Darkness Devours (21 page)

He studied me for a moment. Logan was still and silent behind him, and I briefly wondered if he would have any memory of what we were saying.

“No, he will not,” Azriel said, then added, “Why is the link faulty? The connection between an Aedh and his lover usually only becomes stronger over the course of their brief time together, not weaker.”

“I don’t know why it’s faulty,” I snapped back. “But apparently he can only read me during sex. I haven’t had sex with him for over twenty-four hours.”

“But you want to.”

“Of course I fucking want to. He’s a fantastic lover.”

“You should not—”

“Don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to my love life, Azriel!” I exploded. “Because no matter what happens between us, we both know you’ll be gone once the keys are found and this mess is all sorted out. You’ll never be anything more
than a blip—pleasurable or otherwise—on the radar of my life.”

He didn’t say anything to that. I guess there was nothing he actually
could
say. It was the truth, pure and basic.

He turned around and touched Logan’s forehead. The older man blinked several times, then swung around to face me.

“—come in here,” he said, his voice hinting at anger.

I blinked, then realized he was finishing the sentence he’d started when we first walked in. “Oh, sorry,” I said hastily. “Wrong bathroom.”

I unlocked the door and left. Azriel was two steps behind me.

“Now what?” I lightly rubbed my arms—there was a decided chill coming from his direction.

“Now we see what happens when he leaves.”

I half frowned, then remembered Ilianna’s warning. “Why would anyone go to the trouble of tampering with his mind if they were intending to kill him tonight?”

He shrugged. “Why would anyone fuck a man she does not entirely trust?”

For a moment, I could only stare at him. Then the anger rose, so swift and sharp I had to dig my nails into my clenched fists to resist the urge to smack him.

“Because,” I all but hissed, “despite all that is sane, I find myself wanting you.”

And with that, I stalked away from him. He didn’t follow. He didn’t need to. He was connected to my chi and he could find me whenever he wanted.

Still, I was grateful for the brief respite. Once I’d
reached my table, I grabbed the wine bottle, filled a glass, and drank it swiftly. It didn’t do a whole lot for the fury boiling inside me, and I half wondered just how many bottles it would take before it did. Probably more than the bar had in stock.

After five minutes or so, Logan approached his table, looking a little green around the gills. Obviously, his enforced consumption of alcohol was not sitting well.

He picked up his jacket, said good-bye to the blonde sitting next to him, then staggered toward the exit. I picked up my purse and followed.

The air outside was cool and thick with the scent of the nearby ocean. I shivered a little as I trailed after Logan, and I wasn’t completely certain whether the cause was the chill in the air or the rising tide of my trepidation. Logan was taking more steps sideways than forward, but he was still moving at a decent pace, and in no time at all he’d passed from the bright protection of the venue’s entrance to the deeper street shadows.

The sense that something was about to happen grew. I scanned the streets around me, seeing nothing out of place. But in this darkness, would I?

And then it happened. A shot rang out.

Logan staggered and fell to his knees, just as a second shot sliced through the night. Something hit me from behind, and I found myself on the concrete, my heart racing and a fiercely warm body covering me.

“Azriel?”

“The second shot was aimed at us,” he said. “Stay here.”

His weight lifted from mine as he winked out of existence. I studied the buildings around me for a moment, then pushed to my feet. If someone was going to shoot me, then they could hit me as easily lying down as standing up.

“Mr. Logan?” I flared my nostrils, taking in the scents of the night.

Blood ran on it, thick and fresh.

He was dead. I knew he was dead, even though I couldn’t see a reaper waiting to claim his soul. Still, I had to check. I approached slowly, but stopped several feet away. Logan had twisted as he’d crumpled and his dead eyes were staring at me balefully. The bullet had entered his forehead and blasted its way through his head, leaving an exit wound bigger than my fist. Blood and bone and brain matter had splattered onto all the nearby surfaces.

Someone had wanted to make very sure that even in death, Logan’s mind couldn’t be read—which all but confirmed that someone had been aware that we’d been intending to speak to him. But how? And who?

Frowning, knowing they were questions I wasn’t likely to get answers to anytime soon, I took out my phone and rang the cops. I should have rung Uncle Rhoan, but I really wasn’t up to answering the questions that would undoubtedly follow.

Azriel reappeared as I hung up, his fierce expression suggesting things had not gone well.

“You didn’t find the shooter?”

“I did. He was stationed on top of the stadium roof, but by the time I got there, he’d thrown himself off it.”

“He
killed
himself?”

“Yes.” He glanced behind us. “People are approaching. We should leave before we are seen.”

“Azriel, I’m a witness. I have to—”

“Have you forgotten the councillors’ edict?”

I had. I closed my eyes, breathed deep, then glanced at my watch. It was close to twelve.
Shit
. “I need to change,” I said wearily. “I’m not going to that place dressed like this.”

He didn’t answer, just stepped close, took me in his arms, and whisked us both out of there. But the minute we were back in the hotel room, he stepped back. It didn’t stop the awareness that trembled across my skin, nor did it ease the heat of desire shimmering between us. I might be angry with him, but that didn’t stop me from wanting him.

“Azriel—”

“Get changed,” he said curtly. “Or we’ll be late—and I suspect that would not be wise.”

“There’s lots of things that wouldn’t be wise,” I muttered as I headed for the bathroom. “But
I
suspect that’s not going to stop them from happening.”

“Some things are destined and can never be changed,” he agreed flatly. “No matter how much we might wish otherwise.”

I changed quickly into my jeans and sweater. “And here I was thinking destiny was a fluid thing.”

“Destiny
is
fluid,” he said. “And sometimes so is death. Logan was not destined to die this night, so his soul will roam.”

“Shame you won’t break
that
particular rule and talk to his soul.” I glanced in the mirror, studying the not-me image. After a moment, I imagined my face with
dark golden hair and a smattering of golden freckles across my nose, then reached down for the face-shifting energy and made it happen. Then I turned and walked out.

Azriel’s gaze swept my face, and he nodded minutely. Meaning, I guessed, that he approved. “Why would we need to talk to his soul when we already have all the information he could give us?”

“Well, he actually didn’t give us everything, since someone had tampered with his memories. But would those blocks hold after death?”

“I do not know,” he said slowly. “It is not something any of us have needed to discover.”

I picked up my purse and slung it over my shoulder. “Do you think it would be worth trying to find out?”

“As I said, I cannot speak to the lost ones. It’s not a matter of breaking some rule. We are physically not capable of speaking to them. They are lost—to rebirth, and to us.” He paused. “But you could most certainly attempt it.”

I frowned. “But I haven’t the training—”

“No,” he agreed. “But the witch Adeline Greenfield suggested you had more of your mother’s talents than you thought. Was not one of her specialties talking to the lost ones?”

What he called lost ones—people who died before their time—I called ghosts. And no matter what Adeline had said, I’d certainly had no luck trying to communicate with the ghosts at the club. “Mom talked to souls, yes, but I never got the impression she targeted ghosts.”

“Who else could she target?” He said it gently, as if
he were talking to a simpleton. “Souls who die at their given time move on to either the light or dark path. There is no communicating with them once they have gone through the respective portals.”

“Well, how was I to know that?” I grumbled. I glanced at my watch. “We’d better get moving—”

I’d barely said it when he stepped close, caught me in his arms, and whisked me through the glorious brightness that was
his
gray fields. We re-formed in the small dark chamber next to the feeding room. The smell of antiseptic was thick in the air, catching in my throat and making me cough. They’d obviously just cleaned up after a session. I closed my eyes for a moment, grateful to have at least missed that, then turned to face the camera and held up my watch.

“Here on time, as ordered,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if they would hear me or were even watching. I turned around and faced Azriel. “You’d better go release Jak, hadn’t you?”

“Will you be all right in this place alone?”

“I’m hardly alone. I have Amaya, remember.”

“True.” He still looked doubtful, however.

I sighed. “I’ll be fine. Just don’t forget to give Jak
all
the appropriate memories.”

“He will get what he requires.”

I snorted softly. “We were seen dancing, Azriel. Include that—all of that.”

He just gave me his inscrutable face. Which meant, I was beginning to suspect,
Screw you. I’ll do what I want
. “We still need his help, Azriel, whether you like it or not.”

He inclined his head slightly, but again, I couldn’t really tell whether it was agreement. “I won’t be long,” he said, and disappeared again.

I plopped down on the chair, and after a few minutes of twiddling my thumbs, dug out my phone and rang Ilianna.

“Do you know what fucking time it is?” she mumbled by way of hello.

“Yep,” I said cheerfully. “But I figure if I’m up, you should be, too.”

“Karma will bite your ass for this,” she muttered.

“Karma already has,” I said. “Trust me, sleep and I haven’t exactly been steady companions over the last couple of days. How’s Tao?”

“Improving,” she said. “His core temperature continues to come down, and he’s finally starting to put weight back on.”

“But he hasn’t woken yet?”

“No.” She paused, and soft steps echoed. I was being taken into the bathroom, I suspected. Guess that’s what I got for waking her at an ungodly hour. “But we don’t think it’ll be too long before he does.”

“Fabulous. But I didn’t only ring for that.”

“I’m glad,” she said dryly. “Or I would have had to clip you around the ears next time I see you.”

I grinned. “Even with the threefold rule?”

The threefold rule was a witch belief that whatever you put out into the world—be it positive or negative—would return to you threefold. Very few witches chanced doing the latter, and with good reason. I’d seen what happened to a witch who cast evil, and it hadn’t been
pretty. Of course, I’d played a part in her downfall, but then, she
had
been trying to kill me, and it was thanks to one of her creatures that Tao lay unconscious.

“That rule doesn’t apply when it involves those who maliciously wake their friends in the wee hours of the morning.”

I laughed, but the sound died on my lips as the ghosts in the other room began to moan. I closed my eyes briefly. God, another session was about to start. I swallowed heavily, and somehow said, “Listen, can you give me Adeline Greenfield’s number?”

“Sure,” she said, worry suddenly in her tone. “But why?”

“Because she said last time I saw her that I had more of Mom’s talents than I suspected—”

“Which is something I’ve been saying for years.”

“And,” I continued, ignoring her, “I need her to teach me how to contact ghosts.”

“But you can already see ghosts. It’s part of the reason you hate hospitals.”

“Yes, I can see them,” I agreed. “But I can’t communicate with them. At best, I can hear their moaning.”

And the moaning in the other room was getting louder, becoming more agitated.

“Which has never bothered you before now, so why the sudden urgency?”

“Because a man we need information from was killed tonight, but his soul was uncollected. I want to talk to him again, to see if he can tell us anything else. To do that, I’ll probably need to step onto the astral field.”

She said nothing for a moment, then, “I’m gathering this is Hunter’s job?”

“No.” I wished it was. It would be a whole lot easier talking to a ghost than having to sit here and listen to the bitter cacophony coming from the other room while I waited for a monster to make an appearance. “He might be able to help us pinpoint John Nadler, the third member of the consortium that’s been buying up the land around Stane’s shop.”

“You know, if this information source is now dead, then it suggests Nadler really doesn’t want to be found. Step carefully, Risa.”

“Yeah, yeah, I will.”

She snorted. In the background water splattered into a sink; then came more footsteps. She’d finally moved out of the bathroom.

“Here’s Adeline’s phone number.” She reeled off the number, and added, “But don’t you
dare
ring her now. She’ll be asleep, like most normal people.”

“Don’t worry. I’m only this inconsiderate to my friends.” I paused, then said with a grin, “And besides, I’m sure you and Mirri can find a pleasant way to pass the time until sleep arrives again.”

“Mirri’s on night shift,” she reminded me, “so if I play with anyone, it’ll be myself.”

I grinned. “Flying solo can be fun.”

“I’ll remind you of that the next time you’re whining about the lack of men and sex in your life.” Her voice was dry. “Just be careful, Ris. I’m still getting some bad vibes from this whole Hunter deal.”

No surprise there, since I had a council execution order
hanging over my head. But I didn’t say anything—she was worried enough as it was. She didn’t need to know the details.