Keri Arthur - Hearts In Darkness

"Don't be long," she murmured, closing her eyes.

She was asleep by the time he'd settled on the day bed. Smiling, he relaxed his mind and opened the lines of communication. Contact was instant. Seline had obviously been waiting for him.

Found lots of information on your Randolf Cordell,she said. He's not a very pleasant type.

If he was, we probably wouldn't be hunting him, would we?

Well, no, I guess not.Her smile ran down the line. His parents died when he was eight. Cordell was shuffled between in-laws, none of whom really wanted him. The streets became his home. By the time he was thirteen he'd been up before the courts on several counts of assaults and robbery.

When he was seventeen, he got involved in a car stealing racket but during one theft was involved in an accident, and the injury left him a paraplegic. He sued the driver for damages but lost the case. He then attempted to kill the driver, but was caught and charged, and spent the next ten years behind bars. Apparently, he was not a model prisoner.

A charmer, all right. It was odd how differently people coped with their situations. Nikki had also made the streets her home after her parents had died. Yet she'd managed to escape with both her integrity and her humanity relatively intact. Let me guess. The man who hit him was one of his first kidnap victims.

Clever boy. William Parnell was actually one of the four major investors in a high-flying brokerage company. The other three men provided alibis for Parnell in the court case.

Victims two, three and four?

Yes. I would guess that by the time Cordell got around to penalizing the fourth man, Robert Carson, he'd gained quite a taste for kidnapping and easy money.

He frowned. Cordell doesn't seem the type to be happy with siphoning money from their accounts.

Especially as a means of revenge.

These four are the types who think money is all-conquering. Cordell never had a hope in the court case, given his record and the fact the car he was driving was stolen, but he never saw it that way. What he saw was big fancy lawyers and lots of cash burying the truth. I'm guessing he wanted that power, and that he wanted to take it away from them.

Do we know when he was turned?

Not exactly. He disappeared for several years after his ten-year stint in jail. The next mention I found was in a journal of an old witch—you remember a woman called Ladonna doing the fairground circuit some ten years back?

Vaguely.He wasn't into fairground mysticism—it was one of the few things he hadn't done through the years. She was a shyster, wasn't she?

No, she was very much the real thing, even though her act stunk to high heaven.

He smiled. The sort of thing that gives witches a bad name, huh?

Exactly.She sniffed. Anyway, Cordell apparently joined her act, and they became quite a team. In her journal, Ladonna states that she had apprenticed Cordell and intended teaching him the art.

Seline's tone told him she wasn't impressed. I gather Ladonna followed the dark path?

Yes. I warned her many years ago it would lead to her death, but power was all she could see, all she was interested in. Fool.

I think you've lost me. Why would teaching Cordell have cost Ladonna her life? Beside the fact that

Cordell is a murderous creep, that is.

The only way those apprenticed in the dark ways can gain complete mastery over the dark powers is by killing their master and absorbing their talents. Ladonna had failed to do this, which was why she was such an abysmal practitioner and no real threat to us. I haven't found a record of her death, but I have no doubt Cordell did kill her if he is now using the full powers of dark magic.

Could he use that magic to restore his ability to walk?He couldn't imagine women like Ginger and

Rachel falling for a grimy little cripple like Cordell—not unless he was using some sort of glamour to hide the truth.

Maybe, if it was for short periods of time. That sort of magic sucks a lot of strength from the user, though.

Cordell is skin and bone.

Then he has used the magic often. It will make him weaker, but perversely, won't make him an easier target. Especially if he has found a way to siphon the energy of the flame imps.

Well, that solved the mystery of the imps' role in all of this. What about the charity these funds are going into? Have you done a background check yet? Cordell didn't seem the over generous type. The charity had to be a cover.

Yes. Cordell is listed as one of the directors and is being paid a huge salary. Three other directors are listed, but I cannot find more than postal addresses for them.

Surprise, surprise. Then they are probably no more than names on paper.

More than likely. But the charity is legit, insofar as it has all the proper registrations and has spent considerable monies providing hostels and shelters for street kids. On the other hand, considering the amounts donated, it is but a sneeze.

Why would he be kidnapping these men and risking possible exposure, if all he wished to do was siphon their millions? It doesn't make sense.

I would suspect that Cordell has the sort of personality that enjoys inflicting pain. He probably doesn't have to kidnap the men to make his scheme work, but he prefers to watch them suffer.

Then why use the imps?

She sniffed. If he is a practitioner of the black arts, and as thin as you say, he probably needs their energy now to work his magic.

Then that's why he's pulling out. According to Nikki, he has all but killed the imps off in this area.

Though I still don't understand why he is forcing them into vampires like Rachel and Ginger. If they are his fledglings, they would do as he ordered, anyway.

But they would not have enough control of their bloodlust to seduce and coax these men into Cordell's arms. The imps probably give them that strength

Up to a point, anyway. Rachel's bloodlust had overcome the control of the imp inside her. Or had that simply happened because the bonding was still new? Has Doyle arrived with our parcel yet?

Yes, and what a parcel she is. I think your Nikki is being optimistic in thinking she can be saved, but we'll see.

Can you tell anything about the methods Cordell is using to bind the imp?

It will be a spell of binding, for certain. What type of spell I can't say, but you will need protection against it. I've already couriered two charms for you and Nikki. They should actually be there by now.

Go down and check with the desk the minute we finish.

Nikki won't need it. She's heading home in the morning.

Seline's amusement filled the line. If you say so. Give her the charm as a going away present, then.

And make sure you wear yours.

I will.Controlling the darkness inside him was hard enough. What he didn't need right now was a battle over control with an imp forced into his body. What did you find out about thralls?

Nothing much, although there was one suggestion it was better not to use those with psychic gifts. It didn't say why. Has she exhibited any other signs of emerging powers?

Her night sight has improved immensely, and the powers she has have definitely strengthened.

You sound worried.

That's because I am.Elizabeth had created several thralls over the years, and never once had she mentioned anything like this happening. But then, maybe she'd never shared her life force with anyone who was psychic. Maybe she knew the risks and had just never mentioned it. He wished fleetingly he could go down and talk to her—but he didn't trust her. Not when it came to Nikki's safety.

I'll keep researching. In the meantime, go down to the desk and see if the parcel has arrived.