Forgotten Enemy (The Powers of Influence Book 1) Page 11

  “Give me a little credit now,” he said with a smug grin, “I’m much tougher than I look.”

  She wasn’t amused. She couldn’t deal with inflicting more danger on them, on anybody. She couldn’t live with the thought of anyone or anything for that matter, spilling someone else’s blood to get to her, even if one of those people annoyed her to no end.

  Saying each word precisely, she tried spelling it out for him, “You really don’t get it do you? I will not stand idly by while anyone, including you, dies to save me. I’m just not worth it! Don’t you see? People love you. Count on you.”

  She sighed and continued with a softer voice, “The same goes for Rederrick and Cynda. There is no one counting on me, no one waiting for me. I cannot be the cause of that hope, that love, being destroyed. I can’t rely on you, because it’s too dangerous. I can’t destroy what you have here, Cade. You should’ve never gotten involved. I’m sorry you did.”

  Nothing could have surprised him more. By the desperate conviction in her voice, he could see Collett truly didn’t believe that she was worth it. She couldn’t see that people here did care about her. Baffled, Cade sat there facing the most beautiful woman he ever laid eyes on, trying to understand why she placed no value on her own life.

  She set the untouched water down and slowly rose from her seat again. Then with short terse words she tried once again to leave the room, “I have to go.”

  This time Collett made it to the doorway before Cade’s calm, quiet words stopped her, “You’re wrong. About any of us dying, I mean. We know what we’re doing, and we know the risk we‘re taking. This is what we do, if not for you, then for someone else.”

  Collett heard the shift of the chair as Cade rose, so she didn‘t move. To her surprise he didn’t come toward her this time. His heavy footsteps walked across the room, away from her. She turned around to face him. He stopped at the same door she had escaped through last night then said determinedly, “You’re also way off about one other thing you are worth it, every life is worth something.” Cade’s cool tone had a finality to it that left no further room for argument.

  She could only stand there as if roots had grown from her toes and plowed through the tile to keep her feet from moving forward.

  Cade opened and closed the door quietly his movement precisely controlled. The soft click of the door closing echoed through her brain, more so than if he had slammed it. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to gain perspective on the entire exchange. It would have been easier if he had stormed out or shouted at her, but his quiet words and careful movements cut straight into her already heavy heart, because she knew he believed every word. Though, she couldn’t understand why. Cade is wrong, she thought. He just doesn’t know it; he didn’t realize how risky this was.

  “He has to be wrong,” she insisted out loud.

  He is such a good person, and truly loved. His life meant far more than hers ever had. People counted on him, needed him. Collett didn’t realize, or at least she wasn’t willing to admit, that she might need him too.

  Chapter Nine

  Cade decided a long walk would help him clear his head. He wanted to patrol the grounds around the estate again anyway. Two attacks so close together meant that they needed to stay vigilant. As he walked, Cade wondered about the size of the bounty placed on Collett.

  He considered this last attack a sign that it must be a damn big payoff. Jeffery, the sorcerer who had shown up this afternoon, was only stimulated by big dollars, or sometimes a good challenge.

  Cade had crossed paths with the nasty little mage before in the last ten years. Just like the previous encounters, Jeffery always had an escape plan. Well, in his case an escape spell. Whenever things got into close combat, the little runt took off. Three times now Cade engaged him and twice now, Jeffery had been smart enough to leave the minute Cade had brought the battle too close.

  Cade couldn’t wait to wrap his long, clawed hands around the cocky mage’s neck again. Only, this time if he did, he wouldn’t let go. He would only need to get past Jeffery’s shields, and keep him from popping out when he did. Cade decided he would talk to Cynda about it when she was up and about again.

  Even though Cade had trained himself over the years to have a strong self-control, sometimes he found that control slipping. Now happened to be one of those times. It boiled on the surface stronger than he could remember in a long time. The encounters bothered him of course. Mostly though, he felt bothered by the fact that Collett needed help, but to his ultimate frustration, the confusing woman didn’t want it.

  And why, he thought, because she thought herself unworthy of the risk. “Unbelievable,” he muttered out loud.

  Walking by a perfectly placed group of evergreens at the corner of the yard, Cade kept thinking about all that occurred the last two days. As he walked the estate grounds, the freshly fallen leaves crunched under his feet.

  Cade checked the position of all the security cameras seeking out any blind spots. He made a mental note to make sure he talked to Rederrick about placement of two or three more cameras, and they’d need to recheck the perimeter alarms. Overall though, the angles covered would be very helpful to them. It was a great security system. Like almost everything else here, the security was top of the line. In their line of work, it had to be. Satisfied with what he saw here, he moved along the grounds.

  Cade kept working through everything in his head as he patrolled. The problem was, he thought, they were in the middle of too many unanswered questions.

  The questions seemed to be never-ending. The biggest problem, for him anyway, kept circling around in his head. Why do I feel this inner pull for Collett?

  He decided to dissect the last question first. Considering he had a difficult time controlling himself around her, he felt a pressing need to rationalize his attraction to her. Collett was beautiful, and clearly smart. She was a fighter too; he thought with a wry smile, remembering how she kicked and punched at him at the river. There was a strange, but enchanting and mysterious allure that seemed to surround her. Most of all that intoxicating scent of hers pulled at Cade in a way he never before experienced. That sweet citrus scent following her drove him out of his mind.

  Shaking his head to shake away the memory of it, he broke down each factor one by one. First things first, he told himself, he would have to stop drawing in that sultry scent like a drug addict. That way, he could at least keep better focus.

  That’s all it is, Cade began telling himself, it’s simply basic attraction 101 stemming from pheromones. Yeah, that must be it. He always admired beautiful, smart women. Then there was the mystery, well who doesn’t enjoy a mystery every 100 years or so, he reasoned. Once he got to know her and her secrets, Collett probably wouldn’t be so incredibly attractive to him. She would just be, Collett, his next assignment. As for that enticing, sweet aroma of hers, he would have to work around it. He concluded he would need to make it a priority to get to know her, and all her secrets. Not only to save her life, but to save his sanity as well.

  That thought brought him back to the first questions on his list. Who would want Collett dead?

  He mulled it over as he made his way over to the south side of the house. A little stream ran through the property grounds. Staring at the water that sparkled and trickled downhill, making its way to the small pond three miles away, Cade considered, what could someone gain from such a senseless death? In order for a bounty to be worth it there must be something to gain, but what could that be?

  After a while, he realized his thoughts were going in circles. There were so many what ifs and maybes, to consider. What if Collett had something they wanted? Maybe Collett had turned traitor on them. However, no matter how long Cade thought about it, he just couldn’t figure it out. None of it felt as though it fit.

  Next, he wondered why Collett got so bent out of shape when he mentioned he knew she had power. Maybe she was trying to hide it. Maybe Collett was under the impression if she didn’t use her abilities,
they couldn’t track her. He realized he would need to explain to Collett that wasn’t truly the case, and considered for a moment what abilities she could be hiding.

  He still felt strongly this was all Faction related. The bounty alone had Faction written all over it. The sum it would take to stir Jeffery out of his hole would be substantial, and not many groups had those kinds of resources. Unless, Cade thought, Jeffery was brought out by the challenge, but that would still mean a big bounty anyway. Anything that challenged Jeffery or someone like him meant bigger risk to any hunters. Therefore, bigger risk bigger rewards.

  Whatever was going on felt big to Cade, and he secretly hoped that this time, they’d find out who the leader of The Faction was.

  By the time he made it around the entire estate and examined every possible security flaw, he decided through all his thinking, he’d only been able to answer two things for sure.

  First, he would have to keep picking at those questions one by one, until he found out the answer to the one question that would save Collett’s life. And second, Cade thought; I might have to learn how to hold my breath around Collett.

  He entered the kitchen about a half an hour later feeling refreshed, both from his walk and from sorting things out in his head. He spotted Rederrick sitting at the table, his head cradled in his hands, and his eyes were firmly closed. Had Cade not seen the movement of Rederrick’s fingers massaging his forehead, He would have believed him asleep.

  “How is she?” he quietly asked. His momentary relief was replaced with guilt upon seeing Rederrick’s worried features.

  “Well, she’s tired but good. She said I was hovering and shooed me away to find you.” Rederrick answered still keeping his eyes closed. He massaged his temples for a moment more, then opened his eyes and tilted his head to Cade as he continued, “Cynda says he slammed her with some sort of mental slap when she tried to stop him from throwing them into the river. She fought back as best she could, in the end though, he won out. She says she’s never felt something like this before, and told me the force he used was barely controlled.” He dropped his hands and leaned his back against his chair. “Just what exactly happened today, Cade?”

  Cade walked over to the table, and pulling up a chair next to Rederrick, he began to recount the events of their encounter. “She’s right. It was barely controlled. It was Jeffery.”

  Those few words explained a great deal. They both knew Jeffery. At a young age, Jeffery came into his power, at an age much too young to understand it. Even worse he was quite powerful, more so than most sorcerers, even without training. As a result, he had no discipline when it came to his craft. Cade tried to help him once, but The Faction got a hold of him first.

  Cade continued recounting what happened, “When they made the neck breaking U-turn I started after them. I hit some sort of barrier. Felt as if I slammed face-first into a wall. I tried to make it through. I swear, Rederrick I beat at it so hard. I knew enough hits would eventually take it down.” Guilt now laced Cade’s words.

  “Are you really so stupid that after all these years of knowing me, you truly believe I would blame you for this?” Rederrick asked, but looking at Cade, he found his answer. “No. You didn’t think I would blame you, but you blame yourself. Don’t you?”

  “I was right there so close. I couldn’t get through. I beat at the barrier so hard knowing it would take concentration to keep it in place. I watched what happened, watched as they moved closer and closer to the river’s edge. Cade hung his head as he spoke, closing his eyes and recalling the image, recalling his fear that he wouldn’t get there in time.

  He spoke carefully now, trying to clear all the details in his mind. “I’m pretty sure Cynda broke the barrier, and afterwards, I saw our pal Jeffery appear, which I am sure she also made happen. He never likes to show himself unless forced. I should have killed him the first time we met.” Cade mumbled.

  Rederrick looked at Cade sharply. Hearing the mumbled words, he calmly said, “When will you stop taking the weight of the world on your shoulders? You did the right thing, both ten years ago, and today. Ten years ago as I recall, Jeffery was just a kid, barely a teenager. Yeah so, you could have killed him, but you would’ve never forgiven yourself. Jeffery’s blood on your hands would’ve imprinted a dark stain on your soul, and immortality would be a whole lot harder with a guilty conscience... Giving the boy a chance to turn around, a chance to be something worthy and honorable, even if he was too stupid to take it, was simply the right thing to do.”

  Cade looked at Rederrick closely, then smiling slightly he said, “I guess being nearly three hundred years-old doesn’t always mean you have all the answers.”

  Rederrick‘s features changed, his grin spread. Feeling somewhat better, he responded lightly, “Boy, you could live for an eternity, and I would still be smarter.”

  “Yeah you just remember how smart you are when you’re pushing a walker and eating applesauce, old man.” Cade answered in kind.

  The short, light bantering session brought both men out of their dark moods.

  Getting back to business Cade said seriously, “This is big, Rederrick. I still don’t really understand it all, but Jeffery’s appearance tells me there is a lot of money on the table.”

  Rederrick didn’t need any time to think about it. He felt the same way. “I know we all feel it. I think we’re going to need some help on this one.”

  Cade thought about who could add an advantage to this. “Is Rory available?”

  “I have him undercover trying to get recruited by The Faction; we need to find the ringleader. I can check on his progress. I really think though, what we need here are able bodies to take on some shifts for security duty. We can’t stay awake all the time. I’ll check and see if Cody and Nate can get here. Of course, having Rory on the back burner is not a bad thought.”

  Cade decided to leave it in his hands. He knew it wouldn’t be long before someone tried to attack again. Therefore, they needed to get reinforcements soon, among other things.

  “We have to find out why they want her dead,” Cade declared, bringing up their next important topic. “Why is she such a threat to them?”

  “She doesn’t even know that herself,” came the smooth musical tone of Collett’s voice. Stunned, both men turned around and saw her standing nervously in the kitchen doorway.

  Chapter Ten

  Cade quickly rose. His automatic reaction came from many years of ingrained protocol and good manners. Wrapped up in his conversation with Rederrick, he hadn’t even heard Collett’s approach.

  He noticed right away how tired she looked. Her blue eyes spoke volumes. The last two days had taken their toll on her. She needed rest badly, and Cade also guessed she needed something to hope for.

  Despite all of that, she was still stunning to him. Forgetting all about his earlier realization, Cade drew in the sweet smell of her. She wore his shirt and baggy sweats still. The clothes should have made her look shapeless and unattractive, but to Cade, it was even more enticing to see her standing there, drowning in his clothes, his things covering her soft skin.

  “Please come and join us,” he said encouragingly, hoping that Collett would finally provide her insight on all this. He gestured to the chair he pulled out, inviting her to sit down.

  She came into the room slowly, unsure of whether or not she was doing the right thing. She didn’t know if she could tell them everything. She’d kept it all to herself for so long, keeping it as her problem, out of an unknown fear she could not explain. Lastly, she was uncertain of their ability to help her solve her problem, of anyone’s ability, really.

  Collett knew though, as much as it bothered her to admit it, Cade’s earlier words were correct. The last two days inflicted this mess on them. By default now they were all a part of this. She also wondered if they might be able to give her information. Information she had been unable to obtain on her own. For the first time in two years, Collett started to believe she might be able to understan
d her life.

  She sat down in the proffered chair then folded her hands gently, resting them in her lap. Her posture was stiff. Collett understood she needed to start talking, but in that moment she couldn’t think of where to start. “What would you like to know?” she asked tentatively.

  Cade was so glad Collett was suddenly willing to talk to them, he couldn’t keep the relief from showing. His posture relaxed, and his eyes lightened. Cade intended to help whether she talked to them or not, but her cooperation would make it easier on all of them, including her.

  “I want to hear everything,” Rederrick said, but held up his hand to stop Collett from starting. “I do think though, Cynda should hear what you have to say as well. It’s almost dinnertime, and none of us has eaten lunch, let’s gather together in the parlor in a half hour. I’ll have Jenny bring us something to eat there. While she does, I’ll go and get Cynda. Then you can tell us what you do know.”

  Rederrick stood, and looked down to Collett, “And it looks like you are in need of some proper clothes. I’ll have some brought to your room. That way, we can all be much more comfortable for this discussion. Now, come on then,” Rederrick offered Collett his hand, “I’ll escort you to you room so you can change.” Silently challenging her to take the offer and follow him. It was more than an offered hand though, Rederrick invited her to trust him, and it was an offer of help.

  Cade knew this, and he waited. He wanted her to take the offer more than he even realized.

  Several heartbeats passed before she accepted the support they were offering, by lifting her hand carefully and taking Rederrick’s large soft hand. Rederrick encircled her hand with his fingers. He tugged, pulling Collett from her chair. His next move was unexpected. Cade watched as Collett‘s expression turned to pure shock. She stood still and stiff when Rederrick pulled her into a warm, fatherly embrace.