In Darkness Transformed Page 17

  At first glance, she appeared poised and not at all rattled by her father’s unexpected appearance on Eli’s doorstep. It was nice one of them could put up a good front.

  She kissed Jakes on the cheek. “Hi, Dad. What brings you up here this morning?”

  “You hadn’t checked in recently. I’m your father and entitled to worry.” He glanced in Eli’s direction before adding, “We both know this mountain is a dangerous place right now.”

  Eli bit back the urge to laugh. They all knew the danger Jakes referred to had nothing to do with Safara’s cousin and the other rogues who might be prowling the area. In fact, it was standing right there in the kitchen holding out a cup of coffee to his daughter.

  Safara smiled her thanks and then sat down at the table. “So why didn’t you just call? It would’ve saved you the long drive up here.”

  “I planned to take your place standing watch.” After another one of his narrow-eyed glances at Eli, he added, “You’ve got better, more important things to do with your time.”

  Okay, he might’ve been talking about her job or spending time with her grandfather at the hospital, but that’s not how Safara took it.

  “If you’re speaking as my boss, you have every right to reassign me to other duties. Say the word, and I’ll head back home and go on patrol.” Then she leaned in over the table, her pale eyes shooting sparks at Jakes. “But if as I suspect you’re up here to play the overprotective father card, you can just drive back down the mountain and mind your own damn business.”

  That she spoke with a deadly calm didn’t do anything to lessen the anger that hovered between the two Dennells. Eli didn’t know whether to applaud her determination or slap his hand over her mouth before she said something that couldn’t be erased. He had no intention of being the pry bar that tore apart the close relationship she had with her father.

  It didn’t help that Jakes wouldn’t back down. “We’ve had this discussion, Safara. He’s not our kind. He has no past that I can find. And it’s pretty damn convenient that the only two people who could confirm his right to move into this cabin are both dead—Martin and his grandson. I even contacted Martin’s attorney to find out what the hell is going on with this guy. He claimed attorney-client privilege and refused to answer any of my questions. The bottom line is that no one knows a damn thing about this guy or, if they do, they’re afraid to talk.”

  She gasped in outrage, but she clamped her mouth shut, her lips edged in white at the effort it took to keep it that way. Safara knew the truth about Eli. But even at great cost to herself, she was clearly determined to protect his secrets.

  He settled for putting his hand on her shoulder. “Safara, he’s right. We talked about all the reasons why you can’t get tangled up in my life.”

  “But—” She started to protest, but then stopped. “You’re right. We did talk about it. We also talked about why you shouldn’t get tangled up in mine. That doesn’t seem to have stopped it from happening anyway.”

  Yeah, the entire situation sucked big-time, but it was what it was. The pain in her voice echoed his own feelings, but they both knew this fantasy world they’d been living in couldn’t last forever. He wanted to punch someone, and the only handy target was off-limits. He might hate Jakes for dragging them both back into reality, but the man was only looking out for his own.

  Jakes might be happy or at least relieved he’d gotten his way, but he had the good sense not to show it. If he’d acted even slightly smug, Eli might well have taken a swing at him and damn the consequences. He flexed his hand on Safara’s shoulder, needing that small connection to maintain control.

  Jakes abruptly broke off glaring at his daughter and Eli in turn and tapped the newspaper with his forefinger. “We’ve got more pressing problems right now.”

  It took Eli a few seconds to catch up with the change in subject. Safara reached for the paper and spread it out where the two of them could see the front page. The banner headline read “Unidentified Gang Goes on Bloody Rampage.”

  Safara looked stricken. “Oh no. What are we going to do?”

  Eli skimmed the article, which outlined a series of apparently random attacks by a group armed with swords. The people involved wore odd clothing and had long hair. It was suggested that they looked like a group of reenactors of some kind or possibly a religious cult.

  He dropped the paper back onto the table. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to stop them.”

  Jakes pounded the table with his fist. “It’s not your fight. It’s ours.”

  Turning his attention back to his daughter, he continued, “I’ve already contacted the clan leaders. First up, we need to locate Tiel and the others. When we know where they’ve gone to ground, we’ll organize the hunt.”

  Safara stood up. “It won’t take me long to get my stuff together.”

  Eli wasn’t about to get shoved to the sidelines now. It was time to make sure Jakes understood that. “They’ve already attacked your father and damn near killed him. They also attacked a Sworn Guardian and his men, not to mention Tiel did his best to kill your daughter. For that alone, he deserves to die.”

  He moved behind Safara and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her back against his chest. “I have years of the right kind of training for this kind of mission, all thanks to the U.S. Army and the Special Forces. Whether you approve of my involvement with your daughter or not, you’re smart enough to use every asset at your disposal. Either include me in the plans, or I start hunting myself.”

  Then he offered the other man a predatory smile. “And I guarantee you, I have a helluva lot more experience in taking down rabid animals than you do. So, what’s it going to be?”

  The lawman glared at him. “You’re not one of my deputies.”

  Safara tipped her head back against Eli’s shoulder, clearly in no hurry to leave his embrace. “Neither are the clan leaders you’re calling in to help. Eli’s right, Dad. You can use his help, and you know it.”

  The two Dennells stared at each other for a long time before Jakes finally nodded.

  “I’ll go back to the office and track any new police reports. I’ll feed you the information as I have it.”

  That gave Eli an idea. “Let’s look at a map of the area and see where the attacks happened. That could give us a place to start.”

  He brought out the atlas he’d used to mark the locations of the previous attacks he’d researched at the library. When he opened to the map of Washington, Jakes leaned down to read the sticky notes, which had dates and locations written on them. “What are those?”

  “More cases like the ones in today’s paper. I did some checking when I was trying to figure out what happened to Martin. This kind of attack has been going on for years up and down the West Coast. I meant to tell Safara what I’d learned, but it slipped my mind with everything else that’s been going on.”

  “Well, damn.” Jakes ran his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair as he stared down at the map and the story the small pieces of paper told. “Believe it or not, we do our best to control the incursions from Kalithia, but we can’t catch every rogue that slips across.”

  Eli might have his differences with Jakes, but there was no way the man should have to shoulder a shitload of guilt for what the crazies from Kalithia had done over the years. Even with the best equipment, the best training, and even the best laid plans, sometimes things just went to hell for no good reason. When that happened, innocent people died. Eli had personal experience with that, and not just when that blasted helicopter crashed. Over the years, he’d learned the hard way that a man could either let failure cripple him or use it to reaffirm his resolve to do better the next time.

  “No, you can’t stop them, not completely. You know as well as I do that crazies are going to do what crazies do, whether we’re talking about rogues from Kalithia or our own homegrown nutcases.”

  Then he met Jakes’s gaze head-on, one warrior to another, and pointed at the newspaper
headline again. “But we can stop this bunch and make sure they don’t hurt anyone else.”

  He felt Safara tense as they waited for her father to respond. Finally, Jakes nodded. “You’re right. Let’s get these bastards.”

  16

  Eli caught her arm before Safara could follow her dad outside. His deep green eyes crinkled at the corners, softening the grim expression on his face but not banishing it completely. “Tell him whatever you need to, Safara. Don’t let my problems damage your relationship with your father. I’m not worth it.”

  And that kind of selfless act was what drew her heart like no other man she’d ever known regardless of their promises to keep their relationship simple. It was far too late for that. Rather than have that particular discussion right now, she gave Eli a quick kiss and followed her father out to his car. She could’ve waved good-bye from the porch, but there was too much left unsaid between them to let him just drive away. He started to open the door but stopped to lift his face up to the warm sunlight filtering through the trees. Maybe he’d also realized that they needed to talk things out.

  With his eyes still trained on the sky, he muttered, “I should’ve called first.”

  “Yeah, you should have.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “And I should’ve checked in again, so you wouldn’t worry about me being up here alone.”

  Her dad’s mouth curved up in the barest hint of a smile. “If you were alone, I wouldn’t have been worried. Well, at least not about the same things.”

  She wanted to laugh, but knowing her time with Eli continued to tick down hurt too much. “No matter what happens or doesn’t happen between Eli and me, he’s a good man, Dad.”

  His smile disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “I’ve learned to trust your people instincts. I just wish I knew more about him.”

  “Here’s what I can tell you. You were right about Eli having secrets, ones he shared with me before the two of us . . . well, let’s just say neither of us wanted our relationship to be based on lies. He knows my secrets, too.”

  She glanced back toward the man standing on the porch, his arms crossed over his chest, and smiled. He gave her a slow nod and then disappeared back into the cabin to afford her and her father more privacy.

  “However, he told me I should share his with you, too, because he doesn’t want to cause problems between us. I won’t tell you everything, but I’ll tell you this much—he’s not Martin’s distant relative. He’s Martin’s grandson, the one who died in that helicopter crash.”

  She paused to let that much sink in. It didn’t take long for her father to connect the dots and come up with the right answer. “I’d heard rumors that Martin’s father was Kalith, not that you would’ve guessed it from looking at him. Maybe my dad would know for sure since he and Martin were friends.”

  Her father turned around to lean against the fender of his car. “If Eli walked away from a fatal helicopter crash, then we both know which genes he inherited from Martin’s side of the family. He’s a Paladin, with all that means. Does he know?”

  “He does now. I told you both Vedin and I assumed he was a Paladin. As it turns out, we were right about that.”

  “You know he’ll develop a compulsion to be near the barrier now that he lives up here on the mountain, and it will only grow stronger over time. That could cause problems for our people who want to cross from one world into the other even if it isn’t the light disease driving them to do it. They’re not going to appreciate running into him, and it could turn violent quickly.”

  He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know. She hadn’t thought to tell Eli that, but she should have. Her father was talking again. “Our people tell a lot of stories about Paladins, most of them the stuff of nightmares.”

  “But he’s not like that.”

  “I never said he was. Let me finish before you rip into me.” When she nodded, he picked up where he’d left off. “Now, I figure our picture of what it means to be a Paladin is probably about as accurate as them thinking that all Kalith are crazed killers. Having said that, there are a few things about them that I do believe are true. One is that compulsion to be near the barrier.”

  Okay, she believed that. She’d seen Eli’s reaction when she first introduced him to the barrier. Clearly awestruck by its awful beauty, he’d wanted to touch it. He’d also been reluctant to walk away from it, both on that occasion and later when she’d helped Vedin and his men return to their world.

  Her father kept right on talking. “You already know they can heal from almost anything that doesn’t involve dismemberment, and I’ve heard rumors that even that’s possible if their medics get to them fast enough.”

  She hadn’t asked Eli how he had died, and she never would. If he ever felt compelled to tell her, she’d listen, even if the picture of him injured and trapped in a burning helicopter had already given her nightmares.

  Then she realized her father was frowning at her. “What?”

  “Have you been listening to me at all?”

  “Yes, you said Paladins need to be near the barrier and that their ability to heal is far stronger than what most Kalith have. Do you think that there’s something about their human DNA that enhances that ability?”

  He frowned as if giving the matter some thought. “I’ve never heard that was why, but it only makes sense that the mix of genes would produce some interesting results, some better than others.”

  She didn’t like the sound of that last part. “Meaning?”

  “All Paladins have an immense capacity for violence and a higher tolerance for its effects than other folks, both human and Kalith. Over the years, I’ve met a few people who have witnessed them in action. Everybody says the same thing—those bastards are hard-core killers, every last one of them.”

  He held up his hand to stave off her protest. “Honey, I do realize they’re protecting their world, but it’s also part of who they are. I’d go so far as to say that the ones like your Eli who don’t know what they are often end up in the military or maybe law enforcement for a reason. If that inborn need to fight, to protect, isn’t given the right focus, they might have problems dealing with how normal folks live.”

  Once again, she protested. “Eli is not like that.”

  She wasn’t sure which one of them she was trying to convince, but she suspected she failed in either case. After all, she’d seen Eli charge into battle twice without hesitation, once against what should’ve been overwhelming odds. Not that she was complaining. After all, he’d been trying to save her ass on both occasions. But now that her father had brought up the subject, she had noticed that Eli had seemed remarkably unaffected by the incidents. Maybe that was his military training, but maybe not.

  “Well, I’d better be going. As soon as I learn anything, I’ll let you and Eli know.” He gave her a quick hug. “Don’t be in any rush to get back to town. The other deputies will cover your shifts for the next three days. They’re glad to get the overtime, and the town can afford it. Besides, you never use as much vacation time as you’re entitled to take.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” She kissed his cheek. “One way or another, we’ll take care of these rogues. This has been hard on all of us. I’ll be glad when things settle down again.”

  “Me, too.” As he opened the car door, his shoulders slumped. “I just have a hard time forgetting that each of those rogues is leaving behind someone who loves them.”

  Like her mother had.

  There wasn’t anything Safara could say that hadn’t been said a hundred times before. Knowing the disease had already destroyed the woman her mother had once been didn’t make the manner of her death any easier to accept.

  “Tell Granddad to behave.”

  Her father’s laugh sounded rusty. “Yeah, like that ever works with him.”

  He gave the cabin one last pointed look. “Tell Eli that his secret is safe with me as long as it doesn’t cause problems for me or the people of my town.”

&nb
sp; “I will.”

  Not that she liked the way he qualified his promise, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. She watched him drive away, waving one last time. When his car disappeared around the bend, she headed right back into the waiting arms of the man who had stepped out onto the porch.

  “HOW DID HE take the news?”

  Although Eli could guess, having watched the last few minutes of their conversation from his front window. Their body language had conveyed a mix of emotions, some of them pretty volatile. At least by the time Jakes drove away, he and Safara had come to some kind of truce. That was good. He’d meant what he’d said about not wanting to cause a rift between Safara and her family.

  She shrugged. “Better than expected. The good news is that he put me in for vacation for the next three days, so I don’t have to rush back to work.”

  That was good news. Sort of, anyway. With what Mike had told him, Eli figured he’d have to disappear soon and establish a new identity somewhere else, most likely in another country. He wouldn’t risk the danger from the men who were hunting him spilling over onto his friends. Unfortunately, the more time he and Safara spent together, the harder it was going to be to leave her behind. It would already hurt like hell. But before they could think about that, they had some killers to track down.

  “I looked up more information online about the attacks. There have been a few more sightings, including at a small grocery store that was robbed right before dawn. There were no security cameras, but witnesses gave descriptions that fit the rogues. I’ve plotted all the data. I want you to look at the map, because I think I’m seeing a pattern. If so, it could be a good starting point.”

  Once inside, he stood back while Safara studied the map. She leaned in closer to read the times and brief descriptions he’d written on the sticky notes. Finally, she nodded as she pointed to a couple of icons on the map that indicated a campground.