Dark Deceiver (5 page)

“We've got to get this furniture in the hatch,” she said, yelling over the howl of the wind. “It's here.” She took three steps and tapped the hatch door beneath her foot. “I'll be right back.”

She escaped into the relative calm of the houseboat, deposited her laptop on the kitchen counter and grabbed the hatch keys so she could lock up once everything was stored. When she returned to the deck, Kade was lowering the table into the hatch, but the chair that had fallen over was on the move again. Lifted on a gust of wind, it was bounding across the deck, end over end, toward the rail.

The boat rocked on the swells, making walking nearly impossible, but that chair belonged to Larsen and she wasn't going to lose it. She lunged for it, lurching across the deck. But as she reached for the escaping furniture, she lost her balance and tipped toward the rail. For one dismal instant, she prepared herself for an icy swim. But at the last moment, a strong arm snagged her around the waist and hauled her against a rock-solid chest.

“I've got you.”

Autumn collapsed against him, heart pounding in her throat, then noticed the chair tight in his other hand. “Nice catch.”

A low sound that might have been laughter vibrated against her back. “I wouldn't let you escape me that easily.”

The boat bobbed, but held by his strong arm, she didn't stumble. Couldn't fall. She felt safe. Protected. And for the first time in years…not alone.

She turned to face him. Their gazes met and locked in the flash of distant lightning and she caught a glimpse of his face, of a brooding intensity in his eyes. Her heart, still thudding from her near fall, began to race as her storm-whipped senses became focused only on the man. The pressure in her chest increased and she lifted her hand and pressed it against his cheek. Gone was the crazed out-of-control need that had gripped her before. In its place was a need for connection as deep as her soul.

As the wind tossed his loose hair, he lowered his face to hers. His mouth brushed hers, gently at first then with more insistence, sending warm desire flowing through her, sliding through her limbs. He tasted like heaven and smelled like the forest and the sea joined in a battle as old as the stars. She wanted this, wanted him, and she kissed him back, losing herself in a whirlwind of sensations. The feel of his strong arm around her, the slide of his tongue against hers drove her excitement with the rising storm.

Lightning lit the sky with a crack of close thunder and the first large raindrops landed on their heads. Slowly Kade pulled back, releasing her mouth even as he continued to hold her. His expression was lost to the shadows until another flash of lightning illuminated his face, revealing a longing in his eyes she didn't understand. Almost a loneliness.

The raindrops began a steady bombardment and they pulled apart. As one, they ran for the hatch. Kade dropped the chair inside and Autumn locked the door then ran for sanctuary. She closed the door behind them and sank back against the cool glass, raindrops tickling her cheeks. Kade ran his hands through his hair, flinging the droplets everywhere, showering her anew.

“Kade!” She laughed and looked at him, but the expression in his eyes caught her fast, silencing her. She couldn't look away. Didn't want to look away. They weren't even touching, yet she'd never felt so close to another, so
aware
of another, in her life. She felt as if he could see into her soul and learn all her fears and secrets. And if she looked closely enough, she could learn his.

Her pulse throbbed with an ache of recognition and the illogical certainty that this man was the one she'd been waiting for.

“Autumn…”

The ring of the phone interrupted whatever he was going to say, breaking that gossamer thread of connection. She ran to grab the phone from the counter.

“Autumn, it's Larsen. We're ready. Drive to Charlie's and give me a call when you reach the parking garage. I'll tell you where to meet us.”

“Okay. Bye, Larsen.”

Autumn slowly pushed her phone into her pocket, chilled suddenly by the thought of dragging Kade into the Sitheens' trap. She didn't have a choice. If she was right, and Kade Smith was the good, decent man she believed, he'd forgive her. Eventually.

And if she was wrong? Then he was Esri and he deserved to die. There was nothing she could…or would…do to stop it. Though she had a feeling she would regret it for the rest of her life.

S
he'd enchanted him. That was the only explanation.

Kaderil stared into the dark at the lights glowing from the windows of passing buildings as Autumn drove him to meet Larsen Vale. The wiper screeched on the now dry windshield and Autumn turned it off, the rain already having stopped.

She couldn't have enchanted him, of course. The woman was fully human. But he struggled for a better explanation for the weakness that grew worse with every moment he spent in her company. He'd smiled at her! He'd told himself he wouldn't kiss her again, yet every time he was in reach of her he could think of nothing else.

The time he'd known her was less than the blink of an eye, yet already she filled his mind. It infuriated him. He was the Punisher, not some besotted fool of an Esri lord.

He would not let her control his thoughts this way. But even as the thought went through his mind, he found his head swiveling to the left, his gaze once more seeking her out.

Unable to fight his traitorous fascination, he drank his fill. Even in the shadows he could make out the shape of her pleasing profile, her slender nose and full, sweet-tasting mouth. Her taste still lingered on his tongue, stirring unwanted need all over again.

Enchanted.
That was the only possibility.

The last thing he wanted was to be attracted to her, a human, the very human who was leading him to his prey. He resented the kick of guilt that plagued him.

The Punisher was without guilt. Without conscience. He did his duty with little thought and no remorse. But with every moment Kaderil spent in this woman's company, forced to pretend to be the
nice
human, Kade Smith, he felt the Punisher slipping a little more out of his grasp.

Kaderil forced himself to go back to looking out his window, but his hungry gaze wouldn't be denied. Within moments, he found his head swiveling back toward Autumn. The lights of a passing car illuminated her face fully, revealing a tenseness around her eyes and that lush mouth, a tenseness that made him wonder what was going on inside her head. Did the driving require such deep concentration?

Autumn glanced at him, licking her lower lip with an unconscious nervousness that caught his attention and gave him pause.

“I'm sorry you had to eat so quickly.”

“I didn't mind. Eating quickly didn't diminish my enjoyment.”

She nodded and returned her gaze to the road, but cleared her throat in a way that told him she had something more to say. “Kade, I need to tell you something. You've had some weird dreams, right? About a white-skinned man? Do you know who he is?
What
he is?”

Kaderil relaxed, realizing her nervousness was a result of uncertainty over how to broach the subject of the Esri with a fellow human who knew nothing. She was easing into it gently, as he was coming to understand was her nature.

He searched his borrowed thoughts for an appropriate response, remembering a thought he'd plucked from her own brain. “Is he an albino?”

A smile flickered over her lips, but didn't ease the tension that gripped her eyes. “No.” She glanced at him again, cringing as if with apology. “He's not human.”

What was the appropriate response to such a statement? His pulse quickened as he struggled for the right words. He'd done well so far. He'd be a fool to blow this now. Humans doubted. A human would not accept such a statement easily, if at all.

“Of course he's human,” he said.

The woman at his side looked away, glancing toward her own side window. “I know you're going to think I'm nuts, but just listen. Please? It's important.”

Safe in silence, Kaderil relaxed and listened to her melodious voice as she launched into a fairly accurate explanation of his race and his mission, explaining how Baleris had terrorized the D.C. area several months ago, raping virgins and attempting to kill the Sitheen.

“We know a certain amount about Esria now,” she said. “There are many races, but the Esri are the ones with the most power. They ignore most of the other races and have enslaved the Marceils. The Marceils look like small humans, most five feet tall or less. The Esri can't enchant them like they can us, but they can control their actions.”

She slowed in front of a large building and put on her blinkers. “I'm talking too much. And I know this is all too hard to believe. But just keep an open mind, okay?”

She didn't seem to require an answer, which was all for the good, since he wasn't certain he could express adequate disbelief of something he knew so well.

Autumn parked, then without looking at him, pulled out her cell phone. “It's me. We're here.” A pause. “Okay. I'll see you in a minute.”

She flashed him a weak, apologetic smile, but said nothing more, to his great relief, as they got on the elevator. He didn't have time to play the doubter for longer than absolutely necessary. He must make Larsen Vale believe he was Sitheen and sincerely interested in helping them catch the Esri, if he stood any chance of finding that draggon stone in time. Two short weeks. And Larsen Vale was just the first of the Sitheen. The gatekeeper to the rest. Perhaps, between his own supposed dreams and Autumn's explanation in the car, he could pretend to have already reconciled himself with the truth of the Esri by the time he was introduced to the Sitheen female.

The elevator came to a halt at the top floor and the doors opened. Autumn preceded him into the hall and motioned him to follow. Soon she pushed through a door into a small stairwell and climbed. Kaderil followed, his gaze falling to the enticing curve of her hips, stirring again the desire that he feared wouldn't cease as long as he was in her company.

At the top of the stairs, Autumn opened yet another door and stepped outside into the cool, damp darkness of the night. The roof. An odd place to meet a lone woman.

His hackles rose, his instincts leaping to alert. Not a lone woman. He sensed others. At least three others. And suddenly he understood. Autumn wasn't taking him to meet Larsen Vale. She'd brought him to the Sitheen. On the roof. In the dark. A trap.

Fool.

He'd been so taken with her, so enchanted with her beauty, he'd failed to see the treachery within.

The deceiver had become the deceived.

Even as his muscles bunched for attack, his calmer mind yelled a warning for caution. It might be a test. A test he would fail if he started hurling bodies.

But how could he know until it was too late? These were likely the very humans who'd used the death chant on Baleris. These Sitheen could end his existence this very night.

And if he returned to Esria without the draggon stone, his life would be as good as over anyway. If there was the slightest chance this was a test, he must not attack. If there was the slightest chance he could infiltrate this group, he must take it. He had to make them think he was human, no matter what.

And if he failed? If there was no doubt they knew he was Esri, he would kill as many of them as he could before they started the death chant. Once they started chanting, if they touched him with flame, his long existence would end. Once they started chanting, it was too late.

The cutting breeze raked ominous fingers across his cheeks. Sharp gravel crunched beneath his heels, ratcheting the tension in his spine. Every muscle in his body readied for battle.

The shadowed forms of three men moved into his line of vision, one moving behind him, cutting off escape.

“Jack?” Autumn's voice held a sharp note of apprehension.

“Come here, Autumn,” the voice behind him said.

He felt the brief grip of her hand on his arm. “I'm sorry,” she whispered, and moved away.

Was it a test?

In a savage instant, the answer became clear. Fire erupted around him in a blinding flash. The grim sound of the Esrian death chant filled the night.

He was going to die.

Fifteen hundred years he'd lived and this was to be his end!

The heat licked at Kaderil's courage. Three men surrounded him, encircling him in a ring of fire, their threatening faces lost behind the blinding flame. The fire scorched his spirit as he faced the inevitable thrust that would bring his death.

The death chant rose on the night air.

He was a fool! He'd let his weakness for this temp-tress blind him to treachery. And now he would pay with his very existence.

Tension seared his muscles, strangling his spine.
Trapped.
Unable to fight. If not for the death chant, he would fly through the flames and attack those who would end him, but the moment the flames touched his skin, the chant would dissolve his existence in a shower of light.

His heart thundered in his chest as he turned, looking for escape, but he was well and truly trapped. Waiting.

Waiting.
It suddenly dawned on him his attackers weren't striking. He shielded his eyes against the flare of light and studied the face of the dark-haired human who was doing the chanting. In his eyes, he saw not deadly intent, but wariness. Watchfulness.

Waiting.

A test.
A test he would fail if he didn't stop acting like an Esri expecting death. His brain scrambled for a suitably human reaction.

“What in the hell are you doing?” he growled. “If you burn me, I swear, I'll sue you for all you're worth.”

The death chant ended abruptly. Kaderil's muscles bunched to leap and attack while he had the chance. He fought the need of the Punisher and forced himself to remain motionless. He
must
convince them he was human. The time to kill would come later.

His heart thudded in his chest as he watched the dark-haired human's gaze shoot to another's, a flash of amusement passing over his features. “Sue?” But when the man's gaze returned to Kaderil, his eyes were once more grave. “Take off your coat.”

Kaderil did as he was told, peeling off the leather jacket with hands damp with sweat, then dropped it at his feet. To his surprise, the dark-haired man picked up the piece of clothing and ran his hands over it briskly.

“Shake his hand, Jack,” one of the others said pointedly. The man's words sent tension twisting through Kaderil's already taut muscles. Like the Esri, Sitheen could have any of an infinite array of gifts. What magic did the man possess that was about to be turned against him?

As the dark-haired man handed him back his jacket, he thrust out his hand. “I'm Jack Hallihan.”

Kaderil had no choice. He wiped his damp palm on his jeans and extended his hand. As the distance between them closed, he felt an odd tingling along the surface of his skin. Magic, but of a kind he'd never before encountered. Not magic so much as the promise of it.

As their hands made contact, an odd jolt shot up Kaderil's arm. Not painful, not exactly. But neither was it pleasant.
An electric jolt,
his borrowed thoughts told him, though he knew he'd never experienced such.

“Kade Smith.” Kaderil's tone was unfriendly and wary, but he couldn't do a thing about it. Probably any man's would be the same under the circumstances, human or Esri.

Jack grasped his hand longer than was customary, then released him and went silent. His gaze turned distant as if he were listening to something no one else could hear. The others waited with an air of expectation that had Kaderil's heart pounding. Somehow Jack Hallihan could identify an Esri.

“A mix of human and Esri blood like the rest of us,” Jack said, finally. “Though he has a lot more magic.”

“So he's Sitheen?” the second man prompted.

“Yes. And a damn strong one.”

Kaderil stared at him. The human, Jack, was wrong. He was not Sitheen. Either the man had no true gift or he was lying. Kaderil knew he had a small amount of human blood running through his veins, but he was Esri and immortal.

“What did you do?” he demanded. “Why do you think you know the mix of my blood?”

A low chuckle rumbled from Jack's throat, a sound of honest, if wry, humor. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Sorry for the theatrics. I'm not sure how much Autumn told you, but we're dealing with an enemy of unknown abilities. We can't be too careful.”

Jack's voice had lost its tightness. As he spoke, warmth slowly replaced the chill. Unless the human was a skilled actor, it seemed he believed his assertion that Kaderil was Sitheen. Human.

Kaderil's knees nearly buckled with relief. Whatever the man's gift, it had failed. The tightness began to seep out of his muscles. The first step of his mission appeared to be complete, but he would be a fool to take these humans for granted again.

The remaining torches went out, the harsh light replaced by the soft glow of man-made illumination.
An electric lantern,
his borrowed knowledge told him. He could finally see beyond the ring of fire and his gaze sought Autumn. He found her standing in the shadows, watching him, her expression one of misery.