Out of Mind Read Online Free PDF Page A

was Embran or that she intended to use him to further her own evil plans. The Millet family had suffered unspeakably. He had been tricked by the creature’s beauty and charm—her kindness to him in his time of grief—and had no idea of her true nature or form until she managed to have his entire clan chased from Belgium by those she had caused to suspect the Millets of witchcraft.
    That had started the entire superstition about dark-haired, blue-eyed males being a curse. All the Millets were born redheaded and with green eyes. Then Jude had come along and when they could no longer try to pass him off as a changeling, he was branded a mutant with hair as black as night and eyes the blue of deep water over a reef.
    That was why, since Antoine Millet had shirked his duties in favor of supposedly going in search of a cure for the curse, his brother, Pascal, had taken over as Millet-in-Chief while dark-haired, blue-eyed Sykes was kept on the sidelines.
    “They are all so stupid,” Jude said into the silence. “While they fuss about minutiae, enemies threaten theirexistence and the existence of every psychically empowered family in New Orleans, together with the poor mere humans who get in the way.”
    He opened a door in an ancient dresser and slid out a painting he made himself look at occasionally, just to sharpen his determination. It showed him as a man of twenty-nine, his hair long and black as it still was, apart from some gray streaks, with the sweet-faced blonde woman who should have become his wife. On her lap was what they had jokingly called “their first child,” a dog she had adored.
    Once more he recalled the pain of losing her, and his unspeakable mistake in turning to someone else so quickly. He sometimes allowed himself a little quarter because his nemesis had, in fact, been red-haired and that had been part of what fooled him into marrying her.
    “Never be fooled again,” he told himself. “And make sure none of the ones for whom you care are fooled.”
    There must be a way to move actively among his people without them suspecting his presence. This time he could rely on no one but himself to keep the flow of information coming so that he could direct matters as necessary.
    They didn’t know it downstairs, but their enemy was already among them and Jude expected this one to make the last one look like a toy for a child to cuddle. Death was in the air, again, and a plan to reduce New Orleans to the earthly stronghold of the Embran.
    There was much he didn’t yet know, but he would find out—with some help from an emissary.
    He gazed down on the gathering waves of people in the streets and considered how he should choose his collaborator.
    But of course! Jude laughed and braced his weight on either side of the window. Of course. He had the perfect solution to his dilemma.

4
    W illow opened the French doors to the courtyard behind the shop. She glanced back at Ben. He smiled at her, but Willow hurried outside—unsmiling—and shut the door again.
    “Give her a few minutes,” Pascal said, putting the box containing Willow’s new helmet into Ben’s arms.
    Marley smothered a snigger and Ben narrowed his eyes at her.
    “I’ll take the gun, too,” he said.
    “She shouldn’t have a gun,” Pascal said promptly.
    “Come on, Winnie,” Marley said, her expression innocent. “Time to leave great male minds to work out what’s best for the little woman.”
    Marley glanced past Ben and raised one fine, red brow. “Some things never change,” she said. “Are you ever going to grow up, Sykes?”
    Ben grinned. Sykes Millet, a formidable paranormal force, used his ability to be invisible judiciously—except when he wanted to tease sister Marley. He never tired of sneaking up and letting her see him when others couldn’t, something he didn’t do with anyone else.
    “Don’t smirk at me like that,” Marley said. Shecrossed her arms. “If you’ve got something useful to suggest, show yourself so