by Bonnie Vanak
Ever since childhood, Kelly knew she was different. She sensed things more than ordinary Arcanes could. Fearful of alarming her father, Kelly had set out to learn on her own. She studied ancient texts forbidden to Arcanes, stealing away minutes in the vast Shaymore library under the pretense of dusting the shelves.
And in the library, she’d discovered that a few, very few, special Mages had the ability to discern a Mage who killed another merely to siphon his power, the first stage of transforming into a Dark Lord. These Mages could see a shimmering Death Mask, a skull with glowing yellow eyes, superimposed over a normal-looking face.
Exactly what she’d witnessed at the bar.
“But I can’t accept someone is stealing Phantom Mage children to gain their power. An Arcane, organizing other Arcanes to gain magick for a bigger purpose.”
“What?”
She dragged in a deep breath. “To gain power, and exterminate your people. All of them. A genocide.”
The stunned look on his face would have been comical if the subject wasn’t so grim.
Kelly’s fingers curled around her bottle of beer. “Now will you listen, really listen to me?”
Eyes narrowed, he leaned on the counter. “Spill it. Everything.”
“A few weeks ago, Sight Finders received an anonymous tip about the bodies of two Elemental Phantom Mages reported as missing. It had been assumed the women, who had been divorcing their husbands, were out having a wild time.”
“I remember Uncle Al telling me about it. The council made sure the bodies were taken away before human authorities were notified. They didn’t want mortals asking questions. The council investigated, concluded the women were drunk and careless,” Sam said.
“They didn’t tell you what condition the bodies were found in.”
Kelly fished out her wallet and withdrew a small photo print of two shrunken corpses. “They were sucked dry of their magick. We believe this was a first attempt at gaining power from Elementals.”
Blood drained from his face. “Where the hell did you get these?”
“The anonymous tipster sent them, along with the location of Billy Rogers.”
A muscle ticked in his hard jaw. “Even if this is true, there’s no way Arcanes would get close enough to kill us all.”
“Not unless they assumed the identity of someone who’s trusted, say the son of a U.S. senator who also sits on the Council of Mages.”
Sam drew in a sharp breath. “You think that’s why they kidnapped Billy. By killing him and assuming his Phantom powers, an Arcane could duplicate him and move freely about.”
“Yes. The Arcane can even duplicate his aura. There is no way to tell them apart. These rogue Arcanes are targeting children to imitate them and assume their places. Then they’d kill their parents and from there...”
Kelly set down the beer. “We believe they’re smuggling the kids out of the country. Billy told me he remembers his nanny coming into his room. Then he was drugged. Later, when he woke up, the nanny shifted into a man he didn’t recognize.”
“The kidnapper’s real form,” he mused.
“We suspect both Arcanes killed the Phantom women, stole their powers and then used the magick to shape-shift into other forms, one being Billy’s nanny. The real nanny is probably dead.”
“And the Arcane imitating the nanny was the one we took out on the island. Which means the other who stole the Phantom’s powers may still be out there,” he mused.
Picking up the sharp knife, Sam began to twirl it like a baton. Kelly watched this new skill with wary eyes. Seeing her expression, he set it down.
“If Arcanes are planning a mass extermination, why didn’t you alert the council?”
“And give them an excuse to round up my people like cattle?” Sam never knew the humiliation of having to show an ID card simply to enter a Mage store to buy healing herbs. Or being physically searched by Mage authorities, laughing as they shoved their hands between the legs of her jeans.
“We can’t trust them.”
Sam narrowed his eyes. “You’re hiding something, Kel.”
He knew her too well. Kelly hesitated. “It’s more complicated than a single kidnapping. The rogue Arcanes have a base in Honduras and someone is leading them. A staff member in my nonprofit’s Honduran office found nine Elemental children hidden in Tegus. Shortly after, he was shot and left for dead. Fernando thinks the children were being held until the leader of the rogue Arcanes arrives. And then they will be killed, their powers drained and their magick used to imitate your people.”
She paused. “The email said they plan to create a Dark Lord to lead them in exterminating all Elementals. You’ve got to stop them.” She could see the doubt tightening his face. She had to convince him to help her.
“You have to stop this before it turns into war between our people, Sam. You’re the only Elemental I can trust. I know how much you care about children.”
His steady gaze met hers. So calm and capable, but she saw despair in his eyes. Bad of her to play the child card, reminding him of his beloved little brother, but she was desperate.
“Please believe me,” she whispered. “Not for me, Sam, but for those innocent kids. Please help me save them.”
Coiled with tension, he stared at the wall. She saw the hardened warrior unleashed, the Mage who would override everything to keep innocents safe.
“I believe you’re telling the truth, as far as you know it.”
It wasn’t enough. If she couldn’t convince Sam, how could she convince anyone else?
Trembling, she sagged onto the bar stool. So fatigued, she felt the floodgates open, her tightly held emotions finally cresting in a huge wave.
Kelly buried her head in her hands to hide their shaking. But it got worse as she rocked back and forth on the stool.
“Easy now, Kel.” Two hands on her shoulders, holding her steady. He’d always held her steady when she needed him.
“I can’t stop...”
She began to hyperventilate. Sam tipped her head up, locking his gaze to hers.
“Look at me. Look. Easy now. Breathe slowly, long, deep. That’s it,” he encouraged. “Inhale...exhale. Follow the sound of my breaths.”
She did as he commanded, matching her breathing to his calm, even inhalations and exhalations. They breathed together as one—just as they had after making love. It was naive and sweetly romantic...
After a minute, the shaking ceased. She flexed her fingers, embarrassed at the loss of composure.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
A real smile touched his mouth. He thumbed her chin. “A little shakiness is nothing to be ashamed of.”
The slow stroke of his thumb brought a different weakness. Tendrils of desire shot through her blood.
As his gaze zeroed in on her mouth, her lips instinctively parted. A seductive glint danced in his eyes. Those beautiful, sleepy hazel eyes could coax her into anything. He could lure her into his bedroom with a mere glance.
A slow exhale of breath as he stared at her mouth. The want intensified into aching need. Kelly moistened her mouth, aware of his smoldering hunger. She leaned forward, her mind clouded with erotic promise.
Lifting her chin, she parted her lips as he lowered his head toward her.
She wanted his touch badly, wanted his strong arms encircling her in a comforting embrace that promised all would be well.
“I want to kiss you again, just like before, when we made love until we were both sweaty and exhausted and spent, and then did it all over again,” he said hoarsely.
Her gaze lifted to the silky strands of his hair she’d loved to run her fingers through. Sam stroked a single finger down her right cheek. Holding her hands out like a shield, Kelly stepped back. This hurt so much. “I can’t, Sam. Please.” Her voice crack
ed. “Don’t do this. We have too much between us. Let me have the memories of how it was. They’re all I have left of us.”
The moment shattered. This man had the power to hurt her badly. She had none. And eventually he would hurt her, because they no longer were on the same side.
His broad shoulders stiffened as he turned away. “What the hell do you want from me, Kelly?”
“Take your teammates and find the missing children before the Arcanes kill them. Stop the slaughter before it starts. Not for me, but for the innocents who will get hurt if this goes down.”
“I’ll notify my superior. Curt’s cool. He’s Mage and I trust him.”
Not good enough. “I trust you, Sam. Not some military commander who’s bound by regulations. You have influence.”
“My life’s with the team now. It’s not just me, Kelly. It’s all of my team. I have to follow orders.” Cool, clipped words from a man who’d turned from fire into ice.
“You never did before. You were a maverick,” she whispered. “What happened?”
White bracketed the lines of his full mouth. “Your father.”
Silence draped between them. Kelly’s chest felt tight. “I can’t undo what happened, Sam. I wish I could. All I can do is go forward and try to eliminate future threats.”
Sam turned toward the window. “You have proof? The email?”
“It’s back at my office. All I have is my word. And what I know.” She touched her cheek, still warm from his touch.
“I’ll do what I can.”
The military had entrenched Sam in order and discipline. A knife twisted inside her heart. Her former lover was distant and aloof, as if they’d never known each other.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “It’s a risk for you, and I appreciate it.”
Sam stared out the kitchen window. “If this is running as deep as you say, you’re walking into a minefield. They labeled you a child snatcher and broadcast your photo. Perfect fodder to draw away attention from the real threat. It’s standard battle strategy. Your enemy finds a weak spot and strikes.”
A terrible suspicion surfaced. “Can I use your computer?”
The paneled, elegant study featured an array of complicated electronic equipment. After Sam powered up the PC, Kelly pulled up the Facebook page for Sight Finders. Her throat went dry as sand. Sam bent over to see the screen and muttered a curse.
“They didn’t waste time.”
Postings on the wall included hateful messages claiming Kelly’s nonprofit was a front for child smuggling. She turned away, sucked in a trembling breath and fumbled for her cell.
Carl, her director, was brief. “Jesus, Kelly, they’ve launched a war against us. The whole damn government is seizing our files, taking our hard drives, saying we’re child traffickers.”
He lowered his voice. “They took your laptop. They claim our office in Honduras is a front for smuggling children and selling them.”
Her mouth dry, she managed to ask, “Did you get an IP address on the anonymous email?”
“Some internet café in D.C. I locked away the hard copy of the email. But what does it matter? No one will believe us.”
Heart pounding, she spat out the emergency phrase. “The wolf’s in the barn.”
Carl would alert the others, and they’d go deep underground.
She thumbed off the phone and looked at Sam. “Got a disposal in that nice kitchen of yours? I have to get rid of this phone before they use it to track me down.”
Sam took the cell, flipped it into the fireplace and flung out his hands. A burst of white energy shattered the phone and ignited the logs.
She gave a shaky grin. “A fire. Very cozy and romantic. Wish I could stay, but I’m afraid if they find me here, it’ll ruin the mood.”
Sam followed her into the kitchen as she grabbed her pack. “I’m the target of a witch hunt.”
“No, you’re the target of a Mage hunt.” He rubbed a hand over his chin, lines of tension bracketing his mouth. “Look, Kel, lie low. Stay out of sight.”
“I promised my team I’d get those kids out of Honduras. I won’t break a promise.”
Sam touched her cheek. “I don’t break promises, either. And I made one to you, long ago. I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe, Kelly Denning. You know what they’ll do to you.”
His jaw tensed to granite.
She knew what he meant. The gray, lonely asylum where many Arcanes had been confined...those thought to be seditious and deemed a danger to Mage society. Locked away behind bars...
Never. I’ll die first.
“Your team can save them, Sam. Talk to your commander, have him send a team of SEALs to rescue the children.”
His expression shuttered. “He’d have to go through proper channels and first determine Elemental children are missing.”
Red tape, delays. “It would take too long.”
“There are rules. We have to work within the system.” Sam lightly gripped her shoulders. “I’m more concerned about you.”
She was alone. Kelly’s throat tightened.
“I don’t need you to take care of me. I need you to convince your superiors of the truth.”
Someone banged hard on the front door. Kelly jumped. Blue and red lights flashed outside, stroking over the bushes and the house next door. He muttered a curse.
“I knew Tom wouldn’t let this go.”
Another hard pounding. “Chief Shaymore, open up,” a deep voice called out. “I’m with the security division of the Council of Mages. We need to question you about Kelly Denning.”
Sam snagged a set of keys from a peg in the kitchen. “I’ll hold them off. Take the trail in the woods out back. It leads to a side road. We have a car stashed for emergencies. Get on the interstate and don’t stop. Stay at a friend’s house and stay low until the political burn wears off.”
She took the keys, her fingers brushing his. “Thanks, Sam. But you know I can’t stay low. If you won’t help me, I’ll go it alone to Honduras. If there’s a chance they’re still alive, I’ll take it.”
He turned away, his broad shoulders a brick wall. “Don’t leave the country, Kelly. Because if they send me after you, I will be forced to do what I must.”
A man filled with resolve, his deep voice stating every word with hard conviction. Kelly drew in a breath.
“Stay safe, Sam.” The knife in her heart twisted hard. “Don’t come after me unless you plan to help. Because I will be forced to do what I must.”
As he went to the front door, she slipped out the back, heading into the cover of night. Putting distance between the man she’d once loved fiercely, and feeling the aching regret that they’d lost something precious and wonderful. She wouldn’t make that mistake twice.
Never again.
Chapter 5
Leaving the country when you were a suspected kidnapper was easy enough, if you were a Mage who could shape-shift.
Homeland Security took a look at her fake passport, glanced at the gray-haired woman with the sour face, and nodded her through. No Mages stalked her. The flight was uneventful, aside from the landing. Years of travel to Honduras had conditioned her to the wild corkscrew landings the skilled pilots executed to avoid the rugged mountains ringing Tegucigalpa.
After getting her luggage from the crowded carousel, she headed for the restroom and used magick to change back her appearance.
Kelly inserted the international SIM card she’d bought into her cell phone and made a call to the Council of Mages. A bored man answered.
“This is Kelly Denning. I’m in Honduras. Tell those stuffed shirts if they want me, they’ll have to get off their fat butts and find me.”
Envisioning his stunned look, she laughed and thumbed off the connection.
When Sam’s team arrived, she’d convince them to find the missing children. The SEALs stood as the only neutral force able to stop a full-scale war between Elementals and Arcanes.
Risking her life was worth it to save those of her people, and Sam’s.
Weighing the cell in her palm, she considered the gamble. What if they simply chose to haul her back to the States? Brought her into Mage custody, where she’d suffer an “accident?” Oops, didn’t mean to discharge enough power to fry a city block.
Sam wouldn’t allow it. Another gamble.
Nausea boiled in her throat. Once he’d been insouciant and spontaneous. Now he’d turned into a man she no longer recognized.
A blast of humid air encased her as she went outside. The warm breeze ruffled her turquoise silk shirt and teased tendrils of hair escaping her ponytail. Kelly flagged down a cab and gave precise directions in Spanish.
The black-haired driver looked at her. “Señorita? You sure you want that house, that neighborhood?”
“Positive.”
As he pulled into traffic, he glanced in the mirror, his dark gaze somber. “It is dangerous there. Even for one filled with magick.”
Kelly went still. The driver pulled down his shirt collar. His skin had been branded with a dark red circle with a slash through it.
The mark of an Arcane branded for subversion.
“You’re one of us,” the driver whispered. “I sensed it when you asked to visit that neighborhood. Many Arcanes live there.”
Not letting down her guard, she shrugged. “I know someone there. A friend.”
“You are one of us.”
At a red light, he turned. “You need not be afraid. Are you here to find refuge? Many of our people have moved here to hide.”
“I’m here to visit a friend,” she repeated.
The man’s mouth flattened. “Elementals have pushed our people into dark and dangerous corners. No place is safe from their influence. One day we will be free from their kind, and they will know the same suffering they forced upon us.”
Seditious talk, the type that landed Arcanes in prison. She hesitated.
“It’s misguided to judge an entire race by the actions of a few and ignore the ones who are kind, good and courageous.”