The Kjin simply nodded. His name was George Manson, a lawyer in a nearby county. He came when summoned like the good soldier he was, but Marc knew him to be ambitious. The fact that he wanted Marc’s position in the organization was a given.
Over my dead body, Manson.
Marc turned from the Kjin and glanced out of the picture window at Lake Rushden glistening in the early morning sunrise. He loved the seclusion of this lake house. His wife, Ellie, knew not to come here. He forbade her from ever stepping foot in this house without his knowledge and, after all these years, she knew better than to cross him. “How many are here in Alden?”
“Including me and you, nine. Brent Calloway is coming in from New York City tonight, but he needs another body. Cancer.”
Marc waved his hand in the air. “He can have my liaison at the church.”
George’s eyebrows rose. “He’s human?”
“Yes, but not for long.”
George chuckled. “Does he know that?”
“Of course not.” He shrugged. “Not that it would matter much. For a human, he is quite wicked. Soulless, in fact. I don’t think the transition to Kjin is going to be very hard for that one.”
“What has he done?”
Marc laughed and pointed with his chin. “Have a peek inside that room on the left over there.”
George looked where he indicated and made his way down the short hallway to the door.
Marc followed behind him. “Go ahead, open it.”
George reached out and turned the knob. As soon as the door swung open, he heard the frightened squeals of the two dirty, terrified children huddled in the corner.
****
Fallon prowled around her bedroom impatiently. What was keeping Kade? After going to St. Mary’s first thing this morning and finding it empty, she immediately returned home expecting to find him here or at his house, but there was no sign of him. And, that was hours ago.
What could be keeping him?
She thought about Julian’s warning again that the Kjin were here for her. But, even more distressing was the fact that they were structured now. Just here in the northeast or all over the world? How far up the chain was Marc Ellis? Was he this blackcoat boss or did even he report to someone higher?
Then, there was Father Tomas. Where did he fit in? He wasn’t a Kjin, but why would a devoted Emissier side with evil? And, if he really was that evil himself, why hadn’t he changed into a Kjin yet?
Then, it hit her.
He didn’t turn so he could have access to what was happening in Emperica. How much information had he already shared with his covetous rabble?
She wanted to scream. Too many unanswered questions when it was the answers that she needed to be able to protect the people of Alden.
A knock sounded on the door downstairs, and Fallon cautiously made her way down the steps. Through the side panels of the door, she saw that it was Kade and breathed a sigh of relief that he was safe. She jumped down the remaining stairs and opened the door. “What took you so long?” she asked and threw her arms around his neck.
He lifted her off her feet and entered the house, slamming the door shut with his foot. “It wasn’t easy to convince my family to leave town.”
She untangled herself from him. “What happened?”
“I can’t really blame them I guess, but they immediately jumped to the conclusion that the danger I told them they were in was from drug dealers I was associated with. They even talked about an intervention for me.”
“Drug dealers? But, your parents know you were innocent of those charges, don’t they?”
“They did, but it was the first thing they thought of and, in order for them to go, I had to let them think that’s what it was. What else could I tell them, Fallon? That evil demons may be stopping by to steal their bodies? Trust me, it was much easier for them to believe the story about drug dealers.”
“I’m sorry, Kade.”
“Don’t be. We’ll get it straightened out later. Right now, their safety is the most important thing to me.” He looked around the foyer nervously. “Come on, let’s go up to your room. I feel like we’re too exposed down here with all of the windows.”
“Is that the cop talking?”
“No, the obsessed boyfriend. Now go.” He pushed her ahead of him and she climbed the stairs. “What happened with Father Tomas?”
She opened the door to her bedroom and went in. “He wasn’t there. But, I have to get to Marc Ellis, Kade. He tried to kill me, and he’s going to be furious when he finds his family gone. He’s too dangerous to leave alive.”
Kade nodded. “I think I know where he may be.”
She was instantly alert. “Where?”
“His lake house in Rushden.”
“Why do you think he would be there?”
“Because I’ve been racking my brain about peculiar habits of his and just realized that we have never been invited there. With his office destroyed, where else would he go to plot his schemes?”
“Do you—” Fallon froze at the sound of shattering glass downstairs. She put a hand over Kade’s mouth to silence him, but he shrugged her away. He was a cop, she realized. He would know not to make any noise.
She activated her Aventi and started toward the door, but Kade gripped her arm and stepped in front of her.
Really, my dear, brave Kade?
She shook her head, but let him take the lead. He did have his conditions, after all.
Slowly, they made their way down the stairs. When her Kur heated, she tapped him on the shoulder and mouthed the word demon. He nodded and continued down the stairs with her right behind. They walked through broken glass in the foyer and headed to the kitchen. As soon as Kade stepped inside the room, an arm swung into view and hit him across the throat. He made a choking sound and slumped to the floor.
Fallon leapt over Kade’s prone body and swung at the dark figure standing over him.
Expecting only one person to be in the house, the Kjin opened his eyes wide in surprise and had no time to defend against her strike. He screamed out and fell to the ground when the Aventi penetrated his chest. The deadly black wraith burst out of the body as a roaring, angry shadow.
Kade stirred behind her.
She ran back to him and straddled his body, standing over him protectively. “Stay down!”
Another Kjin burst through the front door. Kade ignored her warning and crawled out from beneath her shielding stance. “I’ll get this one,” he said and ran from the kitchen.
The shade in front of her tried to pursue Kade, but she held him back with the Aventi. “Not happening, Kjin. The only place you’re going today is back to Mordeaux.”
The demon wraith let out a frustrated, ear-splitting shriek as it zoomed around the kitchen. It only had seconds to secure a new body, and when that didn’t happen, it exploded apart and fell to the ground in a pile of soot.
Turning, Fallon ran to help Kade, but he didn’t need it. She got there just in time to see his last punch knock the Kjin out cold.
“Nice,” she murmured, and stabbed the evil demon with probably more force than was necessary, and this Kjin, too, burst into cinders when she thrust her Aventi at it a second time.
“Are there any more?” Kade asked, his body bladed for a fight.
She shook her head. Her Kur had gone cold. “No.” She sat on the bottom step of the staircase to catch her breath. “You know, Marc Ellis isn’t going to stop until I’m dead.”
“I would have to be dead first for that to happen,” he hissed quietly.
She reached over to touch his neck. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. The first guy karate-chopped me in the throat.”
“Kade, I know you want to protect me, and I love you for that, but can I talk you into letting me do this alone?”
“No.”
“This is not
like anything you have ever done as a cop.”
“No.”
“But…”
“No.”
Fallon let out a frustrated scream. “Are you always this stubborn?”
“Yes.”
“It’s going to be dangerous.”
“Then, why are we still sitting here talking about it?”
She took his measure for several long seconds and had to admit she liked what she saw. “We leave at dark.”
Chapter 15
The Trap
Kade turned the Jeep down a dead end street that ended at a wooden fence protecting the sandy beach of Lake Rushden. He turned off the ignition, and Fallon studied the contour of his face in the moonlight. He was so handsome. His dimples even more pronounced as he clenched his jaw.
“I don’t like this,” he muttered.
“What?”
“It feels like a trap.”
“Could be.”
He turned toward her. “Then why are we going in?”
“I’m going in because I have no choice. I have to eliminate Marc Ellis and the threat he poses to Alden. You’re going in because of your conditions.”
“About that. I decided I may have been a bit hasty with those demands.”
She scrunched her face at him. “Oh, really?”
“From here on out, my only condition is the one about me helping you. I changed my mind about the bikini. You can fight in that any time.”
“Kade, this is serious.”
He smiled at her in the dark. “I know, Fallon. Your fellow Knight, Gabe, and I used to use humor to cover our fear all the time.”
That surprised her. “Are you scared now?”
“I would be an idiot not to be. Aren’t you?”
“Only for you.”
He was silent for a moment. “So, Emperica really is beautiful?”
“Indescribably so. Why are you asking?”
“Because it means that no matter what happens tonight, we win. Either we are successful in eliminating my uncle or he kills us and we go to Emperica together.”
She sighed and let her head fall back on the seat. “Kade, I’m looking forward to returning to Emperica. More than anything. But, not until every Kjin on earth is destroyed. The people here need me, and I have sworn to protect them.” She hesitated. “And…it’s hard to explain, but it wouldn’t be the same for us in Emperica. People aren’t together like that there.”
He nodded and turned back to gaze out of the windshield. “If I die tonight, I’m going to train to become a Knight and come back and find you.”
“I would be a middle aged woman by the time you returned,” she told him sadly.
“It takes that long to become a Knight?”
“Thirty years. Sometimes more.” She thought of Blane still in Emperica.
“That settles it then. Neither one of us is going to die tonight. I just found you and I’m am not about to lose you.” Leaning over, he cupped her head, pulled her close and kissed her deeply. After several moments that left her breathless, he let go of her and opened the door. “Come on, let’s get this done.”
When she got out of the car, he pointed to a large cottage built on a promontory that jutted out into the lake. “That’s my uncle’s house. On the main drag, it’s three blocks from here, but we’re going to get there by the beach. Follow me.”
Kade started off at a jog and she fell into step behind him. The lake was deserted and dark at this late hour with only the moonlight and sporadic house lights to guide their way. Kade ran quickly, but she easily kept pace. As they neared the cottage, Kade ducked behind a sandy berm that he used to conceal their passage the rest of the way. Just under the outcrop where the house was built, Kade put his hand up and they stopped.
Fallon looked up. No one was there—the cottage was completely dark. All of the coiled up adrenaline in her body fled from her in a frustrated exhaled breath. She thought for sure, Ellis would be here, and she just wanted to end this. Now.
Kade turned to her. “It doesn’t look like anyone is here. Should we come back?”
She thought about it for a moment. Should they try and track Marc Ellis at his house in Alden? Try to find Father Tomas again? “Let’s go in,” she finally decided. “Maybe he left behind some clues.”
“As long as it isn’t a bomb,” Kade muttered, and together they ran up the wooden stairs that led from the beach to a wide covered porch. Silently, Kade walked across the deck and tried the door. It was unlocked.
He gave her a suspicious glance and went inside at a crouch, keeping his silhouette as small as possible. Fallon followed suit, wishing she had more light, but not daring to light the Aventi as it would just put a target on their backs if anyone was in the house.
The place was completely silent.
“You go upstairs,” she suggested. “I’ll look down here.”
While Kade climbed to the second level, Fallon searched through the rooms. The furnishings were luxurious, but she noticed that it didn’t have the touch of a woman here. There were no prints or flowers or family photos. This was a place for Marc Ellis alone and not his family.
What are you hiding here, Mr. Ellis?
Fallon made her way down a hallway off the kitchen. There were two doors off the corridor and both were closed. She walked to the one on the right first and opened the door a few inches. Reaching inside, she felt along the wall and flicked on the light.
A laundry room. And, empty.
Closing the door, she went to the room on the left.
She opened the door and found the switch, sending light flooding through the room.
This one was a small bedroom, and it, too, was empty.
She started to close the door, but stopped when she heard a very faint rustling noise.
Someone was in there.
Marc Ellis? Another Kjin? No, her Kur had not given warning.
She opened the door wide and stepped inside. There was no closet where a man could be hiding, so she dropped to the ground to look under the bed.
Nothing.
A wide wardrobe stood in the corner, and made her way toward it. She heard the noise again. There was definitely something in the wardrobe.
She threw open the cabinet doors.
Two children stared back at her. Duct tape covered their mouths and wrists. A boy and a girl. The two missing children.
“Oh, no.” She leaned down toward the children, and they shrank back from her in fright. “It’s okay. I’m here to help. I promise.” She reached out and peeled the tape from the boy first and then the girl. “Are you hurt?”
Both children shook their heads.
“I just want my Mommy,” the girl cried.
Fallon pulled the little girl from the wardrobe and held her tight. “I’ll take you to your Mommy. Can you walk?”
She nodded, so Fallon put her down and helped the boy out.
“Is the mean man gone?” the boy asked.
“I think so, but we better get out of here. I have a friend upstairs and he will help us.”
Fallon ushered the children toward the door. “Quickly now, go into the kitchen.”
The children ran out of the room and, too late, Fallon felt the burn on her arm. Just as she stepped out of the room, a hand appeared out of nowhere and covered her mouth.
“Listen up! I know you can kill me, but if you want those children and your little boyfriend to survive the night, send them away. Now!”
Fallon elbowed the Kjin in the face and broke his nose. Spinning, she grabbed him under the throat and slammed him against the wall.
“Last warning, Knight! The place is surrounded. If you kill me now, your boyfriend and the children will die!”
Fallon let the Kjin fall to the floor. “You better hide, then. If my little boyfriend sees you, I’ll never be able to convince him to leave.”
The Kjin scrambled to hi
s feet. “And, tell him not to bring up Marc Ellis’ name to the police,” he warned her before disappearing into the bedroom.
She took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen. The children were huddled together, but broke apart and ran to her when they saw Kade coming down the stairs with a look of utter disbelief on his face.
Fallon bent down to them and began to remove the duck tape around their wrists. “Don’t be afraid. This is my friend, Kade, and he is going to take you to the police station, okay?”
“No! We want you to take us!”
She shook her head. “I can’t, but I promise that Kade is a very good guy, and he is going to take you to your parents. Okay?”
Reluctantly, they nodded.
“You’re coming, too,” Kade said, his tone resolute.
“Kade, just take them for me, please. I still have to track your uncle.”
“We’ll drop them off together and then go to my uncle’s house. I can show you where he lives.”
“Just give me the address. There’s no need for both of us to go to the police station.”
He narrowed his eyes at her.
“Please, Kade. They are so defenseless. They have been through too much already. Just take them to the police, and I’ll call you and let you know where I am.”
“Did you find some kind of lead?” he asked, suspiciously.
She nodded. She did find a lead. It was a big, evil Kjin, and she had no doubt that he would lead her directly to Professor Marc Ellis.
Kade grasped her shoulders hard enough to make her wince. He knew something wasn’t quite right. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I know, but you have to.”
He looked over at the children and then back at her as if searching for an argument. In the end, he couldn’t find one. “Call me within fifteen minutes and let me know exactly where you are. I’ll meet you.” He went into the kitchen and found a pad of paper and pen. After scribbling the address down, he handed it to her. “Be careful. I love you, Fallon.”
“I love you, too,” she said for the first time. “More than anything.” She swallowed past the pain in her throat when she realized that this was the last time she would ever see Kade Royce. Impulsively, she flung her arms around his neck and held him close, inhaling the scent of him. So unique. So Kade.