Dealers of Light (9 page)

Marc
took her hand and pulled her back to the arm of the chair. “Calm down.”

“Shan, we’
re all in this together,” Tor said. “We don’t know how we ended up with this gift, but hey, you can’t deny what’s happened. Whether these dudes are ancient or not, someone’s sucking the Light out of people and killing them.”

“I think we need to keep all options open,” Cara added. “We can’t ignore this information Alistair
’s uncovered.” She gave Shana a meaningful stare, and her friend’s shoulders slumped.

“All right, all right.”
Shana waved her hands over her head. “But I’m not buying this ancient evil business. I think modern evil’s bad enough.”

“
What are we going to do about it?” Cara swirled her wine. All this speculating about origins was fine, but it didn’t solve the problem. “And who was the man Amber and I saw?”

“Obviously
, a powerful Light-dealer. Whether good or evil is impossible to tell at this point.” Alistair drained his snifter. Cara stood and carried the brandy bottle from the coffee table to him. The amber liquid sloshed into the glass, and Alistair gave her a wink.

“You know, he seemed like he
came from another era.” Cara handed the full glass back to Alistair. “His mannerisms, like bowing to us, the way he spoke, were all very formal.”

“
It’s true.” Amber nodded. “Could he be one of these ancients you’re talking about?”

“It’s possible, I suppose. Our group has stayed isolated here so I don’t know about other areas.” Alistair
sipped his brandy and crossed one leg over the other. “We have to assume there are Light-dealers in other cities.”

“Wait, he told us his name, Rolf something
.” Amber put a hand to her chin. She gazed at Cara for help.

“Van...Rolf Van...” Cara searched her memory
. Why hadn’t she remembered? This was vital.

“
Not
Van Helsing, please.” Shana rolled her eyes.

“No, Van Ha
rding. That’s it: Van Harding.” Cara snapped her fingers.

“How can we find out about him?” Amber
turned to Alistair.

“Yeah, it’s not like there’s a national organization for Light-dealers, or anything,” Shana said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “How would you go about finding a BD unless it was by chance?”

“BD?” Cara blinked.

Shana shrugged.
“Bad Dealer.”

“
Well, I’ll just Google Mr. Van Harding and see what we find.” Cara went to her desk in the corner behind Marc and slipped into a chair before it. She flipped up the laptop lid and hit a key to wake it. “Okay, Rolf. Van. Harding.” Her nails clicked on the keys. 

Tor cleared his throat. “
Thinking as a cop, we should investigate all the questionable deaths and see if there are any similarities. Like where those people worked, lived, exercised, whatever. If we come up with a pattern, we head in that direction.”

“Do you really think we should get
so involved, sweetie?” Amber placed a hand on his arm.

“We have to, babe.
That’s how we roll.” Tor patted her hand. “To the police they’re all unrelated deaths. Only us Dealers know the truth.”

“
It might be dangerous,” Marc said.

“It’s creepy, there’s absolutely nothing on anyone named Rolf Van Harding.” Cara turned in her chair
and faced the group. “We need more information. Alistair, keep at it. We need to know more about these beings if they’re real.” Everyone nodded. “Tor, Marc and Shana can get information about the people who died, then we can get back together and see if any pieces fall into place.”

Cara
knew her friends were committed to this plan, but it didn’t lessen her fear. Where would all this lead?

For her part, she had no trouble believing some ancient evil
could appear in modern day. Too many unexplained paranormal events existed in the world to completely rule it out. They were about to walk into dangerous secrets of the past, and, she had to admit, Rolf Van Harding might be one of them.

That
made his allure all the more disturbing.

Chapter Seven

Cara’s car hit a deep pothole on Virginia Beach Blvd., jarring her teeth and her car’s frame. She glanced over her shoulder at Dusty, but he was fine lounging on the back seat.

“Damn.” I
n the older section of Norfolk, the road was narrow and riddled with broken pavement. She gritted her teeth and gripped the wheel tighter.

A flash of red and blue off to the right caught her eye. She slowed and scanned the five
police cars in the parking lot of a small strip mall. The place was full of abandoned stores with sad, peeling paint and boarded up windows. The main attraction seemed to be a fried chicken fast food restaurant on the far corner.

Making a quick decision, she turned down the street beside the parking lot and pulled to the curb.
An ambulance accompanied the variety of law enforcement vehicles, and emergency personnel scurried around one of the boarded up stores. Tor stood talking to a taller, lanky policeman in the parking lot.

“Stay. Good boy,” she told Dusty after rolling down the windows part way. She
climbed out of the car and walked toward Tor, raising a hand. A sense of dread crawled over her skin like icy spiders. He saw her and pointed a finger at her, signaling for her to wait. He patted the other cop on the shoulder and headed toward Cara.

“Hey,” Tor
called, expression grim. The knot in the pit of her stomach tightened with each step he took.

“Sorry, I don’t want to bother you when you’re busy, but I just had to know if it’s another one.”
Her hands tightened into fists.

Tor
glanced over his shoulder at the ambulance and nodded. “It is. Found a dude in that deserted store, wrapped in a sheet. Body would have been there for months if the owner hadn’t come by to show the store to a prospective buyer today. The body must have been hidden there last night.” He removed his hat and ran a hand over his short black hair. As he placed his hat back, his face looked a shade paler than normal. “It’s freakin’ weird, Cara.” He visibly shivered and wrapped his arms across his chest.

“
The guy was drained?” Cara’s heart flipped. She’d rarely seen Tor so unsettled, and it frightened her more than anything. He was always strong and calm, the tough street kid from Brooklyn.

“He
was beaten, but it didn’t kill him. Man, this sucks.” Tor grimaced and shook his head. “Cara, this is the worst thing I’ve ever been involved in. And I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life. I wanna throttle somebody, but this is something you can’t get a grip on.” He held his hands up, fingers curled around an imaginary object.

“I know what you mean.”
Suddenly, she wanted to be home in her snug little cottage with her dog beside her on the couch. Maybe she should get a gun, or a taser.

“Is Amber coming o
ver tonight?” Tor asked.

Cara hugged her midsection.
“In an hour.”

“Good. Tell her I’ll drive by when I get off and follow her home.
I don’t want some schmuck gettin’ his hands on my babe.”

“
You really think that’s necessary?” A creak of gurney wheels echoed across the parking lot. Cara shivered when a body in a black bag was carted out of the abandoned store by the EMT squad. A lump rose in her throat. 

“Something
bad’s happening. Something evil.” Tor pressed his lips together and his right hand rested on the hilt of his gun. “We need to be careful. That’s all I’m saying.”

She flinched away from the sight of the body. “I have to go.”

He nodded and went to join the other policemen. It had to be hard for him, knowing what happened, but not who did it. He was unable to share his information with the other policemen because they wouldn’t believe him. Energy vampires, ha! Or, what did Shana call them? BD’s? Yeah, Bad Dealers that suck the life out of you. Yeah, the police force would really take supernatural beings seriously.

And where did Rolf Van Harding, enigmatic mystery Dealer, fit into all this
? Sadistic killer or strange coincidence?

She didn’t know, but she
would find out.

###

Desmond stared at the two men before him, standing with their gazes directed at the rich carpet of his study. Carlton waited at his side, arms crossed over his chest, a frown marring his boyish features.

Fury, barely contained
, flamed in Desmond’s gut. “I believe my orders were to place the body somewhere it would not be found for a while.”

One of the men raised his head an inch
. “We’d been watching the store and no one had been in it in months. It was a freak coincidence. I swear, Master.”

“At least he was dead when they found him,”
Carlton said.

“True,” Desmond said. “But I want to be sure next time there is no chance of the body being found for at least a month. No more slip ups. The police are not fools and neither are the doctors in the ER. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Master,” the two men said in unison.

He
stalked toward them, slow, even steps like a lion approaching his prey. Inhaling the sweet scent of fear sent a jolt of desire coursing through him. Ah, how he loved to inflict pain. He thrilled to their quaking, the beads of sweat forming on their foreheads, their white-rimmed eyes wide with horror.

One man step
ped back, but Carlton grabbed his arm and dragged him forward. Desmond licked his lips and jabbed his spread fingertips against the center of their chests. Both gasped and one whimpered. The delectable Light sparked hot and heavy with the contact until the men flinched and groaned. Glorious terror-soaked Light poured like molten gold through Desmond’s fingertips. Hot tingling pleasure spread up his arms and flushed into his chest, the sensations so intense his head snapped back at the impact. 

Euphoria pulsed in every inch of his body. How easy it would be to drain it all and luxuriate in the excess of pleasure. But he was the master and able to control his desire, unlike these young ones. He still needed these worthless wretches to complete his plan. With only a flicker of regret,
he cut off the flow and dropped his arms to his sides. He sucked in a breath and made an abrupt gesture of dismissal. The men staggered from the room, groping the walls to stay vertical on weakened legs.

Desmond pointed
at Carlton. “Lock them in a room to suffer until tomorrow so they don’t do anything else stupid. Then you may take them a snack to regain their Light.”

Carlton bowed and
grabbed the two men by their arms, jerking them from the study.

Desmond
hoped his demonstration of power was enough punishment to keep them from making mistakes in the future and a reminder he was capable of killing them at any time he chose. He rubbed his fingers, relishing the last smolder of tainted Light.

Carlton returned after a few minutes holding a slip of paper.
“I have a message from Richmond.”

Desmond studied his right-hand man for any sign of weakness or doubt, then walked to the window
of his second story study and gazed on the quiet, tree-lined street below. Soon, he would control this city, and many more besides. Delicious energy there for the taking, any time he wished, and millions of people to do his bidding. But it would only happen if he controlled his men, and Carlton was integral to holding them together.

“They
await only your message. They have people prepared to place in the government, military, and police.”

The time was not yet ripe
for activating the Net. It had to occur when the cosmic energy aligned perfectly with the waning of the moon. Also, for the moment, the only person he completely trusted in this city was Carlton. He needed assurance the others here had become totally addicted and obedient. “Send them word the time is coming soon. They must be patient. How many converted Dealers do they have now?”

“Five.”

“With the four older Takers, it puts their
ayllus
at nine. It will be sufficient for the power we need. The other cities stand ready?”

“Yes,
ready and waiting for a signal.”

Desmond turned from the window to face
Carlton. He strode toward him until they stood a foot apart. Carlton’s breath quickened and his eyes shone. “It is time to send the rest of the converts out on their own to reap the Light. I have to know if they are capable of practicing restraint and avoiding detection without our supervision.”

Carlton’s head dipped, but his gaze remained fixed on Desmond’s face. The tip of his tongue flicked out to wet his parted lips.

“If there are any more mishaps, I hold you responsible.” He reached out and ran a finger along the base of Carlton’s neck. The younger man inhaled sharply. “Deal with those two in lock up and test the others.”