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Samantha’s steps thundered throughout the narrow hallway. Her heart leapt in her chest,
lodging in her throat. Devlin was near—she could feel his presence.
“Samantha? Let yourself fall. You must give way to the power inside of you in order for
you to find what you’re searching for. Please don’t fail me,” Charlotte’s plea reverberated off
the narrow passageway. The walls were painted black and white and the ceiling was a hideous
grey color.
“Charlotte?” She stopped, the clicking of the heels of her boots also ceased, filling the
claustrophobic hallway with an eerie still silence.
“Do you remember the tales mother used to tell us about the Void? Think quickly,
Samantha this channel to you will only be opened for a few minutes. I’ve worked tirelessly to get
this far—you joining with Devlin finally gave you the strength you needed to hear my calls.”
“The Void? She told us those stories when we were like ten. That was before everything
went straight to hell.”
“Think carefully, Samantha. You know what she told you.”
“She told us The Void was where all lost souls lingered. She said long ago the women in
our family could fight the spirits from the Void those who crossed over into our world and tried
to claim vessels.”
“Don’t you remember what she told you about the other beings that inhabited the Void?”
“Corporeal beings, they could make themselves intangible or tangible with but a given
thought. They could mimic others appearances and their powers. She said they could even gain
their vessels memories and emotions. She told us they were dangerous to our kind—”
“Mother was right. She knew all along that they posed a threat to our family—she knew
they would come back to wreak vengeance against us—she knew they would try to destroy us all.
They claimed me first and now they’re coming for you—don’t let them take you, Samantha. They
took Tyler when he went on his little trip after our vacation in Hawaii.”
“No, they didn’t.”
“Yes, they did. He wanted to return to you, he snapped out of the mental programming
they had him under and when he tried to ask me for help—we both got sucked into their trap.
They murdered Tyler. I could do nothing to stop it. He cared for you Samantha but not the way
he should have cared. I suspect he did want me over you, and he thought he’d taken the
available sister to get to the one he coveted. You’re the only one left who can help—you,
Johanna and Jessica must send them back into the Void and get me out first and then seal up the
portal.”
“You’re talking nonsense. If you’re doing this to get me to forget about what you’re
doing....”
“That’s just it. You’re not talking to me...what you see in your world. That’s a being
from the Void. As is the Tyler you now know. He isn’t the Tyler who married you. He isn’t the
Tyler you saved from the gallows. He’s gone. You need to accept that Samantha. What you
knew to be true isn’t. The world isn’t just full of monsters that you can throw into jail and
collect the bounty for—there are real monsters out there, monsters that want to take our world
and make it their own. I can’t live in this world much longer…my physical body is dying,
Samantha. Beings born of the dimension we are from can not exist forever in this hellish plane.
The energies here are slowly painfully sapping all of my life force—my body will be broken soon
if you do not save me—after that my soul will be lost. Don’t let that happen to me, Samantha.
Our bond can break through any obstacle—even the Void can’t stop us. The others are coming
for me again, they’re going to try to kill me—I can’t keep this up much longer, Samantha—
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please help!!!”
Cold dread slithered over her. Burning excruciating pain ripped throughout her body
starting in her head.
The next thing she heard was her own scream.
Items in the bedroom started to fly off the shelves and exploded.
“Good God, Samantha?” Devlin said sleepily. He took her into his arms, trying to
subdue her powers. She shook her head and brought herself out of the sleeping trance she’d been
in.
“I can’t.” Her voice shook.
“Can’t what?” he asked.
“Get me a communication channel opened to Jessica or my mother. Right away. Why
wouldn’t she tell me?” Samantha eased her rapid breathing and took one last moment to cling to
Devlin. “Go on,” she kissed him lightly. “I’ll be alright. I just had a visit from Charlotte.”
His forehead creased into a frown. “I don’t think you needed that kind of a visit.” He
looked ready to tear a chunk right out of Charlotte.
“No. Everything that I couldn’t figure out is now starting to make a bit of sense. Did
your father or mother ever tell you stories about The Void?”
“Old superstition about a region of space parallel to our dimension, Samantha. They
were stories used to tell to children and adults alike who were afraid of space. You know sort of
like the ghost stories they told around campfires back in the olden days. However, I have always
believed that all superstitions are based on fact.”
“Can you please just try to contact my mother?”
“Okay, give me one minute and I’ll be back to help you through whatever is haunting
you.”
If the Charlotte and Tyler in her own world were Mimics from The Void that meant that
The Triad had summoned them somehow and when they’d summoned them, her Tyler and her
Charlotte had been lost.
Tyler was dead—and Charlotte was on the edge of following him. She wouldn’t let her
sister be forsaken. Now she knew why the Mimic Charlotte never seemed like her sister even
though she gave off the same psychic energy.
She’d been so stupid. Always immersing herself in hunting down regular run of the mill
criminals while ignoring the part of her past that could give her the training to fight these horrific
beings from the Void. It was all her fault. Her inability to come to terms with the person she
was....
Devlin walked quietly back into the bedroom. “Are you still having a meltdown?” he
quipped.
She tossed him a puzzled gaze. “What? No. No. Everything is fine. I won’t be shattering
any other items in this room.”
“Good,” he smiled. “I was worried about the family jewels.”
She smirked without being able to control herself.
“My family used to fight the beings from the Void that tried to cross over into our world.
My mother must have been trying to prepare us for that but I guess she never wanted to scare us
or she didn’t believe herself that they were a threat anymore.”
“Beings from the Void? I thought they were supposed to be damned spirits that mystics
of the past banished to that netherworld of hell.”
“Wait a second, you said they were stories, now you sound like you believe in them.” She
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was about to elaborate and stopped. The Communication chimes rang off signaling they had an
incoming message.
“Samantha?” Jessica’s sweet voice echoed through the room.
“Tell me about the Void, Jessica. I take it that Mom has talked to you in length about
that realm.”
“Oh, boy. So who refreshed your memory about them? No matter, I’ll give you what I
know about them. Our family was once known as the Guardians of Justice battling the creatures
of The Void. We were one of the families with the ancient power to banish evil psychic spirits to
the Void. Our great-grandmother swore never to fight against those spirits ever again when she
lost her twin to the Void.”
“Charlotte is in the Void. And Tyler was killed by one of the beings, and that being took
over his life.” Fear clutched her heart.
“Mom feared that was the case. She’s really been looking into our family history in the
last six months, and she’s unearthed a great amount of documents explaining what our family
did. She’s scared that the Triad is trying to harness the power of the Void to take over the known
worlds. Mom’s exhausted and she’s sleeping right now but I’ll tell her all about this when she
wakes up. Congrats to you and Devlin—mom was worried you’d be scarred by what happened
between you and Tyler.”
“So now I know the real Tyler didn’t leave me.”
“They mimic everything Samantha. Tyler would have ultimately come to the same
conclusion that this version of Tyler came to. That’s why the imposter in essence, copied
Charlotte’s powers. They are carbon copies of us. I don’t know if we’ll make it in time for the
battle, even taking the shortcuts through space that Devlin had Jewel provide us with. It’s going
to be a long shot, you might be on your own with Johanna.”
“Johanna and I make a good team.”
“Devlin might be able to help you as well. As your soul mate your abilities can shield
him if you want them to.” The channel started to break up.
“Oh, damn. We’re flying past a cosmic dust storm and it’s interfering with some of our
systems. No worries our shields should hold out against our systems being irreparably damaged
but in about two hours the ship will have to navigate past a wicked comet storm… This region
of space is a real dream,” she snorted. “Still we’ll survive. Remember; make sure you’re armed
with your dagger. Johanna has one as well.”
“She keeps it on her at all times. She doesn’t like using it.” Samantha sighed. “I guess
she’ll just have to get used to producing that dirk when faced with the beings from the Void.”
“Indeed. Good luck!” Jessica said, as her voice broke up completely. “Be safe.”
The channel went dead.
“So,” Samantha muttered, pausing, “I guess that’s that.”
Devlin shook his head. “I don’t like the odds, and I don’t like what the Triad is aiming to
do. They need to be stopped, but at what cost?”
“If we don’t go in there all guns blazing, Devlin, I could lose not one sister but two, plus
a niece. I won’t let that happen no matter the cost.”
His eyes flashed with blue fire. “I am sticking to you like another skin when we go into
that place where evil resides. Now that we know that Tyler isn’t the real Tyler Cassidy, I will
take even more pleasure out of killing him.”
“You’ll need this if you’re going to do that.” She reached into the bag that Johanna had
packed for her. Inside was two Celtic daggers in their leather sheathes. One was hers the other
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had belonged to Charlotte.
“Charlotte gave this to me years ago saying she didn’t need it but she knew one day I
would need it. I think she meant for you to have it so you would be ready tomorrow. Without it
you won’t be able to vanquish them.” She took out the dagger and handed it to him. “Please keep
this on you tomorrow,” she murmured.
“I don’t like that look in your eyes, Samantha. You’re concealing something from me,”
she could feel him trying to reach into her mind.
“All I have on my mind at the moment is you.” She leaned toward him brushing her lips
softly against his. His body heat surrounded her enveloping her in the best sensations she could
ever feel.
“Now this is heaven.” His breath brushed against her face, as she yanked him down to
land on the bed.
“We have a few more hours of blissful tranquility, I say we make the bloody most of it,”
she said, looking deeply into his eyes.
“Samantha,” he started.
“Don’t do that to me. I am trying to act like the stereotypical dumb blond, I wish you
would indulge me.”
“Any other time I would gladly go for you playing the part of the beautiful clueless
airhead but I know much better now.”
“Gee, thanks. I don’t think that’s very encouraging.” Dim light surrounded them in a
romantic hue.
He took her left hand and held it. “I never thought this would happen when we first
met… I hoped....”
“Dev…let’s not rehash that again. I don’t want to go back when we really should be
looking to the future. The past can stay where it is. If I think about it at great length, I’ll beat
myself up about Tyler. How the hell could I possibly think that was the real Tyler? How? If a
Mimic took over your body, would I know? I just can’t trust my own instincts anymore and
that’s what drove me career wise, I always trusted my instincts, not just because of my psychic
abilities but also, I thought that without the use of those abilities that I could make it just fine by
being able to read people. I was wrong.”
He frowned. “You would know if someone body snatched me. You’d have to know.
Tyler and you didn’t have the soul shattering love between you that we have. We have
something special. Our relationship is based on being utterly honest with other. We wear no
other kind of faces. We make the perfect match and I couldn’t imagine life without you now that
you’re in it. You drive me nuts, but I love you more for that. You make life more than
interesting, I never have to be worried about being bored, and I know you won’t try killing me in
the middle of the night because you just can’t share my wealth with me anymore.”
“Is that what you worried about with the last Lady Devlin?” she snorted.
“Why do you think we slept in different bedrooms? Not only did she snore like a chain
saw revving up but also I was sincerely worried that she might just decide to slip a knife between
my shoulder blades one night. That lady was a true bitch and I am glad she’s off doing hard
labor on one of my prison planets now. Though I did hear that she was enticing the prison
wardens with her many charms. She’s the whore of the moment over there.”
“I’m a one man woman at a time,” she murmured. He rolled with her so she was pinned
under him. She smirked. “Are you trying to tell me something,” she asked innocently, his blue
eyes blazing.
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“Don’t think you’ll be switching to another man for the rest of our lives,” he murmured
huskily making her skin tingle with electricity. Her heart pounded in her chest.
“I don’t know about that,” she whispered tauntingly. “I just might want to have
something different, or something younger.” She goaded him, watching as his eyes sparked once
again.
“You talk too much.” He gave her a searing kiss, sliding his hand up her knee. She
shivered.
She placed her hands on his shoulders. “Maybe you should take a rest. I think I might be
wearing you out. I wouldn’t want you to have heart palpitations.”
“I’ll give you heart palpitations,” he said amusement in his voice.
His hand continued to roam up her leg. With every shudder of her body beneath him he
was urged to explore further. He loved seeing the dreamy glint in her violet blue eyes.
“For so long I dreamt of the intimacy we’ve shared and now…now when we have it all,
you’re looking at me like your prepared for it to slip away.”
“I am only being reasonable. I have to think of our future, Devlin…and we have to talk
about the fact that there might not be one for me.”
Anger surged through him. Possessiveness ran through his blood. “I will never let
anyone hurt you,” he vowed, pressing his lips hungrily against hers. She molded her body to his
almost as if she couldn’t get enough of him, and that was just the way he wanted it. Slipping his
hand up to her lower belly he ran his hands lightly across it watching as she sucked in her breath.
Breathing ragged, she tried to push against him.
