Chapter Fourteen

Cal worked with Fred to stabilize the catwalk, repairing the damage and reinforcing the struts so that they wouldn't fail again. Not until nearly quitting time did he get a chance to check out Dr. Masterson's office. He told Fred he had one more thing to check on his way back to the locker room and not to wait on him.

"What you did for that girl…" Fred patted him on the back. "You do good work, Cal. Get some rest."

Cal used his key to enter the administrative building through a side utility door accessed only by maintenance personnel. Most of the staff had already left for the day, leaving the desks empty and many of the lights off. He quickly located the college president's office and knocked on the door. When no one answered, he let himself in.

The walls were lined with framed diplomas from the University of Illinois. He scanned all of them, taking pictures with his cell phone. Not even the undergraduate degree read Colyer-Fenton College, as if the attack had driven her from the college to complete her education elsewhere.

"With this arsenal of education, why did you come here?" Cal wondered out loud to the empty room.

"I had to come back," a voice said behind him. "To face my fears."

Cal froze, his hand in the air in the middle of snapping another picture of her doctorate diploma. Lowering his arm slowly, he turned to face the woman. "Of what?"

"I spent years hiding in my room, only venturing out to go to and from class. I was so afraid of every shadow. Not until I decided to come back here did I find purpose."

"What were you afraid of?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't play stupid with me. I saw what you did for that girl in the theater. You're not some Cal Smith, the maintenance man. You're here because of the happenings on campus."

Cal didn't respond. By not replying, he agreed. "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't think you're responsible, if that's what you mean. And if you can help find what's causing all this chaos, all the better." She walked across the room to sit behind her desk. "I'm of the opinion that whatever it is, it has been here before."

"Thirty years ago?"

She steepled her fingers, looked directly at him and nodded. "Just do me a favor."

"And what's that?"

"Keep me in the loop, will you?"

"I can't make that promise."

"I can have you thrown off campus."

He tipped his head. "Yes, you can."

Her lips twisted into a wry smile. "But I won't. I owe you for Shelby."

"Thanks. Do you mind my asking what happened thirty years ago?"

She laughed, the sound harsh in the fading light from the window. "The news article didn't give you enough?"

"Only that a young woman was raped."

Dr. Masterson stood and faced the window, the one looking out onto the garden. "That's all there was to the story." Her tone didn't invite further questions nor any hope of additional answers.

"Then I'll be going. If you can think of anything else that might help solve this case, I'll be around."

Silhouetted against the window, Dr. Masterson looked dark and alone. "Next time, wait to be invited into my office. I'm kind of particular about people invading my privacy." She looked back over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed. "And do be careful whom you associate with. There are those on campus who aren't what they appear to be."

His lips curled up on the corners. "Like me?"

"You'd be surprised. And so might they."

Somehow, he didn't doubt that. Cal left, closing the door behind him. His last view of Dr. Masterson was of her looking out her window, down into the garden.

* * *

Deme spent the day talking to sorority sisters and searching every inch of the Gamma Omega dormitory for any evidence leading her to find Aurai. Having come up empty, she'd turned her search to the student commons and finally returned to the library, where she'd called a meeting of Brigid, Gina and Selene in the relative privacy of the second floor east stacks.

"Relatives!" Gina gasped.

"Coincidence be damned," Selene said in an unusual display of frustration. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Deme nodded. "We're on this campus for a reason. Apparently the same reason the five sisters had been here."

Brigid held up a finger. "With one difference…" She planted her hands on her hips. "I don't plan to die taking down the big, bad Chimera."

"Right," Deme agreed. "And I'll be damned to eternal hell if one of my sisters pays the ultimate price. We're a family and we will all emerge intact, if I have anything to do with it."

"Here! Here!" Gina clapped.

"Sounds all well and good, but you listen to me." Deme's eyes narrowed as she looked into the steady gazes of her sisters. "Don't try to fight it alone. The Chimera is strong. You saw what it could do to a regular girl when it took over Shelby. It seems to turn our powers against us, so beware."

Gina put her hand into the center of the circle of sisters. "Be safe, sisters."

Deme's palm covered hers, and Brigid and Selene piled a hand on top. "Blessed Be."

A whirl of wind lifted their hair, and the women smiled at each other.

Deme's eyes misted. "Same goes for Aurai," she said softly.

"We will find her." Selene's arm circled Deme's shoulder. "We have to believe that."

"I do." The responsibility of being the oldest sibling weighed more heavily than ever before. "Look, you guys get off campus and get some rest. We have more work to do tomorrow."

After her sisters left, Deme couldn't give up. She spent the rest of the evening searching through more news clippings for anything else she could find on the five sisters. There had to be something useful to lead her to Aurai.

Fatigue pulled at her eyelids long before she closed the books and packed it in. She hated to admit that fear of last night's black hole of memories made her reluctant to return to her room, thus she had pushed on longer than she should have.

When she finally left the library, Deme trudged toward the dorm, not at all looking forward to staying another night alone in the room against the garden. Having seen what the Chimera could do to a young college coed, she shuddered to think what it could do with her as semiconscious as she was.

A man pushed away from a light pole and ambled her way.

Deme's pulse sped. She could tell that walk anywhere. Cal Black moved like a panther, his steps smooth, measured, lean and sexy.

After the day she'd had, she couldn't think of anyone she'd rather see. She needed a few answers to questions she had concerning what had happened in her room the night before. Questions aside, she was glad to see him. No amount of self-denial would change that, and frankly she was tired of fighting her attraction. Hell, she was flat-out tired, period.

"Tough day at the office?" he asked.

She fell in step beside him, heading for the parking lot. "Yeah. I'm glad you came by."

He chuckled. "That's a change for the better."

His laughter filled the emptiness threatening to drag her spirits ever downward. "Mind if I ask you a few questions about last night?"

"Can it wait for a few minutes?"

"Sure."

He hooked her arm with his big, rough hand and took off across the campus lawns toward the parking lot.

The tallest of her sisters, even Deme's long legs had a tough time keeping up with Cal. She arrived at his motorcycle slightly out of breath. "Needing a little exercise, big guy?"

"Huh?" He looked up as if he hadn't realized Deme was beside him all the way.

"You're hitting the old ego hard these days." Deme laughed. "If you want to be by yourself, why didn't you say so? I'd understand."

"No, I don't." He shook his head, his frown showing his confusion. "I want to be with you."

Cal's words had an instant warming effect, leaving Deme feeling more alive than she had since she'd almost plummeted to the stage that morning. She didn't respond to his comment. Didn't feel as if she had to.

He shoved a hand through his hair and breathed deeply. Then he handed her a spare helmet. "Get on."

She looked down at the helmet and shrugged. "Okay. Where are we headed?"

"Somewhere…anywhere…away from here. I need to get my head on straight." He climbed onto the bike and kicked the engine to life, the roar echoing across the quiet campus.

Deme climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

The motorcycle shot out onto the road and soon entered traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway, headed east toward Lake Michigan.

As Cal dodged vehicles, Deme leaned into him, letting herself go for the few short minutes she could, the wind blowing the cobwebs from her mind and clearing her head. Away from campus her mind wasn't clouded with the oppressive presence of the Chimera. She needed this break in order to think straight and plan her next move.

Cal dropped off the expressway, heading south. He came to a stop on Lake Shore Drive near the John G. Shedd Aquarium.

After the short, swift ride, Deme was more alert and awake than she'd been in days.

Cal parked the bike, removed his helmet and took hers from her, securing it to the motorcycle. Then he grabbed her hand and led her along a broad, concrete walkway. The flotilla of sailboats lining the bay on Lake Michigan, the night skyline of Chicago and the Navy Pier spread out before them.

"Where are we going?"

"Shh…" He left the sidewalk and crossed over grass, pulling her along behind him. "It's almost time."

"Time?"

Over the steady hum of traffic, a loud pop sounded across the water toward the Navy Pier and a trail of color shot into the air high above the lake, where it exploded in a burst of brilliant pink light.

"Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten all about the fireworks." She stood beside Cal, staring up at the display as, one after another, rockets shot into the air. "Our mother used to bring us here in the summertime. We'd spend the afternoon on the beach and stay until the fireworks ended. Aurai would fall asleep before they started."

Cal slipped an arm around Deme and pulled her against him. Nothing sexual, but it had a tremendous pull on her in the area of her heart.

She'd expected him to make love to her on the beach, or try to kiss her in the moonlight, but to just stand there and hold her while they watched the fireworks…

Tears welled in her eyes. How had she gone so wrong where this man was concerned? He'd once asked her to marry him. She'd answered by running away.

How could she make it right again? All because she was strange, different…a witch. "I don't lead a normal life."

"Neither do I."

"I can make things happen with earth, plants and vegetation that would scare most people."

Cal shrugged. "I chase bad guys and get shot at."

"Everything about me and my sisters is bizarre and unusual."

"Is that a bad thing? Some people would kill to have what you and your sisters have."

"Something has." She stood in silence a moment, reflecting on the people who'd been hurt or killed by the Chimera's manipulations. "All we wanted was to lead normal lives, have careers, maybe fall in love…" Her voice faded off. She hadn't meant to mention that L-word, but there it was.

Cal let the word pass, instead asking, "What do you remember about last night?"

"Not much. I was hoping you could fill in the blanks." Deme stared up at him, his face illuminated by the night sky, brightened occasionally by the flash of the pyrotechnic display.

He stared up at the fireworks exploding high above Lake Michigan. "You weren't quite yourself."

"The Chimera had me, didn't it?" A shiver raked over her body, shaking her all the way down to her toes. "Was I as bad as Shelby?"

He chuckled. "You had your moments."

"Did I hurt you?"

Cal hesitated, his gaze remaining on the lights of Navy Pier. "No."

Deme didn't believe him. "Show me your shoulders."

"You didn't bite me this time. Except on the ear." He reached up to touch his earlobe. "But it's fine."

"Then how else did I hurt you?" Deme couldn't help but feel he wasn't telling the whole truth. Her lapse in memory frustrated her.

"You didn't." His arm tightened around her. "Look, I just came to see the fireworks."

Deme faced the display, a thousand questions racing through her mind. Had she said something hurtful to him while possessed by the Chimera? He'd once asked her to marry him. After she'd disappeared for a year, he probably harbored some pretty ill feelings toward her. Had she jabbed at that pain? Did he even care anymore?

Her heart squeezed inside her chest. Though she'd run away from him, hoping he'd forget her and move on to a normal life with a normal woman, she couldn't help wishing he still loved her.

She glanced up at him, wanting more than anything to ask if he still loved her, but she couldn't. Her gaze returned to the pier and she forced herself to say, "The fireworks display is pretty, isn't it?"

"Yeah. My father only brought us once while my mother was alive. She loved it. When she died, he couldn't bring himself to return."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? It was a long time ago."

"You must have been close to your father."

His hand dropped to his side. "It was a long time ago."

The fireworks died away and a stream of vehicles made a slow, lighted procession out of the Navy Pier parking area. Families on their way home after a fun-filled day. Life couldn't be more beautiful and simple for some.

Only Deme's could never be that uncomplicated. Hadn't her mother said from the moment she could understand that because she was blessed, she had a responsibility to use her gifts to help others? She'd told herself that was what she was doing with her private investigative service in St. Croix. But she'd really only been lying to herself.

Trying to live a normal life ignoring her talent except to further her own financial pursuits had given her what? A great, big empty feeling.

* * *

What Cal had hoped to accomplish by bringing Deme out to watch the fireworks was a mystery to himself. He'd spent the past couple of days working nonstop to discover anything there was to know about a missing girl. The discoveries had been more than weird, shaking his knowledge of the world he lived in. It was a lot to comprehend and believe, all being shoved at him one frightening incident after another.

Standing on the shores of Lake Michigan, on the edge of the city he'd called home for his entire life, he had to admit, he knew less now than he thought he'd known last week.

He needed this. A chance to stand back and evaluate.

"I spoke with Dr. Masterson." Cal broke the silence.

Deme shot a glance his way. "And?"

"She more or less admitted she was the woman raped thirty years ago."

"Why did she come back?"

"She couldn't move on until she laid her ghosts to rest."

Deme snorted. "Like that's going to happen now?" She breathed in and let it out. "Sorry. I don't mean to be sarcastic, but I have a feeling it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better."

He nodded, his hand tightening around her waist. "I'm afraid you're right."

"Did you learn anything else?" Deme asked.

Cal had yet to tell Deme of what he'd found in the basement of the student commons, but he couldn't keep it from her long. Sooner or later, Lieutenant Warner would spill the beans to Brigid, and she'd be all over him for not letting her in on the secret tunnels sooner. "I found out there is a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city."

"The old freight tunnels they used back in the early nineteen hundreds? Yeah, so?"

"I did a little research and got with an engineer friend of mine." He faced Deme. "Did you know that one of the tunnels runs directly beneath the Colyer-Fenton campus?"

Deme's eyes widened. "Do you think that might be where the Chimera is hiding?" Her hand clutched his sleeve. "It could have Aurai there." She turned toward the parking lot. "We have to go."

Cal grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. "Whoa, wait a minute."

"Why? You could have found her."

"We don't know what's in the tunnels or even if the air is breathable. You can't go chasing down there until we get the right equipment."

"But Aurai could be down there. If the air isn't breathable, she'd be…"

"Dead."

Deme gulped down the lump in her throat. "But she's not. We felt her. She's still alive."

"The place where she is might be okay, but getting to her could be deadly, not only because of the Chimera, but poisonous air."

"Cal, we have to go. If there's any chance at all that she's down there, we have to find her."

"And we will." He pulled her into his arms and held her. "Tomorrow. I have a tunnel expert meeting us at the diner in the morning. He'll bring breathing apparatus and the equipment we need to test the air."

Deme stared up into his eyes a long time before her shoulders slumped. "You're right. We need to do this correctly. I don't want anyone else hurt."

He held her arms, his hands squeezing tighter. "Deme, only me and the tunnel expert are going down."

She jerked out of his hands and backed up a step. "No way."

"I can't risk losing you or another one of your sisters."

"I'm going with you. You tell your expert to bring enough equipment for me to go, too."

"No."

"Come on, Cal. You knew how I'd respond to this. If you didn't want me to go with you, you might as well have kept it to yourself. The cat's out of the bag now." She fisted her hands on her hips, her legs planted wide, daring him to refute her claim.

And he wanted to. The thought of Deme getting hurt in the nasty, smelly, dank tunnel below the campus made him crazy. But with her standing there in front of him, her green eyes blazing, the wind off the lake lifting her wild red hair around her, she looked like a Valkyrie ready to do battle with the devil himself.

A smile crooked the corners of his mouth, spreading into a grin. "Okay. But only you. The rest of your sisters will have to remain ignorant until we know more."

She stuck out a hand. "Deal."

Cal grabbed the proffered hand. Instead of shaking it, he pulled her into his arms. "Now, we need to get some sleep. I haven't had a good night's rest in three days."

"You can drop me off at the campus."

"Not sure that's a good idea. Not after what happened last night."

"You never did give me all the details." She fit perfectly against him, her breasts rubbing against his chest with every breath. "There are a few memories missing from that particular event. Are you ever going to tell me what happened?"

"Maybe someday." He leaned down and kissed her. "As for now, I think we should make some new ones." His lips pressed against hers, his tongue slipping into her mouth to taste hers. Yeah, this is what he'd wanted. Far away from the influence of the Chimera, he could be certain that the woman he kissed was indeed Deme, not some jacked-up creature from the underworld.

Her hands slid beneath his shirt and up across his back, her fingernails lightly scraping his skin.

Cal tensed.

When she didn't dig deep, he relaxed and tugged her shirt from the waistband of her jeans, letting his own hands roam across her warm, naked skin.

Not until a cool breeze off the water caressed the side of his face did he come up for air and remember where he was. He set her at arm's length, removing his hands from beneath her shirt. "We better go before we're arrested for indecent exposure."

Deme leaned into him, her fingers finding his nipples beneath his shirt. "But we still have our clothes on."

His hand slid up her arms, gripping her shoulders. "We won't for long at this rate." He pushed her away and took her hand, leading her up the grassy slope to the concrete walkway.

In silence, he climbed on the motorcycle. Deme slipped on behind him, the inside of her thighs sliding around his. Cal almost pulled her into his lap and made love to her there in the park. Instead, he kicked the engine into life and revved it, shooting out onto Lake Shore Drive, headed for his apartment.

When he passed the exit off Eisenhower Expressway to the Colyer-Fenton College campus, Deme shouted, "You missed my exit."

He shook his head and kept going. No way in hell he'd let her sleep in that room one more night.

When he pulled into the parking lot of his apartment and parked the bike, Deme hopped off the back, her face set in grim lines. "I need to go back to campus."

"No." He took off his helmet and headed for the stairwell.

She stood beside his bike, refusing to follow. "Then I'll just call a taxi."

He stopped and turned around. "You can't."

"Can't call a taxi?"

"No, you can't sleep in that room tonight."

"Why?"

"I don't want what happened to Shelby today to happen to you…again."

Deme's eyes rounded. "It had me last night?" She walked toward him, slowly, as though in a trance, her gaze seeking his in the dimly lit parking lot. "How bad was it?"

He took her into his arms. "It made Shelby look like a kitten stuck up in a tree."

Deme leaned her forehead into his chest. "Damn."

"Yeah."

"But I can't impose on you."

"Who said you were imposing?" He swung her up into his arms. "I would have taken you to your sisters if that had been the case." He gazed down at her. "I still can, if that's what you want." His breath held in his throat as he awaited her answer.