Free The First Touch by Alice Sweet Page A

, and I had to kiss you to stop you from burning up in the sunlight, the chances of you ending up a crispy critter were looking pretty bad .” He flinched at her words, and she added, a s she pulled him along again, “ In my defense, y ou did jump over the table and kill me in my first vision .”
    He winced and replied feebly, “I did not know.”
    Autumn replied dutifully, “I know. T hat was wh y I followed you into the alley, you seemed very upset after you had done it, like you made a mistake, or something .”
    Ivan asked, “Why did I attack you in your vision?”
    She frowned and replied hesitantly , “You thought that someone had betrayed you and that I was working with him. I think you thought that I had tricked you or something. You seemed very hurt and angry. You jumped across the table and ripped my throat out.”
    He stifled a gasp and replied, “What did I say? Who betrayed me?”
    She shook her head and replied, “No, no one betrayed you, that’s just it, you simply thought that we had.”
    He jumped at the word, “We?”
    Her voice caught as she continued , without answering his question, “In the end … you wept over my body and apologized …. ” Her voice trailed off again but he heard every word. His chest tightened as he thought, so you are the one .
     
     

 
    Voices
     
    “Who is this man and why did I think that you worked for him?”
    She shook her head, “I think I would rather not live that moment again Ivan.”
    He looked at her seriously , “Please tell me, it would help me, help me greatly to understand why I thought I sh ould harm you.”
    She shook her head again, “I would rather not , I don’t know why the name se n t you spiraling out of control exactly or if it would again.”
    He scowled at her mention of his emotions, and tried a different tact , asking, “You spoke his name first?”
    She nodded her head yes, and he continued, “Where did you meet him?” She looked confused and said, “I have never met him; I have never even seen him before.”
    “So you heard ab out him from someone else, in one of your dreams then ?”
    She shook her head, “Not exactly, I can hear him when I close my eyes at night.”
    His alarm was now apparent, “For how long?” He now looked around eyes wild his pupil’s dilating.
    “ Calm down Ivan.” She replied, with a scared look in her eyes.
    He snapped back, “How long Autumn ?”
    She replie d, “A couple of months, no more like three or four, I think , I don’t know .”
    His eyes were fully dilated now and his breathing almost stopped, “For months ,” he looked at her questioningly, “Are you sure?”
    She nodded yes , and echoed it in a whisper, “Yes.” Her happi ness had fallen away as she meekly whispered, “I told you this would upset you.”
    Those words seemed to touch him and he l ooked at her and his pupils beginning to shrink back slowly. He spoke then as gently as he was capable, “I am not angry with you Autumn . You are in danger. If this man was talking to you in your sleep then he was in your room. Do you understand?” He shook her to insure that she understoo d, “Your dreams w ere right Autumn , you are being hunted.”
    She took a second to process, “What?” Ivan was searching the streets looking for any signs o f danger. His attention returning to her when she spoke again, “He couldn’t be in my room.”
    Ivan shook his head and retorted, “Yes, he could have.”
    She looked at him and replying, “W hat a bout all of the other voices, Ser ena and Flanagan, all the others? They were all in my room each night?” She shook her head now with more confidence, “No way, I hear almost a hundred different voices sometimes . There is no way that they could all be in my room. I don’t have a big enough apartment for all of those people.”
    This c aused his head to shoot back to her, “What?”
    She looked at him and said, “He is just one of many , I listen to at night before I go to