Read Online Dealers of Light by Lara Nance - Free Book Online

stuff.”
    Alistair ’s brow wrinkled. He returned to his position behind the desk and rested one hand on an orderly stack of books beside a perfectly aligned pile of papers. The only other objects on the polished desktop were a few picture frames and an onyx obelisk paper-weight covered in hieroglyphics. “You seem a bit knackered, my dear.”
    “I am. I had all that drama yesterday, and today, Tor’ s on patrol and found a body completely depleted of Light. He says the body is less than twelve hours gone. Something bad is going on.”
    Alistair replaced his spectacles and patted the thin gray hair on the sides of his head . He stared at her without answering, but his lips twitched nervously.
    “And that’s not all. Wh ile I was at Amber’s store, a man came in. He was so out of place. I can’t explain it exactly except to say it was like he was from another time, almost courtly. When I came within three feet of him, I felt intense heat radiating out.”
    At this last sentence, Alistair’s eyebrows shot up and came back down in a c rashing frown. “Blast, he’s a Dealer.”
    “Oh, yeah. In a big, huge, enormously gigantic way.”
    “Sarcasm isn’t necessary. I get your point. What else did he say?”
    “Not much really. He asked about a book on crystals and , when I gave him one, said it wasn’t what he was looking for. He left abruptly, and we didn’t see a car or anything.”
    “Didn’t you ask him anything useful, such as where he came from?”
    “No. We were too shocked when he turned up out of the blue.”
    “ A beastly development. I was hoping Tor’s conjecture was merely fancy.” Alistair rubbed his temples.
    “To say the least, I’m worried. What if that stranger is the one causing the deaths?”
    Alistair’s eyes narrowed. “ I doubt it. He’d hardly chat you up then take off. But I really must gen up on this. Now I believe what has occurred is more than just a few unexplained deaths.”
    “You do?” Her heart picked up its pace. She didn’t want to believe this was organized serial killings, done by people who dealt the Light as she did. Such a scenario was too horrible to imagine.
    “I need to go home. Most of my research on our kind is there.” He gathered his keys and a file spilling over with loose papers.
    She stood and put a hand on his arm. “Can’t you tell me anything?”
    “Not yet. ”
    “T his is all very frightening. What are we going to do?”
    “ I’m not sure, and it’s best not to speculate.”
    “ Please , speculation would be better than nothing.”
    “This may be worse than I imagined.” He stuffed the papers and folders into a leather briefcase.
    “Alistair!” Cara tugged on his sleeve. Fear of the unknown chilled her to the core. She needed answers.
    “I’ll call you later.” He rushed out the door and left her standing in his office with her mouth open.
     
    ###
     
    Cara and Dusty returned from a run and her cell rang. She slammed the door behind her, unhooked the leash, and grabbed the phone.
    “Cara? Alistair here.”
    “Yes? What’s going on?”
    “I’m on my way over. Call the others to meet us.”
    “Alistair —” The phone went dead. “ Dammit .”
    Th e phone rang again. She was ready to give him a piece of her mind, but it was a text coming in from Shana.
    Marc had another one in the ER! WTF?
    She fell back in her comfy chair and Dusty came to lick her fingers where they dangled over the arm. Another one. What was out there killing people? She texted back: You and Marc come over now—prof on the way.
    Shana replied:  Half-hour .
    She called Amber and gave her the message, and leaned back in the chair, her head spinning with thoughts of dead, tortured bodies. Mixed up in it all were images of Emmie, Marc’s white face, and Rolf Van Harding. At least all this drama kept her from feeling sorry for herself about the breakup with Tom. She snorted at the idea such distractions could have a silver lining.
    Her thoughts gravitated