Part 5 (2/2)
The woman's smoky black figure moved toward him. ”Why do you say that?”
”Because your b.i.t.c.h of a mother hates me. She doesn't want me touching her money. Remember when I asked her for a loan?” His aura turned brown. ”She humiliated me.”
The woman drifted closer, her blackness touching him. ”Let it go. It won't be long before she's gone.”
”You said that months ago.”
”It's only a matter of time. We can get through this until she's gone.” She caressed what Celeste a.s.sumed was the man's face. ”I don't want to talk about her anymore,” she said, her tone seductive. ”I want you on the bed and in the position. Would you like that?”
”Yes,” he said, his voice an eerie echo.
”Good. Go upstairs and get ready. If you're not in position by the time I get up there your punishment won't be easy. Do you understand?”
His aura changed colors-fading from brown into a dark red. ”I understand.”
He disappeared. Celeste gasped and quickly searched for him.
”Celeste, what's wrong?” Maxine asked, her voice filled with concern.
She ignored her mentor and placed all of her energy on the woman left in the room. The woman moved around as if locking a door and shutting off lights, then stilled.
Celeste stared at her, trying desperately to break past her barriers and hear her thoughts. The piercing behind her eye grew excruciatingly painful. ”She won't let me in,” she said, hoping Maxine could hear her.
”Compel her. Call to her,” Maxine ordered. ”Remember, what you're seeing isn't real. It's a plane of the past, present or future. She won't know you. Hurry. Do it now.”
The woman began to move again.
”Who are you?” Celeste asked.
When the figure didn't stop, she shouted, ”I asked you a question. Now answer me. Who are you?”
The woman paused. The black smoke that made up her body undulated, twirled, then twisted into an unnatural smile, before shooting up. Celeste followed her, then sucked in a breath. The woman's blackness coated whatever was above them. It moved, bubbled and, in some places, burst.
Celeste jumped back when black sludge dripped around her. Afraid it would touch her, infect her with the evil she sensed, she willed herself to return to the safety of Maxine's parlor. She was met with laughter. Coldness enveloped her. She turned to run back into the tunnel that had brought her here, but slammed into a wall. She looked to the left, to the right. Nothing but stark white walls surrounded her.
Then blackness oozed and dripped along those walls, intensifying the urgency to run. But there was no escape. She was blocked. Trapped. ”Maxine,” she cried. ”Help me.”
”I'm here. Don't let the vision control you. It's in your head. You can make it change. Hurry. Come back to me.”
The laughter continued. She ignored it, and searched for the pen that had brought her here. When she found it lying on the white floor, she reached for it, and her arm stretched beyond its normal length, her fingers tingling to touch it. The woman's cackle clouded her head, but she blocked it and grabbed the pen.
”You're not real,” she murmured, and didn't think about scribbles on a paper, but John. His dark-brown, loving eyes. His smile that always warmed her soul. His strong arms around her, lying her hand against his chest and feeling the beat of his heart, the love that- Celeste sucked in a breath. Blinked several times, then shoved the pen and paper from her lap and on to the floor. ”I've never seen or felt anything like that before.” She looked to Maxine, who had paled. ”It was...evil.”
Maxine nodded and looked away. ”I've had experience with malevolent spirits. But I'm talking about the dead, not the living. Tell me everything, Celeste.”
She s.h.i.+vered and rubbed her arms. ”Yesterday, I was able to see Sandra, the room she was in and even some of the details of that room. Remember I told you I'd heard music? It had been crystal clear. Everything about that vision had been clear. But this one...I couldn't tell where I was or who was with me. The two figures reminded me of thick smoke, or if you put droplets of food coloring into a gla.s.s of water. They would move and s.h.i.+ft, but never fully manifested into human form.” She ran a shaky hand along her forehead. ”G.o.d, that sounds weird.”
”It's not weird. At all. It sounds like you saw their auras.”
”Yes, that's it exactly. And they kept changing colors. The male's started gray, turned a deep mustard, then brown. Later, he became dark red.”
”And the other aura?”
”It was female and black. Toward the end, wherever I was had changed. I was trapped in a white room. No windows, no doors. She...it...” Celeste let out a deep breath. ”Her aura changed and...liquefied. It coated the ceiling. Like thick hot tar, it oozed and bubbled. I was so afraid of what would happen if it touched me.” She stared at Maxine. ”What would her aura or whatever it was have done to me?”
”I haven't a clue, but I don't recommend trying to find out. I do find it interesting that the male's aura had so many changes. There's no concrete evidence what the colors of a person or spirit's aura indicates. In my experience, though, gray signifies depression or dark thoughts. The mustard color, I'm not quite sure. But from past experience, the brown could indicate insecurity.”
Celeste jerked forward and slapped the armrest. ”Yes. That makes sense. He turned brown after he complained that the 'b.i.t.c.h had humiliated him' when she'd turned him down for a loan. The question is, who's the b.i.t.c.h? Sandra? I mean, I'm a.s.suming so. They discussed the money they would get from her when she died.”
”Perhaps their greed got the best of them,” Maxine suggested. ”They could no longer afford to wait for Sandra to die on her own and decided to take matters into their own hands.”
”Maybe. I do know the female was counting on receiving three hundred grand.”
Maxine's finely arch eyebrows rose. ”Interesting. What else do you remember?”
She told her everything. Unlike the visions she'd had of Sandra, or those she'd experienced in the past, the details from this one stayed locked in her memory. Along with tainted wickedness so cloying that she wanted to go home and take a hot bath in order to feel clean again.
”I've experienced this type of deep-rooted hatred once before,” Celeste said, after she'd finished describing what she had seen. ”I think what's unsettling is the female has to be Lea.”
”You did say this was her pen.”
”And I also told you how Kelly's husband gave Lea a couple of shots about her maxed-out credit cards and her car being repossessed.” She looked across the room to the gnome on the mantle. ”What I find strange is that Lea came off...dominant.”
Maxine chuckled. ”Yes. She wanted him in position or he would be punished. You said his aura turned a dark red. That might indicate s.e.xual thoughts.”
Her cheeks grew warm. ”It's none of my business what people do in their bedroom or if they like to get their kink on, but what strikes me as odd is that Lea's husband is supposedly a big-time attorney. He works for one of the largest law firms in Chicago and last year made partner. I can't see a man like him allowing his wife to dominate him in the bedroom.”
”I can,” Maxine said. ”I once knew the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation who spent his days ordering people around and dealing with the stress and pressure that went along with his position. But, in the privacy of his bedroom, he wanted to give up all control and let his partner take the lead.”
”I couldn't imagine John going along with me telling him to get into position or he'd be punished,” she said. ”It's not our thing.”
”Nor mine, which is why that marriage didn't last past four months.”
Celeste stared at the other woman, waiting for her to crack a smile to indicate she was joking. When there was nothing, Celeste asked, ”You're serious?”
”Yes, and I trust you'll keep that private information to yourself. While he's no longer a CEO and has retired, he has children from a previous marriage and I highly doubt he would want them to know about his s.e.xual...preferences.” Maxine winked. ”Pick up the notepad and make a few bullet points.”
”You said 'that' marriage. I take it you were married before the CEO,” she said, grabbing the paper and pen from the floor.
”Seven times.” Maxine lifted a shoulder. ”I might be psychic, but I'm a lousy judge of character when it comes to men.” She looked to the notepad. ”Did you draw anything this time?”
Celeste ran her hands over the dried ink. ”No.” She showed her the paper. ”As it is, I can hardly make out my scribbles. What does a black aura mean? I'm a.s.suming it's a sign of a person with a dark personality.”
”Absolutely. I've seen black in a few peoples' auras. Not all of them were bad, but their spirits were cold. What's interesting is there are usually other colors present. With what you described, I'd say the woman definitely has a dark, unforgiving soul.”
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