Page 24 of Sinful Demands

I watched through Kavari’s crying eyes as the doctors pulled a baby out of her in the operating room. She barely saw the bluish-pink, goo-covered infant before they whipped it from her sight. The nurses cleaned it while the doctors finished closing Kavari up. Within seconds, the baby was crying and they left the room with it.

Still curious, I went back another three months. Nothing but pregnancy doctors and a visit to the adoptive parents she signed the baby over to. My mind was left boggled, wondering why she would keep saying murderer in her head since the baby had survived.

Despite how horrendous it made me, I went back three more months and hit the jackpot. The visions played out before me like a live-action performance, but through Kavari’s eyes.

Kavari nervously held out an envelope in front of her. “There’s two thousand in there.”

He opened the envelope and peeked inside. “Looks like it’s all here. I’ll give it to him and your problem will be over in an hour.”

When her eyes locked on his face, I recognized him immediately as her father.

“Will I go to jail?” she asked, her voice shaky and lined with fear.

“My guy is good. They won’t find the body.”

She said nothing as she sniffed back tears.

“Maybe you should terminate the baby, sweetie.”

“I’m already a murderer, what’s one more, right?” My visions were blurry for a second as she wiped tears from her eyes before letting out a hard breath. “I can’t make that decision right now, Dad. I just wished I would have stayed home instead of celebrating my birthday and none of this would have happened.”

Jackpot.Whatever Kavari did occurred because of her birthday. But I was more curious about who she hurt, so I decided to go back two hours.

Kavari stood in a bar, dressed in a black hoodie and matching sweatpants. Her gaze was locked on a man who was flirting with a woman. With a prowling nature, she slid in close behind him and dropped something into his drink. She and the woman locked eyes for a second before Kavari walked away, the man never seeing her.

She made her way out of the bar and to a dark alley behind it. The minutes went by while she waited in the shadows. My heart thundered as I watched the play-by-play, wondering what was going to happen next.

Ten minutes later, the woman came out with the guy on her arm. Now drowsy and stumbling, I had a feeling they drugged him with GHB. The woman, who I assumed was a friend, pulled the guy near a dumpster where Kavari was hiding.

“You look familiar,” he said, slurring his words.

“You have date-raped so many women, you can’t even remember their faces anymore!”

“Kavari,” the woman whispered. “We have to stay quiet.”

Without saying a word, she pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the . . .

I yanked myself out of the visions, my breathing heavy, my throat dry. But I had to go back in.

Forcing my way into her memories, I watched Kavari pull the knife from his stomach before both women lowered him behind the dumpster. They took off running and jumped into a car. Even though I was just watching her memories, I could feel the sweet relief of the fear she had been holding onto for three months finally disappearing.

Anger poured through me and I needed to know what he did to her. I pulled up the memories from her birthday.

My mouth was agape, wrath filling my body as I watched the man do exactly what I thought. He had raped her. The memories from the next day told me he had done the same thing only a week prior to the woman who was helping her. The vile things that he did to her and her friend disgusted me.

After everything I saw, if Kavari hadn’t killed him, I would have. The anger I contained would have had me slitting his throat and dragging his corpse across the veil to burn for eternity, writhing in the same pain he caused. I made a mental note to check records to be sure his soul ended up where it belonged.

“Zell, I’m sick,” Kavari said, bringing me out of the vision. When my eyes refocused on the world, she was standing next to me. Her face was pale, her heart palpitating.

I jumped up, placing my hand on her cheeks. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I feel weird.”

Taking her by the hand, I helped her sit on the bed. I hadn’t just glimpsed her memories, I watched them second by second as they played out. My magic had made her sick, I realized. That knowledge sent a feeling I wasn’t used to through me.

Is thisguilt?I asked myself before swallowing hard.

“You’ll feel better once it wears off.”

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