
he sat across from her. He was patient and waited for her to make a
move. Finally she sighed and opened the bag of