He knew Yellow Teeth was highly regarded among the Skin Walker clan. It would do the clan good to see the stupid idiot killed. But then, Yellow Teeth had come to him with the information that had put them on the trail of the Taqe looking for the next emerald sphere. If Victor killed him, the word would go out that such loyalty was not rewarded. He couldn’t risk that happening. But this idiot didn’t need to know his thoughts or manipulations.
“Do I have your promise on your soul that you will obey every order I give you?” Victor thundered at him.
Snapping his head up, Yellow Teeth cried, “Oh, yes, my lord! I promise upon my soul!” He clasped both hands to his heart as he gave the Dark Lord a beseeching look.
Inwardly, Victor laughed to himself. This witch was so low on the totem pole of energy it was laughable. But Victor needed the bastard. He saw the man’s brown eyes widen as he begged for a second chance. “Very well, Yellow Teeth. You’re still on our team. You are to distance yourself so that this Taqe you attacked will not even feel you around. You got that? You’ve attacked him and now he’s really on guard. You’ve made our work ten times harder.”
“And I’m sorry for that, my lord,” Yellow Teeth whined. He tried to smile. “I promise, I shall remain out of sight and sensing of this Taqe. I will redeem myself in your eyes.”
Victor doubted that, but he might have need of a fourth Tupay to steal the emerald sphere when it was found. “Very well. Get up!” He made a sharp gesture for the witch to rise to his feet.
Yellow Teeth leaped upward and started forward to touch the Dark Lord.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” Victor snarled.
Chastened, Yellow Teeth quickly stepped away. “Yes, my lord. I’m sorry, my lord.”
Convinced that Yellow Teeth understood greater power, Victor jerked open the door. “Get out of here. Go back down there with my team and telepathically tell them your orders. And then, lie in wait like a good coyote always does.”
“Yes, my lord,” Yellow Teeth whispered, smiling with glee. “That I can do!”
Victor stood in the doorway of his office and watched the witch blink out of their dimension. Turning, he shut the door, deep in thought. What to do now? The male Taqe was clearly on guard. Worse, the Taqe had easily stopped the witch’s attack. Clearly, he was a Warrior for the Light, not the usual Taqe individual. The fact troubled Victor even more. It had been one thing to take the sphere from the last couple since neither had been a Warrior. This time around, the male was a Warrior; therefore his power could be almost equal to Victor’s. Colt Black was an unknown energy.
Rubbing his chin, Victor paced his office, devising a strategy that would undermine the Taqe team without their knowledge. Damn Yellow Teeth! He’d thrown a wrench into his plans. This witch had a powerful energy, and it had bounced harmlessly off Black’s aura. That was real power and Victor knew it. If push came to shove, Victor would send Yellow Teeth into the fray at the right moment to attack the Warrior. If Black destroyed the witch, it was no matter to Victor. The death would open an avenue for him to go in and possess the Warrior for the Light. It might be the only way. He would sacrifice Yellow Teeth to lower Black’s energy level and once his shield was down, Victor would strike.
Victor halted and frowned. Yes, Yellow Teeth was going to pay for his revenge. He would have his soul destroyed once and for all by the very man he wanted revenge from. Well, that was his lot in the cosmos, Victor decided. Some spirits gave their lives for the improvement of the whole Tupay empire. Smiling a little, Victor congratulated himself on his new plan. The witch had caused all of this and would soon fix it. It was a just reward for Yellow Teeth usurping his authority. Cosmic karma at its best. Victor continued to ponder Colt Black’s power. The woman’s energy was weak in comparison. He could tell by simply looking at her aura that she was not a Warrior for the Light. Just a normal run-of-the-mill Taqe.
Victor recalled his own daughter, Ana, who had nearly killed his soul when he’d attacked Mason, the man she loved. Mason was a Warrior for the Light, too. And Victor had had him beaten down and nearly killed until his daughter waded into the fray. She had sent him love, the one human emotion he could not deal with. And if he’d allowed her love for Mason to touch him, Victor’s soul would be dead and gone. Victor hoped Colt Black wasn’t able to send love at him. If so, it could kill Victor.
Black didn’t seem very loving, almost the opposite. Everything about the man’s aura, what little Victor could perceive of it, shouted Warrior. Well, he’d have to take that chance. Or maybe he would send Lothar to possess him. Better to lose a knight than his own life. He’d just have to see what should be done if they found the emerald sphere at that moment.
Since there was little else he could do, Victor willed himself back into Trip Nelson’s body and joined the rest of his team. Lothar and Jeff were hidden in a stand of woods, looking down. The attack by Yellow Teeth had just happened. Turning when he appeared before them, Lothar handed him a pair of binoculars.
“They’re shaken up, my lord,” he said.
“I’m sure they are.”
“Yellow Teeth really screwed us,” Lothar muttered, frowning.
“I know. I’ve had a talk with him.”
“Yes, he already told us.” Lothar shook his head. “He’s done us a lot of damage, my lord.”
Victor could see in his knight’s eyes the question: Why had he allowed the shape-shifter back among them? He didn’t have time to explain his strategy to his knight.
“We’ll recover.” Victor sat on a fallen log with the binoculars pressed to his eyes. So, the Taqe were down there embracing one another. How sweet. The last team had fallen in love and weren’t watching their backs as they should. A thrill moved through him and he smiled. This was an excellent development that left them some options. If Black allowed his love for the woman to trump his ability to stay on guard, they had another opening. Just what Victor wanted.
He had to be more careful this time. Both Taqe were clairvoyant. However, they didn’t sense him in the possessed body he wore. Being in Trip Nelson’s body was a distinct advantage. The male Taqe did not trust Trip so Victor could not blithely walk back into their lives, pretend to be a guide and work with them from that vantage point. The woman was very gullible, Victor thought with a slight grin. Plus, neither knew that Jeff and Lothar had possessed the bodies of the twins. They were his secret weapons if he had to use one to get the sphere.
He watched the man and woman separate from their embrace. If he sent a telepathic energy line to hook into them, Black would feel it in a heartbeat. Victor wanted to know what they were saying to one another but contented himself with simply watching.
“ARE YOU OKAY?” Shelly asked Colt, her voice shaking. As they separated from their embrace, she felt his shields come up, his face becoming unreadable.
“I’m fine.” Colt looked around. The day was beautiful. Yet he’d nearly lost his life to the witch. He glanced over at Shelly, who still seemed shocked by everything that had happened. Of course, anyone would be. Yellow Teeth’s power wasn’t to be trifled with. Colt wondered where the bastard was now and sent out feelers with no success. Had their confrontation injured the spirit of the witch? Colt had no way to know.
“Will he attack us again?” Shelly quavered.
“I don’t know. I don’t feel him anywhere near us right now.”
Rubbing her arms as she sat on the boulder, her clothes wet, she whispered, “My God, Colt, I’ve never experienced anything like this. You warned me about him. I believed you.” She bit down on her lower lip. “But now I understand. I really do.” She studied him with new respect. “You’re right—I’m a real liability. If you hadn’t been here…”
“Don’t go there,” Colt warned her. “Yellow Teeth is after me, not you.” That was a lie, but looking at Shelly, he couldn’t afford to tell her the unvarnished truth. The Skin Walker would take her out to get even with him. That’s how a coyote shape-shifter worked: take out the victims an
d make their survivors, their loved ones, suffer in grief. Flexing his fingers, Colt desperately wanted to wrap his hands around that son of a bitch’s neck and kill him. He wanted Yellow Teeth’s soul. If the witch was stupid enough to engage him directly, then a battle for total victory would follow. His rage over Mary’s death, and now this attack, would fuel his passion to send the witch away forever. Yellow Teeth did not have that same passion behind the attack. All he had was selfish desire and that was nothing up against Colt’s emotional storm. This might make all the difference in a life-and-death battle.
“How are you feeling?” he asked Shelly. How he wished he could hold her, but he couldn’t take that chance again. No matter how much he was falling in love with Shelly, he could never show it to her. No more kisses. No more embraces. The prospect felt like a knife serrating his heart into a million bleeding pieces.
“I’m a little shaky,” she admitted with a half laugh. “Wow, it happened so fast. I didn’t feel him coming at us until it was too late.”
Colt got up and held out his hand to her. They were both wet from the attack. “Let’s continue our search around the lake. It’s better to focus on something positive.”
Holding out her hand, Shelly grasped his. After Colt pulled her to her feet and helped her to the pebbled shore, he released her. It was all she would have of Colt from now on. Shelly tried to redirect her grief and focus on why they were here.
“Do you think Yellow Teeth will hit us again?”
Shrugging, Colt said, “I don’t know. But we can’t live in fear of him. I never have and I’m not going to start now.”
“You’re fearless,” Shelly said, admiration in her tone. Girding herself, she visualized roots from her feet sinking deep into the Earth. It would help ground her.
Giving her a slight smile, Colt said, “Skin Walkers feed off our fear. I can’t live in fear of that bastard.”
Then he had a lot to feed off her, Shelly thought, but she only nodded and said nothing. Colt needed her to be brave regardless of the churning tightness in her gut. “Let’s go. Let’s finish checking out this lake.”
They continued to hunt along the edge of the lake, going about a thousand feet around the shore when Colt said, “I feel a vortex.”
Shelly walked across the precarious rocky ground on the bank of the lake where Colt stood. “You’re good. I didn’t feel anything.”
“You’re still in shock over the attack, that’s all. By tomorrow morning you’ll be able to feel vortexes again.” Peering ahead in the sunlight, Colt was glad he had a baseball cap on, as the bill shaded his eyes against the sunlight. “There are a lot of boulders up ahead, too, where I’m feeling that energy.”
Shelly nodded. “Maybe we’ll get lucky,” she said a little breathlessly, slipping and sliding on the talus as they made their way forward. “I see a lot of rocks.”
“We’ve got to have the right combo—a black and a white boulder sitting together along with a vortex.”
“The vortex is a small one,” she said.
“Yes.”
“It’s what I call a neutral or an androgynous energy. That means this vortex funnels male and female energy. It’s complete or whole.”
Colt held Shelly’s hand as she slipped and nearly fell on the smooth stones beneath their booted feet. “Take it easy. It’s not going anywhere,” he teased. Colt understood she was trying to be of help even though some of her clairvoyant abilities were off-line. He tried another tack to keep her involved and feeling as if she were needed.
“On the Navajo reservation, the androgynous vortexes have their own schedule to go on- and off-line. They serve different and highly unique functions for Mother Earth. We consider them whole or perfect because they have combined their male and female energies. Their job description is unique—vortexes have either male or female energy.”
Shelly stood next to Colt. It was a special hell not to reach out and hold his hand or lean against his strong body. “I’ve found androgynous vortexes can take on a particular need for a local or regional area.”
“It’s true. They play different parts in given areas of Mother Earth’s body. They can be portals.”
“Yes, I’ve experienced that with these types of vortexes, too.” She was glad his experience was equal to hers.
“Exactly,” Colt praised, giving her a look of pride. Now that Shelly was focused on vortex-hunting, her face was no longer pale. Her eyes were losing their shocked look, as well. “On this planet, there are doors to other places and other dimensions. It may be to another planet in this solar system, another star, a galaxy or somewhere else in the universe. Or they can be an opening or doorway to another dimension. It can be the past, somewhere in our present or the future.”
“I’ve found that to be true no matter where I’ve gone in the world,” Shelly agreed.
Colt stared critically at the area where he knew the vortex was located. They were on the very fringes of it. “In Navajo stories, it is said that in certain mesas there are openings for the Anasazi people to come and go into our world. I’ve heard the old medicine men discuss this and I’ve been taken to these portals.” Colt shook his head. “Archeologists know that the Anasazi people lived where the Navajo now live. And they all agree that the Anasazi suddenly disappeared without a trace. They don’t know where they went. Our stories say they left this world through a door in a mesa that goes to another world.”
“And have you gone through one of those portals?” Shelly asked, holding his hooded gaze.
“No. I wasn’t allowed. Only the oldest of the elders makes a trip through that particular portal to talk with the elders on the other side.”
“That’s fascinating,” Shelly said. “I’ve gone through some. One was in Scotland near the Roslyn Chapel just outside Edinburgh. The vortex took me back to the Templars in southern France. It was a doorway to that particular century and place.”
“There’s another story, too,” Colt said, watching as color seeped back into her cheeks. “Many of them claim to have spoken with aliens from other star systems. They have said that there is another mesa with a door through which these aliens come and go between our world and theirs. These aliens, we refer to them as ‘star people,’ have had continuing conversations with our elder medicine people.”
“That’s mind-blowing!” Shelly said. “An androgynous vortex is a door to someone, another dimension, age, place and space. You’ve heard of the parallel-universe theory?”
“Yes,” he said, “we had a science teacher in high school who was very excited about the possibility. I found it interesting because I had known about these doors in the mesas. I remembered sitting with my father many times with the elder medicine men and they would discuss these star people.”
“If people really knew what was around them,” Shelly began. She felt Colt’s smile rather than seeing it. Just being with him made her feel protected.
“I’m going to move into the vortex,” he told her. “You stay here. Right now, your aura isn’t balanced and you’re not ready to deal with it.”
Becoming serious, Shelly nodded. “You’re right. But be careful, Colt.”
As he approached the area, he felt suddenly dizzy. He knew it was his aura adjusting to the higher frequency and whirling motion of the vortex. Once the dizziness passed, he moved forward. Eyes narrowed, Colt looked for the two special boulders. There were plenty around, but not the ones he was seeking. Halting, he saw no reason to move any deeper into the vortex. In order to know where it led, he’d have to step completely into its energy. Given he’d been attacked and his energy wasn’t where it needed to be, Colt decided to be cautious.
Once free of the energy, he turned and looked at Shelly, whose eyes were wide with worry. “The boulders we need aren’t there. I’m not going any farther.”
“Good,” Shelly whispered as she saw him walk back toward her. “Can we walk around it?”
Nodding, Colt stopped his hand from coming forward to cup her elbow to help
her up and around the area. “Yes. Just follow me.” Colt stepped across the talus with care. The slope ended and then they were back on the yellow earth. Grass and flowers grew along the bank where the soil reached the glacial lake. The sun was higher and the temperature was on the rise. Colt took off his jacket and carried it as they plodded along. There was nothing along the last part of this lake and he looked forward to walking around the end to the teahouse.
Finally, they were back on the trail that would lead to a helicopter landing pad near the lake and then to the house. Colt followed Shelly, watching the sun touch her shoulder-length hair. She wore a baseball cap but the breeze lifted strands across her shoulders. Her hair was magical, like her, Colt decided. The copper blazed red and the breeze revealed burgundy and gold within. He hotly remembered touching those silky tresses. He wanted to do it again. But then grief rolled in and snuffed out all his needs.
Colt couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched once again and tried to ferret out the energy. It wasn’t Yellow Teeth’s energy signature. No, this was that other energy he’d picked up on a few days ago. Was it the other sorcerer, the unknown and unnamed one? Knowing the other sorcerer was near and keeping tabs on them made him edgy. More than anything, Colt wanted to keep Shelly safe. As they finished their investigation of the bank and began the long climb up the slope to the teahouse, Colt promised himself that the unknown sorcerer would never harm her. Not ever.
Chapter 11
Colt and Shelly got their hot coffee and bakery goods at the busy teahouse, then set out to find a place out in the sun to enjoy it. They settled down next to one another on a bank, coffee in hand, and spread the topo map out in front of them.
“Mmm, good coffee,” Shelly said, absorbing Colt’s closeness. “I needed this to calm my nerves.” The sun was strong and soothing as it lifted the coolness of the morning. The teahouse sat at the top of the steep trail that led down to Lake Agnes. It was a large log and stone structure, and she appreciated the many-colored, smooth granite stones used to create the foundation. The odors of fresh pastries being baked did nothing but add to the magic of the morning. She smelled split pea soup with ham, too. After the terrible attack by Yellow Teeth, she was ready for some quiet time.
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