Angels of the Knights (13 page)

She shrugged. “No more than usual.”

He reached out and framed her face with his hands. “If…If something ever happened to you…”

“It won’t,” she interrupted.

With a desperate groan, he brought his face to hers and kissed her hard. She wrapped her arms around his waist and opened herself to his kiss, his passion, and his fear. Still holding her, he walked her back until her legs hit the side of the bed. His lips never left hers as they fell back and his hand began to explore her body.

“Kade…”

His body went rigid, and then he rolled off her onto his back, flinging an arm over his eyes. “I know. I’m sorry.”

She sat up and looked down at him. “Don’t be sorry,” she murmured. “I want you as much as you want me, Kade, but I have my beliefs first and my duty second.”

He peeked up at her from underneath his arm. “I’ve never wanted anyone more in my life than I want you, Fallon. But, not just like this. I want you in my life forever, and I want to help you in your duty to destroy the Kjin.” His head dropped back down on the bed and he covered his eyes again. “I can’t go back to being a cop, but helping people has always been important to me. I think we could make a pretty good team together if you’ll have me.”

She gently removed his arm so that he had to look at her. “I would love nothing more than to have you at my side, Kade Royce.”

He looked at her doubtfully. “Really?”

She leaned down and laid her head on his chest, hugging him close. “Yes. I have my doubts, of course, but I did accept your conditions, remember?”

He stroked the side of her cheek. “You have made me a very happy man, Fallon.”

“Happy to be throwing yourself into the midst of a war with evil forces? Do you really understand the danger here, Kade?”

“I do, and now that I know they exist, I couldn’t walk away if I wanted to.”

“I’ll keep you safe,” she promised him.

She felt him stiffen, but he did not respond.

“To be honest, it feels like an unending battle most of the time. The Kjin are very difficult to kill because they can easily possess another body when they have to. It would help if we had more Knights.”

“I guess you will have to make do with your Knight in Shining Armor until then,” he teased. “What is the plan?”

“First, removing this threat from Alden.”

He growled. “My uncle, you mean.”

“He’s not your uncle, Kade, and the sooner you come to that realization, the easier this will be. You uncle died. How long ago, I’m not sure, but the Marc Ellis you know today is not your uncle.”

He was silent for a moment. “What next then?”

“First thing in the morning, I’m going to visit Father Tomas and get some answers.”

“And, me?”

“Go to your family and suggest a vacation. Tonight. Your aunt and cousins, as well. A Kjin who has just had his human ties cut is the most dangerous of all. He will not only be looking for a new body, he will be looking for revenge.”

C
HAPTER
14

The Trap

What?” Marc Ellis screamed. “Are you sure of this?”

“Yes, Fallon Angell is still alive. I saw her walking toward St. Mary’s before I came here.”

“Was my nephew with her?”

“I didn’t see him.”

Marc glared at the Kjin in front of him. It was not his fault that the Knight was still alive, but Marc wanted to take his head off all the same. First, the girl managed to escape the two thugs he sent after her at the lake and now somehow escaped his bomb. “We will proceed as planned then. If that girl wishes to do this the hard way, we will do it the hard way. But, one way or another, Fallon Angell will die.”

“Whatever you say,” the Kjin commented non-emotionally. 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. That he wanted Marc’s position in the organization was assured.

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. This lake house was the perfect meeting place. 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?”

“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,” Marc sneered.

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, and as soon as he did, frightened squeals pierced the quiet. The door swung open and revealed two dirty, terrified children huddled in the corner.

Fallon prowled around her bedroom impatiently. What was keeping Kade? After going to St. Mary’s Cathedral 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 gathering specifically 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 singularly ambitious or did even he report to someone higher in the organization?

Then, there was Father Tomas. Where did he fit in? He was not a Kjin, but why would a devoted Emissier side with evil? And, if he was that evil, why had he not changed into a Kjin yet? Suddenly, it hit her. He did not turn so he could have access to what was happening in Emperica. How much information had he already shared with his covetous rabble?

So many questions, but it was the answers that she would need 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 okay. She jumped down the remaining stairs and opened the door. “What took you so long?” she asked as she threw her arms around his neck.

He lifted her off her feet and entered the house, slamming the door shut with his foot. “It was not easy to convince my family to leave town.”

She untangled herself from him and could see that he was upset. “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 were even talking 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? That evil demons may be stopping by to steal their bodies? It was much easier for them to believe the story about drug dealers.”

“I’m sorry, Kade.”

“Don’t be. We will 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. Nobody was.” She turned to him. “I have to get to your uncle, Kade. He tried to kill me, and he is going to be furious when he finds his family gone. He is too dangerous to leave alive.”

Kade nodded. “I think I know where he may be.”

She was instantly alert. “Where?”

“His lake house on Rushden.”

“Why do you think he would be there?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Because I’ve been racking my brain about peculiar habits of his and just realized that we have never been invited there.”

She was about to ask him another question, but froze when all of the lights in the house went out. 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 pulled her Aventi out and activated it against her arm to give them light.

The sound of glass breaking shattered the quiet. 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 they reached the bottom, Kade nodded with his head toward the kitchen and she followed behind him. As soon as Kade crossed beneath the door frame of the kitchen, he made a choking sound and slumped to the floor.

The Kur on Fallon’s arm burned as she leapt over Kade’s prone body and swung her Aventi 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 was stirring.

She ran back to him and straddled his body, standing over him protectively with her sword of light raised in the air. “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, standing and running 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 tiny space. It only had seconds to secure a new body, and when that did not happen, it exploded apart and fell to the ground in a pile of dust.

Turning, Fallon ran out of the kitchen to help Kade, but he did not 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 d 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, your uncle is not going to stop until I’m dead.”

He sat beside her. “I would have to be dead first for that to happen,” he whispered under his breath.

She reached over to touch his cheek. “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?”

“Only where you’re concerned.”

“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 liked what she saw. “We leave at dark.”

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. Even without a smile, his dimples were visible as he clenched his jaw in thought “I don’t like this,” he muttered.