Dealers of Light by Lara Nance Read Free Book Online

“Begin.”
    Carlton and the group surged forward, placing their fingertips at different areas of the man’s body. The barely conscious man had been beaten until only a thread of life held him to this world, but his suffering remained. Desmond closed his eyes, imagining the flow of misery-laden energy his men enjoyed. A delicious, surging pulse of terror-soaked adrenaline. Better than cocaine, better than heroin. It bound them to him. Slaves.
    Once the victim had been completely drained, one of the men loosened the shackles, letting the body fall to the floor in a heap, a hollow shell. The others stepped back, eyes large and glowing like bright moons, nostrils flaring, all of them staring at the lifeless mound on the floor.
    Desmond made a flicking motion with one hand , and several of the men stepped forward. They lifted the limp form off the floor to place it on the dirty sheet. One tucked the sides over the body so it was completely covered.
    “Make sure you dispose of it better than the last one. No more dumpsters. I don’t want him found right away.” He threw back his hood, eyeing each of his slaves until they flinched and hung their heads.
    F our men carried the body upstairs, quickly followed by the others. Carlton remained. He also removed his hood and studied his master. “Why does it matter when they’re found, Desmond?”
    “I have plans , and I do not wish them to be interrupted. There’s been one mistake already, leaving the girl in an alley before she was dead. I understand she ended up at the hospital and she’s going to live. You should hope she remembers nothing that will lead to us.” 
    “ We heard a police car coming. It would have been a disaster to let them find us before the Net is cast.”
    “If we’ re sloppy in disposing of the bodies we may be discovered before I’m ready.”
    “But dead is dead, no one will know who did it.”
    Desmond scoffed. “You’re still so young, Carlton. There are many things you do not know about our kind.”
    Carlton directed a scrutinizing gaze at Desmond. “What do you mean?”
    “You’ve been with me for five years, but remember I am a thousand years old. I come from the spirit of the Gods. I understand the frailty of mortals in a way you cannot. These men are slaves to the tortured Light, but they have no will-power. ”
    Desmond put out one wraithlike finger and trailed it down Carlton’s cheek, the long fingernail scratching a red welt in its path. “My dear boy, even you are still ensnared with desire for the glorious hurting sensation. Am I not right?”
    Carlton pressed a hand to his wounded cheek as tears of pleasure welled in his eyes. “Yes, Master.”
    “Ah, yes, the wonderful pain.” Desmond leaned closer until he smelled the sweaty desire, a pungent, musky aroma he knew so well from centuries of enslaving others to his will. “See how it almost overpowers you?”
    Carlton trembled and nodded, obviously wanting more. He wanted the treat of taking Light from Desmond’s body, where horrifically painful memories from Desmond’s life produced an intoxicating elixir of pain-tinged Light. But it didn’t serve his purpose to give this treat too frequently. He stepped away, turning his back on the younger man.
    “I have recently sensed a presence I’ve not felt in a long time—a dangerous presence—one I curse with every cell in my body. I want to destroy him. But he’s also the only one who can stop us. We must be vigilant and keep an eye on these young converts of ours. They can be thoughtless and rash in their hunger. Soon I must send them out into the world, and they cannot make careless mistakes to mark our presence.”
    Unbidden, his mind flashed to the past and the humiliating battle with his greatest enemy , Bes, or “Rolf” as he called himself now. The fury of their battle ripped apart the temple where they fought, and it collapsed on top of him. There he stayed, weak and trapped, for hundreds of years. Even now the