“You know me.” Jamie took the bag and, as usual, worked a thumbnail into the seam and opened it quick-as-you-please. “You know Rina. You know us all.” He stuffed our grimed cloths inside, sealed the bag, and walked to the back of the car. “We’re dust devils. The rustle of leaves. The shadow in a darkened room. The voice that you can’t quite hear. We’re part of you. You might as well be expected to notice the air.” He tossed the bag into the trunk and shut it, then remained still. “You outwitted the Lord of the Flies.” The look in his eyes held admiration, and something else that made my heart skip. “You could be something, you know?”
I shook my head. “I come from a long line of cleaners.”
“I come from a long line of sounds.” He walked around to the passenger side door, steady gaze never leaving my face. “You never know until you try.”
We stared at one another over the roof of the car. Smiled, eventually.
Then we sniffed the air, and looked back down the road just in time to see a shadow dart behind a tree.
“I thought he’d stay at the house.” Jamie looked everywhere but at me. “The simple ones don’t like to stray from their point of origination.”
“Unless, say, they have another ex-demon to follow.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, my mistake.” I got into the car and put the key in the ignition, moving slowly so as to flake as little as possible. “He can sleep in your room.”
“Be that way.” Jamie got in beside me. Laid his head against the seatback. Yawned. “This could be the start of…” He smiled. “…something special.”
I pulled away from the curb. Checked the rearview mirror in time to see a shadow flit into the street and give chase. “I thought you were going to say something else.”
“I know.” Jamie closed his eyes. “I’m full of surprises.”
“Tell me.” I turned on the radio, and settled in for the drive back to our office.
About Kristine Smith
Kristine Smith is the author of the Jani Kilian series and other science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories under her own name. As Alex Gordon, she has written the supernatural thrillers Gideon and Jericho. Her fiction has been nominated for the Locus Award for First Novel, Philip K. Dick Memorial Award and the IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award, and she was the 2001 winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, she spent 26 years working in pharmaceutical product R&D. She was born in the Northeast, grew up in the South, and currently lives in the Midwest.
Novels By Kristine Smith
Code of Conduct
Rule of Conflict
Law of Survival
Contact Imminent
Endgame
As Alex Gordon
Gideon
Jericho
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