The Hand of Kali Box Set Vol 2 Read online

  Maya stifled a gasp as heat pulsed through her epidermis and coiled within the broken skin of both her feet. She didn’t need to look to know the damaged tissue was healing, and the broken flesh was regenerating and knitting together.

  The effort to concentrate her fire on healing took a toll on her own energy, especially after what had seemed like hours of dancing. Maya felt a pull of dizziness, as if she was about to nod off to sleep. Or worse, pass out. The hellhound growled, a low rumble that made Maya blink off the blanket of fog.

  Thanks, pooch.

  Still, when she'd completed the first round of healing, her skin was pink and flushed with blood, and the cuts were much shallower and beginning to scab over.

  Her foot, though, was still purple. And blue.

  But it was looking a damn sight better than it did ten minutes ago.

  Maya reached for her other foot and repeated the process. She shook her head and focused as the hellhound lifted his head of the bed and watched her intently.

  A minute or so more would do the trick.

  When the blast of heat dissipated, Maya shifted to the edge of the mattress and set her feet on the carpet at the side of her bed. Sabala got to his feet too, walking closer to her as if saying he’ll support her.

  Maya didn’t decline the offer.

  Placing a hand on his shoulder, she slowly placed her weight on her damaged feet and managed to rise to her feet without crying out in pain.

  Holding onto Sabala she walked around the bed, then back again, wanting to be sure she’d done a good job. Her feet were throbbing by the time she returned to sit back on the edge of the bed. As she released the hellhound’s silky fur, she exhaled a sigh of relief.

  She’d just shifted back onto the pillows against the headboard when her parents filed into her room.

  Sabala returned to the foot of the bed, head now held high in standard sentry position and Maya wondered if his emotional reaction to her injuries was out of character, or if he was just good at hiding his feelings.

  Dev placed the first aid kit on the bed beside Maya, while her mother sat on the other side of her, a stack of warm wet towels on a steel tray.

  Maya stared at the bag then looked up to meet her dad’s eyes. “It’s not necessary, Dad. The healing’s done.”

  All he did was raise an eyebrow, then reach over to grab a towel from her Mom’s tray. When Leela made a move to grab a towel Maya reached out and gripped her wrist.

  “Mom. You need to rest. I’m fine. I’ll wash it off in the shower.”

  “Maya,” Leela said with a note of warning in her voice that would have made her worry if her mom wasn’t so weak.

  “Mom, I wouldn’t lie to you. I healed the worst of it. And you know you don’t have to worry about infection. I’ll just send regular blasts of heat into the wound area to ward off any possible infection.”

  Leela hesitated then shared a concerned glance with her husband. Both appeared to be considering Maya’s words.

  “Mom, please. I need you to get well. You can’t be tending to me instead of resting and making a quick recovery.” She let go of her Mom’s wrist and waited, mentally crossing her fingers. The last thing she wanted was to submit to her parent’s ministrations, feeling more than ridiculous should they each attend to one of her feet as if she was in some kind of strange spa retreat.

  Maya dragged her foot closer and pointed at the healed skin. “See? It’s fine. Nothing a nice hot shower wouldn’t help.”

  Leela gave a long sigh and nodded. She leaned forward and curled a lock of Maya’s hair around her ear. “Okay, honey. If it’s healed you may as well wash up. And I’ll behave and go rest. But only because I’m feeling a little tired at the moment.”

  Maya stuck her tongue out at her mom and Leela laughed. It was word for word the exact response Maya used to give when she finally acquiesced to her parent’s instructions. She had to always make it seem like her choice.

  As Leela walked to the door, Maya leaned against her pillows. Her heart was suddenly pounding rapidly as her vision filled with a memory of stone floors and the swaying of her body. She could feel the beat of the drums within her bones. Sabala whined loudly and Maya blinked, brought back to reality so quickly she felt bile rise in her throat.

  Both her parents stopped in their tracks, Leela on the threshold, and Dev as he reached for the tray of towels. They glanced in unison at the hellhound, then at Maya.

  She offered them an innocent smile which drew frowns from both of them, but they didn’t press her for an explanation. Maya didn't miss the glance the couple shared so she knew they were more worried than they let on.

  She waved her Mom off and sat there, watching her dad grab his kit and head out the door, thinking about the dream, she accepted how intense, how real it had been.

  Could it have been a premonition?

  Maya had never shown any sign of having the Sight. If she had, she'd have had some kind of manifestation of the ability so far. She'd always been disappointed she'd never had the odd gut instinct that warned her something was going to happen.

  A déjà vu kind of vision, that instinctive reaction to catch something before it even began to fall. Or even the most convenient one, the itching hand to indicate the sudden influx of cash.

  If she wasn't so exhausted, Maya would have been amused.

  Chapter 7

  MAYA LAY ON her bed, staring at the ceiling.

  She’d showered, washing off the dried blood and revealed the flushed pink skin on the newly knitted wounds. She’d been right. Nothing a little fire healing, and hot water couldn’t cure.

  Sabala watched her from his usual place at the foot of her bed.

  She’d wondered what he’d been doing while she'd been dream-dancing around the house and bleeding her feet out?

  Now, the hellhound's expression seemed to contain a tiny bit of guilt, and she wondered whether he'd been asleep on the job.

  Not likely.

  Yama, had given her the hellhound for a reason. He'd meant for the monstrous four-eyed dog to watch over her, but Sabala had done nothing to help in this particular instance.

  It didn't matter anyway. It wasn't as if she'd been in any kind of serious danger.

  She studied the dog fondly. Black velvety fur covered a lean muscular body, haunches as high as Maya's shoulders, and deadly sharp claws that sprang forth when required.

  Maya's constant shadow was a demon dog, who'd hunted down runaway Rakshasas who roamed the earth causing havoc among humans.

  Guess body-guarding must get boring when compared to demon bounty-hunting.

  A floorboard in the hall creaked, drawing both their attention to the open doorway.

  Nik.

  Nik scowled as he entered the room, his eyes, though impossibly black flared with sparks of amber.

  Uh-oh.

  He paused briefly to pat Sabala's head before sitting beside Maya. "I heard what happened. You certainly don't do things by half, do you?" A tight smile made a long line of his usually sexy lips and he shook his head as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do with her.

  As if trance dancing was her fault.

  Maya ignored his stiffness and studied him, absorbing every detail of his dark hair and the way it brushed his shoulders, his broad well-muscled shoulders filling out his tan leather jacket, the dark navy of his Henley shirt and how it contrasted with his deep golden brown skin.

  His voice brought her to attention. “What happened?”

  “It’s nothing. Just a little sleep dancing. I’m ok. No big deal.”

  “It’s not nothing, Maya. You have no idea what you’re dealing with here. It could have been dangerous. Could still be dangerous.”

  He paused, his skin dark now with anger, and worry.

  She shook her head, trying to focus. "I told them they didn't need to call you. It wasn't really necessary. I'm fine." She spoke firmly to assure him she didn't need him.

  Because that wasn't what their relationship was about.


  Maya was no needy female.

  Nik let out a frustrated grunt, and before she knew it he’d tugged her close to him and pressed an urgent kiss on her lips.

  He’d been worried about her?

  She had to admit having him concerned about her made her feel special. Wanted.

  Not that she’d make him worry just because she felt like it. It was good to know he cared.

  Now she allowed him to kiss her, smiled as his soft lips left a trail of heat in its wake as he deepened the kiss for a moment that turned out to be all too short. Then he was straightening and throwing a wary glance over his shoulder at the door.

  The son of a god afraid of his girlfriend’s father.

  Cute?

  Maya was still focused on him. His lips had made her mouth tingle, but despite the instinctive desire to pull him back toward her, Maya had things on her mind other than mindless kisses.

  "I'm fine. I really am," she said softly, hoping her smile was convincing enough.

  Sabala, having moved to a spot in front of the bedroom window, gave a very un-doglike snort. Clearly he didn’t believe a word she said.

  Maya chose to ignore him.

  Nik said, "That's one of the things I adore about you. Crazy things happen and you just take it in your stride."

  Maya grinned. He had a point. But her life recently had been all kinds of crazy. If she hadn't begun to adjust to the DEFCON 1 level of nuts that was her life, she probably would go out of her mind. "Welcome to my life."

  Nik snorted as his phone buzzed.

  Maya raised an eyebrow. His phone had been quiet for so long that any type of ringing drew her attention. Guess he was really back to work then.

  Maya had to admit she felt a small disappointment in the pit of her stomach. Nik back at work meant Nik attending to drama all around the world. Which meant Nik not around very much.

  She suppressed a sigh. This was who Nikhil was. She’d gone into this with open eyes. And if she wanted it to work with him she had to use a good dose more maturity than most people her age. Nik was never without his phone, and Maya understood all too well his responsibilities.

  Not long ago they’d come to terms with the fact that there would be nothing normal about their relationship. As hard as it had been to adapt to a boyfriend who flitted across the world to deal with mythical, magical and mortal transgressions, Maya had learned to accept it. And be happy with it.

  Now, she watched as Nik withdrew his smartphone from his jeans pocket, studied the screen then stowed the device. Nik shifted his attention to Maya. Apparently, whatever it was wasn't as important as her.

  Sometimes Nik could be so sensitive and sweet.

  "So. Tell me exactly what happened in your dream," he asked.

  He was back to business, and it calmed Maya. She relayed her dream, everything from the abandoned temple and old stone carvings, to the beating of the drum and the intense energy of the dance.

  When she ended with the golden light and the fact that she’d passed out exhausted and bleeding from the effort of the dance, Nik's eyebrows rose.

  He pursed his lips, mulling over what she'd recounted. “Let me do some investigating. I have an odd feeling this sounds familiar."

  "Familiar?" Maya frowned, her stomach churning again. Familiar meant this horror had happened to someone in real life and Maya was not ready to hear that. "Familiar in what way?"

  Nik shrugged. “Something I saw come through my emails. I haven’t been assigned to anything in a while but I still get blind copied on all communications. I have a feeling I’ve read something similar to this in an email a while ago. But . . . this could just as easily have been a bad dream." He paused as if he wanted to say something more but thought it best to remain silent.

  "But?" probed Maya.

  Nik rubbed the back of his neck. "But there is a chance you're channeling the thoughts of someone else."

  Cold fear wash over Maya. "You mean I could be seeing something that's actually happening?"

  Nik nodded, looking worried.

  "Crap."

  Chapter 8

  "DO YOU REALLY THINK it could be the Sight?" Maya asked.

  He frowned. "It's entirely possible. But I have to look into it before I make any assumptions. If the Mother Kali gave you the power of foresight, I’m sure she will be happy to confirm.”

  Maya nodded solemnly. She’d summon the goddess herself if it would answer her questions.

  Nik got to his feet and began to pace. “Thing is, you could just as likely be seeing what's happening right now, experiencing what someone else is experiencing in the moment."

  “The dreams could be real.”

  Nik nodded. "It's possible."

  She shook her head and glared at him. “What are you not telling me? I can hear it in your voice. You're worried about something." Even Sabala huffed, as if to agree with her.

  Nik let out a sigh, and slowly came to sit beside her again, as if reluctant to reveal more. Finally he met her gaze. “If you hacked into the thoughts and experiences of a real person, then we need to find out who she is and where she is."

  Maya sucked in her breath.

  "We have to find her,” he said softly.

  Maya now understood his meaning. What she’d felt and seen would have been far worse in reality, far worse for the girl who’d experienced the horror first hand. If Maya's feet had bled, who knew what the poor dancer had endured, wherever she was right now.

  If she was experiencing anything and not dead.

  Was she seriously entertaining the possibility that her vision was real?

  But she had to.

  A girl’s life might be at stake.

  "If this is . . . real," she asked Nik, “then why would someone dance and dance until her feet bleed and she collapses and passes out?"

  Nik's eyes were shadowed, worry darkening them. “I’m not sure.” If he was worried, then that made Maya worried. "Anything else you saw that you may have forgotten to tell me?"

  Maya's brow creased as she ran through what she was able to recall from the dream. "There was the statue."

  "What statue?"

  "The Nataraja. It was made of stone. But towards the end of the dream it began to glow as if it was on fire. And it seemed to be the same glow I saw at the edges of my vision. It felt like a strange energy taking over me."

  "Did it feel like the energy was inside you? Or around you?"

  Maya thought for a moment before saying, "To be honest it felt like both." She leaned back against the pillows as all her energy finally drained out of her body. "It felt like the dancing was creating an energy inside me, and then, when I saw the glow, it seemed like there was more energy around my body. Or rather, the dancer’s body.”

  Nik shifted closer, his finger tapping on his watch over and over. "Did the energy feel the same? You were generating the power from inside of your body? Were you also drawing energy from the outside?"

  She nodded, understanding what he was asking. "Yes. And the energy felt the same. It felt as if the dancing was creating some kind of strange power, and then that power was seeping out of my body and filling the air around me."

  "And that energy was making the statue glow?"

  "I can't be certain of that. I wasn't aware of when the statue began to glow. So it is possible the dancer's energy was feeding power to the statue." Maya stared at Nik, shocked. "That's insane. Can such a thing really happen?"

  Nik nodded. "All sorts of devotion create power. That's why your parents initially thought . . . that your experience was a trance. When a devotee loses themselves within their devotion, it creates an energy that channels the god. In this case, it's possible the dancer's energy created a channel to Lord Nataraja. Any god would have felt that power and come to her."

  But Maya was shaking her head. "But it didn't feel like a god. I would have assumed that if Nataraja was coming to his devotee, a dancer who was dancing with such extreme passion, that he would be benevolent, loving. But what I
felt wasn’t anything like benevolence.”

  Sabala clacked across the floor and nudged her knee with his nose. Maya ran her fingers over his head, glad for the comfort.

  Nik frowned. "Okay. I’d rather not make assumptions right now. Let me look into it and get back to you. In the meantime, get some rest." He was beginning to take on that bossy tone. The one that said he expected her to obey.

  But Maya wasn't planning to. "There's nothing wrong with me. I was just channeling the dancer. Whatever happened to her didn't happen to me."

  Nik groaned. "You ever listen to anybody? Did you see the condition of your feet?"

  He leaned over and pulled the covers off of Maya's feet and stared at her soles. She knew what he was seeing. The bottoms of her feet were black and blue, still bruised, even after the fire treatment. She’d only been able to do so much. The rest of the healing process would be a combination of her own body, and a few sessions of added fire to hurry things along.

  He pointed at her feet. "This look like nothing to you?"

  It still looked like a hot mess. Even Maya could see that. So there was nothing she could say in response. He had a damn good point.

  Besides, even if she was stupid enough to argue with him, it wasn't as if she could get out of the bed right now and take a walk. Her feet throbbed, the injuries burned like hell, the tissue infused with fire, still regenerating.

  Pity all this was caused by the fact that Maya had been dancing.

  The truth of the matter was she'd always wanted to dance. She'd just never been coordinated. The movements and sequences had been incredibly hard for her to master.

  The memory of dancing in the dream, of her body moving to the beautiful beat of the drum, had been quite entrancing. And strangely, she longed to dance again.

  Nik cleared his throat beside her, bringing her attention back to him. She blinked.

  She’d forgotten he was there.

  Sabala bobbed his head beneath her fingers, reminding her he too was there, wondering where she’d gone.