Ana blotted her eyes with a damp tissue that was quickly growing tattered. “Please sit down.” Somehow, being around Mace soothed her. His aura was so warm and loving, and Ana was desperate for his nearness. The tenderness and concern in his dark blue eyes was her undoing, and she began to speak in fits and starts.
“I—I went to find out about myself in there.”
“The orphanage.” He removed his hand from her shoulder. Ana straightened, blotted her eyes again and fought back her tears. Mace removed a linen handkerchief from his back pocket. “Here,” he told her, handing it to her, “it looks like you could use a new one.”
Their fingers met. Mace felt cool, beautiful green energy flowing up his arm that, surprisingly, slid right into his heart. Of all things! Shocked over this development, he quickly drew back his hand. He hadn’t expected that kind of energy from Ana. After all, she was evil personified. Confused, he realized he needed to have time alone to assess what the hell was going on here, because it made no sense, in light of his training.
“Th-thank you,” Ana whispered, again blotting her eyes. Her tears were stopping, her stomach began to unknot. She knew it had to do with Mace, with his nurturing, healing presence. She gave him a searching look and almost asked, Do you know how healing you are? But she didn’t. He was practically a stranger. But he had been an orphan, too. Buoyed by their shared experience, Ana felt she could confide in him.
“Oh, Mace, it was awful!” The words came tearing out of her. She told him the whole story—about having the “evil” birthmark on the back of her neck, about where she came from. When she’d finished her story, she moved her thick black hair aside and turned her back to him. “Do you see that sun birthmark? Here, on my neck?” she asked.
Mace’s eyes narrowed speculatively. No question, she had the Tupay, the Dark Forces, symbol. “Yes, I see it.” He feigned ignorance. “But what does it mean to you? Do you know what it’s all about?”
Miserably, Ana allowed her hair to fall back across her shoulders, hiding the chocolate-colored birthmark once more. “No. My adoptive parents thought it might be significant, but they didn’t know how. And when Mother Bernadette said it was a symbol of ultimate evil, well, I…” Ana took in a deep, ragged breath. “I couldn’t believe it, Mace. I just couldn’t.”
“What kind of evil?” He opened his sack lunch and pulled out a peanut butter sandwich.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to believe I’m evil. She said the Quero people have many legends and stories about the sun birthmark.” Ana gazed at him intently. “I’m not evil. My adoptive parents are kind, good people. They do a lot of charity work. They give half their money away to others, to help them have better lives. They raised me to have strong morals and values.
I know right from wrong. I don’t lie, cheat, steal or do things intentionally to hurt others.” Ana opened her hands and stared down at them. “I couldn’t hurt a fly. I won’t even step on a bug or a spider in my home. I capture them in a little glass and release them outside.”
Mace offered her half his sandwich. “How long has it been since you last ate?”
Wiping her eyes one more time, Ana said brokenly, “Last night, I guess. In Miami. I stayed at a hotel for a few hours before catching the flight to Lima today.”
“You’d better eat then,” Mace urged her softly. He intended to make friends with her. The cosmos had designed this meeting, and he was going to take full advantage of it.
Reluctantly, Ana took his proffered half sandwich. She was deeply touched by his compassion toward her, his generosity.
“I don’t feel hungry at all. My stomach’s been tied in knots the size of a baseball until a few minutes ago.”
“It would be upsetting to have someone say you were evil,” Mace agreed, chewing his half of the sandwich. Out of the corner of his eye, he studied Ana’s profile. She stared down at the food, her lower lip trembling. The energy around her was still that of shock mixed with grief and disbelief. How could she not know she was the Daughter of Darkness? That confounded him, and bothered him. Still, invisible to all but Mace, his jaguar guide sat next to the bench and confirmed that she was the one.
Giving an explosive laugh, more of relief than anything else, Ana said, “No one has ever accused me of being evil. Not ever. I’ve devoted my life to helping Mother Earth. My adoptive parents are Eastern Cherokee. They raised me with a love of our Mother.” She swept her hand toward the grass in front of her. “They taught me to honor and revere her. When I finished high school, I went to college and got a master’s degree in wildlife biology. My life is about helping to create a jaguar preserve in Belize. I work with other like-minded people and organizations who love these beautiful animals. The jaguars are threatened, and if we don’t create safe places for them, they will disappear, too—like so many other animals disappearing right now.”
Mace was stunned. “You love jaguars?”
Ana felt his sudden intense interest. How stabilizing Mace’s energy was to her. She even felt a little hungry. Biting into the sandwich, she nodded. “I’ve been jaguar crazy since my adoptive parents brought me home from Cuzco to where they live in Camp Verde, Arizona. The cats are so beautiful, so incredibly wild, natural and graceful. I just can’t get enough of them.”
Stymied, Mace worked to conceal his reaction to this new, surprising piece of information. The Daughter of Darkness should hate jaguars, not love them. Such was her nature, Mace had been taught. Spiritually speaking, the jaguars of the world were aligned with the Warriors for the Light, and served them on the front lines, helping to battle the evil of the Dark Lord and his hundreds of thousands of other sorcerers.
“My parents raised millions of dollars to create a sanctuary for them in Camp Verde, near Sedona. I work there. We take in jaguars who have been injured, try to restore them to health, and release them back wherever they came from.” Ana smiled faintly as she held Mace’s intense stare. “We do a lot of research, and I work with many biologists in Central and South America. We try to persuade each country to create wonderful, large preserves for jaguars, such as Belize has. A lot of the work I do is with the cats themselves. I’m not a veterinarian, but I’m often in the surgery room with our vets when they operate on one.”
Ana felt better just talking about her other world. “I’m more of a field researcher, Mace. I spent two years in Belize tracking five jaguars. I wrote a book on my experiences called Jaguar Eden.” Ana smiled more widely as she felt his keen interest. “My book became an instant bestseller, much to my publisher’s surprise. People loved the stories I wrote about the jaguars. It has been reprinted five times and translated into sixteen languages.”
Wiping her mouth with the handkerchief Mace had given her, Ana added, “Everyone who reads my book seems to fall in love with jaguars. And every person that does will want to protect and preserve them. I hope every reader writes to their government, or to officials in Latin American countries, and pleads with them to create more preserves for the cats. Jaguars are just too magnificent to lose. I would die, literally die, if they disappeared off the earth. I couldn’t stand the thought of that happening.”
Not exactly words that Mace had thought he’d ever hear from the Daughter of Darkness. After finishing his sandwich, he pulled out an apple. He reached for the Swiss Army knife clipped onto a belt loop and cut the fruit in half.
Ana had finished her part of the sandwich, too. Mace knew she had to be hungry despite the shock of finding out who she really was. Or, a small voice niggled, was this all a very good act on her part? Did Ana know who he was? That he was setting her up as a decoy to get to her father? Mace knew too well that a master sorcerer could take on a very unassuming personality, cloak his or her aura, and project an entirely different facade—so people never saw evil coming until it was too late.
Ana could be setting him up, too. Mace knew that people aligned with the darkness would kill a Warrior for the Light without a second thought—for they were archenemies.
“Thanks,” she murmured, taking the apple from his hand. “I guess I was more hungry than I thought. It’s very kind of you to share your lunch with me, Mace.”
“Hey, that’s what orphans do for one another. We take care of each other, because we had no one in the beginning take care of us.” Well, that was all lies on his part, because Mace had never been orphaned. But the falsehood gave them something in common. Such a link would create trust with her.
As Mace watched her nibble on the apple, he wondered if Ana was lying about her work, too. It would be easy enough to check out on the Internet what she had told him about the jaguar preserve in Camp Verde. Now that she had revealed herself, Mace would get other Warriors for the Light to find out just how truthful this woman was—or wasn’t. He assumed her cover story was a disguise to make him think she was just an ordinary human. Which she was not. She was an interdimensional being with powers well beyond what most people dreamed of, and beyond most Warriors for the Light.
Mace knew he had to tread carefully, remain on constant guard with her. Yet the softness of her face, the vulnerable look in her emerald eyes, all conspired to tell him differently. She had to know who she was no matter what she was projecting right now. Ana was a consummate actress, and damned if she wasn’t convincing as hell. Mace found himself wanting to believe her entire story. But it had to be lies. It had to be….
“I need to get to the train station here in Cuzco,” Ana told Mace after she’d finished the apple. Wiping her hands, she said, “Do you know where it is? I want to go to Aguas Calientes. Mother Bernadette said Juan Sanchez, the farmer who found me, lives near that town. I need to ask him questions.” Ana watched Mace’s face. He seemed deep in thought as he placed the apple core in the paper sack and folded it.
“Funny enough,” he told her, smiling, “I’m going to Aguas Calientes tomorrow morning. Why don’t you let me get us tickets? I can ride with you, show you the ropes, and also get you a hotel reservation for while you’re down there.” Mace hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “The Liberator Hotel is right here. Best five-star hotel in Cuzco. I’ll walk you over there now and you can get a room for the night, get some rest. I know you’ve got to be exhausted.”
Ana felt the weight lifting off her shoulders. She found herself wanting to throw her arms around this helpful, capable man. “That’s a wonderful idea, Mace. Yes, I should find a hotel room. I need a shower. I’m so tired, gutted, really. Some downtime to think and sleep would be great.” She almost told him about the man she saw in her vision. The one who’d said he was her father. As she darted a glance at her benefactor’s ruggedly handsome face, she thought better of saying anything. Mace would probably think she was crazy. She didn’t want to risk losing his support right now with such an admittance. Even he would have limits on what he could believe.
But who was that bearded man in black? He seemed so gentle and warm, so sincere about being her father. Was she somehow inventing all this because she was so desperate to know who her parents were? Ana wasn’t sure. And she was too exhausted emotionally to make sense of it.
Rising, Mace placed his hand beneath her elbow and helped her stand. “Maybe, if you feel rested by this evening, I’ll come over and take you to dinner. There’s a nice little restaurant, La Retama, just off the plaza. I’d like to hear more about your jaguar research.” By that time, he would have the goods on Ana Rafael. His contacts at a secret company in Chesieres, Switzerland, all Warriors for the Light, would quickly confirm her story, one way or another. The facility had been put in place a century ago to monitor Dark Forces movements. It was the only organization of its type, and one that all Warriors for the Light contacted if they had questions or problems. It was better than nothing, although Mace desperately wished his parents were alive to answer his questions about Ana and her energy signature. He was sure what she’d told him was lies, but at least his contacts in Europe would be able to research her story and confirm what he already knew—that she was the Daughter of Darkness.
Ana fell into step with Mace as they set off across the plaza. More people were spilling from the buildings now. Students from the nearby university lay in the green grass, eating their lunches. Older, retired people strolled by.
Suddenly, Ana felt lighter. Hope filled her and erased some of her initial dismay over the morning’s discoveries. She enjoyed walking with Mace, being with him.
Sometimes, by accident, their hands would brush. Each contact soothed her aching heart and hurting soul. Did he realize the power he had to heal her?
Ana looked up at his strong profile. She had to know more. But when she sent out an energy thread to touch his aura, it was met by a hard, unyielding shield.
Though she was mystified, Ana was too tired to ask why he was so protected. Oh, she understood many people “armored up” like this. Particularly sensitive, psychic people, and maybe Mace was like that. His shield was up simply to protect himself from the sounds of the city and the crowds of people. Ana didn’t like a city environment, either. She preferred the jungle, where she was alone, except for her beautiful gold-and-black jaguars.
“I have your business card,” she told him as they crossed the wide cobblestone avenue and headed toward the multistory hotel. “May I call you around quitting time? If I’m feeling better, I’d love to have dinner with you.”
Mace gave her a dazzling smile. “I’d like that, Ana. I think we have a lot more in common than you realize….”
Chapter 5
Victor was unhappy. As he sat in his office, he reflected on what had happened. He’d journeyed to see his estranged daughter, had offered her an olive branch, hoping for peace between them, and she’d rejected it. Well, where did that leave him? She seemed very distraught. Did she remember the past? If so, it meant she remembered everything. No wonder she’d pushed him away.
Moistening his lips, he looked down at his folded hands. The universe was playing a cosmic joke on him. He was the most powerful sorcerer in this world and the Other Worlds, and yet he couldn’t forge a connection with Ana, his daughter by his first marriage.
What to do? Stroking his goatee, Victor didn’t try to avoid the pain in his heart. Ana was of his loins. She was his daughter even if she looked too much like her mother. The clincher had been when he saw the Tupay symbol on her neck, as she sat alone and crying in the Plaza de Armas. He’d seen that she’d just visited the orphanage. What had that old bitch of a nun told her? Victor chided himself for not journeying earlier, when his parrot spirit guide informed him that Ana had reached Cuzco. Fidelia had accidentally burned her hand on the stove while baking him his favorite cake, a chocolate torte, at that very moment.
Victor couldn’t just tear downstairs to his inner sanctum and journey when his wife was in tears, her hand blistered and red. It pained him to see his wife in such anguish, and he’d tended her burns gently and thoroughly. Afterward, he’d come down to the office to find Ana.
Rubbing his chest, Victor knew he couldn’t give up. She was his daughter! And there was no reason for her to be alone. Victor wondered who her adoptive parents were and where they lived. Perhaps now he could find out. Energy trails lasted only so long in the Other Worlds and would disappear within twenty-four hours. He’d only been able to trace her to Miami, Florida.
Shaking his head, he let out a frustrated sigh and stood up. He’d try again later and go into her dreams tonight. Perhaps he could succeed in making peace with her. How could any daughter turn away from her father? Victor found that an unfathomable question. And a thorny dilemma.
Ana tossed and turned restlessly in the strange bed, the sounds of
the city intruding. Even as she slept, her dreams were vivid and colorful. She burrowed her head into the feather pillow and found her pleasant dream suddenly fading. In its place was the man she’d seen yesterday, while she was in the plaza, crying.
Moaning, Ana turned onto her back, the sheets tangling around her legs. An alarm sounded deep within her and she went on guard. The man with the black-and-silver beard was dressed in dark clothes. His narrow, lined face became clear as he drew closer; his expression one of hope. In his hand was the olive branch, which he held out to her again.
Dear, sweet daughter of mine, I am your father. Do not be afraid. I love you. I’m so glad you have come to your true home. Can I not stay and just chat with you, my darling girl?
His low, mellow voice filled her head. Ana wanted to scream but couldn’t.
Stay where you are! Don’t come any closer to me!
Victor nodded and halted. He saw the terror in her glorious green eyes. Jaguar eyes, just like those of her dead mother. Very well. I’m not here to frighten you, Ana. I only want to reintroduce myself to you. Thank you for allowing me to talk with you.
Ana couldn’t explain why she didn’t like him. Her body just froze when he appeared. How could he be her father when he felt so threatening? It didn’t make sense.
What do you want? she responded. And how do I know you’re really my father? You could be nothing more than a nightmare. I’ve seen you so many times before, your face haunting my dreams. I would wake up screaming and crying. A real father doesn’t make his daughter feel like that.
Gently, Victor opened his hand. Ah, my darling daughter, you perceive my “haunting” you as bad. I only sought to find you. I lost track of you after your mother died. I was beside myself when you suddenly disappeared. I did search for you, Ana. Everywhere in the world, every night in my dreams, I would hunt for you. I would call your name. I would cry in the morning when I awoke because you never answered. Victor reached out in supplication. I am your father, dearest. You are my flesh and blood. He touched his heart and gave her a beseeching look. I’m so sorry I frightened you. I’m not so adept at dreamtime travel and I probably scared you instead of reassuring you that I loved you, missed you and wanted you back in my life.
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