Murder Game (GhostWalkers, #7)(125)

Jeff and Nico had assured him it would be safe. They would pull her into the dream they spun and hope the puppet master took the bait. There would be plenty of cover for them. Dunbar wouldn’t know they were there until it was too late. He’d never get close to Tansy. They’d kill him and be back very fast. Once done, they’d alert Ryland. He was standing by in Dunbar’s house, ready to destroy the body. If they failed, he would dispose of the man the moment he awakened. The details of the dream were still playing on the recording, Jeff’s hypnotic voice designed to draw Tansy into the dreamscape he’d created.

Kadan hated the loss of control. He wanted to be the one protecting Tansy, standing between her and danger, yet he could only sit in a room with her body and wait for her. He wrapped his hand around her wrist, needing to anchor her to him when she seemed so far away. The phone rang. His heart jumped and he swept it up instantly, listening with dread to Jeff’s theory.

“She’s definitely in a dream. She’s distressed. Her heart rate went up; she’s breathing faster and shallow,” Kadan reported. “I’m going to wake her up.”

“You can’t just wake her up,” Jeff said, alarmed. “We don’t know what’s happening on the other side. I need to know what she dreams as a rule. Does she tell you?”

“Sometimes it’s vivid enough that when she wakes up, it’s still in her mind and I get images. Will that help?”

“Tell me. Don’t leave anything out.”

While he related the details of Tansy’s nightmares, Kadan kept his gaze glued to her face. His hand shook as he held her to him, pulling her wrist against his chest and holding her palm over his heart.

“I trusted you with her, Jeff. Bring her back to me. I’d never survive intact without her.” God help them all, because that was a threat. Kadan took a deep breath and let it out, trying to find a place inside of him that was warm. There wasn’t one.

Jeff didn’t bother to reply to him. He hung up, leaving Kadan more desperate than ever. There’d been a terrible sense of urgency in Jeff’s voice. He could hear Nico in the background urging Jeff to hurry. It was silent in the bedroom once again; the only sounds were the clock ticking and Tansy’s frightened breathing. He had talked her into this, dreamwalking with Jeff and Nico, promising her she would be safe. He had sent her off without him, trusting his friends, and they’d lost her.

He stretched out beside her and gathered her into his arms, trying to comfort her, even though he knew her mind was somewhere else. When he tried to enter her mind, there was a void, as if she had been yanked from him to another realm.

I’ll love you forever. The words whispered in his mind and they sounded like finality. His heart jumped and he sat up abruptly, his dark gaze on her face.





“Get off her!” Jeff Hollister burst into the lake, diving deep, grasping Tansy by the shoulders and kicking his way to the surface.

Nico slammed hard into Dunbar, driving him back and away so that he lost his grip on Tansy. The two men fought, hand to hand, their bodies close together, each man straining for the upper hand. Nico had the physical strength, but it was Dunbar’s dream and he was trying to control it. Unlike with Tansy, however, he couldn’t control Nico.

Jeff burst from below, surfacing almost at their side, pulling Tansy with him. He swung her into his arms and raced for shore.

“Keep him alive. You can’t kill him,” Jeff yelled. “If you do, the dream collapses and she’s trapped here. We won’t be able to revive her.”

Dunbar broke free and tried to wade away, hoping for enough distance that he could end the dream. Nico refused to let him go, wrapping his fingers like a shackle around the man’s neck and jerking him over backward into the sludge.

“Hurry up, Jeff,” Nico called, concerned that Dunbar might be able to find a way to wake before they were able to kill him. Everything depended on reviving Tansy.

Jeff reached down and felt for a pulse. There was none. Swearing, he tipped her head back and began CPR.





Kadan watched the emotions chasing across Tansy’s transparent face. Sweat dotted her forehead and around her mouth, and fear crept into her expression. When he took her hand in his, her skin was clammy. She felt unnaturally cold. Suddenly her body shuddered and arched. She gasped audibly for breath. He actually saw fingerprints on her throat, pressing deep, and she struggled, desperate for air.

Heart slamming against his chest, he fought to find the fingers, to try to pry them loose, but there was no way to find invisible, intangible hands. Her face reddened, her eyes opened wide, then just as suddenly she was free, dragging hard, audible breaths into her lungs so that her chest rose and fell.

Kadan found himself inhaling when he hadn’t realized he had been holding his breath. Tansy flinched, her mouth opening wide, eyes wild with terror, then she looked like she was holding her breath. A minute. Two. She struggled at first, her body straining against an unseen hold, until she just slipped quietly away, out from under his hands, her body going limp, the breath stilling in her lungs. Her eyes closed.

Kadan felt his own heart stop. “No!” He pressed his palm against her lips, checking for air. His fingers tried to find a pulse. He tried CPR. He even hit his fist over her heart, frantically trying to start it. Nothing. He tried to fill her mind with him, but there was only emptiness.