She bit back the need to scream, not wanting to distract Eli. When he deflected the blow and shoved his blade straight into Tiel’s chest, her cousin’s fury quickly faded into confusion as he staggered back and slowly collapsed. Safara started forward, not sure which man needed her more at that moment. She chose the one she loved.
“Eli, are you all right?”
He had dropped his sword and stood bent over with his hands on his knees gasping for air. When he nodded and straightened up, she checked him over for damage. Other than a few nicks and cuts, he’d survived the fight pretty much intact. His arms surrounded her, offering them the comfort they both needed.
“Safara?”
Tiel’s voice was barely a whisper, but to her it sounded as if he’d shouted her name. Eli immediately released his tight hold on her but stayed nearby as she knelt at her dying cousin’s side. She gently brushed Tiel’s hair back from his face, taking his hand in hers. Using her other hand, she tried to staunch the blood gushing from his chest. It was a vain effort, and they both knew it.
His skin had taken on a bluish tinge, and his pale eyes were dull with pain as he struggled to talk. “Sorry . . . Couldn’t stop.”
She shushed him as her eyes blurred with tears. “I know, Tiel. Don’t waste your strength.”
“See that . . . my family knows . . .”
Those were the last words he spoke, but she answered anyway. “I will. I promise.”
She remained kneeling as she prayed for the souls of all the dead and for their families and friends. All Kalith knew the pain of losing someone to the light disease, but it never got easier to deal with the despair and futility of it all.
Finally, Eli lifted her to her feet. She straightened her shoulders and braced herself to face the age-old enemies of her people and their Kalith allies.
19
This was far from the first time Eli had stood on a field of battle surrounded by the dead. It never got any easier. He hated to end Tiel’s life, but the bastard had left him no choice. Or more correctly, the light disease had brought them both to this moment. At least it hadn’t been Safara who’d dealt her cousin’s death blow. That didn’t change the fact the man had died along with the rest of the rogues.
And typical of such conflicts, there wasn’t time to stand around and contemplate the nature of war. He had to find Mike and Doc to see how the civilians they’d herded away from the fighting were faring. Before that, he needed to deal with the four men who’d appeared out of nowhere to join the battle.
He noticed one of them had found plastic tarps somewhere to cover the dead. At least they treated the fallen with respect. For Safara’s sake, he appreciated their thoughtfulness.
One of the four headed toward Eli and Safara. He was as tall as Eli, and his dark eyes reflected a wealth of experience with this kind of situation. While not openly hostile, neither was he exactly friendly. The fact they’d fought against a common enemy didn’t necessarily translate into them being allies. Having said that, the four men had much in common with those he’d served with for years—a whole lot of attitude and the skills to back it up.
The stranger spoke first. “I’m Lonzo Jones.”
He pointed toward the three men now moving up beside him. “This is Barak q’Young, Larem q’Jones, and Hunter Fitzsimon.”
“I’m Eli Jervain, and this is Deputy Safara Dennell.”
He’d let Mike and Doc introduce themselves later. Next, he pointed toward the pickup truck. “Is that guy a friend of yours?”
Lonzo glanced at his three companions and then shook his head. “We’ve never seen him before. Since we couldn’t tell who he was about to shoot, we took him out of the equation.”
“Good thinking.”
Eli didn’t tell them that if it turned out the guy was part of the bunch who’d run Mike off the road, he’d be joining the rogues under one of those blue tarps.
“Eli?”
Safara looked more pale than usual and worried as hell. Whether it was because of him, her cousin dying, or the fact she was standing there facing two men guaranteed to play into her worst fears was impossible to know. He did his best to shake off his dark thoughts for her sake. Time to get back on point. “So, care to tell me how you and your friends happened along at exactly the right time?”
Lonzo looked thoroughly disgusted. “I’d like to say it was our superior skills and general sneakiness, but it was mostly just dumb luck. We’ve been searching the area for those Kalith, and this just happened to be our next stop.”
He then turned in Safara’s direction. “Deputy Dennell, as you’ve probably guessed, my friends and I are part of the Seattle contingent of Paladins. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. For what it’s worth, we’ve been planning on reaching out to you and your father for some time now.”
Her eyes opened wide in shock. “You have? Why?”
Lonzo gestured toward the other Paladin and one of the Kalith men. “Hunter here has been working with Larem to track down the Kalith who have crossed the barrier to live peacefully in this world.”
She gasped and started to back away. Eli blocked her retreat. “Where are you going?”
He hated the very real fear in her eyes when she tried to sidestep him. “I’ve got to warn Dad and the others. They need time to get away.”
Then she looked past Eli toward Lonzo and his companions. “My people are no danger to you or the humans in the area.”
Lonzo was doing his best to look nonthreatening but couldn’t quite pull it off, especially with seven dead Kalith lying on the ground right behind him. It was understandable why Safara was terrified for her people, but things would never change if someone didn’t take the first step. Eli couldn’t stand the thought of her living in this fear for the rest of her life, especially when he wouldn’t be there to help keep her safe.
“Safara, we need to give the man a chance to explain himself, but not here.”
Her emotions were running hot, but at least she agreed. “I’ll listen, but my father should also be part of this discussion.”
The Paladin was already nodding. “We’ll take care of things here. Unfortunately, we have plenty of experience dealing with incidents like this. Afterward, we’ll meet you wherever you think is best.”
When Safara didn’t immediately offer any suggestions, Eli decided for the both of them. “I’ll give you directions to my cabin. It’s not far from here. Safara, my two friends, and I will meet you there. Hopefully, Chief Dennell will join us as well.”
“Give us a couple of hours. By the way, what do you want us to do with the mystery guy over there?”
“Bring him along. We might as well make a party of it.” He glanced back toward the truck. Their captive had managed to sit up and was watching them.
Hunter joined the conversation. “Any idea what his game is?”
Eli nodded. “He might be part of a group that’s been dogging my heels for a while now. If so, either he or one of his buddies ran my friend off the road earlier today.”
Lonzo rubbed his jaw. “Interesting. Any idea why?”
If Eli expected Safara to give these men a chance, he needed to do the same. “Maybe because I died in a military helicopter crash a few weeks back.”
He had to give it to these guys. His little bombshell didn’t faze them at all. Instead, Hunter smiled as he stepped closer and held out his hand. “I’m guessing you have some questions of your own. We’ll be glad to answer them.”
Eli shook his hand and nodded. “Good to know. We’ll go pick up our friends and head for the cabin.”
Safara nodded toward the tarps. “What will you do with . . . with them?”
She’d addressed her question to Lonzo, but it was one of the Kalith who answered. “We will return them to Kalithia. We have contacts there who do their best to identify the bodies and return them to their families for burial.”
Her shoulders slumped in clear relief. “The one on the far end is named Tiel a’Lyr. He ha
s parents and a brother still living in Kalithia.”
Larem gave her a solemn nod. “We’ll let our friends know.”
By now Safara was looking more like her usual self. “One more thing. They attacked some civilians. They’re over there out of sight now, but they saw enough. We have to do something about them.”
Lonzo shrugged. “We’ll do our usual song and dance. We have badges we can flash, and the Regents have processes in place that will back us up. Hunter, can you take lead on that while we get busy here before anyone else shows up?”
The other Paladin stepped forward. “Will do. Eli, you want to show me where they are?”
Before they started walking, Barak spoke for the first time. “You’d better leave your weapons with us. I promise to treat them with care and will return them when we see you later. Civilians get a little twitchy when they see folks carrying around bloody swords.”
Safara shuddered and surrendered her blade. “Thank you.”
They made their way across the field with Hunter. Along the way, Eli wrapped his arm around Safara’s shoulders and was pleased when she reciprocated by slipping hers around his waist. He adjusted his longer stride to match hers as they fell into step together.
Mike and Doc looked pretty damned relieved to see them. Doc was just finishing up bandaging the arm of a young woman when they arrived. Eli and Safara hung back and let Hunter take the lead. He quickly reassured the civilians, telling them that the danger was past and the culprits were being transported for processing. He made it all sound so official that the people didn’t have any trouble accepting him as the real deal.
It was time for the four of them to head out. “If you have no further need of us, we’ll be going.”
Hunter flashed him a quick smile. “See you soon.”
At least Mike and Doc held their questions until they were back in the SUV and driving away. Eli filled them in on what had transpired, answering what questions he could, and making a mental list of the ones he couldn’t. After they made a quick stop at the grocery store for supplies, it didn’t take long to reach the turnoff to his cabin. Doc dropped Eli off at his truck and then led the way up to the cabin.
Once there, they took turns taking a shower and changing into fresh clothing. When he finished his turn, Eli went out to the porch to join Safara, who was about to call her father. He figured if she wanted privacy, she would say so. When she didn’t ask him to leave, he sat down in one of the chairs and tugged her down onto his lap.
The minute she started talking, Eli could hear that her dad had gone ballistic. He wasn’t about to let the man yell at his daughter for making the only decision that made sense in the long run. He snatched the phone from her hand and took charge of the situation.
“Jakes, shut the fuck up. And before you ask, no, I won’t give the phone back to Safara just so you can yell at her some more.”
He let the man rant a little bit before cutting him off again. “No, you listen. You weren’t there, so don’t second-guess the situation. If those guys hadn’t shown up today, things would’ve turned out a lot differently for your daughter, not to mention the other people the rogues were tormenting. And for the record, the Paladins have been aware of your people for a while now. Sooner or later they would’ve shown up on your doorstep.”
After pausing several seconds to let the man absorb that shocker, he continued. “So here’s how I see it. You can haul your ass up here to meet with these guys, or you can hide down there in your office. It’s your choice, but one way or another, you’re going to have to face them eventually.”
Then he hung up and turned off the phone in case Jakes called back.
Instead of ripping into him for his high-handed behavior, Safara shoved the phone into her pocket and cuddled in closer. “I understand why he’s worried, but you didn’t say anything I haven’t tried to tell him for years. Maybe he’ll listen to you.”
He held her close while he still could. The time was coming when he’d have to walk away. She and her people were going to have enough to deal with now that the Paladins were aware of them. He wouldn’t bring his troubles raining down on her head. Maybe the guy in the blue pickup had nothing to do with the black-ops crew looking for him, but the chances of that were pretty minimal.
Safara’s thoughts seemed to be running along the same lines. “Do you think that other guy means that black-ops bunch knows where you are?”
“No way to know until we talk to him. It might not have been the smartest move telling Lonzo to bring him up here. But since he’d already found Doc and Mike, it was only a matter of time before he followed them right to my door. I’d rather know what’s going on for sure than to stick my head in the sand.”
She kissed his cheek. “You mean like Dad has been doing all these years? I would’ve loved to see the look on his face when you told him that the Paladins already knew where we were living.”
It was time for some hard truths. “It will take time for him and your people to trust the Paladins. They will still need to hide their origins from the rest of the human population, but at least they won’t be constantly looking over their shoulders for fear that there’s a bogeyman following them with a sword in his hand.”
He took her hand in his and kissed her palm. “I can’t stand the thought of you living in fear for the rest of your life when I can’t be here to have your back.”
Safara stiffened in his arms and then slugged him on the chest. The blow didn’t do any damage, but it was clear he’d said something that she didn’t like. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Don’t sweetheart me, Eli. We both agreed it was dangerous to get caught up in each other’s lives, but you never said you planned to disappear completely.”
Her hand settled softly against his cheek. “I don’t want to lose you, Eli. Not yet and never completely.”
“And I don’t want to go.”
Her words cut deep into his heart. The thought of never again holding her in his arms made him furious. It was bad enough he’d lost his career and most of his friends. She was all that made this new existence bearable. He turned his face to kiss her palm again, wishing like hell he had something more optimistic to say. “The longer I stay, the better the chance the military will figure out where I am, or those special-ops guys will get their hands on me. Either way, I’ll disappear from your life. I’d rather leave on my own terms than be dragged away in chains.”
When she sighed and settled back against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. These last few moments of peace and quiet would have to sustain him in the lonely times to come. He hoped she knew how much she meant to him. Thanks to his profession, he’d never had the time for any long-term relationships. When it came to the few short-term ones he’d had, never once had he been even mildly tempted to use the “L” word to describe his feelings.
It was killing him to know that the only woman who had ever claimed his heart would be far better off without him in her life. Maybe he was being a coward for not telling her how he felt, but there was no use in admitting how much he cared when he couldn’t stick around for the long haul.
Maybe Safara was feeling some of the same frustration. She captured his mouth with hers, taking the kiss from zero to sixty instantly. He gave as good as he got, trying his damnedest to tell her without words how much she meant to him. Damn Mike and Doc for being inside, because he would’ve already had Safara in his arms heading right for his bed.
But they were there, and unless he was mistaken, he was pretty sure there were multiple vehicles headed their way. All things considered, he shouldn’t be sitting on the porch with his hand up Safara’s blouse. She was aware of the approaching vehicles, too, because she gave him one last quick kiss and stood. “I’ll go set out the food.”
He followed her inside and picked up his gun. Mike joined him at the windows with his weapon in hand until they knew for sure the new arrivals were friendly.
Lonzo’s van pulled into sight
with Jakes’s cruiser only a short distance behind them. Bracing himself for what could be one helluva confrontation, Eli stepped back out onto the porch and prepared to greet his guests.
20
Safara wanted to run to her father’s side, to somehow ease his way into this new reality of theirs, but Eli had already taken charge of the situation. Right now her nerves were pretty frayed, so she’d let cooler heads take the lead. She slipped back inside the cabin before her dad even had a chance to get out of his car.
Doc was still in the shower, but Mike had been watching the new arrivals from the front window. Now he followed her into the kitchen. “I see the party has started.”
“Yeah, it should be interesting, since my father arrived right behind the Paladins. I figured I would stay out of the way so they could get all the chest thumping out of their systems.”
He laughed as she started pulling the food out of the fridge and arranging it on the counter so everyone could help themselves. “Anything I can do to help?”
“You can get the silverware out for me.” As she pulled the lids off the various containers, she decided to ask some questions of her own. “How are you and Doc doing with what you’ve learned about all of this? You know, like the fact that I’m an alien.”
He dropped a handful of Eli’s mismatched forks and knives onto the counter next to the stack of paper plates she’d set out. “It’s a lot to get my mind around, but I can’t say I’m surprised that we aren’t alone in the universe. I’d like to know how two similar worlds ended up sharing a common border, but I doubt I’m smart enough to understand the physics of it all.”
“Not many people are.”
Mike leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “True enough, but I suspect what you really want to know is if we’re okay about you being with Eli. The answer’s yes. All of these changes have been understandably hard for him. We in the military are used to being part of a team, to belonging. That helicopter crash cut him off from all of that. Connecting with you provided the anchor he needs. Jamison and I knowing the truth also helps. However, we can’t always be here for him without risking leading his enemies right to his door.”
In Darkness Transformed Page 20