Chasing The Shadows

Are you still intending to meet him tonight?

Yes. But I've just killed his nest of fledglings, and he'll know it could only have been done by another vampire. He won't walk into that meeting without some form of insurance now.

Then why tip him off that way?

Because he's obviously created more than one loop, and the number—combined with an inept master— would test even my capabilities.

True.She paused. Just watch Nikki over the next few hours. He may make a grab for her.

He'll probably try. Which is why I told her to stay in the sunshine. Master or not, he hasn't the years behind him to walk out in sunlight.He hesitated. Speaking of which, it appears sharing my life force with Nikki has had some unexpected side benefits.

What do you mean?

I mean, I was out in the sunlight for several seconds after eleven in the morning, and I didn't instantly flame. I did have sunscreen on but, given the hour, it wouldn't have made that much difference.

Concern flooded the link. Michael, you could have died.

I know, but my only other choice was letting Nikki enter the sewers alone, and that wasn't going to happen.

How badly were you burned?

He glanced down at his hands. Originally, they'd been a red so fierce they practically glowed, but the color and the heat were beginning to fade. Bad. But that's not the point. It was after eleven. I should have died.

Your merging with Nikki has improved your immunity.

So it would seem. Either that, or sunscreen offers vampires better protection than it does humans.

Not that much more, I'd wager.She paused. Has anything else happened?

I think you were right about me developing precognition—and I'd like to know how my merging with Nikki has bought all this about.

Until we find out more about thralls, we won't really know. But I've got a feeling this has more to do with your compatibility to each other.

He frowned. What do you mean?

She hesitated . Do you remember the night we stood watching Hartwood burn?

Yes.How could he forget? That night had signaled the end of a sorcerer's bitter reign. The end of a twenty-year battle for revenge and justice. But it was also the beginning of what had become the Circle.

Do you remember what I asked that night?

He frowned . Not really.Though he could remember what he'd been feeling. Not elation, despite the fact his quest of twenty years had finally reached fruition. Just an odd sense of… emptiness.

I asked what you intended to devote your life to now. You said perhaps finding the other half of yourself.

He smiled, remembering. I was being flippant, Seline.

But in many a jest there lies a truth. I think in Nikki you have found your other half. What is happening to you both now is merely the end result of locking two highly compatible pieces together—which is what you've done by sharing your life force with her.

That doesn't explain either of us developing new skills.

It does if the skills are not new but latent. By combining life forces, you've forced those skills into the light.

If he'd had latent skills, surely they would have made some sort of appearance by now. After all, he'd been on this earth for more than three hundred and sixty years. This is all nothing more than theory.

True—at least until you come into headquarters so we can run tests.

It isn't going to happen. You know I hate those damn tests of yours.Her sigh was overly dramatic, and he smiled as he added, And you can cut the theatrics, as well.

She didn't answer, and the link between them suddenly hummed with tension—became a whirlwind of color that was oddly electric. He knew instantly what was happening—she was having a vision.

No good will come from you putting these tests off,she warned. It will only throw you into greater danger when he comes.

Her mind voice had become abstracted, vague. He held back his questions, knowing from experience talking at the wrong moment could shatter the dream.

He seeks revenge. He seeks our destruction. Not the Circle itself, but you and me. For what we did to his brother so long ago. And he will start with you.Silence swirled through the link, thick with fear, then she added, Nikki could be our savior or our destruction. It very much depends on your actions.

What actions? And who was this 'he' Seline was talking about? It could have been any one of hundreds— between the two of them and the Circle itself, they'd been responsible for a fair number of dispatches back to hell.

And if what Seline was seeing was indeed the future he faced, then in many ways, it only ratified his determination to keep his life with Nikki truly separate from his work.

He is a brother who has kissed the night good-bye,she continued absently. If he cannot steal your heart, he will steal you then destroy you. But only after he has destroyed all you care for.

A cold sensation crawled through his gut. Seline's visions were vary rarely wrong. The ending often varied, but never the initial facts. If she saw this madman taking vengeance on them both, then it would happen. Lord, he had to walk away from Nikki. He couldn't risk dragging her into something like this….

No. Michael, no.Seline's mind voice was suddenly clear again, but filled with fear. I sense it is already too late for that.

I won't have her involved—

She's already involved. This man has been planning his revenge for a very long time. And there's nothing either of us can do to stop him until he comes out of the shadows and actually attacks.

He took a deep breath and released it slowly . Did you have any sense of time?

No. It could be next week, next year, or ten years from now.

Do a search, he said. Backtrack over every case you and I have handled. See which of them had brothers who turned. I want this madman found before he finds us.

Will do. In the meantime, be wary of Farmer. If he has stolen the knowledge of the master who turned him, then he may prove very dangerous indeed.

I'll be careful. Just make sure you are from now on, too.

I rarely leave headquarters nowadays. I am as safe here as I would be anywhere.

Then make sure you don't leave at all. Not for anybody.

I won't. By the way, I've couriered that charm you wanted. You should be getting it late tonight or early in the morning.

Thanks, Seline.

He cut the link and pushed away from the wall. Farmer obviously wasn't that attached to his fledglings, because it certainly didn't look as if he was coming down to check what had happened to them.

Time to get back to Nikki. Before she did something stupid—like try to track Farmer's whereabouts.

He stopped suddenly, a cold sensation running down his spine.

Or try to enter a dying woman's mind to search for clues.

He swore softly and blurred his form, running for the hospital.

* * *

Nikki took a deep breath, trying to calm the butterflies battering the walls of her stomach. Though they felt more like condors than butterflies.

A steady bleeping filled the silence. Dale's heartbeat, stable for the moment. Dale herself lay on the bed, her