Darkness Unknown Read online

  Chase’s eyes flickered in her direction, waiting for her slight nod before accepting Jarvis’s outstretched hand. “You look a helluva lot better this morning than you did last night.”

  Jarvis grinned. “I’m sure those hounds of yours have dragged in better-looking specimens than me.” He sat down and picked up his fork again. “Sorry for starting without you, Chase, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had home cooking.”

  He was a charmer all right, but his remark still pleased her. Once again silence descended on the table as the two males concentrated on stuffing their faces. Oddly, it felt very comfortable to have this total stranger join them for a meal.

  As usual, Chase was the first one done eating. He pushed his plate away and stood up. “Nice meeting you, Jarvis. Glad you lived.”

  She sighed. “Chase, I swear one of these days…”

  He just grinned. “See you later, Sis. We’ll talk later, but I promised Mr. James I’d help him load the hay in the back field today.”

  “Okay. Be home for dinner by six.”

  “Will do.” Then he whistled for the dogs and tore out of the house, letting the door slam shut behind him.

  She loved her brother dearly and enjoyed having him around. However, that didn’t mean she wasn’t grateful that he’d found part-time work with the neighbor for the summer. It kept him in spending money and gave him something constructive to do with his time and overabundance of energy.

  Jarvis finished his own meal. “That was terrific, Miss Mosely. If I ate like that every day, I wouldn’t be able to fit through the door.”

  “Please call me Gwen.”

  He nodded as he picked up his plate and headed for the sink.

  “I can clean up in here later. Please sit down.”

  “Let me earn my keep, Gwen. It won’t kill me to do a few dishes.”

  He cleared the table with quick efficiency, leaving her nothing to do but sip her coffee and enjoy the view. The man did a great job filling out those jeans.

  He hoped Gwen never took up poker for a living. She’d starve to death, because every thought was right there on her expressive face. Right now, she was working herself up to ask him something important.

  When he’d been in the shower, he’d tried to figure out why she hadn’t gone to the police when she’d found a half-dead stranger in the woods. Especially one whose wounds had closed up and healed in a matter of hours.

  But one look at her younger brother had answered that question. He was a dead ringer for a Paladin who’d served in the area just about the time Chase would have been born. Chase might not know it, but one day soon he’d be picking up a sword and learning to fight. If he didn’t, his life would be hell, and his pretty sister would suffer right along with him. It was obvious that the two siblings were close, and Gwen wouldn’t like hearing her brother was a born warrior destined to die over and over again, fighting the same secret war that Jarvis did.

  It was a bitch of a way to live, but it was written in their blood and their bones. Somewhere in their past, alien beings the Paladins called Others had crossed from a dark world known as Kalithia into this one and left their mark on the human gene pool. It was ironic that those distant ancestors had helped create the Paladins, whose job was to drive the Others back into the darkness of their own world.

  While Jarvis kept his hands busy drying dishes, he tried to decide how much he could safely tell Gwen about her brother. Not much. He would also have to insinuate himself into their lives long enough to get Chase started on the path to becoming a fully trained Paladin, without his sister realizing what he was up to.

  Being around Gwen certainly wouldn’t be any hardship. The problem would be to avoid any messy emotional entanglements. He was too old, too tired, and too close to the end to get involved with a woman, no matter how tempted he was to find out if she had freckles all over that luscious, creamy skin. The mere thought made him harden.

  Great—how was he supposed to hide his erection now? He turned away from the sink and dried his hands on the dish towel, keeping the terrycloth in front of him until he was safely seated at the table. Stretching out his legs, he leaned back and waited for the inquisition to begin.

  It didn’t take long.

  Gwen’s green eyes looked troubled. “You were hurt pretty badly last night,” she began.

  “Yeah, I was.”

  “Bloody and cut to pieces.” She worried her lower lip with her teeth while she waited for him to respond.

  “I don’t remember much about it, but I’ll take your word for it.” He wasn’t about to tell her that he’d been fighting a pack of ravening monsters within spitting distance of her backyard.

  “Yet here you are, no more than twelve hours later, with barely a scratch on you.”

  “True.” He reached behind him to snag the coffeepot and refilled his mug. “Want some?”

  There was a small flash of temper in the way she shook her head. She suspected he was toying with her, and she was right. Maybe he should just answer the question she was dancing around.

  “You and your brother had different fathers, didn’t you?” He dumped sugar into his coffee and stirred it.

  She looked puzzled. “Yes, but how did you know that? Other than hair color, we have many common features.”

  “Because Chase is the very image of an old acquaintance of mine. He had that same black hair and bright blue eyes. And I’d guess when Chase finishes filling out that frame of his, he’ll be as big as his daddy was.”

  Just as he’d intended, he’d shocked her.

  “What did your mother tell you about Chase’s dad?” he asked.

  Sadness settled on Gwen’s shoulders. “Not much. She never told us even who he was, but he hurt her pretty badly. I was just shy of ten when she met him. For the first time since my father died, she seemed happy. She would get all dressed up and go out to meet him somewhere, so I never even saw him. Then all of a sudden, Mom quit going anywhere. She’d just stare at the phone as if willing it to ring, but it never did. Then a few months later, she gave birth to Chase.”

  The dates fit. “His name was Harvey Fletcher, and he was a good man. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to call your mother; he couldn’t. He died almost exactly eighteen years ago.”

  To his horror, Gwen’s eyes filled with tears. “I wish someone would’ve let my mother know. At least she could’ve grieved for his passing, rather than spending the last years of her life waiting for him to walk back through the door.”

  “I’m sorry, too. I’d guess no one knew about your mother’s involvement with Harvey. But from what I remember about him, he would never have willingly abandoned his son.” He leaned over and put his hand over hers in comfort.

  She stared at their hands. “Did this Harvey person heal like you do? Like Chase does?”

  There was no use in denying it. “Yes, Harvey had that same ability.”

  She nodded as if she’d already guessed that would be the answer. “Were you and he related?”

  Now there was a question. He couldn’t very well tell her that they shared alien DNA. “Only very distantly.”

  She ran her hand over the table, smoothing a couple of wrinkles in the tablecloth. Evidently she had another question but wasn’t sure how to go about asking it.

  “Gwen, just spit it out, whatever it is.”

  “Chase gets into a lot of fights, especially with boys his own age. The trouble is, he’s so much bigger than most of them that folks are afraid he’s going to kill somebody one of these days. It’s better in the summer when he’s not shut up in school all day, but he’s getting less able to tolerate crowds of any kind.”

  Boy, did that sound familiar. If the Regents hadn’t found Jarvis when they did and brought him into the Paladin organization, he had little doubt that he would have ended up in prison. Chase’s sister was smart to realize the boy needed help.

  “Have you thought about getting him involved in martial arts? The discipline helped me learn self-contr
ol.” Coupled with weapons training, the Regents had honed his innate urge to fight into a lethal combination designed solely for killing Others.

  “Is it expensive?”

  Here was his in with the family. “To get him started, just to see if he likes the sport, I’d be glad to work with him.”

  She considered the idea for all of two seconds before shaking her head. “I couldn’t ask that of you, but thank you for offering.”

  “Why not?”

  Her fair skin flushed with embarrassment. “Because I can’t afford to pay you, and charity doesn’t set well with me.”

  Pride was something he could understand, even if it was misplaced. “I wasn’t asking for money, Gwen. Someone did the same thing for me when I was about Chase’s age. It saved my sanity, so I’m just passing along the favor.”

  Pursing her lips, she slowly nodded. “All right, I’ll talk to him and see if he’s interested. If he is, how can I get in touch with you?”

  “I’ll give you my cell phone number. It’s good day or night.”

  At least he’d planted the seeds. If they didn’t take, he’d have to think of some other excuse to return to the Mosely farm. A new Paladin wasn’t something to be wasted; there were too few of them as it was. He had a duty to the Regents organization to recruit a new warrior. It had nothing to do with the boy’s sister, much less her red hair and those adorable freckles.

  Yeah, right.

  “Get the hell away from me with those damn needles. Why don’t you just slit my wrist and bleed me dry? It’d be faster and hurt less!”

  At the sound of Jake’s irate voice, Jarvis poked his head through the lab door and grinned. “Hey, buddy, how goes it?”

  The look his friend aimed in his direction was only slightly less irritated than the one he’d been giving the poor tech who was still waiting to draw his blood.

  “I’ll be fine when these bozos realize I’m a Paladin, not a damned pincushion.” He begrudgingly held out his arm and let the tech apply a tourniquet.

  Jarvis thought maybe Jake could use a distraction. He held out Jake’s favorite laptop as a peace offering, knowing Jake spent most of his free time perfecting his dragon computer game. “Got time to do some research for me?”

  Jake winced as the needle went in, keeping his eyes firmly on Jarvis. “Got nothing but time. Doc Crosby says I’ll be here at least two more days until my legs are back in one piece. Why? What do you need?”

  Jarvis waited until the tech had left the room. Then he handed Jake the computer, snagged a chair, and straddled it, resting his arms on the back.

  “You might be too young to remember, but there used to be a Paladin here named Harvey Fletcher. He died about eighteen years ago. I need everything you can ferret out about him. No rush, though,” he added, noting the gray cast to Jake’s face.

  “Any special reason?” Jake let his head sag back against the pillow as if the effort to support it was too much. Having been dead the day before had that effect on a man.

  “I’m pretty sure that I found his son.”

  The announcement brought new life to Jake’s expression. “I’ll be damned. I thought you were out on mop-up.”

  “I was. Damned near ended up a permanent casualty, too. I thought I was facing one Other, but he’d brought along his fan club.”

  “Bad luck, that.” Jake didn’t need the details to know that it had been rough. “So how did you go from almost dying to finding a new recruit?”

  “A pair of dogs found me and raised hell until their owner came to investigate. She and her brother hauled me out of the river and up to their house. I woke up there this morning, tied down to the bed and all patched up.”

  “She?” Jake managed a half-hearted leer. “You have all the luck Jarvis. I wake up here getting poked with needles, while you have some beautiful woman fussing over you.”

  “I never said she was beautiful.” Although she definitely was.

  “She had to be better looking than Doc Crosby.” Jake frowned. “Wait a minute. How did she know to tie you down?”

  “I think she was going to call the sheriff when she found me, but saw my wounds starting to close up. She’s seen her brother do the same thing and knew I might not come back in control of myself. She took me in for the night to get some answers about the problems she’s been having with him.”

  Jake nodded. “It’s bad enough when you know what’s happening. I’ll bet it’s hell watching someone you love struggling to control untrained aggression. You gonna bring him in?”

  “Eventually. For now, I offered to start teaching the boy martial arts. I figure the sister doesn’t need to know that includes weapons training.”

  “So what do you want me to research? Seems like you’ve already got everything on track.”

  “I thought the boy might eventually like to know something about his father. Maybe even a picture if you can find one, something to help him feel connected to his father’s legacy. Their mother evidently took it pretty hard when Harvey disappeared, especially when she turned up pregnant and no man in sight.”

  “How old is the sister?”

  Jarvis pictured Gwen’s face in his mind. “I’d guess she’s got about ten years on her brother.” Which made her fifteen years younger than himself—and way too innocent for the dark violence that made up the world he lived in.

  What a damn shame.

  Something in his expression must have given his thoughts away because Jake was looking at him skeptically. “So you’re doing all of this for the brother, right?”

  Jarvis gave in and smiled. “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

  Jake laughed and then winced. “Damn, I keep forgetting how badly cracked ribs hurt. When are you going to see the boy again?”

  “Maybe in a couple of days. First I’m going to crash for a solid twenty-four hours before I set foot out of this place again.”

  The doors behind them swung open and their Handler walked in. “Ah, Mr. Donahue. I was wondering when I’d see you. I understand that you had a rough time of it.”

  “A few cuts and scratches, nothing too serious.” Anything short of dead wasn’t too bad.

  The doctor looked at him over the top of his reading glasses. “Right. Well, you hop right up there on the table next to Jake’s and let me be the judge of that.”

  Aw, hell. But there was no arguing with the medical staff. If he didn’t willingly offer himself up for the doctor’s inspection, the Handler would call for the guards to force the issue.

  Ignoring Jake’s smirk, Jarvis yanked off Chase’s shirt and let the doctor run through a cursory examination.

  “Someone did a good job cleaning up those cuts.”

  Jarvis gritted his teeth when the doctor hit a couple of sore spots. “I’ll pass along your compliments.”

  “Do that. Now go get some rest, and check back in a couple of days to make sure those two deep ones have healed up cleanly.”

  “Will do.” He hopped back down and pulled his shirt back on. “Hey, Doc, did you know a Paladin named Harvey Fletcher? Died about eighteen years ago?”

  The Handler frowned and then nodded. “Now there’s a name I haven’t thought of in a long time. He was a good man. Why do you ask?”

  “Someone mentioned his name the other day. I hadn’t been here all that long when he died.”

  Dr. Crosby stared up at the ceiling. “If I recall, he was permanently killed in some woods near here. I had just come on board as a Handler, but I remember everybody being pretty upset about his death. No one could figure out how it had happened.”

  He checked Jake’s chart. “I’m going to kick you out of here, Jarvis. Jake needs to sleep, and he won’t as long as you’re here. He doesn’t like to admit how close we came to losing him altogether.”

  Doc Crosby reached over and confiscated Jake’s laptop. “I’ll be keeping this until you look less like death warmed over.”

  Jake put up a token resistance. “Jarvis, remind me to program t
he dragon to eat the Doc.”

  “Careful, buddy. Remember those rusty needles Doc keeps for special occasions.”

  Jake frowned, but his eyes were already starting to close.

  Jarvis nodded. “Thanks for everything, Doc.”

  After Dr. Crosby disappeared into his office, Jarvis leaned down to whisper to his friend, “Jake, do you need anything?”

  Jake popped one eye back open. “By tomorrow I’ll be bored out of my wits. Come by if you get a chance, so I can beat you at chess.”

  “In your dreams, buddy, but it’s a deal. I might even sneak in some decent food.”

  “I heard that!” Dr. Crosby poked his head back out. “Make sure there’s enough for me, too, or I’ll restrict his diet and eat it anyway. Jake’s not the only one who gets tired of the stuff they serve around here.”

  “Will do, Doc. See you tomorrow, Jake.”

  “I’ll try to have something for you by then.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  Once he had Jake’s research and time to wash Chase’s shirt, he’d have all the excuse he needed to pay another call on the Moselys.

  Snapping beans allowed Gwen an excuse to sit on the screened-in porch for a much needed rest. She settled into her grandmother’s old rocker as Dozer flopped down in his favorite spot right under the ceiling fan. She smiled and reached out with her bare toes to rub his back. He groaned and rolled over to give her better access to his belly.

  “Silly dog. I’ve got better things to do than pet you.”

  That was true, but it didn’t stop her from giving him a good scratch and rub. He rewarded her with a quick slurp of his tongue before settling in for his afternoon nap.

  The dog had the right idea. It was too hot and muggy to do much moving around. She eyed the book she’d set on the table, then the bowl of beans. The vegetables won, but only barely. After finishing the beans, she would put them on to simmer and fix herself another glass of iced tea. Then she’d settle into the rocker and read. She could water the vegetable garden later.

  She fell into the easy rhythm of snapping the beans as she rocked. The fan kept the air moving enough to keep the heat bearable. Other than the beans, she’d planned a cold dinner of leftover fried chicken, potato salad, and sliced fruit.