Dark Deceiver (9 page)

“I have one of them with me right now. And I think I know where the others are.”

He made a sound of disbelief. “I didn't think you'd manage the impossible quite so quickly.” After a moment's silence, he added, “I'd like to see it. Where are you?”

“On my way to the houseboat.”

“I'll meet you there.”

“Okay.” She hung up then stared, unseeing, at the kids playing on the sidewalk. Slowly, she tucked the phone in her purse and started the car. Kade was coming over. But not to see her. To see the stones.

What had she done?

She was going to have to pretend to be completely uninterested in him, or she'd send him running for cover. Yes, she was dying to see him again, but he wasn't interested in her. And by inviting him over, she'd guaranteed her heart was in for another pounding.

 

“Can't you drive any faster?” Kaderil's feet tapped an urgent rhythm as the taxi crept through the city traffic.

“No. No tickets,” the man said in a heavily accented version of the local human tongue.

Kaderil's fists pressed against his knees. If it were night, he might risk a run through the city streets, for his natural speed was far faster than this vehicle was able to move through the creeping traffic. But that might draw attention to what he was.

Still, the thought of the danger Autumn had placed herself in, the danger he'd placed her in by giving her that hint, made him consider the risk. It amazed him that she'd found not one, but all six stones this fast. He continued to underestimate the humans—a mistake that would be the death of him. Or the death of Autumn. He didn't know why Ustanis hadn't found the stone before now, but if it was truly one of the six, whatever had blocked Ustanis's power to find it would likely disappear now that Autumn had removed it from its resting place. Ustanis would follow the stone's scent to Autumn. Kaderil could only hope Zander wasn't with him when he did.

He shouldn't care. A simple human shouldn't matter to him one way or the other. But there was nothing simple about Autumn McGinn. She'd enchanted him. Somehow, with her feminine ways, she'd cast a spell that had made him unable to forget her. That had caused her to matter to him in ways no woman ever had. For a week, now, he'd thought of her night and day, wondering what she was doing, if she was safe.

A dozen times he'd nearly broken and gone back to her. For a single smile. A single kiss. But he'd recognized the weakness and refused to give in.

Now, he hoped he wasn't too late.

Finally, the taxi pulled up in front of the marina. Kaderil handed the driver bills that more than covered the fare, then unfolded himself from the vehicle and strode with barely restrained speed down the path to the dock. But as Autumn's houseboat came into view, he knew he was too late.

Zander and Ustanis were on the deck of her boat, their silver tunics shining in the sun's afternoon glare. As he broke into a run, they opened the sliding glass door and slipped inside. Zander would know Autumn wasn't Sitheen, but the holly would protect her from their enchantment.

Unable to control her, Zander would kill her.

With a surge of pure fear, Kaderil sprinted down the dock, leaped onto the deck of the houseboat and wrenched open the door. Autumn was holding some sort of rock pile, backing away as Zander advanced on her.

“Leave her alone!” he shouted.

Autumn speared him with fearful eyes. “Kade!”

Zander glanced at him with surprise. “Kade, is it?” A gleam entered his eyes that sent fear spearing through him. If Zander poured his pain energy into her, he'd kill her.

“She's not Sitheen,” Kaderil said.

Zander scowled. “She's
human.
”

Using the speed and strength that had earned him the position of the Punisher, Kaderil leaped, knocking Zander away from her. He grabbed Zander's wrists, immobilizing those deadly hands, then with a satisfying snap, broke them.

Zander yelled with pain, nearly drowning Autumn's cry of outrage. Kaderil looked over his shoulder to find Ustanis now had the odd pile of stones. Autumn was trying to block the shorter man's escape. “Kade, he has the stone!” Beneath his hands, he felt Zander's bones reknit, so he broke them again.

“Autumn, let him go!”

“No.”

“Autumn…” His words strangled in his throat as fiery pain seared his skin and poured through his body. While he'd been distracted by Autumn, Zander had twisted his hands until he was able to touch Kaderil's skin, attacking him with mind-numbing, strength-stealing pain.

“Autumn,” he gasped. “Run!”

“I'm not leaving you!”

Loyalty. So precious. So ill-timed.

“Ustanis, take her bracelet.
Holly.
” Enchanted, she'd remember nothing more that she saw or heard. If Ustanis touched her quickly, she might never realize Kaderil was in league with her attackers. He fell to his knees. Out of the corner of his wavering vision, he saw Ustanis drop the stone pile back on the counter and face Autumn. The stricken look on her face tore his heart from his chest. She'd heard him. She understood he was one of them.

Autumn fought Ustanis valiantly and managed to get past him, but as she ran for the door, the Esri grabbed her from behind and wrenched the band from her wrist. Instantly, she stilled.

Enchanted.

Kaderil pushed Zander away from him, freeing himself from the source of pain. But even with the source removed, the pain itself continued to scorch his body. He stumbled to his feet, gasping for breath. His gaze leaped between Zander's scowl and Ustanis, who was watching him with wide-eyed disbelief. The Punisher driven to his knees was not something most Esri expected to see.

Kaderil tried to glare at him, but Zander started for Autumn and all he could manage was a grimace as he lurched forward to cut him off. He stood in front of Autumn and turned to face Zander.

His enemy chuckled, an ugly sound. “So the Punisher has fallen for a human.”

“I haven't…fallen for anyone.” He must talk fast to convince Zander she was important to their mission or her life was over. Zander, who had killed so many humans already, would destroy her just for the pleasure of hurting Kaderil. “We need her, Zander. She's located the other stones.”

Ustanis's eyes widened.
“Where?”

“I'm not sure,” Kaderil admitted. “How many have you found?”

“Only two other than this one. The others are too far away, their scent too faint to follow. I had despaired of finding them, but if she can get them for us…”

“Enough!” Zander looked from one to the other of them in disgust, then speared Kaderil with that yellow gaze. “Get them and bring them to us. Ustanis, take the one here.”

“No,” Kaderil said. “Leave it. It must be here when she wakes from the enchantment.”

Zander scoffed. “She already knows you're Esri, Punisher. I saw the knowledge on her face as clearly as you did.”

He glowered at the pair, pulling himself back into the role of Punisher. Between clenched teeth, he growled, “I will find a way to convince her otherwise. But that stone must be here!”

He took a threatening step toward Ustanis. The smaller man thrust the stone into Kaderil's hand.

Zander scowled. “If you fail,
dark blood,
we all fail. Beware your loyalties. I fear you identify a little too closely with the Sitheen. You are, after all, both mixed bloods.”

Kaderil glared at the captain of the royal guard. “Sitheen are mortals, human but for a small trace of Esri blood. I am the oppostie. Immortal. Esri but for an unfortunate trace of human. You needn't question my loyalties, Zander. She's critical to my mission, nothing else.” If only that were true. If only he'd been able to stop thinking about her for a single moment over the past eight days. “When the gate opens at the full moon, I'll have the remaining stones, including the draggon.”

“We go,” Zander said. But as Zander turned toward the door, Ustanis reached for Autumn.

Kaderil growled and Ustanis leaped back, both hands raised. “I—I only seek to release her mind.”

Kaderil sucked in a hard breath around the slowly easing pain. “Do it.”

Ustanis touched Autumn's hand and she collapsed. Kaderil swept her into his arms.

Zander made a sound of cruel laughter. “They're such gratifyingly fragile creatures, aren't they?”

Kaderil held Autumn tight against his chest as the two Esri went out the door and closed it behind them. What was he going to do? She'd seen too much. Heard too much.

He regretted the need for magic against her, but he had to convince her she was mistaken. And if he couldn't?

He must, that was all there was to it. The alternative was unthinkable.

D
reams. Just dreams.

Kaderil held Autumn's cold hand and pushed the thoughts into her head as she slept the unnatural sleep of enchantment. Over and over again, he pushed the thoughts into her brain, desperate to make her believe.

I fell and caught my bracelet. I hit my head.

She lay stretched out on the sofa, her head cradled in his lap. With the hand that didn't grip her own, he stroked the loose tendrils of hair from her face. His heart still raced from the fear of seeing Zander stalking her. If he'd killed her…

It wouldn't have mattered, his Punisher's brain avowed. She was just a human and had already served her purpose.

But deep inside he knew that wasn't true. She did matter. More than he wanted to admit.

He pushed more thoughts into her head.
I dreamed Esri came after the stone. I dreamed Kade rescued me.

He had to make her believe she hadn't truly seen the Esri. That he wasn't one of them.

A growl rumbled out of his throat. She was a weakness he could not afford. He'd thought staying away from her would end his infatuation, but every night she entered his dreams, laughing, the sun shining in her hair.

She'd become his obsession. A weakness, yes. But also a gift. Light shining for the first time into a life of darkness.

He
must
make her believe.

Autumn stirred, causing tension to scream through his body.

It was all a dream.

Her lashes fluttered open, blinking with soft confusion.

“How are you feeling?” He'd spent much of the past week working to make his speech more varied, more human, and working on what the humans called “people skills.”

Her gaze snapped up. “Kade?”

A sweet smile curved her lips, then froze half formed and he knew she'd remembered. Fear flooded her eyes as she jerked. “The sculpture.” She struggled to sit up, but he kept firm hold of her hand. “The Esri stole the stone!”

Dreams. Just dreams. They weren't really here.

She escaped his grasp and stumbled to the kitchen. At the counter, she pulled up short and stared at the silver dog.

Kaderil rose and followed her, afraid to let her out of his reach and the reach of his thoughts. He slid his hand beneath her braid, cupping the soft skin at the back of her neck. To his surprise, she leaned into his touch instead of pulling away with fear, easing some of the constriction in his chest. But it was too soon to relax. She'd not yet remembered everything. And when she did, if his thoughts weren't enough, she'd be backing away in fear.

For the first time in centuries, the thought of seeing fear in another's eyes brought no satisfaction.

I had the weirdest dream.
He pushed the thought into her head, then pointed to the pile of rocks. “Is one of these the stone you were looking for?”

She nodded, the sunny room glistening in her fiery braid. “This one.” She pointed to the stone in the green ear with the star etched on its surface. Her gaze found his, her brows pulled tightly together. “I am
so
confused. I swear, the Esri followed me, Kade. They want that stone.”

His fingers slid up and down the back of her neck.
No, the Esri weren't here. It was a dream. Just a dream.

“If they followed you, why didn't they take it?” He gave her a moment, then supplied the answer to her head.
They didn't follow me. It was just a dream.

She turned to him, her lashes sweeping up to reveal twin gray pools of confusion. “It was just a dream.” Her gaze broke from his, sweeping down with a shake of her head. “But it seemed so real.”

Kaderil massaged the tense cords forming beneath his hand, his fingers on either side of her neck. He had to remember to ask the questions the human Kade Smith would have asked had he truly stumbled upon her as he claimed.

“Tell me what happened, Autumn. Did you fall?”

I fell and hit my head. I dreamed the Esri came and Kade saved me. But it was all a dream.

Her hand shot out and she clung to the counter, though the boat barely rocked. “I…fell. I had a dream.” When her gaze swept back up, her eyes were filled with a pain that went straight to his heart. “I dreamed you were helping them, Kade. You were helping the Esri.”

But it was all a dream.

He turned her to face him fully, sliding his hands over her speckled cheeks, wanting to ease the confusion in her soft gray eyes. “Are you okay?” He didn't think enchantment could harm a human. Not by itself. But he couldn't be sure.

“Yes. I think so.” She looked at him with that grave confusion. “How did I wind up on the sofa?”

“When you didn't answer my knock, I looked in the window and saw you lying on the floor. You were unconscious.”

Dismay tightened her features and she turned away with a groan. “I'm such a klutz! Someone needs to put me in a padded room where I can't hurt anybody, especially myself.”

“You're not a klutz.” He wrapped his hand around her braid and gave a small tug, hating that he was forced to make her doubt herself.

But the boat gave a gentle rock and she grabbed the counter with both hands. Looking down, she gasped. “My bracelet. The Esri took it off me.” She whirled to face him, her eyes large and accusatory. “It wasn't a dream! You came in. You stopped the one who was going to hurt me. Then you told the other one to take my holly.”

Sweet Esria.
Kaderil pressed his free hand to her cheek. “I wouldn't have helped them.”
It was just a dream.

But she didn't seem to be listening, her gaze darting around the small room, then back to him. Her brows pulled together, dipping to his shirt. “You were wearing these same clothes.”

“Autumn…” He was losing control. He framed her face with his hands. “This is the same thing I was wearing last week when I met you, so of course you would see me in it in your dream. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

That much was true, but her eyes were too sharp, too full of doubt. So he did the only thing he could think of to distract her from the thoughts spiraling out of his control. He pulled her against him and kissed her.

The moment his lips touched hers, the moment he tasted her again, he forgot everything but his need for her. For eight long days he'd craved the taste of her, thought of little but having her in his arms again.

She melted into the kiss with a moan of pleasure. Her mouth opened over his hungrily and he met her aggression with a sweep of his tongue, devouring her with a hunger that had only built with every day he'd been away from her. She was everything he remembered, everything he wanted. Sweetness and strength.

Her fingers slid over his cheeks and into his hair, stripping him of all control. All thought flew from his head as he fell headlong into a well of passion. Her tongue twined with his, stroking and sliding against his, sending heat flowing hotly through his veins.

She smelled of cinnamon and spice, of rain and beauty, and he couldn't get enough. His hands slid over her back, pulling her hard against him. He wanted to be inside her, deep in her warmth, embraced by her sweetness.

The violent longing tore through him, jarring him out of the passionate storm and he pulled back, stunned by his loss of control. She was just a pawn. The kiss was just a ploy. A ploy that had made mush of his brain.

But he couldn't let her go.

Autumn looked up at him, her eyes glazed with desire, her lips damp and swollen from his kisses and it was all he could do not to kiss her again. Instead, he pulled her against him, cradling her head to his shoulder where he wouldn't be as tempted to give in to his needs. But as he held her against his heart, it wasn't need that surged through his head, but a keen protectiveness.

She lifted her head, looking at him with wide, luminous eyes as if searching for the truth of him. Desire smoldered in those gray depths that held both strength and vulnerability.

He could never harm her. Yet he knew that was precisely what he would do if he stayed with her any longer. But he had no choice. He was all that stood between her and Zander…and certain death.

The confusion and questions in her eyes slowly disbersed the passion and she pulled out of his embrace.

“Where's my bracelet?”

He sucked in a breath and thought fast as he searched for where Ustanis might have dropped it. His gaze caught on the circular wood lying on the carpet. He didn't want to return it to her. Not yet. Not when he wasn't sure she believed the thoughts he'd pushed into her head.

But if his thoughts hadn't taken by now, they probably never would. Besides, having the holly again might calm her.

“There,” he said, motioning to the bracelet on the floor. “Right where I found you unconscious,” he lied. “It must have come off when you fell.”

Autumn retrieved the bracelet and slipped it on. She sighed as her fingers caressed the rough wood. “Maybe it
was
all a dream.” Her gaze rose back to his. “I've got to tell Jack about the stones. I thought I could protect them, but I was fooling myself. The Esri might not have come yet, but they will.”

His heart gave a lurch. If that stone went into Jack's keeping, he'd never get his hands on it again. He took a step toward her, then stopped himself. Autumn McGinn was an exceedingly clever woman to have found the stones in the first place. Perhaps he should discover her plans before he thrust his own thoughts into her head.

“Why didn't you tell Jack you'd found the stone in the first place?”

“I don't know.” She sighed and made a rueful twist with her mouth. “Yes, I do. I had this foolish dream of handing all the stones to them at once in some grand flourish, making them think I was brilliant and special.”

“You are brilliant and special.”

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. “Yeah. So brilliant I can't even walk straight without falling and knocking myself out.”

He smiled, the act almost natural. “That has nothing to do with brilliance. It's a small matter of coordination.”

“A small matter…? Easy for you to say.”

The self-doubt was rife in her eyes again, and he was immensely sorry for it. “Tell me what you'd planned to do with the stones as you found them. Had you planned how you'd hide them?”

“Sure.” She shrugged. “Though it probably wouldn't have worked anyway.”

“Tell me.”

“I'll show you.” She rose and went to retrieve a small cube from the dining table. She came to where he stood by the counter and handed the box to him. “It's lined with lead. My plan was to put the stones and some holly into the box, tie it to the boat, then drop the whole thing in the water. I've done a lot of research on old superstitions and I think the combination might work. The Esri shouldn't be able to smell them.”

Kaderil grinned at her. “Clever girl. Let's do it.”

She frowned. “I don't know, Kade. That dream spooked me. I just want to give the stone to Jack. I don't want the responsibility for it.”

He could offer to take it to Jack for her, but then she might tell Jack and he'd start asking for it. No, he needed her to keep the stones here. Hidden and—possibly—safe. “Let's hide it in the water for now, at least. I really think it might be safest there.” Kaderil took her hand and tugged, not wanting to give her too much time to think. “Let's hide the stone.”

She frowned, then gave a resigned nod. “All right.” She gathered the sprig of holly and the rope, then carefully pried the stone loose from the sculpture. As she worked, the confusion and concern slowly cleared from her expression.

“Do you want to do the honors?” she asked.

Kaderil hesitated, unable to make sense of the words. “What do you mean?”

Autumn smiled, lifting his spirits. “Here.” She handed him the stone and when he opened his palm, she dropped the rock in his hand. “You can be the one to put everything in the box.”

Kaderil smiled, feeling oddly pleased that she was giving him a special role in this simple task. He placed the stone, one of the most powerful in all his world, into the small black box, then dropped the sprig of holly in on top of it. Autumn snapped the lid closed and tied the rope to the box's handle.

As they stepped outside, Kaderil searched for sign of Zander or Ustanis, but saw no sign of either. He accompanied Autumn to the back of the boat and watched while she tied the rope to the railing and dropped the box carefully into the water.

If this worked, Ustanis was going to wonder where the stone had gone, but that didn't concern Kaderil at all.
He
knew where it was and that was all that mattered. And when Autumn found the others, he'd know where those were, too. When the time was right, he'd take them all, as long as they stayed here, within his grasp.