Lightbringer

by Frankie Robertson

  “Thank you for coming so promptly,” Crandall said, surprising Dave again with his courtesy. Crandall opened the door to a book-lined library and gestured for Dave to precede him.

  Two steps into the room, the hair on Dave’s neck pricked in warning. A carefully drawn pentagram filled the center of the floor, with the nearest section of the circle still open. An altar covered in red satin sported a collection of black candles, a three-ring binder, and a sharp looking knife. What the fuck? He spun, ready to demand answers. He had just enough time to recognize the Taser X-26C in Crandall’s hand before fifty thousand volts scrambled every nerve impulse in his brain. Every muscle in Dave’s body spasmed, and he toppled over, rigid, unable to stop his fall.

  “I just about dropped my teeth when Morgan said that,” Cassie said using one of her grandmother’s expressions. “I guess he has a sense of humor after all.”

  She sat cross-legged on Linda’s sofa, facing her. There was obviously no guarantee of safety at the hotel, so Cassie had agreed to go home with Linda, despite being offered a suite at the hotel’s expense. Jared had offered to put both of them up at his house, but Linda had flat-out refused.

  Jared and Gideon were outside, installing motion-sensing lights. Linda wasn’t a gardener, and had opted for a crushed granite and cactus xeriscape yard. With the lights, there’d be no way for an attacker to get close without being spotted. The two men had insisted on keeping an eye on the women, since the police didn’t have the manpower to guard them 24/7, not since the budget cuts. Cassie had no idea what Jared and Gideon could do against a determined killer, but she still felt better knowing the two men were near so they could protect Linda if Cassie’s vision came true.

  Linda switched on a light to fight the growing darkness. “So does Morgan believe you and Jared are psychic?”

  Cassie shrugged. “He doesn’t want to, but before he left he told me he’d called his wife on the way over to the house. She had just a minute before found out she’d been offered tenure at the university.”

  Linda’s eyes gleamed. “So you have another convert.”

  “Maybe. It’s hard for guys like Morgan to accept things like psychic ability, and there are plenty of fakers out there that make the rest of us look bad. He may still find a way to explain it away.”

  Edgar jumped up and walked over Cassie’s legs and into Linda’s lap. Her friend stiffened and pulled her hands back.

  “Sorry. They always know who’s allergic.” Cassie apologized as she pulled Edgar away from her friend. “Thanks for letting me bring him.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Linda waved her hand dismissively. “How did Jared handle the interview?”

  “He wanted to protect me. I’m surprised Morgan didn’t go up in flames the way Jared was glaring at him.”

  “No surprise there,” Linda said. “The man wants you.”

  Cassie remembered the banked desire she’d felt in Jared, and the way heat curled in the pit of her stomach when they touched.

  “Ooh, and you want him!”

  Cassie’s face heated. Linda giggled at her.

  Linda sobered and put a hand on Cassie’s knee. She glanced toward the back of the house, but the men were still outside. “Be careful, Cass. We only just met these guys. Jared’s hot, and he probably saved your life, but it all seems a little too coincidental to me.”

  Cassie felt an unexpected need to defend Jared. “I thought of that too, but he let me read him. He didn’t have to. He has this incredible barrier, but he let me in, a little anyway. I don’t know everything about him, and I had my doubts at first, but he’s a stand up guy, Linnie. I’m sure of it. I trust him.”

  Her friend’s doubt was written on her face.

  Cassie picked at the nubby upholstery. “I’ve never been very good at describing this. I know he’s honest. I know he wants to protect me. I know it like my own name.”

  Linda bit her lips.

  Cassie put her hand on her friend’s and felt her worry and reluctance. “What?”

  “I’m sorry, but…you thought you knew Andy, too,” she said in a small tight voice.

  Cassie drew her hand away. Linda was right. And wrong. Cassie flushed and her throat grew tight. Andy and what he’d done had been on her mind a lot in the last twenty-four hours. For four years she’d blamed him for what she’d suffered, and he deserved that blame. He’d hurt her, but he couldn’t have done it without her help. She hated admitting that, but she had to face it. “I…it wasn’t my gift that betrayed me back then.”

  “I know. Andy—”

  “No. I mean, yes, Andy betrayed my trust, but I let him. He was so freaked when I told him I was psychic, I thought I’d never see him again. When he called me the next day, I promised never to read him. I should have known better. But I thought I loved him, and that he loved me.”

  “You dope.” Linda’s tone was sympathetic.

  Cassie nodded her agreement. “That’s why I didn’t know what he was going to do until it was too late.”

  Linda’s brows drew down. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? I’m your best friend. I would have understood.”

  Cassie gave Linda a wry smile. “You would have scolded me for being so stupid.”

  Linda opened her mouth, but Cassie stopped her with an upraised finger. “You know you would. And you would have been right, too, but I couldn’t take that then. I was too hurt. Too embarrassed.”

  “I hate Andy,” Linda said.

  Me too. Jared clenched his fists, listening to Cassie and Linda’s conversation from around the corner. Anger rushed over him in a hot wave. Andy had effectively asked Cassie to walk around with her eyes closed, just so he could trip her. What had that bastard done? It had something to do with cameras, given Cassie’s reaction to the bugs last night.

  Jared stepped back, then opened and closed the door noisily. “Gideon is finishing up with the last of the lights,” he said, striding into the living room. “They’ll come on if anyone comes within fifty feet of your house.”

  “I wouldn’t have pegged Gideon as the handyman type,” Linda said, turning on another table lamp. The room had become gloomy as twilight progressed into night.

  Jared laughed. “I’ve taught him everything he knows.”

  The phone rang. Linda went into the bedroom to answer it. “I’m okay, baby,” he heard her say before she shut the door.

  “That must be Greg,” Cassie observed. “She couldn’t get through to him earlier when she called.”

  Jared forced himself to meet Cassie’s eyes so he wouldn’t run his gaze over her curves. She’d changed into jeans and a blue V-necked sweater that made her green eyes sparkle like the clear Caribbean off Grand Cayman Island’s Seven Mile Beach. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching for her. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded and unfolded her legs to stand up. “Except for a few scrapes and bruises. Thanks to you.”

  “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

  “Uh huh.” Cassie stretched her arms over her head, the action raising the edge of her sweater and revealing a couple inches of creamy skin.

  Jared couldn’t look away.

  Cassie lowered her arms and stepped around the coffee table. He ought to step back. Maintain the usual comfort zone distance. But he couldn’t do it. His feet felt rooted to the floor. Worse, he wanted to draw her closer, slip his fingers along the smooth skin above her waistband that he knew would feel petal soft.

  Jared tensed as she put her hand on his arm, holding his mental barrier firm.

  “I don’t know why you’d want to complicate your life with my problems, but I’m grateful. If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be dead right now. Thanks.”

  Cassie stood on tiptoe and kissed the corner of his mouth.

  Jared couldn’t help himself. He turned to meet her fully. Her lips were soft and sweet as he teased them with his tongue. The tingle of contact effervesced through his blood like fine champagne. Cassie must have
felt it too, because she made a little mewl of delight as she opened her mouth, taking him inside. Electric fire ran through him, zinging down to his toes and fingertips. Without thought, his arms rose and pulled her closer. Bad idea. Bad idea. A voice in his head rang like a warning claxon, but he wasn’t listening.

  She softened against him, playfully meeting his tongue with her own, twining her fingers into his hair. Jared’s body jumped to attention, and his shaft thickened. He gathered her in, sinking into the warm surface of her mind. Her soul was beautiful, and it danced with a startled passion that delighted him. He fed her his own hunger in return as he slipped his hands under her sweater. She shivered, but didn’t pull away. Her soft skin delighted his touch, inflaming his desire. His hands roamed over her back and around her side so he could sweep a thumb over the smooth lacy cup of her bra. Her nipple rose under his caress and she nipped at his lip, then sucked it into the moist heat of her mouth.

  He wanted her, body and soul. He started to draw her into himself, when suddenly she went rigid in his arms, gasping for breath.

  Damn me! His control must have slipped. What was I thinking? How much of his true self had she seen? Then a wave struck, and Cassie’s vision enveloped him.

  A man in black slipped through the night. Shadows wrapped themselves around him, maleficent intent flowing from him like a fountain of hate. Linda’s kitchen. Himself. Gideon. A blur of violence. Pain. Blood.

  Jared blinked Linda’s living room back into focus as Cassie went limp and drew in a deep shuddering breath. He held her tight, grieving that her heart had been touched by that darkness.

  A darkness he recognized.

  Cassie stared at him, her eyes wide and frightened. Her mouth worked, but the only word she strangled out was, “Aelziroth.”

  CHAPTER 7

  CASSIE’S LEGS TREMBLED as she stepped back from Jared. She was grateful for his steadying grip on her forearms, but when she searched his face she received another shock. “You saw it too! You saw my vision with me!” His expression was full of grim recognition. “You know him. Who is that guy?”

  “He’s dangerous, and he’s coming here.”

  “No shit, Sherlock!” She’d never felt anyone so incredibly cold and angry and inhuman as the man in her vision. Her stomach churned. “I feel sick.”

  “There’s no time for that now.” Jared steered her through Linda’s bedroom door. He ignored Linda’s startled, “Hey!” as he took the phone from her and said, “Greg, Linda will call you back,” then hung up.

  “Who do you think you—” Linda began, but Jared overrode her.

  “We’ve got to go. Now.”

  Exterior lights flashed on outside the curtained windows.

  Gideon shouted from another room. “Trouble’s coming! We—”

  A crash that sounded like a wall coming down reverberated through the house.

  Fear stole Cassie’s breath, and she gripped Jared’s hand tightly. Linda’s eyes flew wide.

  “Shit!” Jared glanced at the window as if gauging it as an escape route, then pulled them toward the closet. “Get in. Stay down. Stay quiet.”

  The phone started ringing. The old-fashioned tone sounded like an alarm.

  “What? Wait!” Cassie’s vision of the future was swirling into the present, confusing things in a way she hadn’t experienced since high school.

  But Jared didn’t wait. He shut the door on them, leaving them in the dark. He must have turned out the bedroom light and shut that door too, because not even a sliver of light showed beneath the door.

  Cassie’s first instinct was to follow Jared, but Linda gripped her arm.

  “What’s going on?”

  The hate-infused vision swam before Cassie’s eyes. Dread filled her, weighing her down like a lead apron. “Something bad,” she whispered.

  The house was old and the closet small and tight. Hanging clothes cocooned them. Cassie wrapped her arms around Linda as another crash shook the walls. Small hairs lifted from her skin as nausea suddenly washed over her.

  Linda whimpered. “Oh my God! What—?”

  “Shush!” Cassie whispered, holding her friend tighter.

  “Aelziroth!” A man shouted. Cassie couldn’t tell if it was Jared or Gideon.

  What kind of name was that? Aelziroth? She hadn’t seen his face, but Jared had recognized him. Why was he coming here? Was he the one who’d bugged her place? He couldn’t be. She hadn’t sensed anything like him at her house.

  Cassie’s nausea receded abruptly as if a wall of strength had suddenly been erected around her.

  A burst of sound, like popping champagne corks, a scream of pain, another crash that sounded like a piece of furniture had been thrown. A roar of rage.

  “My house!” Linda squeaked.

  “Shhh!”

  Cassie’s stomach lurched, and she swallowed the acrid bile down. Someone was shouting, but she didn’t understand the words. Her skin tingled like a thousand pricking needles. She couldn’t stay here, just listening, waiting for someone to save her or kill her, trapped in a closet with no escape. This was her life they were fighting for. She had to do something.

  “Stay here,” Cassie whispered, her lips against Linda’s ear.

  Linda’s arms tightened around her. “You can’t go out there!”

  Cassie pulled free of her friend’s grasp, then held Linda’s hands in her own. “I have to,” she whispered. “And I have a feeling you’re safer here without me. You’ll be okay.”

  Another wave of nausea nearly doubled her over, but it was quickly followed by that push of strength that cleared it away. Cassie eased the closet door open and slipped out, closing it softly behind her with a tiny click of the latch.

  “She’s here!” an unfamiliar male voice shouted.

  The laugh that followed sent a blade of fear down Cassie’s spine.

  The sounds intensified as the struggle lurched closer. Cassie groped her way over to Linda’s dresser and picked up the heavy ironwood statue of the Indian goddess Durga, the multi-armed demon slayer. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it would have to do. She opened the bedroom door a sliver.

  The air crackled with a sizzling energy that pulsed through her, squeezing her heart and stopping her breath. The living room was a shambles. Lamps lay on the floor, casting crazy shadows. She could just barely see Gideon down on the carpet beyond the sofa. The man from her vision had his back to her. Aelziroth. Whoever that was. Dressed all in black, like some kind of ninja, he had Jared in a headlock, choking him. Cassie didn’t hesitate. She rushed forward and brought the many-armed statue down on Aelziroth’s head with all her strength.

  The blow rocked Jared’s attacker forward. One of Durga’s scimitars sliced the man’s scalp under his crew cut. Blood darkened the side of his head and he swore, but he didn’t loosen his hold on Jared’s throat. He just turned to Cassie with a smile so full of malice it froze her blood. A shock of recognition hit her. The man was Dave, from the restaurant. And yet it wasn’t. There was something essentially different about him.

  Jared reached back and put a thumb in Dave’s eye. With a scream, he sprang back and clapped a hand over the socket Jared had gouged. Jared coughed raggedly, then straightened, holding a sword gleaming with white light.

  Where did that come from? Cassie barely had time to wonder before Jared leapt toward Dave with athletic grace. The shadow of upswept wings flared across the wall behind him.

  Cassie stared, confused by what she saw—and didn’t see.

  Dave, or Aelziroth, whirled toward her, reaching.

  “Cassie! Get out!” Jared shouted, but she was already jumping away.

  The air felt thick with a strange energy that puckered her skin. She forced her arms and legs to move. She raced for the hall closet where she knew Linda kept a baseball bat, but her legs seemed trapped in mud. A flash of light behind her threw her shadow against the wall. A cry of raw pain and outrage filled the room, raising the hair on her neck. The light grew brighter behind
her. Cassie blinked back tears and shielded her eyes.

  Someone stumbled, running from the room. The kitchen door slammed. The light faded. The thrumming pulse of power dissipated into an eerie calm.

  Cassie turned, rubbing moisture from her eyes. Aelziroth, or Dave, was gone. Jared slumped, propped against the back of the couch, breathing hard. There was no sign of the glowing sword he’d wielded only a moment ago.

  Gideon groaned and tried to sit up. Jared flew to his friend’s side faster than Cassie thought anyone could, and propped him up with pillows from the couch.

  “Took you long enough,” Gideon said, offering a lopsided grin that was more like a grimace. “Good thing I softened him up for you.”

  A muscle in Jared’s jaw jumped. “I didn’t want to make you look bad,” he said in a light voice that sounded forced. He rubbed his throat.

  Cassie stepped closer and saw the blood pooling around Gideon. “Oh my God! I’ll call 911!” Where was the damn phone?

  “Don’t.” Gideon said in a hollow voice. “There’s no time.”

  Cassie looked around frantically for her purse, but the room was in shambles from the battle. It could be anywhere.

  “Gideon—” Jared started, but his friend cut him off with a raised hand. Blood stained his fingers.

  “Help me,” Gideon pleaded.

  Jared’s face twisted. “You think they’d listen? To me?” His panicked eyes found Cassie. He hadn’t looked that afraid when Dave’s arm was crushing his throat. “Call the ambulance!”

  Cassie started toward the phone in Linda’s bedroom.

  “No. There’s no time,” Gideon said again.

  Something in his voice stopped her, and she turned back to him.