Rogues Of Hell

Prelude…

Odessa, Wisconsin

Deep into the night, the wind picked up, carrying the message to those who could hear it. It traveled through time and space, but only a few could hear the sounds it made. Only a handful of those listening could hear and see what hummed along on the waves of the wind. It invaded at least one person's dream and she didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to bear witness to this evil of man, yet she was caught up in its fury, a reluctant voyeur, whether she wished it or not.

Cat Lamond struggled against the oncoming nightmare. This was the third terror dream in as many months and she knew how it would end. She wanted so much to open her eyes and break from the nightmare but that wasn’t how this worked. She needed to watch the whole thing play out before the connection broke.

Sweat and tears appeared on her face as she watched the knife come into view. He held the blade comfortably in his left hand. When he turned the knife, she caught a glimpse of his eyes, they were very green and very disturbed, then they were gone as he turned the knife in his hand again. His hands were smeared with her blood, and she could hear her voice begging him to let her go. She didn't want to die. There was a tearing sound echoing in her brain as he ripped through the clothing that hid her skin from him. He wanted nothing between them as he bared her chest. Before he could stop himself, the tip of the knife drew across the bottom of her rib cage, leaving a budding line of red. Blood welled and ran down her body, soaking the band of her jeans.

Cat screamed and she shivered in terror. She watched as his hand slipped inside the opening left by the knife. She felt it all as his hand searched for the prize he wanted. She felt his fingers close around the beating organ, ba-boom, ba -boom. She felt every heartbeat then the beating of her heart slowed as his fingers grabbed hold.

One last ba-boom before his fingers ripped her heart out of her chest. One last scream cut off as her breath was forced from her lungs.

But for Cat, it did not stop there, she witnessed all the rest of it too.

~****~

Cat sat up in her bed and screamed as the nightmare finally played out and released her from its grip. Her long dark hair hung in front of her eyes and she had to push it away from her face. Sweat and tears ran down her cheeks and for a moment, she didn't know where she was. Raising her hand to her chest, she could feel the rapid beating of her heart through her clothing. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm down the fast pace of her heart.

Pushing the covers off her legs, she placed her feet on the cold floor. She barely felt the coolness as she made her way over to the windows in her bedroom. Looking over the city of Odessa, she didn't see it. Instead, she saw the streets of a faraway city of Granite Falls, Minnesota. Why she knew it was Granite Falls, she didn’t know but she did. The glass she pressed her forehead on reflected her green eyes and the haunting look in them.

Leaning on the glass between her and the real world, she felt the hot tears rolling down her cheeks. She hated the recent nightmares. In her dreams, she felt the woman's terror and pain. She never knew if they were real or not but somehow, she knew they were.

The first dream came to her about three months ago. She'd been both terrified and out of her mind with horror. She didn't understand why she was involved, but then she never did. The visions she had were not new to her. She'd had this "gift" since the accident that took not only her grandparent’s life but those of her aunt and uncle as well. The accident happened when she was seven. They had been on vacation, the same as they had always done every year since her mother had dropped her off and disappeared.

She had been thrown clear of the car. She had spent the next two weeks in a coma. When she came out of the coma, she discovered she had the gift of second sight. To her, it had become a curse and a secret she never shared with anyone, except her late husband, Davey. With him, she'd shared everything. She had only been seventeen when they got married and they had spent seven years together before the accident that took his life and left her a widow at the age of twenty four. That had been three years ago.

Now Cat stared out into the darkness surrounding the night and didn't know what to do about her dreams. A madman was on the loose. She could help the police find him, putting an end to his killing, but how could she get anyone to believe her without telling them everything?

She'd tried telling the truth once and it cost her dearly. Not everyone was comfortable around her and her gift had cost her more than one friend. Cat had been so lonely since her husband died and she prayed to find someone out there who wouldn't fear her or shun her.

She went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. While it brewed, she thought about her options. She could ignore the dreams or act on them. If she ignored what she knew, the dreams would never stop. They would continue to plague her if she did nothing to put a stop to the killing. She didn't know if she could continue to dream about more young women being murdered.

She hadn't seen the killer's complete face, but she'd seen enough to identify him. She also knew where he lived.

Yet, if she brought what she knew to the police, they would look at her like all the rest, as if she were either involved with the crimes or she was just all out crazy. They would for sure look at her as if she were crazy, because the crimes hadn't happened yet.

She took her cup of tea over to the window seat. Parting the half curtains, she sat there and watched the sun come up. Her backyard overlooked the marshland behind the house.

She now knew that she had to go to Granite Falls to stop this killer.

Cat Lamond watched as the sun lighted her world. Her mind full of secrets and images she couldn't face at the moment. So with a heavy heart, she took her tea cup to the sink and went to pack for her trip. Someone there was going to die and others would be wrongfully blamed. She didn’t know if she could make a difference but she had to see this through.