Appearing from within the impenetrable gloom, a pair of golden, luminous eyes hovered between the rails of the back porch. They were looking right at her. Kate’s entire body was engulfed in flame. She was Joan of Arc at the stake, the pain too great for words or wailing. The convulsions started right when Nikki screamed.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Nikki’s shriek caused Ryker to pull the blind cord so hard, it broke off in his hands. Andrew nearly dropped the rifle.

“It’s out there!” Nikki shouted, pointing out the glass door.

Andrew looked and felt his balls draw up.

What looked to be two mini yellow suns floated in the air. Based on their position through the slats, they had to be almost eight feet from the ground. For a second, he thought he was staring at some kind of bug, like fireflies on steroids.

Until they blinked.

He brought the rifle up, aiming at what could only be eyes, despite the impossibility of the height and color.

Dear God, they were glowing!

There wasn’t enough light coming from the house to make that kind of reflection.

Don’t shoot, he reminded himself. If he did, he’d shatter the glass and there would be nothing between them and…and…

It could also be kids who had rigged up a pair of lights. He did not want to be responsible for killing someone, no matter how stupid and misguided they were.

But something in that malevolent, fiery gaze told him these were no lights and there were no foolish youths out there.

Kate was right.

She’d seen the face that held those eyes.

“Katy!”

Ryker was the first to notice that Kate had gone into a seizure, her arms and legs locked at her sides, back arched, bucking up and down on the bed.

As terrifying as it was to turn his back on those eyes, Andrew set the rifle down, grabbed one of his used paperbacks from the end table, and inserted it in her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue. Nikki held on to the arm and leg on her left side, Ryker doing the same on her right. Though they had all shifted their attention from the fiend staring in at them from just several feet away, Andrew could feel its alien stare rippling his flesh.

“It’s the fever,” Andrew said. “Kate, honey, I’m right here. I’m right here.”

Unfortunately, he’d been with Kate when she had convulsions before, and knew that as scary as it was, they just had to ride it out. It shouldn’t last more than a minute or so, but each second stretched to an eternity.

Her wide eyes were glued to the ceiling. He wasn’t sure if she could hear him, but he kept talking to her, reassuring her that she would be all right.

“Should we get her in a cold bath?” Nikki said.