Dealers of Light (15 page)

“But now you know he was still sucking the life out of him, only it wasn’t blood,” Cara said
.

Nicki
nodded and hung her head. “I didn’t help him. I ran and ran and fell down so many times I ended up banging myself up pretty bad. I came to see you the next morning.”

“And you were attacked before the man last night?”

“I was havin’ a drink at another bar before all that happened, and this dude came up. He was dressed real nice, like he didn’t belong there. Had a gold ring on his right hand with some kind of crest on it. I figured he might be slummin’, you know, slippin’ out on the wife. Hey, I didn’t mind if he bought me a few drinks, ya know? Anyways, he said he needed some air and I went outside with him. He started actin’ all squirrely and pushed me down an alley. Slapped me in the face and slammed me against the wall. But I got him good. Kneed him in the balls. I ran off and went to my regular club. Now these whack-o’s want to kill me. Why?”

“Did the guy who got killed belong to the same gang you do?
”

Nicki’s
head shot up and her gaze flew to Cara’s face. “What do you know about gangs?”

“The tattoo you have on your lower back. It’s a gang tattoo. Some of the other people who
’ve been killed had the same tattoo. We think this evil group is targeting gangs.”

“Oh, God!”
Nicki slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes crinkled up again.

“
The club, what’s the name of it?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Frantic, Cara almost shook the girl. “You have to. It’s a link. Now they’ve targeted more than one person from it. There’s a good chance they’ll go there again, especially if it’s a hangout for gangs. Don’t you want to protect your friends?”

Nicki’s
eyes welled with tears, and she raked fingers through her hair. “You think they’re gonna come back for me?”

“It’s a good possibility. Do you have someone you can stay with for a while?
Preferably someone who’s
not
in a gang?”

Nicki
struggled to force away her tears, squeezing her lids together and biting her nails.

Cara leaned forward and
rested a hand on the girl’s arm. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. Just let me help you.”

“
Blade
,” Nicki murmured.

“What?” Cara sat back.

Nicki sniffed and ran her hand under her nose. “
Blade
. That’s the name of the club.”

Blade
? Ridiculous name, and yet these kids ate up the danger and edgy nightlife.

“Okay. Okay.”
Cara let go of her and stood. She snagged a tissue box from the counter and handed it to the sniffling girl. Nicki grabbed a handful and pressed the wad against her nose.

Cara tossed the box on the counter.
“Let me check you out and make sure you’re okay and then you need to stay away from the club and your apartment for a while. Where can you go? I’ll take you.”

“I don’t know.”
Nicki put her hands to her cheeks, gaze roaming about the room. “Wait, I’ll go stay with my friend Erin. She’s not in the gang, but we went to high school together. She’s in an apartment near ODU.”

“I’ll take you there and give you some money to live on for a while. I want you safe.”

Cara dropped Nicki at her friend’s apartment with a handful of cash, and then picked up some Cara and Dusty necessities before heading over to
Essence of Amber
.

“Cara!” Amber enveloped her in a warm embrace when she stepped in the door. “I’ve been so worried about you.” Dusty frisked
around Amber, waiting for his turn at a greeting. “And you, too, Mr. Dusty.” Amber knelt and ruffled the fur of the dog’s neck, receiving a generous face lick in return.

“Are you sure we’re not going to be a problem staying here?”

“No. Absolutely not, sweetie. That’s what friends are for. Come on up. Tor will be here shortly.” She locked the shop’s front door and scanned the parking lot through the window before they went to the living quarters on the second floor.

“Man, I’m tired.” Cara
stopped at the top of the stairs where Amber’s living room spread out with its mismatched chintz covered couch and chairs. She absorbed the eclectic atmosphere of cluttered fairy statues Amber collected, thinking they looked like little guardian angels today. Sighing, she dropped her bags at her feet.

Amber pointed to the sofa
and Cara sank onto it, let her head fall back, and closed her eyes.
God, I’m tired
. The lingering smell of cinnamon from the shop soothed her with memories of Mom and apple pie.

Amber
gathered up a pile of magazines from the glass-topped coffee table and stowed them in a basket beside the couch. “I’ll go whip up something to snack on while we wait for Tor. I’m dying to hear all about Rolf.”

She passed through an arch with a hanging bead curtain
to the kitchen and returned with a bottle of wine, glasses, plus a tray laden with cheese and crackers, which she placed on the coffee table.

“Rolf. Wow, I can’t believe how this turned out. I’ve been thinking about it all day.” Amber picked up the bag of dog food
Cara had brought and poured some dried kibble in a bowl. She glanced at Cara under her lashes. “What’s he really like?”

Cara sighed.
At this point, she figured she’d only seen a glimpse of the real Rolf.  “Well, he’s strong. You should have seen him punch the Taker last night. It sent that creep flying. But Rolf’s smart, too. Of course, I guess you can’t live for thousands of years and not pick up a thing or two. But I only scratched the surface of his complexity.”

“You know, when he came i
n the store, the word that popped in my mind to describe him was
supernatural
. Is that weird?” Amber picked up the bottle of wine from the coffee table and poured them both a glass.

“
Strange, weird, mysterious.” Cara accepted the glass Amber handed her and sipped. “It’s all pretty accurate, I’d say. The supernatural, ancient hunter of Light Takers. Yep. That’s him.”

“Doesn’t this make you question a lot? I thought about
our powers all last night after you called. What are Dealers really? And why do we die, but there are others like Rolf who don’t? Where did this ability come from?” Amber settled beside Cara on the couch.

“I don’t know. I’m
as puzzled by all this as you are. But I want to find out more, and I’m hoping Rolf will share some knowledge to help us understand.”

The downstairs door
creaked and the bells jingled.

“It’s me,” Tor called.

Dusty stood and wagged his tail. Tor pounded up the steps into the living room and stripped off his belt, which hung heavy with his gun and other police tools.

“Hey, babe.”
He leaned over and kissed Amber on the lips. Her furrowed brow eased and she smiled as she touched his cheek with her fingertips.

Cara swallowed against the constriction in her throat, aching
as she often did in the presence of these two and their obvious love for each other. It was magic. She glanced away to hide any envy that might show in her eyes.

“Hey, Cara. I’ll go change and be back in a minute. I can’t wait to hear about this Rolf dude.” Tor gave her a wave.

When he returned
, he sat on the arm of the sofa beside Amber, and she handed him a glass of wine. Cara filled him in on the details.

“So
, that’s what he did with the crystals,” Amber said after Cara described the gold and crystal device. “Impressive. I wish I could see it.”

“We sent a car by
Nicki’s address last night, but she wasn’t there,” Tor said. “I’m not surprised. Man, if one of those BD’s came after me, I’d leave and never come back.”

“
She did come to the office right before I left, and I was able to get some information. She’s been attacked twice, believe it or not.” Then she told them about the club and the link to the BD’s.

“
Blade
,” Tor said. “Makes sense. It’s a known gang hangout. The club’s remaining open by the skin of its teeth due to the number of incidents they have there. The city council would love to close those dudes down.” He set his glass on the table then popped a cheese slice and cracker into his mouth.

“If the BD’s are
haunting it to find victims, we may be able to use it to locate them,” Cara said.

“
True.” Tor’s gaze slid to Amber, and he reached out to touch her face, his expression full of tenderness. “I know you’re afraid, baby.”

“Of course I am
, sweetheart.” Amber clasped his hand. “Maybe we should just let Rolf take care of them.”

Tor shook his head.
“I’d say we’re already involved. But one thing we can do to protect ourselves is make sure our group is able to fight if the time comes.” Tor pounded his fist into his palm.

“What do you mean?” Cara asked.

“I want to make sure all of the people in our group can kick some ass if something happens like last night.” Tor rose and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m going to teach you guys how to fight.”

Cara and Amber exchanged a glance.

“I don’t mean karate. It would take too long to get you to a point where you could defend yourselves. I’m going to teach you street fighting, down and dirty, man.” He made a punching motion. “Like I learned in New York.”

“
I don’t think I can do that,” Amber said. “You know how I feel about violence.”

“I know
how you feel, but this is about protecting yourself.” Tor rested a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want you to be defenseless.”

“He’s right,” Cara said. “We have to be in a position of strength. Right now we’re weak.”

Amber bit her fingernail, but nodded. “It wouldn’t hurt to have some pepper spray or something.”

Tor chuckled.
“Okay, babe, I’ll get you some pepper spray.” Then he turned to Cara. “I’ll let Alistair, Marc and Shana know, too. We’ll start tomorrow night. We can work at the dojo after the regular classes.”

“I’m glad you thought of this, Tor. I’ll feel better if I can protect myself. When
that guy attacked me, I didn’t know what to do.” Cara thought for a moment. “You know, everyone should also think about getting a dog. They can alert us to the presence of the BD’s.” She gave them a recounting of what had happened with Dusty last night.
“Not a bad idea.” Tor crossed his arms. He looked at Amber.

“I’d love to have a dog
.” She gave a small smile. “I’m all for that.”

Cara smiled and pushed with aching muscles to rise from the couch. “All I want right now is to crawl in bed after I call Rolf and update him on
Nicki’s appearance. Tor, will you call Alistair for me?”

“Sure.” Tor flopped down beside Amber and attacked the cheese tray again.

Cara hauled bags through the door to the hall into the spare bedroom she’d used many times in the past. She both dreaded and eagerly anticipated calling Rolf. He did need to know about Nicki, though.
Blade
was the best clue they had so far and, no matter how dangerous, they had to check it out.

Chapter Thirteen

“
You fool.”
Desmond drew back his arm to backhand the bald man slouched before him. The Taker soared into the air and crashed against a bookcase covering the wall, seven feet away. Then he slid into a heap, unconscious. A shower of books fell on top of him.

Carlton stood beside
his master in Desmond’s second floor study. He barely flinched as Desmond attacked his underling. The other Takers cowered against the wall by the window.

Desmond eyed
Carlton. This was a lesson for him as well as the others. He wouldn’t tolerate any more mistakes. “Incompetence! You tried to take a girl’s Light and instead let her escape? Idiot. Take him away.” Desmond flicked a hand and two of his followers surged forward to drag the limp body from the room. The others hurried after, eyes wide. Only Carlton remained.

“What will you do with him?”
Carlton asked, clasping his hands behind his back.

“I should kill him.” Rage
tainted his vision with red, angry scenes of destruction. He’d never destroy Rolf with these incompetents surrounding him.

Carlton nodded.

“But those with the gift are few and far between.” Desmond paced across the Oriental rug in front of his desk, rubbing his chin. “My plans are too advanced for these menial disruptions. But I need every man I have. If it weren’t for that I would kill them all. This cannot happen again.”

“I understand.
”

“Do you?” Desmond
wheeled to stare at his second in command. “I don’t think you do. I am on the verge of launching a plan to eventually control the entire world. And yet I have fools who cannot carry out even the simplest assignment. Does the absurdity of that reality strike fear into your heart for the success of our endeavor?”