Amaryllis

Chapter 20

"Irene Dunley, psychic vampire." Clementine propped one hip on the edge of Amaryllis's hospital bed and shook her head in wonder. "Who would have believed it?"

"Sort of takes the romance out of the whole psychic vampire thing, doesn't it?" Byron said. "Irene Dunley doesn't quite fit the image. Not exactly the lethally elegant, sophisticated, world-weary type. I wonder if Orchid Adams will change genres when she learns about this. Maybe she'll decide to write mysteries or Western Islands adventure tales instead of psychic vampire romance."

"She's not going to hear the truth about Irene Dunley from us." Amaryllis lounged against a mountain of pristine, white pillows and glowered at both of her visitors. "And neither is anyone else. We all agreed that the fewer people who know about this, the better. The police are satisfied that Irene was a nutcase who murdered her lover when she discovered that he had a relationship with a syn-sex stripper."

"Hey, sure, no problem," Byron said quickly. "Staid secretary murders lover and then kills syn-sex stripper. Big- time politician gets caught up in the mess and campaign falls apart. End of story."

"Exactly," Amaryllis said. "We certainly don't need Nelson Buriton doing a lot of cheap, tabloid-style stories about psychic vampires on the ten o'clock news. It would only make people nervous about high-class talents."

Clementine grinned. "Kind of a shame not to let Buriton have the story. Just think what he could do with it."

"The first person who calls Buriton answers to me," Lucas growled from the doorway.

Amaryllis turned her head to look at him. It was the first time she had seen him since the police had hustled both of them off to the emergency room the previous night.

Lucas smiled at her. He had a fistful of yellow rose- orchids in one hand. His other arm was in a sling.

"Whatever you say, Trent." Clementine held up a copy of the New Seattle Times to display the headlines. "Local Prism Solves Murder." "This is the best press Psynergy, Inc. has had in years. It's going to do amazing things for the bottom line."

"I wonder what would have happened if Amaryllis had not gone to that reception with you that night, Mr. Trent." Byron looked thoughtful. "If the two of you hadn't accidentally detected Sheffield while he was working the room with his focused charm and charisma, none of the rest would have come to light."

Amaryllis shook her head. "No, the truth would have eventually surfaced, one way or another. Irene was getting crazier by the day. When she killed Professor Landreth, she murdered the only person who could help her control her talent. She had already planned to murder Vivien, and when she learned about Sheffield's penchant for sleeping with his prism, she was determined to take him down, too. Eventually she would have gone too far."

"Yeah, but how many more people would have died before she committed a mistake and finally got caught?" Byron said.

"Hmm." Clementine propped her square jaw on her hand. "I wonder if Psynergy, Inc. should put more of an emphasis on security work. I'd hate to lose the momentum here."

"If Psynergy, Inc. goes into the security business in a big way, I can guarantee that you'll have one less employee," Lucas said grimly. "Amaryllis will be looking for another job. My nerves can't take any more of her investigations."

"Now, Lucas, don't get excited," Amaryllis murmured.

"I'm not the one lying in a hospital bed." Lucas crossed the room, bent down, and kissed her. "You're the one who's supposed to be resting." He handed her the flowers. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." She sniffed the yellow rose-orchids. "In fact, I'm going to get sprung from this joint today."

"You're sure you're ready to come home?"

"More than ready. I was just suffering from temporary shock and exhaustion. You were the one who took the bullet."

"Yeah, well, you may not want to rush home," Lucas said. "Your uncle called an hour ago. He said that he and your aunt are driving into the city today to find out, and I quote, just what in the five hells is going on."

Amaryllis grimaced. "I was afraid of that."

Byron glanced at Lucas with interest. "What will happen to Irene Dunley?"

Lucas looked down at Amaryllis. "The doctor says they're processing paperwork to commit her to a mental institution."

"No trial?" Clementine was obviously disappointed.

"I doubt it." Lucas closed his big hand around Amaryllis's fingers. "Apparently when she realized that her talent had been destroyed, she lost whatever small grasp she still had on her sanity. The emergency room syn-shrink says he's never seen a case quite like it."

"Because no one's ever heard of a talent being destroyed," Clementine said. "All the research indicates that while prisms can burn out temporarily, talents simply lose strength if they get too close to their personal limits. All a talent has to do in order to regain full power is drop back down into his or her working range."

"I guess Irene proved that there are some hazards for very high-class talents," Byron said.

Clementine nodded. "Yep. There's just one thing I'd like to know."

"What's that?" Lucas asked.

"What kind of talent was Irene Dunley? None of the news accounts mentioned it."

"I wondered the same thing." Amaryllis hesitated. "I know this is going to sound strange, but I have a feeling that Professor Landreth may have told me the truth the day he said that Irene Dunley had a superior talent for organization."

"We did it together, didn't we?" Amaryllis asked very soberly as Lucas carried her up the waterfall steps and into the airy hall of his big house. "We destroyed Irene's talent and her sanity."

"I think it's safe to say that her sanity was almost gone. Don't start blaming yourself for that." Lucas carried her into the spacious living room and settled her carefully on the sofa. "But, yes, we did burn out her talent together. You forced her to her limits. I put her over the edge."

"She was screaming at the end." Amaryllis shivered. "I found a way to dampen the flow of her energy. She must have feared that I might be strong enough to sever the link after all. So she kept increasing her own power. When she understood that I wasn't going to bum out, I think that she tried to cut the link herself."

"But it was too late," Lucas said. "She had lost control of her mind and her talent. She aimed that gun straight at your heart. There was no way she could miss you."

"But you did something, didn't you? What was it?"

"I only needed to hold a focus for a couple of seconds. I can do that on my own."

"You created an illusion to distract Irene." Amaryllis searched his face. "But what was it?"

"I knew I'd only have one chance. I had to come up with something that would really jolt her. Remember the photo of Landreth that hung in Irene's office?"

"You didn't--"

"Yeah." Lucas sat down on the edge of the sofa and rested his elbows on his thighs. "I did. I knew what he looked like because of that photo. I created an illusion of him standing next to you, bleeding from a crushed skull."

"The blood." Amaryllis shuddered again. "I saw a river of blood."

"I probably went a little overboard on the blood. I didn't have time to fine-tune the image. Irene freaked. She aimed the gun at the illusion of Landreth instead of at you. Pulled the trigger. By then, I was on her." Lucas glanced at his injured arm. "Unfortunately, the gun went off once more before I got it away from her."

"No wonder she wouldn't stop screaming. Irene must have thought she'd seen Professor Landreth's ghost."

"I talked to Rafe Stonebraker last night after the medics finished working on my arm. Told him the whole story. He said to tell you that he's going to bill me for time and expenses."

Amaryllis was outraged. "That's ridiculous. There was no missing file for him to discover. Irene created a fake."

"Stonebraker says that only proves just how good he is at what he does. He couldn't find a missing file because there was no missing file."

The doorbell chimed, interrupting Amaryllis before she could think of a suitable rebuttal to Rafe Stonebraker's argument.

"The last thing either of us needs is a visitor," Lucas muttered as he got to his feet. "I'll get rid of whoever it is."

Amaryllis listened as he went down the hall to answer the door. The low rumble of masculine voices a moment later aroused her curiosity. She pushed herself off the sofa and trailed after Lucas.

She saw Calvin Rye standing in the open doorway. He nodded politely when he noticed her.

"Miss Lark."

"Hello, Mr. Rye."

"I understand you're not feeling well," Calvin said stiffly. "I don't intend to stay long."

Lucas braced one hand against the doorjamb. "What do you want, Rye?"

Calvin looked at him. "Dillon tells me he's going to work for Lodestar."

"Yes."

"I wanted you to know that I told him he had my approval and my blessing. Beatrice is anxious, naturally, but I've had a long talk with her. I think she understands."

"That Dillon needs to go off into the world on his own?" Lucas asked.

"That we can trust you to look after him," Calvin said deliberately. Without waiting for a response, he nodded to Amaryllis again and walked back down the steps.

Lucas closed the door very carefully and turned to look at Amaryllis.

"He knows the truth," Amaryllis said. "I could see it in his eyes."

"The truth about Jackson?"

"Yes. He's probably known it all along deep inside. He was Jackson's father, after all. He would have understood his son's weaknesses better than anyone. But he also knows that he can trust you to keep the family secret."

Amaryllis awoke sometime after midnight. She felt the familiar, intimate brush of awareness. Lucas was seeking a link. She opened her mind. Out on the psychic plane a prism shimmered into existence.

Glowing, exquisitely controlled power flowed gently through the sparkling crystal. Amaryllis savored the sensation.

"Am I hurting you?" Lucas asked. "If you're not ready for this, tell me."

"You're not hurting me." Amaryllis smiled into the darkness. "I love you, Lucas."

Power surged through the prism in a glorious rush of light. Lucas turned on his side and gathered Amaryllis into his arms. "I wish I had the words to tell you how much I love you."

"You just said it." She touched his cheek.

He bent his head to kiss her. Talent flowed, brilliant and beautiful and so powerful that it took Amaryllis's breath.

Lucas raised his head. "Are you sure you're up to this?"

She pulled his mouth back down to hers. "I won't break."

"Just one thing you and I need to straighten out here, Trent." Oscar studied the grove of giant hybrid ferns-trees that surrounded the rear terrace of the old mansion. "You'll have to do a better job of keeping Amaryllis out of trouble if you're going to marry her. She's been in one scrape after another since she met you."

Lucas handed Oscar a cold bottle of Five Hells beer. "Don't worry, I'm going to insist that she accept only routine focus assignments from here on."

"You do that." Oscar took a swallow of beer and wandered closer to the nearest fern-tree. "If you can."

The phone rang somewhere inside the house. Lucas ignored it. Hannah and Amaryllis were in the kitchen. One of them could answer it.

"Hell of a garden you've got here." Oscar pulled down a massive frond to examine it with professional interest.

"Place used to belong to a horti-talent."

"Horti-talents always go in for the fancy stuff. We ag-talents prefer to concentrate on crops that have some practical use."

Lucas hid a grin. "Is that a fact?"

"It is." Oscar released the huge frond. He looked at Lucas. "I won't pretend that I'm entirely satisfied with this marriage you're planning. I'd feel a hell of a lot better about it if you two had met through an agency. But I can see that Amaryllis has her heart set on marrying you. Just remember what I once told you. Hurt her and I'll--"

"Lucas?" Amaryllis appeared in the doorway. "Phone call for you. Shall I take a message?"

"No, that's all right. I need a good excuse to get away from Oscar here. He's lecturing me again."

Amaryllis frowned at Oscar. "I told you to stop that, Uncle Oscar."

"Can't help myself," Oscar said.

"The hell he can't." Lucas brushed Amaryllis's arm and her mind in a light, fleeting caress as he went past her to take the phone call. "He plans to spend the next six months trying to scare me off."

"Aunt Hannah will handle him," Amaryllis assured Lucas.

"Somebody better or I'll have to do it myself." Lucas picked up the phone. "This is Trent."

"Mr. Trent. Hobart Batt here. As we marriage counselors like to say at times like this, have I got a girl for you."

"Forget it, Batt. I've decided to cancel my registration with Synergistic Connections."

"What?" Hobart sucked in air. "But, Mr. Trent, you don't want to do that. I've got a wonderful match for you."

"I'm no longer in the market."

"Just let me tell you about this one. It's a bit unusual. However, I can assure you that I've already spoken to Miss Lark's counselor. Mrs. Reeton and I have double-checked our results. We are convinced that this is an excellent match."

Lucas held the phone away from his ear and stared at it in stunned amazement. Then he repeated the only two words he had heard clearly.

"Miss Lark? Miss Amaryllis Lark?"

"Why, yes. You once asked me if I had ever matched a high-class talent and a full-spectrum prism. I told you at the time that such matches were rare, but they did occur occasionally."

Lucas started to laugh.

"Mr. Trent? Are you listening?"

Lucas laughed harder.

"The thing is," Hobart Batt continued in a determined tone, "we feel that your strengths and those of Miss Lark nicely complement each other. Definitely a synergistic balance between the two of you. Certainly there will be areas of slight disagreement. There's no such thing as an exact match. We are dealing with human beings here, after all, but on the whole... Mr. Trent, is something wrong?"

Lucas did not respond. He was laughing so hard that he dropped the phone.

"Lucas?" Amaryllis smiled quizzically from the doorway. "What's so funny?"

"You aren't going to believe this." He strode toward her, caught her up in his arms, and swung her around in a circle. Then he pulled her close and cupped her face between his hands. "We're a perfect match."

Hobart Batt's tinny voice continued to babble somewhere in the distance. Lucas ignored it. All he cared about was the love that shone more brilliant than a thousand massed jelly- lamps in Amaryllis's eyes.

"For some odd reason," Amaryllis said. "That doesn't come as any great surprise."

Lucas grinned. "No, it doesn't."

He bent his head to kiss her. Out on the psychic plane a crystal clear prism formed. Energy poured through it in a rainbow of color that seemed to stretch out into the future.

The focus was perfect.

Just like the woman in his arms, Lucas thought.