“Run?” I couldn’t picture her running anywhere.
“I’m not weak,” she said. “You should know looks can be deceiving.”
“I guess you’re right,” I said. I didn’t exactly look like your average dangerous killer, though how she knew that, I have no idea.
“What do you have planned for today?” Delilah asked.
“I’ve been up all night. I plan on sleeping.”
“Do you care if I hang around while you sleep? Tyler insisted that I stick to you like glue during the day.”
Tyler. What an annoyance he was becoming. Annoying and somehow . . . endearing. “Suit yourself,” I said, heading for the bathroom. I wasn’t going to be responsible for her. If she got herself into trouble from hanging around, that was her problem. “I’m taking a shower. Then I’m going to bed.”
Delilah cranked up the volume on the TV. I didn’t give two shits what she did, as long as she stayed out of my hair.
I didn’t linger in the shower. I staggered into the single room of my studio, ready to hit the sheets and say good-bye to this miserable excuse for a day.
“Hey, Darian . . .” Delilah said.
“Hey, what?” I grumbled as I fell facedown on my bed.
“What’s in the bottle you brought with you? It sounds like it’s full of tar.”
Blind, schmind. Delilah didn’t miss a beat. “Raif gave it to me,” I said. “It’s supposed to be some kind of anti-Lyhtan serum or something.”
“Cool,” she said, just like an enraptured kid. Then asked shrewdly, “Who’s Raif?”
“My teacher, sort of.”
“Hmm. Well, I hope I get to see that stuff in action.”
“Delilah,” I muttered, only half paying attention. “You are one weird chick.”
I heard her giggles mingling with the raucous court-show guests cheering for the verdict. I blocked her out and found a restful sleep.
After weeks of the same boring routine, I decided to skip class, so to speak. A training-free night was what I needed. I called Raif—it always cracked me up to call his cell phone and think of him standing there, talking in his Robin Hood–meets-Legolas outfit—and requested the night off. He let me off the hook easier than I expected. Maybe he was sick of me. The sun had set, Delilah had left, and I wasn’t under house arrest. So I went to The Pit.
I walked the darkened streets, my sensitivity to everything around me heightened. I paid more attention to the smells lingering on the air and the way the breeze felt against my skin. At one point, I’d felt a presence near me and whipped around, only to see a flash of golden fur duck into an alley across the street. But the creature was much too large to merely be another stray dog. I chalked up the sighting to an overeager imagination and continued on my way.
The usual crowd of hopefuls had queued up outside the door. I greeted Tiny, who stood at the head of the line, holding the fate of their social lives in his hands. He was on a total power trip. Cute.
“Hey, Darian,” he greeted. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”
I flashed him my most earnest and sexy smile, and he pulled the red velvet rope aside to let me in. Grumbles filtered from the line behind me. I ignored their complaints, sliding into the packed club to lurk in the shadows for the night.
I ordered a drink and took up my place in the farthest, darkest corner. Sipping from the glass, I watched the humans come and go, hooking up, getting shot down, dancing, flirting, drinking. Their actions so normal, it made me feel a momentary sorrow for my own lost humanity. But I shook it off. Even when I’d been a regular human girl, I hadn’t enjoyed the freedoms women had now. All the boo-hooing in the world wasn’t going to change the fact that I wasn’t one of them anymore, and I never would be.
I faded into my shadow self, blending with the hazy, dark air. No one noticed, too wrapped up in themselves to pay attention to my corner of the club. I felt better this way, maybe a little more voyeuristic. I didn’t go there for any other reason, so what did it matter if I watched in my solid form or under the cover of darkness? A woman, laughing and swaying in the arms of her date, leaned in to bestow a kiss to his cheek. He smiled and squeezed her tight against his body before swooping down to return the favor. Wrapped up in each other, they kissed and laughed, talked and swayed. A stab of jealousy shot through my gut as I watched them. The building could have fallen down around them and they wouldn’t have noticed. I would never have that. I was too hard, too cynical, and too deadly for soft emotion and affection. I was fire and passion, but not love.
I’d had enough, so I passed from shadow to my human form and made my way to the door. Tiny watched me go in; he’d wonder if I never came out.
“Goin’ home, Darian?” He asked me the same question every time. What would he say if I answered with, “Nope, going out to assassinate some asshole, Tiny”?
“You know it.” What else was I going to say? “See ya later.”
“Be careful,” he said. “I heard there’s been some people go missin’ around here the last few nights. Stay away from dark alleys.”
“Promise,” I said, flashing a reassuring smile. What he didn’t realize: Dark alleys were exactly my thing.
I traveled in shadow form, crossing the darkest places I could find. I didn’t have anything to fear; I was safe in the dark. At least, that’s what I thought. The sounds of a struggle traveled to my ears, and I remained shrouded, approaching the source of the scuffle with caution. At first, all I noticed were a pair of legs jutting out from behind some battered metal trash cans. But as I allowed myself to take in the scene, I realized this was not just some homeless person asleep in the alley.
A long, lanky body hovered over the poor guy, its wide mouth fastened on his waist near the stomach. Devouring its meal with indulgent grunts and moans, the creature pulled away, only to paw at its bloody mouth before dipping down and resuming the feast. Shit. Levi hit the nail right on the head. Sounded just like a goddamned smoothie being slurped through a straw. Too horrified to do anything but stare, I watched as the Lyhtan brought its head up from its dinner.
“I feel you, Shaede,” an unsettling set of voices said.
I froze. Through my fear, I forced myself to become corporeal and face the source of those grating, seething voices. And let me tell you, Delilah wasn’t kidding about ugly.
The Lyhtan couldn’t have looked farther from human. It couldn’t even pass as animal. Tall, at least seven feet by my estimation, it resembled a praying mantis more than anything. Long, lanky arms and legs connected to a thin, elongated torso. It hunched at the shoulders, giving it a stooped appearance with a distended stomach. It was naked as the day it was . . . born? Made? Created? Slimy greenish drool leaked from its mouth, tinged with its victim’s blood, causing its sharp, pointed teeth to glisten in the dark night. Glowing amber eyes bulged from its pale and drawn face. A shudder of revulsion passed through me. I reached for my pocket, for the bottle that was home on my counter. Could I have even used the bottled shadows at night? Fuck if I knew. I was unarmed, with not even a container of magic sludge to help me. Shit. Shit.
But a coward I’m not, no matter how on edge I felt. Making sure to keep my distance from the creature, I took a step back; I didn’t intend to be its next liquid snack. I had no idea if this Lyhtan was my personal tormentor, but I figured I’d find out soon enough.
“Who are you, Shaede?” it asked in its many voices.
Well, this one wasn’t mine. I didn’t know if I should be relieved or not. “What do you care who I am?”