“What do you want me to use Ty for if I get in a pinch?” I really wanted to know what made Raif think he’d make a decent protector. “You want me to feed him to the Lyhtan or something?”
Raif laughed. It sounded foreign coming from him, like a bird meowing. He was too hard for laughter; it didn’t suit him. “Let’s say I’d be willing to bet Tyler would give you anything you want.”
“O-kay,” I said. “Whatever. Listen, Raif. I’m tired of being led around by a ring in my nose. I want in the loop. Otherwise, why the pomp and circumstance? I’m working my ass off, not knowing why or for whom. I don’t want to fly blind anymore. I’m done guessing. Who’s this guy Xander wants dead so bad?”
Raif sighed. “What if I told you he wants you to kill his son?”
Words stalled in my throat. Jesus. Xander didn’t dick around, did he? “He wants me to kill his . . . son?”
“Yes,” Raif said, his voice hinting at disappointment. “It’s become . . . necessary, I’m afraid. It was a fact he wanted withheld until the last possible moment. He didn’t want your conviction to waver.”
Well, it wasn’t going to win him any Father of the Year awards, but that was his business. Mine was killing. “I guess he’s got his reasons. But why would it matter to me?”
“We agreed that the fewer people who know, the less the risk that it gets out. He doesn’t want his people to find out, and I don’t blame him. I’ve never met a better fighter than Alexander’s son. Nor anyone more ambitious. Trust me when I say your training is necessary. I want you ready for anything.”
Anything. Before I could ask him to elaborate on that, he was gone.
I made my way home in the hours before dawn. I took comfort from the fact that the Lyhtan would not be able to torment me until the sun crested the horizon. But after that, I was fair game. I opted to glide as a shadow while the waning light permitted. But as night faded quickly away, I wasn’t strong enough to remain shrouded and was forced to walk in my solid form. I could have called Tyler or a cab to pick me up, but I wanted the time alone to think.
I spent the rest of the day in my studio, waiting for the Lyhtan, which never came. The time spent anticipating an attack ticked by torturous and slow. Perhaps that was the plan. Mess with my head; keep me guessing; drive me crazy. It worked. I was going out of my fucking mind waiting for that damned thing to make its move. Nothing . Not even a whisper.
Tyler showed up later in the afternoon. It wasn’t yet twilight; the sun had a couple of good hours left before it sank out of sight. I suppose he’d picked that opportune time to come for a reason. He wasn’t alone.
He’d brought a girl with him. Interesting. I might have been jealous if she’d been his type, but she obviously wasn’t. Meek, thin, and sallow, she shuffled her feet beside him, keeping her shoulders and arms hunched close to her body as if protecting a secret. Her mousy brown hair, stringy and not even a little lustrous, hung around her childlike form. Totally unremarkable. Only her blindness made me take notice.
Her milky blue eyes gave her away and creeped me right the hell out. And they didn’t move—ever. If she heard a noise or sensed movement, her head would jerk and tilt. The motion of a small creature, alert in the presence of a predator. She stayed close to Tyler, moving with every shift of his body as if tied to him with a length of rope, urging her to stir whenever he did.
“You should have called first,” I said. I didn’t like company. Especially weird company.
Tyler shrugged, leaving his guest in my living room and following me into the kitchen. “I wanted you to meet Delilah,” he whispered.
“Why?” I adopted his quiet tone, ignoring the girl. “What makes you think I would want to meet her?”
“Well, if you don’t want me around during the day, I thought Delilah could give you a hand.”
“Really?” I said. “Sorry, Ty, but she doesn’t look good for much. What am I supposed to do with her?”
“I’m standing right here!” Delilah snapped. Well, she had more-than-decent hearing and a fiery temper. Good. It was a bit of a shock, really, to hear such a strong, snarky voice come out of a weak and fragile body. I’d expected something much more demure.
“Sorry, kid,” I said. “So . . . you tell me: What good are you?”
“I have a gift,” she said. “I can see things you can’t.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“I can see the Lyhtan during the day when it’s invisible.”
Okay, that got my attention. Not even Levi had supplied me with that little tidbit of information. “How do you know what they look like? Have you seen one before?”
“Yes.”
A real conversationalist. We might get along after all. “Well, what did it look like?”
“Ugly,” she said. “Ugly as sin.”
Her assertion seemed to match Levi’s. Maybe I’d finally stumbled across a couple of people who weren’t intent on bullshitting me to death.
“They can’t pass as human?” I asked, waiting to see if once again her answer would match Levi’s.
“No. Not even a little.”
“Can you see me right now?” I asked her.
“No. But if you were to take your other form, I could.”
Hmm. More food for thought.
“So, again, what help do you think you’d be to me? I can hear the Lyhtan. And I can sure as hell smell it. That’s good enough.”
“Is it?” she asked. “How do you fight a voice?”
Damn. She had a point. Even if Raif was successful in getting me something to defend myself with, I didn’t want to hack away at the air, hoping I was getting a piece.
“You might be worth keeping around for a while,” I admitted.
“I don’t work for free,” she said.
A woman after my own heart. “Fine. Ty can negotiate your fee.”
A stiff nod sealed the deal, and Tyler led her back to the lift.
“I have to take her home,” he said. “But I’ll be back later.”
“Don’t bother,” I told him. A suspicious glance was all he was going to get out of me tonight. I guess I wasn’t the only “interesting” person Tyler hung out with. “I’m meeting Raif in an hour.”
He turned and, without another word, left with weird little Delilah in tow.
Chapter 12
Raif stood in the center of the warehouse, staring at an empty bottle. I approached him slowly, wondering at his strange behavior, and wary that he was trying to trick me into distraction. His body looked too relaxed for a fighting stance, his concentration centered on the vessel. I paused a couple feet away, and Raif’s eyes drifted shut. He brought the wide mouth of the bottle to his lips and expelled a slow, long breath. My own halted in my chest as I watched his breath become visible, dark and glistening. Thick like black mercury, the substance crept into the bottle, and when he had no more air to expel, he shoved a cork into the opening, trapping the murky sludge inside.
“Holy shit, Raif!” I said. “What in the hell is that?”
“A means to defeat sunlight.” An unguarded smile dawned on his face, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
I looked at the sludgy black goo in the bottle and back at his face. I didn’t know what sort of expression I was wearing, but Raif looked back at me, his smile faded. He couldn’t stand my lack of knowledge—and I didn’t blame him.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
“I’m only one of a few of us who can produce that little bit of magic.” Raif sounded proud of himself, and he had a right to be. Damn. “Anam Scáth. Soul Shadow.” Raif shook the container of bottled shadows, presumably extracted straight from his soul. Must have been the deadly shadow Xander had been talking about. Amazing.