Dealers of Light (33 page)

After several blocks, the twinge of evil grew stronger
, crawling across his skin. He paused to study the residential area of old restored townhomes. He didn’t need a map, his senses led him to the right, and he continued down a side street with tree branches waving over his head. The limbs cast ghostly waving shadows on the pavement. In the distance, a cat yowled.

Rolf
slowly turned in a circle. The street was dark and empty, the pavement glistening in the light of streetlamps. He kept on in the direction of the Takers. His trail ended at an old three-story house at the end where the street curved in an “L” shape. Moving further into the shadows, he continued to the patch of trees behind the house. Lights glared in most of the windows. He leaned against a large oak tree, content to watch for a while.

After an hour, he counted five different people moving about in the house. It didn’t mean there weren’t more, but gave a good indication of what numbers
his people would have to deal with.

L
ights in two upper windows blinked out, and he slipped closer, avoiding any pools of illumination coming from the ground floor windows. He crept forward to the back of the house to the area he determined might be the living room, a double window beside the sliding glass doors. He peeked in and glimpsed a brown leather couch and chairs, but quickly ducked as two voices floated from the open window.

“Why do we have to wait?”
a deep male voice asked.

“Desmond wants to make sure everything is stable before expanding to the next group of cities,” another
man replied.

“The more people we control, the more money is coming i
n.”

“Better keep your ideas to yourself. You don’t want to cross Desmond. Trust me.”

The voices deteriorated to mumbling as the two men moved out of his hearing range. He leaned against the house.
Interesting.
It seemed they had more time than he anticipated before further expansion. Very good news. With this group out of the web, Desmond’s area of control would shrink.

He moved into the shadows at the side of the yard and made his way up the street, concealed
by trees and hedges until he was well away from the house.

The location of the Takers had been found and the time had come to test the group. If they were able to eliminate these Takers, they
would move on to Desmond himself.

Time would tell.

The biggest danger was that Desmond would know at once Rolf had instigated the attack should the South Carolina group go missing, and he’d prepare for an assault. It was a gamble, but Alistair might be right, and they should go after the stone instead of trying to fight Desmond directly.

On the positive side, Desmond had no idea Rolf had anyone with him other than Cara.
A surprise in their favor. The other surprise would be the shield he and Cara could form. Like the general he had been in one of his many lifetimes, he tallied up their assets and weaknesses and, in his mind, played them against those of his enemy.

No matter how he analyzed the situation, there was no doubt a head-to-head fight with Desmond’s much larger group in Norfolk would result in defeat for Rolf’s team. That meant Cara would be harmed. Possibly killed.

That just wouldn’t do.

Chapter
Thirty

Cara did sit-ups in the salon, while the others participated in their own activities scattered around the room. On fifty, her burning muscles screamed for her to stop, and she flopped onto her back.

A blur of fur flashed by.

“Hey, Alistair,” she called, laughing. “Rambo and Dusty are playing tug-of-war with one of your silk argyle socks.

The group broke in
to laughter.

“Hey, listen to this
.” Amber pointed a finger to the open textbook in her lap. “‘Combining the correct crystal frequency with a corresponding reactive stone can block the energy of the stone in its outward reflection.’”

Cara
sat up and repeated the sentence in her head. Marc, Shana and Tor just stared at Amber. “Okay, what does that mean, exactly?”

“I think it means if you pair the right crystal with the proper reflecting stone, you can use the crystal to block the stone’s energy.”
Amber turned to Alistair. “I wonder what the right crystal would be to interact with Desmond’s Andean opal.”

Alistair held up his bedraggled sock and
shook his head, then stuffed it in his pocket. “My dear Amber, you raise a very interesting question.”

“What are you suggesting?”
Marc snatched the book from Amber to study the page.

“Alistair is right. The secret to this whole mess is the opal. It has to be,” Amber said. “Its power is at the heart of Desmond’s ability to maintain control. We either have to disrupt the power or steal the stone.”

Alistair nodded. “Precisely.”

“Wait up. From what you said, if we knew what crystals to use, we
could actually block the opal’s power,” Shana said. “That sounds important.”

Made sense to Cara, but she wasn’t an expert.
“How do we find out?”

“If we
had some Andean Opals, we could test the theory on them,” Alistair said. “Maybe they all react the same, regardless of size.”

“But we wouldn’t know the right crystals for Desmond’s opal until we actually see it
, though,” Tor said.

“True,” Alistair said. “But this is vital knowledge. We don’t know how we might use it, but the knowledge can only benefit us.”

“How can we find Andean opals?” Shana asked.

“
Order them online,” Cara said. “If the post office here is working.”

The door to the deck
burst open, and they all jumped. Rolf strode in, eyes immediately going to Cara.

She clutched her chest in relief.

“Is everything okay?” She wrapped her arms around her bent knees.

“I found the Takers
, and they have about five members.” He removed his trench coat and hat to hang them on an anchor-shaped hook beside the door. “And there’s good news. It seems Desmond is not going to expand his territory until after the next new moon. Which means we have more time than I thought.”

Cara
pushed to her feet and went to the sofa, the cushions sighing along with her as she sat. “Excellent news, I guess, but we still have to beat the next Net.”

“Tell him what you found about the crystals,
babe,” Tor said to Amber, and settled on the arm of the sofa beside Cara.

Amber
repeated her discovery and what they proposed to do with testing crystals against Andean Opals.

Rolf
scratched his chin, his normally smooth skin creased along the temple. “It would be extremely valuable information,” Rolf said after a few seconds. He let out a deep breath then crossed to the bar for a glass of wine. “You’re right to test the theory. We need all the information we can get if we hope to defeat Desmond. I’ll have Sean order some opals for you.”

“Will we be able to have them de
livered in this bizarro-world?” Shana glared at Rambo, who had tripped her up again as she paced between the stairs and the couch.

“We’ll have them shipped to the marina office. Things are func
tioning in a basic way.”

“
What are we going to do about the Takers?” Tor asked.

“It’s late. We can plan tomorrow. I’ll have Sean
pull up a satellite picture of the house’s location so we can have a full view of the logistics.” He stood. “I suggest you all get some rest.”

Cara let out a sigh and
bid her friends goodnight. Back in her cabin, she paced about the bed, heartache churning in her chest like acid.

She took a shower
, hoping it would cool her off. Then, still twitchy, put on a cotton camisole paired with drawstring pants and hopped into bed, but sleep eluded her. Rolf stayed in the front of her mind. They couldn’t keep sharing brief moments of intimacy and backing away.

The connection was there, she was certain. But Rolf needed something to shock him out of the past and into the present.
She ached to put her hands on him, run her fingers over the taut muscles until he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

Faced with the dangers of the Takers
, they might all die tomorrow. If she had to die, she wanted to take what pleasure from life she could. Her heart throbbed with the need for affection and the warmth of his touch.

She punched her pillow.

Enough
. She would tell him what Emmie had said then see if he thought they shouldn’t be together.
Carpe Diem!
She pulled a T-shirt on over her head, to cover her sheer camisole, then pressed her lips together and strode out to Rolf’s cabin. She gave the door three hard knocks and waited with arms crossed until he called for her to come in.

S
he stormed inside. He sat behind his desk with papers scattered before him, staring at her. His wary look turned to blue fire when she closed the door and crossed to stand before the desk, hands on her hips.

“
This is ridiculous for you to keep avoiding me. I know you care for me and I care for you. Why can’t we at least talk about it?” The spark in his eyes flared to a raging inferno. She swallowed, and warmth spread from her lower abdomen up through her chest.

He rose from his chair, never breaking eye contact. Two steps around the desk had him standing inches from her
.  

“Cara, I do care for you. More
than you know, but—”

“No.” She put her
finger over his lips and traced her fingertips over his smooth cheek. With trembling hands, she lifted the T-shirt over her head to reveal the skimpy camisole beneath, keeping her eyes locked on his.

He
hissed in a sharp breath and tried to retreat, but she grabbed his shoulders. After a few seconds, a muscle in his jaw twitched. He cupped the side of her face in his hand, caressing her bottom lip with his thumb. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to reach your heart.” She
rested a hand on his chest. “I know it’s in there somewhere. And I know you feel what I feel.”

“My heart
…” He glanced at the ceiling and put a hand over hers. “…is cold, rusty, and full of sorrow. Why would you want to touch such a thing?”

“If it is, you’ve allowed it to become that way.” Her fingers curled, grabbing a handful of his shirt. She gave him a little shake that brought his gaze back down.

Hot blue eyes bore into hers. At that moment all his anguish, loneliness, and the passion of centuries past flooded into her. 

“If you choose to live in the present and have some joy in your life it doesn’t mean you
’ve betrayed those you cared about in the past. Don’t you think Sakhet would want you to be happy?”

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. “I don’t know.”

“What would you want for her if your positions were reversed?”

“I’d want her to be
…happy,” he whispered, his breath caressing her face. The deep musky scent of him drew into her nostrils.

“Then
—”

He raised his head, eyes no longer afire. “But it’s more than that. I’m tortured with the thought I should have been able to save her.
My name back then was ‘Bes’. It means
‘
Joy-Bringer’. And yet the joy went out of my life when she was killed. It must have been my punishment for not protecting her. My whole world dissolved into the hunt, killing and more killing, in the hopes I could atone for the loss of my Sakhet. Pursuing a revenge that can never be consummated.”

“It’s a burden you put on yourself.” Cara placed a hand on his cheek. She wiped away the single tear that escaped the corner of his eye. “You can bring joy again if you only allow yourself to. Please, Rolf
? Can’t we have a little happiness in our lives in the midst of all this horror?”

He drew in a deep breath and stared into her eyes. She nodded, and he reached out to touch her lips with gentle fingertips that trembled. His eyes warmed, and h
is hand moved from her face, trailing fire with his fingers as he stroked down her throat. He inched the thin strap of her camisole over her shoulder until it slipped down her arm. From there, he slid his hand over her back in slow sensuous circles, his gaze still holding her enthralled.

“
Mmm
,” escaped her lips.

He answered with a
growl and, suddenly, they were crushed together, lips sliding, searching, hands moving over each other’s bodies. An explosion of tingling heat ran through Cara, and her knees gave way in the surge of passion, severing their kiss.

Rolf
wrapped an arm around her shoulders and the other behind her knees. He lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. The pounding of her heart pumped blood like hot flames through her veins, and she had to take several deep breaths to calm the pulse throbbing in her neck.