Ghostwalker 06 - Predatory Game

properly, you shouldn’t risk practicing without someone with you.”
    He waved his hand in acknowledgment, but didn’t reply. He needed them gone. And he sent word to the others that the house was secure and they could leave. Ken protested, along with Logan, but he made it clear he wanted them gone. Because he needed Saber to be all right more than he needed anything else right then. He wanted her to feel safe and secure and that her home was a haven, a sanctuary for her.
    It didn’t matter that Eric made a kind of weird sense. He didn’t care. Maybe someday she would get tired of him and want out, but he couldn’t imagine, not for one moment, Saber killing anyone for killing’s sake. She detested it. She feared making mistakes. She wasn’t the killer Eric believed her to be.

    Saber waited until the last GhostWalker left. They had gone reluctantly and she could only assume Jess had sent them away.Still, she waited until dark before she went back into the house, and even then she Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    crept in, not wanting to see him. He was the only person in the world she’d ever called friend, the only person she’d ever loved, but how could he hear those things about her and not have doubts? Even she had doubts.
    For a moment she stopped, covering her face with her hands, listening to Jesse’s breath, his heartbeat.
    She couldn’t face him. She might not have the courage to ever face him again.
    The minute she set foot on the landing, Saber began stripping. She hadn’t been able to stop crying, and between her tears and the rain, she was soaked. She used the second bathroom, avoiding her room altogether. She couldn’t face the idea that someone had been in there touching her things, even after the cleaners had removed all the evidence.
    She stepped into the shower, allowed the steamy water to cascade down on her, warming her cold skin, doing nothing for the ice deep inside her. She was upset with Jess, with his friends, but most of all with herself. What had she expected? That they’d all just embrace her into their lives? That they’d want her to be a part of them? That she could fit in somewhere?
    She hadn’t even been certain she’d wanted it. Okay, that wasn’t true. She’d been afraid to want it.
    Afraid it wasn’t real. She shouldn’t have hoped. Hope was for fools. Hope was for people, not monsters.
    A shudder ran through her body and her chest hurt, crushed beneath some heavy, tearing emotion. The raw burning in her throat refused to go away no matter how many times she worked at swallowing the lump. She leaned against the tiles, her knees weak, legs shaking so much she was afraid they would give out on her.
    An hour later Saber lay on the sofa on the upstairs landing, staring up at the ceiling. Her small lamp dispelled the darkness but gave her little comfort. Sighing, Saber slipped from the bed, wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling Jesse’s shirt close around her body.On bare feet she padded down the hall to sit on the top stair, needing to be close to Jess but not wanting a confrontation. After all, it was a no-win situation.
    Below her, something moved out of the shadows. Jess. Saber could make out the outline of part of his chair and one powerful shoulder and arm. His face was still hidden in the darkness. Of course he would be down at the foot of the stairs, needing the same feeling of closeness. Saber drew her knees up to her chest, rested her chin on them. It gave her a measure of comfort to know he was there.
    “Why don’t you come down here?” he suggested softly.
    “I can’t, Jess,” Saber replied, her voice muffled, throat raw and torn from the earlier heart-wrenching sobs.“I just can’t.”
    There was a small silence. A red glow and the aroma of pipe tobacco drifting up the stairs indicated his state of mind. “It won’t get cleared up if we don’t talk about it.”
    Saber rubbed her forehead. The headache wasn’t going away anytime soon.“What’s to say?”
    “He was wrong about you.”
    Her eyes began to burn all over again. She pressed her fingers deep to try to stop the tears. Crying was a weakness, one she’d never been able to overcome.“Maybe. If I don’t know, how could you?”

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    “Because I know who you are. I see inside of you. You know yourself that using telepathy gives you glimpses into a