Two a.m. saw the last of the die-hard partiers slowly winding down. Another hour, and Levi would have Tiny kicking them to the curb to find fresh venues for their nonstop drinking and revelry. It was the perfect time to talk. A small group of people lingered in the darkest corner of the bar, probably hoping their presence would go unnoticed for a while longer. Levi restocked the condiment containers with lemons, limes, cherries, and olives before stowing the tray in a refrigerator for the night, while a cocktail waitress counted out her tips. This early in the morning, Levi still looked college-boy fresh.
“It’s a little late for you to be here, isn’t it?” he asked with a smile.
“Or a little early, depending on your perspective,” I said.
Levi laughed, poured me a gin and tonic, and slid it across the bar. “What’s up?”
Ah, the quintessential bartender. Always ready and waiting with a willing ear. How to start? “Tyler sent me,” I said, taking a tentative sip of my drink and settling onto a stool at the bar. “He said you’re the question-and-answer man. And I’m in need of some answers.”
Levi seemed to contemplate my statement and fixed me with a pointed stare. I fished a fifty-dollar bill from my pocket and slid it toward him. When I lifted my hand, he palmed the bill and shoved it into his pocket. “I know some things, Shaede girl. What do you want to know?”
Son of a bitch! That wily little bastard! I looked at Levi with a scowl. I’d always appreciated how comfortable he’d been with me, how he turned his head from my unusual nature and treated me like everyone else. Of course he did. It didn’t have anything to do with him being a genuinely good guy. He was just in the loop.
“What are you?” I asked.
“Wow, that was a waste of a fifty,” Levi said with a laugh. “You’d better be more careful about what kind of answers you’re willing to spend your money on. I’m human. Nothing more; nothing less. Just a guy who knows some things. There aren’t many humans who have the knowledge I’m privy to, but I’m not the only one. Anything else you’d like to ask?”
I fingered the hilt of my dagger. Smart-ass. I slid another fifty across the table. If I didn’t watch out, this was going to be an expensive meeting. “Lyhtans. What do you know about them?”
Levi pocketed my money and smiled. “For starters, I wouldn’t want to stumble across one of them unless I was heavily armed and escorted. They’re nasty, dangerous bastards.”
“Why have I never seen one before?”
That question earned me a strange look from Levi. Maybe he was just as blown away by my ignorance as everyone else. Fantastic. “They can go around invisible during the day. And if you ever saw one, you’d know it. They don’t look like any human or animal. At night, they stick to the shadows. Lyhtans don’t live in large groups. They’re pretty solitary. I don’t know for sure, but I think they live in the forests, parks—places where they can hide above human eye level. Trees, bridges, cracks, and crevices. Lyhtans stay above your head and well out of sight. Honestly, though, I’m not surprised you haven’t seen one. It’s been quiet around here for a while—as far as the supernatural community goes. But a month or so ago, there was a bit of a population explosion. Seems Seattle is the new hot spot.”
Well, that explained why I hadn’t noticed Seattle’s nonhuman inhabitants: Until recently, there hadn’t been many. “How do Lyhtans make a living if they’re so obviously not human?” Levi looked at the counter, and I sighed, slapping down another fifty.
“They don’t need money.” Levi laughed. “If they don’t look human, they’re not very likely going to be shopping at the Gap. Lyhtans are more like animals than people. They hunt for their food. They don’t live in houses. I don’t even think they wear clothes, for that matter. Hence, they don’t need money.”
Lyhtans might not shop at the Gap, but Levi sure did. I had a feeling I’d be fronting the cash for his new wardrobe too. I drained the gin and tonic and handed the glass to Levi, along with another folded bill. “What do they eat?”
“Anything they can get their hands on,” Levi said. He paused to take a tray laden with discarded glasses from one of the waitresses, and handed her an empty one. “But they prefer fresh meat. Human or other.”
“Sounds lovely.”
“Yeah,” Levi scoffed. “You know how spiders inject their prey with venom? Well, Lyhtans can do that too. It’s in their teeth. Paralyzes the prey and dissolves its insides and bones into goo. Then they slurp it out like a smoothie, leaving an empty husk behind.”
I thought of my Lyhtan visitor commenting on how it would like to suck my innards out through my nose, and my stomach heaved, threatening to send my gin and tonic back the way it came. I took three fifties, folded them in half, and handed them to Levi. “Can they be killed?”
“Yes, but don’t ask me how to do it. I have no idea.”
“Anything else I need to know about them?”
“They can compel a victim if they want to,” Levi said, and I wondered if I imagined the shudder that seemed to shake his body. “I’ve only heard stories, so I don’t know for sure. Maybe through their venom. Whatever it is gives them some sort of mind control over their prey. The ones they don’t eat, that is.”
“For what reason?”
Levi shrugged. “Who knows? Protection. Slavery. Meals on wheels. What would you do with a walking, talking zombie? One ready to do whatever you asked.”
Hmmm. I wonder. “What else creeps around out there, Levi? If Shaedes and Lyhtans are running loose all over Seattle, there have to be more. Who are they? What are they?”
Levi plucked the bill I’d thrown him off the counter and pressed it back into my palm. He reached up and rang a bell above the bar, giving the lingering patrons a start, and hollered, “Last call!”
Grumbling replies answered, and Tiny stepped through the entrance, ready to send any hostile stragglers on their way. Levi grabbed a bottle of imported beer from the fridge and popped the cap before sending it rattling down the bar toward Tiny. He scooped it up in his paw of a hand and tipped it back, nearly draining the bottle in one swallow.
“Keep your money,” Levi said, low. “You can’t afford for me to answer all of your questions. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Cheeky. College boy knew his Hamlet. “Horatio,” I said in response.
“Huh?”
Well, well. Maybe I should be asking for a partial refund if I had to answer any of his questions. “ ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ Hamlet is speaking to Horatio in that scene.”
“Oh!” Levi smiled, his face glowing like an ad for high-end cologne. “Gotcha. Don’t worry about what you don’t know, Darian.” Boy, did those words hit a nerve. Azriel had said that to me more times than I could count. It’s easy for someone armed with knowledge to tell the ignorant one to relax. He offered me another refill and I took it gladly. A whole bottle of gin wasn’t going to be enough to get me over this night. He checked his watch and grinned. “Just enjoy the ride.”
I downed the drink in a single swallow, slamming the glass down on the bar. Enjoy the ride. Sure. Whatever. No one was trying to kill his ass. Or tell him bald-faced lies. But I couldn’t deny that Levi was a fucking fount of supernatural information, and I wouldn’t forget it. He was worth the cash.
“Thanks for the drinks, Levi,” I said, pushing off my stool. “You’re a good guy.”
He flashed me a flirty smile, saluting me with my empty glass. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Darian.”
Smart-ass. With a tilt of my head and a parting smile to Tiny, I left a little more informed and a lot more angry.
Chapter 11
The pristine blue sky graced Seattle with a shining sun. I took the beautiful weather as a sign, and decided to see if I could get myself into a little trouble. Ignoring Tyler’s urging that I call him whenever I went out, I walked the sun-drenched sidewalks, hopin
g my Lyhtan friend would pay me a visit.
I’d passed the corner of Pike and Fourth when I noticed the snick-snick-snick like tiny insect legs scurrying on the sidewalk. Then I recognized the disturbance in the air around me. I tried not to let it see how the sound of its many facets of voice unsettled me. For a block or so, it merely called my name, taunting me with its nearness. I felt a waft of breeze now and again and recognized the dense air where it traveled beside me, unseen. Its stench sickened me, hanging over me like a cloud. I don’t know how the Lyhtan would have smelled to a human or if it would have smelled at all. But I found its odor foul, sour, and nothing like the sweet scent of my own kind, or the delicious aroma that clung to Ty.
“My master wants you,” it said in my ear.
I pushed the image of my insides melting into a slurp-able goo to the back of my mind. Who was its master and why did he want me? I swallowed the fear threatening to overtake me. “Your master?” I goaded the thing. “I wouldn’t boast about servitude. It makes you pathetic.”
“As pathetic as you, Shaede?” Its grating voices used my own words against me. “Aren’t you a slave yourself?”
“I am my own,” I said.
“NO!” A blast of wind whipped at my face. “You belong to that scum of a king!”
“I am employed.” I kept my voice steady, my gaze straight ahead, even as the other pedestrians on the sidewalk gave me a wide berth. I must have come off as bat-shit insane.
“You are purchased,” it seethed. “You are a king’s whore and nothing else.”
Now, I’ve been called a few names here and there. Most of them didn’t even cause me to bat a lash. Whore was not one of them.
I stopped dead in my tracks. “You are a cowardly piece of shit,” I said in voice dripping with malice. “If you were half as tough as your talk, you’d show yourself so I could kick your ass and send your soul into the light forever.”
The Lyhtan’s many voices laughed in my ear, and I felt its presence close to me, like a bulldozer pressing against my body. “You speak with the arrogant supremacy of all Shaedes. But the eclipse will see to the end of your conceit.”
Again with the eclipse talk? I guess this particular Lyhtan was an astronomy buff. I looked straight ahead. I didn’t blink. I didn’t breathe. My hand twitched as I thought of retrieving the katana from my back. Another gust of air pushed at me and then dissipated, followed by the familiar scurrying sound, only to leave me standing alone, trembling with rage.
The Lyhtan—and its master—had to be connected to the hit. Even Xander thought so. But the question was, Why would the mark want me? The plot thickens, I thought as I picked up my pace, walking the adrenaline out of my system and waiting for sunset to release me from pathetic uselessness.
When I made it back to my studio, I was unsurprised to find a note from Raif stuck to the wall beside the elevator door. The long knife he’d used to secure it there was a nice touch. He wanted me at the warehouse as soon as the sun set. I was almost excited for a night of training, despite my apprehension that he was going to kick my ass.
I showed up at the warehouse precisely at sunset. I didn’t want to give Raif any excuses to be unduly rough. Though it went against my nature, I vowed to behave myself. The epitome of humble, I kept my gaze cast down, my ears open, and my mouth shut. And I worked my ass off for him.
By the end of that night’s session, I was doing acrobatic maneuvers that would have made an Olympic gymnast jealous. “That was a sweet move, right?” I asked an indifferent Raif, who merely answered with a raised brow. “Come on. You have to admit, I’m much better than I was.”
“I suppose it’s good for a warrior to be arrogant or, at the very least, confident.” He turned and swung. I parried the thrust, no longer needing both hands to stay his progress. “You’re far from ready, though.”
I leapt high and became nothing but a mist of dark air. Twisting in midflight, I became solid just as my boot made contact with Raif’s arm. He spun away, deflecting my momentum, grunting as he gained his bearings. I landed and held the katana high.
“You’re not big on compliments, are you?”
“I’ll give you one when you deserve one,” he said, jabbing at my midsection.
But my swordplay was impeccable, my speed and precision without flaw. Buckets of sweat ran down my back and my toes squished in my black boots. Yuck. I didn’t give Raif one single excuse to punish me, and he didn’t. He worked me raw. No one could say Raif wasn’t thorough. It didn’t matter to me that he was doing this more out of duty to Xander than out of any concern for my well-being.
I cleaned the blade of the katana before sheathing it. The sun would be rising soon, and so our session had come to an end. I sensed Raif’s approach and I stiffened, waiting anxiously for him to make his move.
His voice was gentle in the empty warehouse, no longer barking orders, goading me, ridiculing me like a deranged drill sergeant. “Your wounds from the Lyhtan attack seemed to have healed.”
Is he actually trying to be nice? Maybe I’d gained some ground with him. “I have a few on my legs, but for the most part, they’re gone.” I shrugged, acting tough for his benefit. “Xander thinks the Lyhtan is connected to the job. You have an opinion on that?”
“I think it’s possible. More than possible, in fact. They are formidable,” he said, reminding me of an ancient warrior, which he assuredly was. “And you’re not anywhere near strong enough to go up against one yet. But if you train with me, you will be. When I’m done with you, only a fool would rise against you. In the meantime, do not let your guard down if you should come across a Lyhtan again.”
“Too late,” I said, guiding the katana into the sheath and driving it home. “It’s got a crush on me. Followed me around for a while today.”
Raif looked taken aback. That was new. “It didn’t attack?”
“No, it was all about the name-calling today.” I kept my demeanor calm, even. “I think it’s building up for a big show.”
“What did it say to you?”
“That its master wanted me. What do you think that means?” I wished to hell I knew. Up until I’d met Xander, I’d lived well under the radar. No one besides Ty had known anything about me. Suddenly, I’d become very popular. “Xander said under normal circumstances, a Lyhtan would try to kill me on the spot. Why the games? So far, it’s just playing with me. And why, exactly, does its master want me?”
Raif’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch. But for him, it was as good as a gawking stare. “Don’t go anywhere alone,” he said after a moment.
Oh, great—another guy looking out for me. If I’d been any other girl, I might have been flattered. But I was not any other girl. “Raif, please. I can handle it. I don’t need backup or bodyguards. What I’d rather have is answers.”
“You can’t handle it,” he snapped.
Christ. Mr. Sensitive.
“Lyhtans are dangerous creatures. You’ll need protection.”
“I can protect myself,” I said. “Just tell me how. Do I need a special weapon—kryptonite? Holy water?”
“I’ll take care of it,” Raif said, distant and thoughtful. “Lyhtans are usually quite predictable. I don’t like that this one isn’t. They don’t take Shaede prisoners. They kill us. In the meantime, if you insist on going out during the day, take the Jinn with you.”
“Um, the what?” I said.
“Your friend. What’s his name—Tyler?”
“Oh, Ty. Well, I doubt he’d be much help. What’s a Jinn anyway—some kind of Shaede slang for human?”
Raif gave me the strangest look. Like he wanted to say something. Instead, he graced me with a benign smile.
“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 su
it 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.
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