Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton Page B

from diety?”
    â€œDon’t be cheeky. When the universe, or God, or Goddess, or whatever you choose to say, gives you someone in your life that comes in and makesso much right, so quickly, be grateful. Be grateful instead of picking at it.” Marianne knew me too well.
    â€œAnd the Knight of Wands?”
    â€œSomeone new, or someone old, but you’ll be seeing them in a new light. It will be a temptation, but the wands represent power, so it could be a temptation to use power or gain power, rather than anything relationshipwise.”
    â€œI don’t need more temptation in my life, Marianne.”
    â€œDid you start a case tonight?”
    â€œWhy?” I asked.
    â€œBecause I felt compelled to draw another card. It’s the eight of swords, a woman bound and blindfolded, surrounded by swords. A woman died tonight.”
    I try to avoid calling Marianne in the middle of a murder case, for a lot of reasons, this was one of them. It creeped me out, and gave her nightmares.
    â€œFive of rods, there will be a lot of conflict on this one, and more to die. But the Justice card says the guilty will be punished, and it will work out, but not without loss. The eight of pentacles? That’s odd. Someone will be involved that was once your teacher. Someone older. Do you know who that would be?”
    I thought about it being Dolph, but that didn’t sound right. “I don’t know, maybe.”
    â€œThey haven’t come into the situation, yet, but they will. They will help you.”
    â€œHow sure are you that there will be more killings?”
    â€œAren’t you sure of it?” she asked, and she had that tone in her voice that said she was listening to voices I couldn’t hear.
    â€œYeah, I got that feeling.”
    â€œTrust your feelings, Anita.”
    â€œI’ll try,” I said.
    â€œYou must be almost home by now.”
    I didn’t ask how she knew we were turning into the driveway. She wouldn’t really have been able to tell me. Psychic stuff wasn’t big on A, B, C logic. It was more like A to G, leaps of logic, with no road map as to how we got to G.
    â€œYeah, we’re home.”
    Micah blew me a kiss and got out of the Jeep. I heard Nathaniel get out of the back. They both closed the doors and left me in the suddenly dark car, alone with the phone.
    Marianne spoke into the sudden silence. “Oh, one more thing, the message I just got was, ‘You know what you need to do. Why are you asking me?’That’s not my message to you, you know I never mind you asking my advice. I actually kind of like it. Who else have you been asking advice from?”
    I opened my mouth, and closed it. “I prayed.”
    â€œWhat I’m getting is that you usually only pray when you’re out of other options that you like. It might be nice if you prayed as something other than a last resort.” She said it so matter-of-factly. Nothing big, you prayed, God can’t talk to you, so he left a message on your machine. Great.
    I licked my suddenly dry lips, and said, “It doesn’t bother you that you just took a message from God for me?”
    â€œWell, it wasn’t from him directly. He just sent it.” Again, utterly matter-of-fact, no big deal.
    â€œMarianne.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œSometimes you creep me out.”
    She laughed. “You raise the dead and slay the undead, and I frighten you.”
    Put that way, it sounded silly, but it was still true. “Let’s just say that I’m glad you have your have psychic powers, and I have mine. I feel guilty enough without knowing the future.”
    â€œDon’t feel guilty, Anita, follow your heart. No, it was the Queen of Rods, not of Cups. So follow your power, let it take you where you need to go. Trust yourself, and trust those around you.”
    â€œYou know I don’t trust anybody.”
    â€œYou trust me.”
    â€œYeah,