Blood Before Sunrise

his nose and have an answer spit out of his mouth. It would’ve been nice if it worked that way, though. “Sorry, but I’m pretty sure that’s all I’m going to get.” Considering I killed the asshole who might know more than that little snippet. And my other lead is mad as a hatter. “What am I looking at here? Can you ask around, see if any of your contacts know anything? Or am I basically fucked?” I slid a hundred-dollar bill across the bar, and he stealthily scooped it up and stuffed it into his pocket.

Levi laughed, showing perfectly straight white teeth. He reminded me of a toothpaste commercial. “You’re not fucked, yet. Give me a few days. I’ll rattle some chains and see what I can come up with. In the meantime, you’d better find a table. Drama’s coming your way.” He jerked his chin toward the entrance.

I recognized Tyler’s shock of coppery curls as he fought through the crowd at the entrance. Even from across the bar, I could tell he was pissed. My jaw set, ready for a fight, I gave Levi a little toast and hauled my ass to my favorite dark corner. I sat with my back against the wall, the open area of the club visible from all sides. No one was going to sneak up on me here.

I sipped the girly green drink, which was starting to grow on me, and innocently trained my eyes on the dance floor. With Ty following my every move, I wasn’t going to get anything accomplished. If I hadn’t cared about him so much, I would have wished his ass permanently in my apartment. But, just like the drink in my hand, Ty had grown on me as well.

“Sneaky, aren’t you?” he said, throwing himself into the chair across from me. He slapped his palm down on the Formica tabletop, the sound cracking, even above the blaring music. “Think you can just screw me into a coma and run?”

I pretended not to hear him, though my preternatural ears picked up every syllable. Well, I had thought screwing him into a coma would keep him safely out of trouble. Bringing the glass to my lips, I drained it in a couple of gulps, then ran my tongue over my now-sugarcoated mouth. Something stronger was in order, and I raised my empty glass to a cocktail waitress who changed course for our table. “Bourbon, neat.” I turned to Tyler. “You want anything?”

The waitress looked to Tyler, recognition dawning on her face. A sultry smile replaced her regular customer- service grin. Her lids drooped almost imperceptibly, and she bent over, showing a sad attempt at cleavage, betrayed by one of Victoria’s secrets. “Hi, Tyler!” she shouted. “The usual?”

Jealousy had never been natural for me, but I felt a stabbing twinge of it right in the center of my chest. Tyler glanced at me from the corner of his eye, a lazy smile creeping onto his handsome face. “Sure. Thanks.” He plunked a bill down on her round, cork-covered tray. “Keep the change.”

She turned to leave, and I stuck my leg out straight, pointing a booted toe to the sky. It wasn’t entirely my fault that she tripped; she should have watched where she was going. Besides, she recovered well enough. The girl at the next table caught her before she hit the floor.

Our waitress had her wheels spinning for Ty; she made it back with our drinks in less than two minutes- impressive. She placed the Seven and Seven in front of Tyler, reaching from behind him to allow her breast to graze his shoulder. The bourbon, she set in the middle of the table. Someone wasn’t going to get a tip from me, unless you counted a bloody nose and a couple of broken ribs.

I sat up from my slumped position and retrieved the glass, draining it in a single swallow. It burned all the way down, and I welcomed the heat. The warmth spread, real, comfortable, true. Despite what had happened to me, the liquor’s effect hadn’t changed. At least some things stayed the same.

The faint thrumming of an urgent pulse piqued my curiosity. Levi headed toward our table, sweat glistening on his brow. He ushered our waitress quickly out of the way and bent his head between Tyler and me. “Outside. You have company, Darian, and he’s not the sort of patron we let in, if you get my drift.”

Sounded like trouble, and I needed something to take my frustration out on. “Where?”

Levi cast a nervous glance in Tyler’s direction. “In the back alley. Said he just wants to talk…but I’ve never known them to be peaceable.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, giving a playful smile. “I’ll go see what he wants.”

“We’ll go see,” Tyler interjected.

Fine. “We’ll go see,” I said, standing.

“The back exit’s open,” Levi said. “No alarms. It’ll take you right out to the alley.”

Ty followed hot on my heels-literally. He bumped into me more than once. Had it been anyone else, I would have been tempted to give him an ungracious shove. What the hell did he think was going to happen anyway? No one had managed to kill me…yet. “This is exactly why you can’t continue ditching me, Darian. You need protection. You need me.”

“I can handle myself, Ty.” Had something happened during my transformation to make me suddenly too weak to take care of myself?

“That’s not the problem, Darian. I know you can handle yourself. But even you need backup every once in a while. That’s where I come in.”

I didn’t answer, not wanting to fight with my boyfriend in front of my “visitor.” As we walked out into the back alley, I heard the Lyhtan’s grating breath before I actually saw it. Him. That was what Levi had called him anyway. With their androgynous, insectlike bodies, I still don’t know how anyone could tell their gender. I approached cautiously. I’m not stupid. Regardless of having the upper hand, I didn’t feel like I did. Lyhtans are deadly. They fight amongst themselves as much as they harry their enemies. Violence is their cup of tea, and it doesn’t matter who serves it up.

When the Lyhtan laid eyes on Tyler, he took a defensive stance. Green-tinged drool leaked from his mouth, and he bared his teeth. A low hiss issued from between the sharp points. “I asked for the marked one. Not you, Jinn,” he said in his many voices, which melded into a single ominous chorus. “You have no business here.”

Marked one. Didn’t realize I had an actual title. “His business is my business. Don’t worry your pretty little head about Ty.” Pretty. Ha. “What’s your name, Lyhtan?” I had little hope he’d supply it. They rarely do. But then again, even sometimes I am surprised.

“I am called Chianshank.”

Sounded a lot like a sneeze the way he pronounced it. Chi-an with a quick shahnk. I wanted to follow up with a Bless you. No wonder they didn’t often supply their names. How in the hell was I going to remember that one?

“Well, Chian,” I said, going for something a little less formal, “what do you want?”

“I bring a warning.” His breath came foul and loud, echoing in the alley. “And you’d best heed it.”

His voice, like so many tones layered together, reminded me of less than happy times. The threat of becoming a sacrifice choking every ounce of air from my lungs as I lay helpless on a slab of moss-covered stone, impending death on the wind. I thought of my soul, screaming for release from torturous love and betrayal. I envisioned blood-so much blood streaming from twin slashes on my wrists.

Thank whatever gods are out there, I’m no delicate flower. I pushed the unpleasant memories away and widened my stance, caressing the dagger hilt at my thigh. It wouldn’t kill the bastard, but it would wound him enough to get him out of my hair if his intentions were less than honorable. “Why warn me? The last time I met up with your kind, saving my skin was low on the Lyhtan to-do list.”

“Neither Shaede nor Lyhtan be,” he crooned. Sheets of gooseflesh rose over my skin. “You are Other. Dangerous to some, a savior to others. And I’ve been instructed to warn you.”

From around the corner, a door slammed. Chianshank flinched, crouching low. A warning grumble bubbled from his thin lips. His taloned fingers flexed, and he cast a furtive glance to either side. “Come close, creature. I will deliver my message to your ears alone.”

Creature, huh? If that wasn’t the pot calling the kettle black. “I’ll come a little closer on your word that you won’t attack.”

“On my word,” the Lyhtan seethed.

Tyler snorted in protest behind me, and I held up a hand to silence whatever argument was about to spill from his lips. Taking a step toward the Lyhtan messenger and then another, I wondered at my own state of mind. The smell of Lyhtan that I’d thought of as especially foul didn’t offend my nostrils the way it once had. To my new senses, the Lyhtan smelled of strong musk, pine, and wilting lavender. Heady, though not exactly pleasant.

As I moved within killing distance of the segmented body of my would-be enemy, he straightened from his battle stance just a little-enough to meet me eye to eye. I stared into the amber orbs, beady black pupils fixed on