Energized by Mary Behre Page B

It wasn’t rocket science. And they had a much smaller version of this model dishwasher back in Fincastle. Karma gave her a quick hug and bolted to the office.
    Hoping for more time to talk after, Hannah lifted the rubber bin from the floor and started loading the plates. Everything was fine until she grabbed a handful of knives. The world around her went gray.
    Then someone screamed.

CHAPTER 8

    E VERYTHING WAS DARK, but that was perfect. Mercy loved the dark. Besides, the only thing Mercy needed to see was him. And there he sat, trussed up. Naked. Delicious. D
ying.
    Blood ran black
rivers from the left side of his chest. It gurgled and spouted.
    The heavy scent of metal clung to the warm, humid night air. And Mercy drank it in. How that smell made her shiver. Excitement danced through her like electricity.
    â€œMercy, please,” her lover begged. His long blond hair hung limply in front of his face. His brown eyes, hollow. The skin beneath them sunken. He radiated pain.
    Mercy’s joy dimmed.
    â€œYou’re still here?” She moved closer. He wasn’t supposed to be here. Not after everything. He was supposed to be gone. To be free. He shouldn’t be clinging to life like this. “That’s not right. Not right at all. What do you think you’re doing? I set you free. You can’t stay.”
    Her bare feet shuffled across the rough, unfinished floor. He wriggled his legs uselessly. He couldn’t fight her. He wastied to the two-by-fours that framed the house’s ocean view window. She reached out her free hand to touch his leg and he kicked at her. The weak move sent more blood pumping through the hole in his chest.
    Fury exploded through Mercy. This was how he repaid her kindness?
    She shifted the knife from hand to hand, slashing the air with each pass.
    He screamed again, a long throaty cry of agony.
    And she sank the knife into his neck this time.
    Blood spurted up into her face. It dripped down her cheeks and lips. “Yes! Yes! Baptize me in your blood. Show me you’re grateful for my mercy.” Laughter rang out loud and disjointed and she shivered in delight.
    He was gone now.
    Her mercy had been granted.
    â€œHannah! Hannah, let go of the knife.” Karma’s voice filtered in, distant and tinny. Then fingers brushed her damp cheeks. “Hannah, let go of the knife.”
    Hannah blinked open her eyes. Karma’s caramel-colored skin had gone gray and her eyes were wide and frightened.
    â€œWha?”
    â€œThe. Knife.” Karma repeated the words, separately, slowly. “Let. It. Go.”
    Knife?
    Hannah glanced down to see her right hand, covered in blood and clutching the blade of one of the dinner knives. She dropped it instantly. Fear and pain rushed in to replace the vision.
    â€œDamn!” She cried out when Karma wrapped her hand in the black apron Hannah had been wearing. “Oh, that hurts! Holy fucking schmoley.”
    Karma snorted a nervous laugh. “I’ve never met anyone before who says
holy
and
fucking
like that in the same sentence. Are you back with me?”
    â€œYeah, I’m here.” Hannah nodded. Her palm throbbed and burned. Oh, she was most definitely back in the land of the living. Pain was really good for breaking free from a vision. “Sorry if I frightened you.”
    â€œI’m just glad you’d told me about your gift before I found you clutching that thing like you were about to stab someone with the wrong end.” Karma gave her a weak smile. “Although, the fact that your aura was no longer any shade of orange but a muddy brownish-black would have clued me into something being really wrong. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you think you need stitches?”
    â€œI hope not. No insurance right now.” Carefully, Hannah unwrapped her hand and examined the wound. Blood smeared her palm, making it difficult to see the actual damage.
    â€œCome here.” Karma gently but