Firebrand (7 page)

“I know that but…”

Serina held up a hand to stop his words. “You will have time enough to say your good-byes. That I promise you.”

David drew in a breath and sighed in gratitude.

“If I only have one day, one night, with Amber, how can I make enough memories to last for a lifetime?”

“You must be ready when the Triad comes. Emotion must not get in the way of duty.”

David was sure she could hear the hopelessness in the very beat of his heart. “I know what I have to do. But with that said, I will protect her as much as I can. With my life if that becomes necessary.”

Smiling her understanding, Serina took his hand in hers. “When we go out that door, you must forget your pain and think only about saving the beings of three worlds.”

David knew the heaviness that set into his soul would be a permanent reminder of his duty. “I will,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Serina touched his shoulder. “I know.”

* * * * *

Amber pulled her BMW into the driveway of her father’s home. A two-hundred-year-old farmhouse, it was set on a huge homestead on the outskirts of Amish Country in Pennsylvania. The house connected to an old barn through what looked like a long walkway. Many area homes were built like that so the farmers did not have to go out in the snow and cold to milk their cows in the dead of winter.

She parked the car and walked to the door in the middle of the first section. It wasn’t locked, as she knew it wouldn’t be. She stepped inside and immediately felt safe. As a little girl, she used the hallway in this part of the house as her playroom, her quiet place and even her sanctuary.

She walked slowly, running her fingertips across the furniture, the bookcase that still held her storybooks, the dollhouse her father had built for her and the chair her mother had lovingly repaired when Amber had stepped up on the seat to look out the window and broke the caning. She sat in the old rocking chair and set it in motion. Leaning her head against the wooden backrest and closing her eyes, she let the back and forth movement lull her into a sense of calm.

As if no other sound mattered, she heard the tumblers in the doorknob turning. The door snapped open about the same time her eyes did. A second later, a familiar and comforting voice cocooned around her.

“Amber, my sweet child, I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Hello Dad.” She rose and hugged her father hard, then stepped away. She sensed the tenseness in him, worry and grief also perhaps, along with a concerted effort to mask the sensations from her. Her brows furrowed as she looked at him, noticing his gray hair, the wrinkles around his eyes, his thinner size. He’d lost the look of the sure-willed champion she’d come to know and love as a child and looked far more like an overwhelmed old man. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

His smile echoed the sadness in his eyes. “Nothing. I’m just tired.”

“No,” she countered. “You’re worried about something. Are you ill? Tell me.”

Marcus Drake remained stoic as if gathering his thoughts, then scrubbed a hand down his face. “Sit with me for a moment.”

He walked her to the old couch she remembered so well. She lay her head on his shoulder as they sat side by side, and Amber couldn’t help but smile as he tucked her hair behind her ears so it wouldn’t be in her eyes, just as he had so many times when she was a child.

“We should talk about you,” Marcus said. “It’s not like you to leave work and come all the way out here on a weekday.”

Amber touched his hand. As a child she told him everything but that had stopped when she began having visions. How could she tell him what was happening to her now? How could he or anyone believe such things?

But she took a deep breath and tried. “Dad, things have been happening to me.”

He seemed to pale. “What kind of things?”

“Weird things and strange feelings. I can’t explain them.” She bit down on her lower lip. “Maybe I’m sick or dying and this is how my body is preparing me.”

Marcus gently stroked her hair. “No, honey, you’re not sick and you’re certainly not dying.”

She felt his chest heave and pulled back, looking at eyes that could no longer look at her. “You sound like you know what’s happening to me.”

Marcus stood and walked to the fireplace. She saw his shoulders droop before he turned slowly and trained his gaze to hers. “Honey, I’m sorry.”

Amber’s mouth went dry. “What is it? Tell me, Dad,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

“I shouldn’t have kept it from you. You should have known sooner. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

Amber bolted to her feet. She ran to him and grasped his arms. “Tell me what?” Her gaze searched his face for an answer before he would say it but she found only pain and heartache in his eyes.

A muscle along his jaw clenched and he swallowed hard. “That you’re not…”

“What? What, Dad?” Amber said, not realizing that she was shaking him.

“That you’re not…” he stopped and closed his eyes, inhaling slowly as though pulling together the strength to tell her. Slowly he shook his head. “I don’t what to say.”

Amber felt her heartbeat rise, the tempo pounding inside her head. “Say what? That I’m going insane? That I have some rare disease?”

He shook his head. “It’s not what you are, it’s more like what you’re not.”

“Stop talking in riddles,” she said, feeling anger come in a rush of breath. “What am I not? Just tell me.” She watched the struggle of warring emotions in his eyes.

“Human,” he finally said softly but with a finality that roared. “You’re not entirely human.”

Chapter Five

“Who the hell are you and where’s Amber?”

David pushed open the door to Eric Sinclair’s office so hard that the doorknob went right though the wallboard with the force of his anger. He reached Sinclair’s desk in two long powerful strides. Leaning forward, fingers splayed on the high polished mahogany top, his body language shouted angry.

“Where’s Amber!” he repeated, louder this time.

If Sinclair was at all concerned, his face did not show it. “I am my father’s son, and the question should be who the hell are you?” he asked in a smooth, even tone.

“I’m your worst nightmare if you don’t tell me what I want to know.”

A narrow smile spread over Sinclair’s thin lips. “Well, Mr. Nightmare,” he paused just long enough to watch the muscles alongside David’s jaw clench, “Do you always burst into offices unannounced?”

“I’ll ask the questions.”

Sinclair arched a dark brow. “Indeed.”

“Tell me where she is,” David demanded from behind clenched teeth.

Sinclair lazed back in the chair and looked David over from head to foot. He wasn’t a bad specimen for an upworlder. A bit enthusiastic perhaps but with the proper discipline he’d make a fine slave when the time came. “I have no idea,” Sinclair finally said.

“Waaay wrong answer.” David reached across the desk and grabbed Sinclair by the lapels of his expensive suit.

“
David! Stop!”
Serina’s voice impaled his mind. “
Don’t do anything foolish. I’ll be right there.”

“He was the last one with her,” David said aloud.

“
Let him go, David
.”

David released Sinclair just as Serina entered the room. “You shouldn’t have stopped me.”

“David, a word, please,” Serina said.

“This little convention is becoming a bore, “ Sinclair said.

David squared his shoulders and faced her, then turned his head back to Sinclair. “He’s up to something.”

“Of course he’s up to something.” Serina furrowed her brow hoping to center her fairy radar.

Sinclair brushed away the wrinkles made by David’s hands. “I’ve had enough of this, I’ll give you both three seconds to get out of my office and out of my building,” he said looking at his gold Rolex before reaching for the phone.

David glared at him. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t call security and have you arrested,” Sinclair challenged, rising and walking around the desk.

David eyed Sinclair as he would a coiled cobra and stepped closer. Toe to toe with him now, David didn’t blink. “Spare me the threats. You know you aren’t calling anyone. You don’t want that kind of attention and you know it.”

Sinclair took a step backward, irritated to have to admit that the brash upworlder was right. He turned to Serina.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever had the pleasure,” he said in a voice unexpectedly filled with syrupy charm.

She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked a hip. “And you won’t.”

Walking to the bar, Sinclair laughed. “Such an enchanting creature. Can I interest at least you in a drink before you’re
both
on your way?”

“The only thing I’m interested in is Amber,” David countered.

“What makes you think I know where she is?” Sinclair poured himself two fingers of scotch and took a slow sip.

“Your assistant said Amber met with you earlier and no one has seen her since.”

“I only employ her,” Sinclair said over the rim of the glass. “I don’t baby-sit her.”

David bolted around the bar, his hand grabbing Sinclair’s throat before he could say anything more. “I want answers, not sarcasm.” A basket of fruit and most of the glasses that were on a shelf fell to the floor as David threw Sinclair up against the wall.

“David, let him go.”

A definite command, Serina’s words made David look over his shoulder at her. “He knows. I can see it in his eyes. The slime ball is not a very good liar.”

“I don’t have to lie,” Sinclair said, sucking in the small amount of air David allowed him. “I have no idea where she is.”

“David, we can’t afford to risk endangering everything we’ve worked so hard to accomplish.” She grabbed his arm but he shook her off.

David tightened his grip around Sinclair’s throat. “Tell me where she is!” David’s fingers constructed further, Sinclair’s face distorting in response.

Again Serina shouted for him to stop, raining telepathic blows on his back with pure force of will. The telekinetic strikes were powerful enough to jar him but not enough to make him let go.

Suddenly images began to fill David’s mind. A glint of silver from a dented and pitted helmet framing a leathered, rutted face bearing hooded eyes and a mouth curled with anger. A flash of sunlight bounced off a blood encrusted sword held high by a thick hand attached to a powerful but knobby and twisted body clad in studded armor. Blood and bodies seemed to surround him. A second later David’s mind focused on the sword in a disfigured hand as it slowly dropped toward him. The imagery was potent enough to jolt him, causing him to loosen his grip just long enough for Sinclair to slip out of his grasp. As the mental pictures cleared, David could see Sinclair had the phone in his hand.

“Get me security!” Sinclair shouted into the receiver before David could stop him.

Serina took David by the arm and pulled him toward the door. “We have to go. We can’t afford for the police to get involved.” Serina jerked her head around to stare into Sinclair’s eyes. “If anything has happened to Amber, we’ll be back,” she warned.

“Damn straight we will,” David concurred. “And next time, nothing will be able to stop me.”

David watched Sinclair slowly turn his gaze from Serina. When their eyes met, he could swear that Sinclair’s face rippled, like a fluttery video signal. He blinked and Sinclair’s face seemed to synchronize itself leaving only a pair of eyes as dark as the blackest night that seemed to be illuminated from within. David lowered his head, shaking it from side to side to clear the vision. What he saw when he looked back up was pure evil.

* * * * *

“What did you think you were doing in there?” Serina asked as she slid into the passenger seat of David’s car. Her voice was surprisingly calm but the hand she placed on his wrist was inflexible as he started the car.

The muscle along David’s jaw line jumped as he eased the car into traffic with one hand. “Me? What were you doing?”

“I was trying to prevent you from either killing Sinclair or getting hauled off by the police in handcuffs, leaving me to find Amber alone.” She released her hold on his wrist and he settled his hand on the steering wheel.

“Then you shouldn’t have gotten inside my head. I wasn’t exactly in the mood for a private showing of
Alien vs Predator.
”

She looked at him. “What are you talking about?”

He gave her a quick glance before making a left turn and heading out of town. “The short, ugly guy. The bloody armor.” He snickered. “I have to admit, you got me with the sword coming at my head.”

He saw Serina’s eyes widen. “Pull over.”

“What?”

“Pull over. Now!” Serina grabbed the steering wheel and gave it a hard yank to the right.

David cut over two lanes and slipped the car into a taxi line as horns honked and yellow cabs swerved around them. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

Serina angled herself to him as he turned off the engine. “No. I think we have bigger problems.” She reached out and grabbed his chin with her thumb and forefinger. “David, I didn’t plant images in your mind.”

“Of course you did. You do it to people all the time. Remember that poor girl in the subway who you made think ants were crawling all over her leg?”

“She was being rude to her mother, This is serious.” She bit down on her lower lip. “Try to remember. Was there anything odd in that office?”

David furrowed his brows and removed her fingers from his face. “It was an office.”

“Think. Did anything seem unusual, out of place?” Her voice was edged with impatience.

“No. Just normal office stuff, desk chair, bookcase, bar.”

“There had to be something,” she replied shaking her head. “I didn’t put those images in your head, so someone else did. And what’s worse, I didn’t know it.” She frowned and tapped her temple with her forefinger. “I need to know what was in that office.” Her brows knitted in deep thought, then a smile bloomed on her lips. “I have an idea. Lie back.” She gently encouraged him to recline the car seat then eased his head back against the headrest.

“Do you realize it’s the middle of the day on a busy city roadway and what this looks like?”

“Shhh! Close your eyes.” She splayed her fingers across his face, thumb and little finger on his cheeks, middle finger on his forehead, the remaining fingers on his eyelids. “Think back,” her softly urging voice said. “I need to see the room.”

“What is this, a Vulcan Mind-Meld?”

“Do you think Gene Roddenberry made it up for
Star Trek
all by himself?”

David opened his eyes as much as she would allow it. “Well I certainly don’t think you taught it to him.”

“No,” Serina replied pushing down with gentle pressure and forcing his eyes shut. “My cousin, Molinarey did. Now focus. If I find what I think I’m looking for, I’ll tell you that story.”

* * * * *

Marcus put on the kettle and pulled out the herbal tea he and Amber liked so much. “So we went to Ireland and a local, Sean McTavish, got his brother to help with the paperwork. In a week, your mother,” he stopped and lowered his eyes for a moment, “I mean, Erin and I brought you home here. No one questioned us getting a baby through a European adoption. A lot of people were adopting babies from Poland, Slovakia, Russia and even some from China at that time.”

Amber’s hand shook as she put a teabag in her mug and poured the steaming water over it. “Okay, so I’m adopted. I would have liked to have known earlier but it isn’t a big deal. Get to the part about why you think I’m not human.”

“I’m trying.”

“Just tell me what you mean.”

“It’s not that simple.” Marcus sighed. “Like your adoption. You weren’t just a child who needed a home. You needed to disappear.”

“Disappear? Why?”

“Because of who and what you are?”

“What I am?” She felt heaviness settle onto her chest and looked down. The pendant was pulsating again.

Marcus reached toward it and stopped. “I remember the first time I saw that chain.” He looked from it to her face. “Your grandfather put that around your neck. You probably were only a day or two old.”

Out of habit, she covered the disk with her hand. “Then you knew my parents. At least who they are.”

“I met your mother. Once.”

“Only once?” She bit down on her lip. “She never tried to see me again?”

Marcus shook his head.

“You said I needed to disappear.” A nervous smile crossed her lips. “So what is it? I’m in the witness protection program?”

“Something like that.”

Her shoulders slumped. “This makes no sense. You met my mother, I had to disappear. So far none of that makes me ET or anything.” She looked into his eyes and saw a depth to the sadness she never knew existed and it scared her. “What is it? Just tell me.”

Marcus swallowed hard, clearly struggling. “You’re not like us, Amber.”

She splayed her fingers and looked at her hands, turning them over and over. “Of course I am. Ten fingers and last time I counted, ten toes.”

“No. You’re different, Amber.”

“Different how? Different like my parents were doctors and working on genome research for some secret government agency and decided to test it on themselves and now some kind of high-tech Frankenstein monster lives inside me and I had to hide out with you so the villagers didn’t get me?” Her mind began to run the gamut of every horror movie she’d ever seen. “That would at least explain a lot of what’s been happening to me.”

Marcus reached out and took her free hand in his. “No, honey, there is no monster in you. You’re beautiful. So very much like your mother.” He paused to catch her gaze. “She was a fairy princess.”

“Okay, that’s it.” She pulled her hand free and looked wide-eyed at him. “I came here to get answers to some very upsetting questions. I’m not in the mood for one of your bedtime stories right now. I need the truth.”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“Look, I wasn’t born yesterday, you know.”

“No, twenty-five years ago to be precise and I’ve been counting down the years ever since.” he said sadly.

“To what?”

“To this moment. To the time I’d have to tell you who you really are and what you must do.”

Amber shook her head slowly. “What are you talking about?”

“The time has come for you to leave life in the only world you’ve ever known to face untold dangers in others to save all of them.”

Amber covered her ears with her hands. “Stop! I came here to sort out what’s wrong with me and you’re spouting the plot of some B-movie.”

Marcus put his hands on hers and gently pulled them from atop her ears. “I’m trying to explain something to you that I don’t even quite understand. Just hear me out.”

“No, you’re talking crazy.”

She stood, walked to the window and looked out. “Maybe we’re both sick. I’m hallucinating and you’re losing your mind. Look,” she said with an enervated smile, gesturing to the huge oak tree about five hundred yards from the house. “When I was a child I always thought that big tree had the face of a kindly old man. I always felt safe when I sat under it and actually thought that its boughs stretched down to protect me when a storm came up. Even now one of the limbs looks like an arm reaching out toward the house, calling me.”

Marcus came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. “It is,” he said softly.

She put her hands over her ears. “Dad, stop. I don’t need fairy tales. I need help.”

Marcus turned her around to face him and took her hands in his. “What you need is to know.”

She shrugged her hands free. “What I need is to see a doctor to find out why I’m having these bizarre visions. Maybe I can have an operation. Take whatever is causing then out.”