Running Hot (The Arcane Society #5)(33)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

She slumped in her chair. “I had a feeling you were going to say that. I told you it would be risky.”

“You’re in no danger. I’ll take care of you.”

“You’re the one I’m worried about. If this goes wrong—”

“It won’t.”

His certainty had the effect of steadying her nerves somewhat. She had been so jumpy lately, easily startled and hyperalert. She hadn’t slept well since she had started taking the drug. When she did manage to get to sleep, she was frequently awakened by bizarre nightmares. Daddy had explained that the problems were merely short-term side effects of the drug. He said that once the formula had finished ramping up her crystal working talent, her nerves would calm down.

“Call her,” Daddy said.

“All right.” She paused and lowered her voice. “When can I see you again?”

“We agreed it would be best if we did not have any further contact until after this is over.”

“I know, but it’s been weeks. After all these years of not even knowing you existed, I want as much time together as possible.”

“Soon, honey. For now, my main goal is to protect you. You’re my true heir but we need to allow time for the drug to take effect and bring you into your full powers. I also want to make sure that you’re fully trained before I let you take too many risks. You’re the future of the organization. I can’t put you in harm’s way.”

There was a more formal title for the organization, but it had adopted the name that the Arcane Society had given it. Nightshade. And she was its future.

“I understand, Daddy.” That’s what fathers did, she thought. They took care of their daughters.

“Don’t worry. Once Eubanks is dead, things will fall into place very quickly. Within a few months we’ll be ready for phase two of the operation. Go make the call.”

“All right. Daddy?”

“Yes, honey?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

She ended the connection, feeling markedly better. She always did after she talked to her father. But she was not looking forward to Plan B. It meant dealing with a killer who was not only a consummate professional but also mentally unbalanced. Her sister.

SEVENTEEN

She did not need to hear the key played in order to find the right note. She was La Sirène. Endowed with perfect pitch, she plucked the A out of thin air and launched straight into the Queen of the Night’s second aria.

The elegant, acoustically precise practice room had been designed and built for her by her current lover. Newlin Guthrie, a billionaire who had made his fortune by inventing any number of boring computer gadgets and high-tech security software programs, had spared no expense in the construction. The room was on the second floor of the Mediterranean-style villa he had purchased for her shortly after she drew him to her with her Siren’s talent. The lovely mini palazzo was perched above the bay in Sausalito and offered stimulating views of San Francisco.

She had chosen the florid “Der Hölle Rache” for the very private performance on Maui for two reasons: The first was that it was good practice for her role in the upcoming production of The Magic Flute. The second reason was that it was ideally suited to her unique talent. The challenging high F, the note that hardly any sopranos could sing full voice, was one of the few that allowed her to project and focus the specific wavelengths of psychic energy required to interfere with certain critical neurological functions of the human brain. Glass had been known to shatter when she sang that note; people had died.

Besides, when you set out to kill a man, you could hardly go wrong with a song that had a title that translated as “The Revenge of Hell Cooks in My Heart.” She had learned long ago that the music chosen for a performance—especially one of her unique private engagements—had to be right. Art was all about the communication between artist and audience.

She had not planned on going to Maui. In a week she was scheduled to sing the Queen of the Night at the opening of the new opera house in Acacia Bay. The engagement, arranged by dear Newlin, was critical to the rejuvenation of her career. Things had not been going well since that dreadful night at La Scala two years ago when the claque had dared to boo her.

But when her sister had called and begged her for a favor, she had been unable to refuse. Damaris was family, after all, the only family she had. Daddy didn’t count.

Nevertheless, she was annoyed to find herself preparing to board a plane for Maui on such short notice. It was not as if she did not have a great deal to do between now and opening night. Furthermore, she knew that the only reason Damaris wanted her to give this particular performance was because of Daddy.

Personally, she despised the father who had shown up out of nowhere to claim his daughters. How on earth Damaris could care for a man whose only contribution to their lives had been to ejaculate into a glass vial and deposit the result in a sperm bank was beyond her. Daddy could keel over tomorrow as far as she was concerned. In fact, she often fantasized about giving one of her private performances just for him. The problem with that little scheme, unfortunately, was that Damaris would very likely guess the cause of death and have a fit. There was another issue, as well. Daddy had his own psychic talent, and it was lethal.

Although the Maui trip was an imposition, she was starting to look forward to it in spite of herself. Successful performances of any kind always gave her a euphoric sensation that was impossible to achieve in any other way. For hours afterward she felt gloriously powerful. But there was nothing like the absolutely dazzling rush that followed one of her special private performances. Following those engagements, she knew what it was like to be a true goddess. The sensation of immortality sometimes lasted for days.

She had been twenty-three years old, at the very start of her career, when she first discovered the ultimate power of her talent. Her singing had always been special, of course. Mother had planned her future before she was born, having chosen the sperm donor with great care, not for his particular psychic ability but for the strength of his raw energy.

Descended from a long line of sensitives herself, Mother had studied the complex laws of psychic inheritance with attention to detail. Everyone was endowed with some degree of talent, but at the lower end of the scale—the so-called normal end—it usually appeared in the form of a murky sense of intuition that an amazing number of people either took for granted or willfully ignored.

But there were others, those who were gifted with a considerable degree of psychic power: too much to be overlooked or suppressed. When that talent was strong enough to register at level five or higher on the Jones Scale, it tended to differentiate into specific, more narrowly focused types of abilities. It was a given that when it came to the most powerful talents, no one got more than one. Mother had explained that it was some sort of evolutionary law, nature’s way of preventing the creation of super predators.