Blood Sins

you told us about seeing Andrea's spirit and what she said about Ruby, I didn't remember picking up any names. But Ruby was there, a dark girl with really pale gray eyes. I think she's the one who touched me, physically touched me, and I'm almost positive she was carrying this bag.'

'Almost?' Sawyer stared at her. 'Wouldn't it have been obvious?'

Tessa thought about it and frowned again. 'Now that you mention it, it should have, shouldn't it? A big bag for a little girl to be carrying, and unusual since they were all in that playground near the church. None of the other kids was carrying any sort of bag or backpack. But Ruby was. I have to concentrate to remember actually seeing it, but when I concentrate, it's there, clear as day.'

Softly, Hollis said, 'You need her help to stop him.'

'Excuse me?' Sawyer said.

'It's what Andrea said. 'You need her help to stop him.' And she was talking about Ruby.'

'How could a twelve-year-old girl help stop someone like Samuel?'

Tessa looked at him for a moment, then returned her gaze to Hollis. 'Maybe that's why Sarah was so convinced the children were important.'

'Who's Sarah?' Sawyer asked.

Knowing that would be a long and probably difficult conversation, Tessa chose to postpone it. 'I'll tell you about Sarah later. Right now I'm more worried about Ruby. Hollis, you said Sarah had managed to get three of the kids out, right?'

Hollis nodded.

'Latents. But what if she was picking up the strength of an active psychic and didn't know it, because Ruby has the ability to obscure or disguise what's real?'

'That would be a hell of an ability,' Hollis said slowly. 'And one I've never heard of outside science fiction.'

'But possible?'

'Sure, anything's possible. But how likely would it be that Samuel could miss something that unique?'

'Maybe because it's unique. Or maybe because he hadn't been paying attention. Until lately.' Tessa looked down at the note and read the last chilling phrase out loud. 'Father's started watching me.'

'Christ,' Sawyer said. 'She's twelveshe's hitting puberty.'

Hollis drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. 'Bastard. If he's looking for another good source to tap, the chaos of adolescence also produces an enormous amount of energy. Sexually and otherwise. It's when a high percentage of latents become active for the first timeusually because of some kind of trauma. Just guessing, I'd say the simultaneous death of almost all the pets and livestock in the Compound would be very traumatic for a little girl. Especially one who loved her dog.'

'She had to protect Lexie,' Tessa told them. 'So, instinctively, she did. Some kind of energy shield, for sure. But more than that, she must have tapped into her latent ability to hide or disguise an object. And she's been able to continue hiding Lexie all this time, hiding her in plain sight, from everyone in that Compound, including Samuel. She must have thought they were safe. Until she realized he was beginning to look at her the way he looked at the older women. Until she understood.'

* * * *

Quentin Hayes had been a seer most of his life but preferred the official SCU designation of precog or precognitive instead, since the ability to actually see the future was very new to him. Until he had crossed paths with an extremely powerful medium in an extremely dangerous situation not so long ago, all he had been able to claim was an occasional precognitive awareness that something was about to happen.

All that changed when he met Diana Brisco.

So it was less than a year since he'd begun actually seeing visions, and since they were still comparatively rare, he hadn't yet grown accustomed to the sheer power of them.

They still came out of nowhere with no warning, and they still brought him to his knees.

'Christ.'

'Quentin?'

He knew Bishop was there with him, in the same roombut after the blinding burst of pain, the room shimmered and then faded, and in its place was hell.

Dark clouds rolled and banked heavily above, so dark they shut out the sunlight, and thunder boomed and echoed. The air above his head crackled and sparked with pure energy; acrid smoke stung his nostrils with a smell that turned his stomach and caused his soul to flinch, because it was a smell he recognized.

Burnt flesh.

He didn't want to but forced himself to turn and look at what he only vaguely recognized as the outdoor amphitheater used by Samuel and his congregation. It was a charred and scorched place now, the large boulders intended to be seats blackened, still smoking. And among the rocks were other still-smoking shapes.

Human shapes.

They were twisted and contorted in mute agony, and it was obvious that many of the adults had tried in vain to protect children. But none of them had had a chance, Quentin realized sickly.

He heard a scream and pivoted sharply, finding himself looking up at the area of the granite 'pulpit' where Samuel preached.

Samuel stood on the pulpit, staring down at his dead followers, his expression chillingly serene. His hands were smoking.

At his feet, staring up at him, sat a dark-haired little girl, her expression every bit as serene as his.

'Ruby!'

It was Tessa who had screamed, who cried out the little girl's name. She was she was bound to a cross, one of four placed on either side of the pulpit. Ropes at her wrists and ankles would have held her securely; the monstrous iron spikes driven through her hands and feet were clearly intended to maim and torture.

Two of the other three crosses held identically bound figures, but only Tessa was conscious; the others were unconsciousor dead. Hollis and Chief Cavenaugh hung motionless.

There was a lot of blood.

Samuel looked at the little girl, then smiled tenderly. He placed his left hand on the top of her head.

Before Quentin's horrified eyes, she began to smolder and, without a sound, she burst into flames.

Tessa screamed again. Samuel turned his head to look at her, his smile fading, replaced by a slight frown, just barely this side of indifference. He looked at her, Quentin thought, as one would look at a fly that annoyed with its buzzing. Then, with his left hand still on the head of the burning child, he extended his right hand, and a jagged bolt of pure energy shot from his fingers toward Tessa.

'Quentin.'

Blinking, drawing in a gulp of blessedly normal air, Quentin looked down at the hand gripping his arm, then up to meet Bishop's concerned gaze. 'Jesus. How do you and Miranda stand this?' The hoarse sound of his own voice startled him.

'Practice.' Bishop helped him to his feet, and into a nearby chair. 'What did you see?'

'I sawhell. Listen, I need to get to the Gray house. Like ten minutes ago.'

'Why?'

'Because they're about to make a very, very, very bad decision. Trust me on that. And I don't think anything short of an unexpected visit will dissuade them.'

Bishop reached immediately for a phone. 'The chopper can land in that clearing between the house and the road; that should get you close enough without alerting the farmhands.'

'Can he get away this time of day?'

'He'll have to. I can't risk getting that close to the Compound, and we don't have another pilot available right now. Bring them back here.'

'Sure?'

'Quentin, you're white as a sheet. I don't need it described to me to know you saw something we do not want to happen. So it's time we pool our resources. All of