• Chapter 1
    Her eyes glazed over slowly as he moved off of her and he cursed as the formerly tense body went completely slack beneath him. Taking his hands from her neck he sighed. She was no good to him now, they were no fun dead. Standing, he brushed bits of grass and dirt from the knees of his jeans and took a cigarette from the steel case in his back pocket, lighting it. With the Zippo still in his hand, he paced a few feet back and forth, inhaling the sweet nicotine as he did so. From the pocket of his slick brown leather jacket he pulled a small tank of lighter fluid and saturated his victim with it. The butt of his cigarette landed atop the fluid and flames sprang up over her body. He took one last look at her face and clicked his tongue. Her eyes were green, but closed now, and the hair was a deep bright red, pooling around her like blood. The neck which was bent at an impossible angle was pale, and bruised by his hands. He turned away from her and walked away, looking at those callused hands and cursing. Why couldn’t he control his strength? He hadn’t meant to kill her so fast, hadn’t meant to break that fragile neck, and now he had to find another and hope he didn’t kill her before he could enjoy himself. That made 3 tonight. He spat curses again and drove away fast enough to leave smoke from his tires in the lot connected to the California park. The flames coming from the body mocked him in his rearview, and soon, they were far behind.

    ***********

    Her flesh blistered, and pain like nothing she’d ever felt overcame her, yet she stood, somehow, and managed to stumble towards the embankment of the channel before letting herself roll into the blessedly cool, dark water. The flames extinguished immediately and she lay there, floating for a few moments before she finally gathered the strength of will to stand once more and wade to the bank. Her throat and neck were raw, bruised and her body was smoldering, but the fire hadn’t had much time to burn on her, and besides the stinging pain, she knew she was okay, better yet, she was alive. It was more than she could say if she’d continued to struggle. He told her he would kill her, and she knew he would, his mind said as much. 2 other bodies had already been burned by him this night and she knew if she could face the flames, she could live through the ordeal, so she’d gone slack, let her neck fall at an uncomfortable, and strange enough looking angle to appear broken, and allowed her eyes to glaze over open beneath him. Every muscle she had felt sore, useless, but still she climbed the bank and sat wearily on one of the large rocks next to the green bridge with her head In her hands. Her naked body shivered, and she held to the pendant around her neck as though it were a talisman before standing and numbly searching for the keys to her rental car in the lot, or more importantly, the cellular telephone he’d thrown from her pocket when he’d first come upon her.

    Its screen was cracked, but otherwise the device seemed unharmed as it lay on the darkened grass. She dialled 911 and her voice was a croak when she finally spoke to the secretary who answered. “Hello? My name is Samantha Corel, and I was just raped and set on fire-” She was cut off.

    “Where are you sweetie?” The kind voice asked.

    “That’s not important, the man is looking for another girl. He’s driving some sort of vehical that can go off-road , but I didn’t see it. He’s average height with blue eyes and he’s wearing a leather jacket….it was too dark to tell much else but he’ll be looking at another park I’m sure-” She realized she was rambling, so she took a breath and stopped. “Please catch him before someone else gets hurt…I’m the 3rd tonight…and he thinks I’m dead.”

    The operator was silent for a moment, then her voice spoke again, this time hushed, awed. “Where are you honey?”

    “Riverwalk park.” She answered, somewhat releived now. The pain of her burns was almost overwhelming, but not so bad that she could not function. Looking over, she could see a small steady blaze where she’d been laying, feeding on the rest of the lighter fluid that was not now in the channel. Daring a bit of humour, she spoke again. “I’m the girl with no clothes.”

    On the other end of the line, the operator was silent, and Sam imagined she was torn between incredulous laughter and complete shock. That reaction was pretty predictable, so the naked girl simply hung up the call and sat with her knees gathered to her chest in the chill of January.

    People were often shocked when they met the young lady who had been through so much, and claimed to have paranormal abilities because of it. At first they were shocked that a woman her age would believe she could do as she claimed, then they were often shocked because she proved herself right, and finally, they were shocked because Samantha was almost never without a smile, a joke, or a positive attitude, regardless of the past she’d lived through, the gift she lived with, and the fate she knew awaited her. Not many women were as strong as she after her past. Her mother had perished in childbirth and when she was seven, Samantha had fallen out of a roller coaster at a popular amusement park and broken every bone in both her arms and legs, as well as a few in her spine. The doctors told her it was miraculous she’d survived, but she did. While performing surgery to repair her spine, they’d found a mass in the muscle of her back, and tests had proven it cancerous. If she’d never fallen from that ride, the cancer would have spread unnoticed and she would have died within three years, but because it was found so early, the little girl was saved by immediate action. Because of this, she often believed that it was fate, or a guardian angel that pushed her from that coaster car, and she thanked them, but pleaded that next time they did not use such rough tactics to save her life. At age 9 she’d finally been released from the hospital that had been her home for so long, and the girl had spent three years being a normal, happy kid.

    Then the cancer came back to haunt her, in her father. When he was diagnosed, Samantha blamed herself, thought that somehow, the disease was contagious. The doctors explained that his cancer was different than hers and promised to let him live as long as possible, which was one year and one day. On her 13th birthday, Sam’s father died of Cancer, and she was left an orphan.

    Living with her Aunt for two years wasn’t bad. She’d never met her mother’s twin sister, and the woman had plenty of stories to tell about the past with both her mother, and her father when they were young. Seeing the woman’s face she could imagine what her mother would have looked like, and it made her happy. As a young woman, she coughed up blood, and when her Aunt rushed her to the hospital, it was found out that the cancer had returned, and taken over her lungs and heart. Several surgeries and months of chemotherapy later, she was alive, bald, and declared finally cancer free. A heart attack stole her Aunt from her, and an emotionally drained 16 year old Sam had struck out on her own.

    In the darkness of San Fransisco, Samantha Corel was raped at age 16, and beaten to within an inch of her life. Left for dead, much like current circumstances, she’d been found by of all things, black Labrador retriever who had brought his owner to her aid. In the hospital, the young woman had gone in and out of consciousness, and in and out of minds. Indeed, she realized that the minds of people around her were open to her, like books she could read, and she proved it to her nurse by telling the woman exactly what she’d done in the morning before work, step by step.

    That was when she first found her amazing abilities. They were limited however, even now. Samantha knew she could see into the minds of others, but she could not affect them, nor could she always see, only most of the time. An estimated one out of 13 times, nothing at all came to her probing, as though to mock and remind her she was not omniscient.

    Occasionally, Samantha also had dreams that came true, but those she could not control at all, and never had she successfully changed something. She could dream that she would eat oatmeal the next day and specifically stay away from it, but she’d visit a friend who would offer to make her dinner, and serve oddly enough, oatmeal. No matter what, the outcome of the dream was ultimately going to happen, even if she changed the means by which it did.

    Sighing, she allowed herself a moment of self pity as she waited for the police. Why couldn’t she have seen this coming? Must it be that she only saw small things, or the death she knew was coming for her someday? Her own death….a dream she had too often. She knew what was coming, but not when, and so, she didn’t sweat it. Everyone died. Someday would be her turn.

    Sirens alerted her and she looked up as in the distant parking lot she saw an ambulance pull up with a police car. Wearily, she walked towards them and saw uniformed officers jump from the car, one holding back, and the other running towards her with a bundle in its arms. The officer was a woman, and Samantha smiled at her reassuringly. She knew she looked like hell, but men did not frighten her.

    Often, rape victims hated men, feared them, felt that any man would harm them after what one had done to them. Now, Samantha had undergone that trauma twice, but she knew it was not men to be feared. Not all men were bad and not all women were good. Instead, she chose to give her respect and the benefit of the doubt to all she met, male or female, until she felt otherwise about whether or not to trust them. Police officers were pretty high on her list of whom to respect, after all, her Father and Mother had both been police officers, then risen through the ranks to become full fledged detectives.

    The lady cop held out the bundle, which proved to be a blanket, and Samantha gratefully wrapped it around her and accepted the taller woman’s embracing arm as she was led to the ambulance and walked inside. Only there, in the sanctity of it’s sterile innards did the policewoman speak while Samantha was carefully looked over by a female paramedic.

    “Samantha Corel? My name is officer Rebecca Montez. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about tonight? I do not mean to sound insensitive but in order to press charges we need to-”

    “Officer, with all due respect, I would prefer if you asked me questions. If you did not, you wouldn’t be doing your job and I want the man caught.” She said, feeling a bit guilty for cutting the woman off. Her eyes weren’t downcast, her posture was as proud as the burns would allow, and her face was openly content, not the usual body language of a victim. The paramedic dabbed a lotion onto the burns, and she felt almost instant relief enough to sigh as her tense body relaxed slightly. Pain ebbed away, and she waited for the questions.

    Officer Montez took out a tape recorder and turned it on, holding it to her side before speaking carefully and clearly. “We caught a man already, but we do not know if it is the one who did this…we think so, but in order to press charges, we need a witness statement that identifies him indisputably. Can you identify anything more than what you said to the operator on the phone?”

    Sam cleared her throat, and tried her best not to croak so much. “As I said, he was Average height, no more than six inches taller than I am…I’m five foot five.” She clarified. “He had blue eyes, and I believe a broad face. His nose seemed narrow, but I only glimpsed it once. He was wearing some kind of cotton shirt, a dark colour, with a leather jacket. I didn’t see the clothes, but I felt them. I heard him brushing off his pants when he first ….stopped….and thought I was dead. I think they were jeans.” She knew very well how to describe things to police. Years of helping them and watching them take statements had given her the knowledge to give as much detail as she could remember. “He didn’t seem to have anything with him other than the cigarettes I smelled and his lighter. It was shiny, one of those refillable kind you keep, not the disposable kind. It clicked really loudly when he closed it, loud enough that I could hear it over the fire.”

    Finished, she sat silent and Officer Montez nodded. “That was very good, very helpful as well…is there anything else? What about his vehicle?”

    Sam closed her eyes to concentrate. “I know he was driving when he first caught me in the northern part of the park. Driving on the grass, then he hit me and I was knocked out. I only remember waking up when he was on top of me….but when he drove away, his tires screeched really loudly”

    The policewoman nodded and smiled. “Thank you.” Then she turned the recorder off and patted Samantha’s unburned right shoulder before insistently pressing her down onto the smooth, cool cotton of the gurney bed within the ambulance. “Well be at the hospital soon, so I want you to try and relax. The doctors will examine you and call your family.”

    “I don’t have any.” Samantha answered softly.

    “Are you from here, native to Bakersfield?”

    “No, I’m just here visiting a friend. I live in Georgia.” She answered softly.

    “Then they’ll call your friend when we get to the hospital.” Officer Montez smiled gently at her, and watched as sleep finally overtook the tired young woman. Only then, did the brave policewoman dare to show the pity stricken eyes she’d been holding back. The tall blonde paramedic shared the expression of deep disbelief and sorrow as she sat on the other side of Samantha’s gurney, but neither woman spoke for fear of waking the child.

    ***********

    Rebecca Montez, age 32 knew the ropes of police work. She was a thrice decorated officer of the LAPD, and only recently she’d moved down to Bakersfield, with both the dog and her human partner. She was single, and lived alone with her K-9 partner, the pure black german shepard Lexi, but she was content. In her years with the police she’d seen it all, so she thought. Every crime imaginable had been seen by her eyes, every kind of victim spoken to, and then she’d met Samantha Corel. Just 10 days ago she’d spoken with the girl fresh from the scene of her rape, and been astonished by the complete strength the young woman showed. Now, having seen her every day since, she was certain that the strength had not been a front. Sam, as she’d insisted on being called, was truly a strong woman. Nothing phased her, she hadn’t cried once, and most amazing, she had the sense of humour of any other 24 year old woman, and treated everyone like an instant friend. Perhaps she was getting attached, but Rebecca felt responsible for her, and protective of her. She’d insisted on coming today, so now she stood, two feet behind the red-head as Sam prepared to look at a line-up of men who could possibly be the one who attacked her, and at least 3 others, if not more. The men filed into the empty room and a male officer spoke into the microphone, informing the men of their duties and rights in the line-up chamber. Number four looked completely stoic, expressionless, just as he’d looked since they caught him. Dark hair was smoothly laying in waves across his head. He was attractive, in a European fashion with deep tilted eyes and pointed greek features. His pale skin was perfectly clear, and Rebecca shuddered slightly. He almost looked like a sculpture, a beautiful, emotionless sculpture. Her hand reached out instinctively and she clasped Samantha’s shoulder gently. The other woman turned and smiled at her, putting her own pale hand over the sun darkened one that belonged to the police woman.

    Finally, the proceedings began and Sam’s green eyes swivelled from one man to the next, but they never truly left number four, and kept returning to him between each other suspect. She was looking at them all, but she knew she didn’t need to. The culprit was there, and his ethereal beauty didn’t lessen the surety of her decision when she said clearly. “I don’t need them to turn or anything…it’s number four.”

    The officer at the mic looked at her. “Are you sure?” He asked.

    She nodded. “Positive sir.” At Rebecca’s nod, he told the men to shuffle back through the door they’d emerged from, and Samantha led her out of the viewing room to the hallway.

    Lexi waited patiently with her leash in the hands of Rebecca’s human partner, Eric. He was a young man, at least younger than Rebecca by a few years, but he was a great cop, and they’d been partners for five years in LA, then transferred together to Bakersfield. Lexi trusted him almost as much as she did the woman she lived with, but Rebecca’s commands always came first. Immediately the dog looked up as they entered the hall and her eyes locked first on her person, then on the woman with her, where they stayed. When Eric let her go, she shuffled to Rebecca and nuzzled her hand before walking and standing between the two women, as though guarding them both. Her wet nose nudged Sam’s hand, and she looked at Rebecca for permission.

    “She’s off duty, feel free to spoil her with all the love you want.” The male cop answered for her, running his hand through smooth sandy hair. The redhead nodded happily and laughed before kneeling to pet the disciplined animal. “How’d it go?” Eric asked. “Positive ID on our guy?”

    His partner nodded. She wasn’t one to smile in public, at least not as long as he’d known her. In fact, to those who didn’t really know Rebecca she could seem to be a b***h. He knew otherwise though. The wiry half-Hispanic woman seemed made of steel, but inside, she was full of warmth and light. He felt like she was family, an older sister of sorts, and knew she felt the same, they’d take a bullet for each other, and probably for Lexi as well. Even knowing her as he did, he was surprised when she smiled at him and nodded, patting Sam’s shoulder tenderly. It would seem she’d taken this young woman under her wing just as she’d done with him, and that made him pay attention to her. Becca had told him how strong she was, how calm she’d been since the attack, and he saw that now in the ease with which she moved, and laughed. She was pretty, he decided, with her hair newly cropped short after having burned at the ends. It worked well with her heart-shaped face. Her body was slender, and though not as muscular as Becca, she looked as though there was no excess body fat on her, though somehow her figure still seemed to be gently rounded. Standing next to the police woman, they looked opposites, yet in her eyes resided the same fire he knew so well from his partner.

    As though she felt him studying her she looked up at him and he blushed before trying to avert his eyes slightly. It was never good to get caught staring at a woman. She stood and held out her hand to him, smiling openly with dimples in her cheeks. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced…but I’ve heard of you. Officer Walker, right?”

    Pleasantly surprised, he raised a brow to Becca before shaking the woman’s hand. “Yes, but when I’m not on duty, call me Eric.”

    “Do you know where you’re staying?” Rebecca asked. “Now that you’ve been released from the Hospital?”

    Samantha nodded. “Oh yes. I’ll be with a friend of mine. He’s at work now, but he said he’ll leave a key for me, so I was about to call a cab to get to the park and pick up my rental before driving to his place.” Rebecca frowned, and Sam laughed as though reading her mind. “I’ll be fine. I’ve known him since I was a child. He’s six or seven years older than me, and was my Aunt’s foster child for years. He kept in touch with her so he often visited when I was living there growing up. I came here to visit him in the first place..”

    “Why isn’t he here? I never met him at the Hospital either…” Rebecca countered worriedly.

    “I didn’t tell him what happened…” Came the expected admission. “I was afraid to…I’ll stay with him for the two weeks I was supposed to, and ask if I can stay at his place while he goes off for his business trip after that.”

    “How long did the Doctors want you to stay in town for your burn treatments?”

    The redhead shrugged. “Three months. Even though there’s not a huge amount of them, they are supposedly pretty severe second degree and a couple of third degree burns, so they said they’d rather I stay here. Besides, I have to get a job…I don’t have my wallet, so I have no money to fly home.”

    “Can’t you go into a bank and get some from your account?” Eric asked.

    She smiled at him and he looked away with a bit of embarassment. “I don’t have an account. I only use Cash, keeps my life simple….and I don’t mind getting a job and staying here for a while, I like California. I’ve already called my boss at home and she promised to hold my job for me.”

    It seemed impossible that she could be so cheerful, and yet she was, as usual, and as usual, it effected Rebecca deeply. “Well then, if you can’t stay with him, you can stay with me. I have an extra car you can use too, and I‘ll take you to your friend‘s house and wait with you for him to come home, while Eric goes to pick up your rental car. We found he keys near the burned spot in the grass at Riverwalk, so he knows where they are. ” She winked and Samantha looked at her with the same shocked expression many presented to her before hugging the woman tightly, careful of the burns on her side and stomach.

    “Thank you so much!!” She called happily. “I hate to impose…”

    “You wouldn’t be, It’ll be less lonely around my place with you around…besides, Lexi likes you, if I didn’t offer, she might attack me.”

    The dog snorted as though agreeing with her, and Eric smiled at his partner as though telling her she’d done well with her kindness. “You got it boss -lady, I’m off to get that car for you. Miss Corel, would you like me to take it to your friend’s house or return it to the company for you?”

    “Call me Sam, and um…”

    “Go ahead and return it to the rental place.” Becca said. “I’ll let her start using my extra right away, keeping a rental is expensive.”

    He nodded and walked off with a quick salute as the three women, two human and one canine, watched him go.

    **********

    Deep blue eyes saw the black car parked in out front of his house as Max pulled up into the driveway, opening the garage to let his own Ford Focus in. When the large door closed behind him he was already using his key to open the door to his kitchen and walking inside. A blur came before him and arms were flung around his waist as Samantha hugged him tightly. Laughing the tall man hugged her back and smiled as he pulled her to arms length. “You get more beautiful each time I see you!” He cheered. “I love the new ‘do too, I’ve always said you look good with short hair…” He trailed off as he saw another woman rise from his couch, and walk to stand behind Samantha.

    She was tall for a woman, five foot eight or nine, yet still much shorter than his six foot three, and slender. Her tan skin was hidden mostly by the black police uniform she wore, and her hair was pulled into an almost thick and complex braid to her waist. Her tilted eyes surveyed him almost suspiciously and he gave her the same wary glare “Samantha, who is this?”

    “Max, this is Officer Rebecca Montez. I…have something to tell you….” The girl answered, leading him back to his couch. He almost jumped from his skin when he reached it however, because sitting next to the arm was a large black german shepard with a K-9 vest on. The dog did not move a muscle as he sat nervously on the couch beside where it sat.

    At a quick quiet order from the cop however, the dog sniffed him curiously, then laid her head on his knee like any other house pet, and he chuckled and started scratching behind her ears. His own dog, a yellow lab named Baxter looked cheerfully into the window at them and tilted his head. For a moment, he almost forgot he was supposed to be listening until Sam poked him.

    “Officer Montez is taking care of me for a reason Max…” She said quietly. “I actually got into Bakersfield over a week ago, but I knew you weren’t off work until 11 that night, so I went to the park to walk around. I remembered last time I visited that we went to Riverwalk park and walked Baxter, so I went there.” She hesitated and looked at the officer, who nodded to her and took her hand gently. Then his younger friend started again. “A man attacked me Max…he raped me, or he was raping me until he thought I died, then he got up and set me on fire. I have second and third degree burns on my sides, right arm, right leg, and stomach.”

    He looked flabbergasted, and angry, but Rebecca spoke next. “The doctors want her to stay here in town for a few months while her burns heal, but she’s been released from the hospital as of today.”

    Max hugged the redhead close and nuzzled the top of her head. “Geez Cricket, why didn’t you call me!?” He asked.

    She shrugged. “I didn’t want to worry you…so I’m going to stay with Officer Montez while I’m here, she has an extra car I can use.”

    He looked at the officer. “Are you sure that’s okay Mrs. Montez? It’s very kind of you to let her stay with you.”

    Officer Montez dropped her stony look long enough to give a small smile to Rebecca, and he realized she was younger than he’d originally thought. “It’s perfectly fine with me, call me Rebecca. As I told her, Lexi wouldn’t have it any other way.”

    For a moment he wondered who “Lexi” was, then he saw the cop nodding towards the dog, and read the name stitched on her collar. “Well then I suppose I don’t know what to say…” His next question was more prudent. “Did they catch the guy?”

    Rebecca nodded. “Yes they did, he was identified in the line-up today by Samantha.”

    He was thankful for that, and nodded to show it. “Good. I hope that b*****d fries.”

    “He’s looking at 2 life sentences, at least. He killed 2 girls before he got to Sam, and was just dragging another girl to his car when we caught him. She was almost a fourth victim, but luckily we got such a good description of him that my partner was able to pick him up with no trouble. He gave up fairly easily too in the face of superiour firepower and a set of razor sharp teeth, or so I hear.”

    Lexi whuffed as though proud of herself, and Sam couldn’t help but giggle. “I couldn’t imagine her being anything other than sweet as I’ve seen her.” She muttered of the dog, who was currently being lavished with a full doggy massage by Max.

    The cop shrugged. “She’s fierce when she has to be, if she’s commanded or someone she’s protecting is in danger, and she’s good at it.”

    “I can tell, she has four old gunshot wounds.” Max noted. “I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Doctor Maxwell Krael.”

    “A doctor?” Rebecca asked Samantha curiously.

    “Veterinarian.” He clarified. “Animals don’t whine as much as people do.” He flashed a grin and Sam rolled her eyes at him, punching him lightly on the arm. Rebecca smiled and politely excused herself, giving the two old friends time to talk, while giving herself time to finish some overdue paperwork.

    When the cop and her canine were gone, he turned to Samantha. “Does she know about your abilities? He asked her with concern.

    She shook her head at him. “No, and she probably won’t. I like her a lot though, it makes me feel guilty not to tell her…but it’s not like they could have done anything for her. I can’t see into someone’s mind without physical contact, and even then I don’t do it without asking them first unless it’s an emergency, that’s how I knew that my attacker had already killed 2 girls that night.”

    Max nodded and relaxed in his seat next to her. “Well either way, I think you should trust her.”

    Coming from him, that was a shock. His own life hadn’t been a picnic, and she’d known him for more than ten years now, and heard quite a few of his stories. Max didn’t trust often, and she could say with absolute confidence that she was one of only 2 people he completely trusted, and the other was Baxter. “Why do you say that?”

    He smiled. “I’m a vet, I see people and dogs all the time. I even treat K-9 dogs, and I know how they act. Even a dog who completely adores its master doesn’t act as amazingly connected as Lexi does with her human counterpart. I trust an animal’s instincts before any person’s, and I’d say that Rebecca Montezis one of those people who has a truly amazing character. She’s a good ally to have Sam…and everyone needs those.”

    The 24 year old nodded and let her mind wander as she looked idly out the window. Max got the same feeling from Rebecca as she did, someone to be completely trusted. Perhaps the officer would learn her secrets someday. One thing she was sure of however, she was incredibly lucky to have been found by that particular police woman. Fate had once again used strange, rough circumstances to give her a gift. This time, it was the gift of an ally, and a friend.