Darkness Splintered

moving.”

He chuckled, and airily waved a hand – a movement I only half saw on the small screen. “No one can get into the office, Ris. Not only is there security downstairs, but the entry into this area is thumb-coded. I’m actually safer here than at home.”

“Security doesn’t worry vampires,” I told him. “All they have to do is take over the mind of the guard and they’re in.”

Or, in the case of thumb-print security, cut off said thumb.

His grin faded. “And that’s what you think is after me? A vampire? Why?”

I took a deep breath, and released it slowly. “I’m not sure you’re the actual target,” I said, honestly enough. “But a vampire has threatened to kill someone I know, and I’m just warning everyone.”

“Warning heeded.” His voice was somber. “And I’ll be careful, I promise. Now, do you want to hear what I found?”

I did, but I wanted him safe, too, and I couldn’t escape the notion that he wasn’t, no matter what he thought. Hunter hadn’t made that threat idly. But maybe part of the torture was the waiting, the ever-tightening fist of fear, and the knowledge that sooner or later, one of my friends would be dead. The bitch would no doubt enjoy toying with me like that.

“I’ll listen, as long as you promise me you’ll go home, lock the door, and stay there until further notice.”

“Sounds a bit extreme,” he said, with a frown.

“Trust me, the bitch who made the threat is extreme.”

He studied me for a moment longer, then nodded. “I’ve seen too much lately to ignore such a warning. The minute I hang up, I’ll leave. That okay?”

“Okay.” I’d rather he hung up and left straightaway, but I was realistic enough to know that was never going to happen when he had news to share. Why he couldn’t leave and talk I had no idea – other than the fact it wasn’t legal to drive while on the phone.

Not that legalities had ever stopped him from doing something before.

“Right then,” he continued. “I went through public records, and discovered the company that owns that particular warehouse is a mob called Penombre Manufacturing.”

I frowned. The name rang a distant bell – I’d seen or heard that name somewhere before. Where, though? “What do they manufacture?”

“I have no idea, because I can’t uncover much information about them or what they actually do. I suspect they might be a shelf company, except for the fact that they own that warehouse.”

“Can’t shelf companies own assets?”

“I wouldn’t have thought so, given they were initially designed for people wanting to start a new company without the hassle of all the paperwork required to create one.”

“When did they buy the warehouse? There has to be some records of that.”

“There is.” He glanced down, and I heard the clicking of a keyboard. Jak was the old-fashioned type – none of these fancy light screens and keyboards for him. Hell, he still jotted down most of his notes in an actual notebook, rather than using his smartphone. “It was purchased twenty-eight years ago.”

I frowned. I’d been born twenty-eight years ago. Which didn’t actually mean anything, beyond the suspicion that it wasn’t actually coincidental. “Who by?”

“A bloke by the name of Michael Greenfield is the registered owner of the company. Problem is, the only Michael Greenfield I can find is in the matches and dispatches database – he apparently died forty-odd years ago.”

I wondered if he was any relation to Adeline Greenfield, the witch who’d taught me to astral travel. “Meaning someone is either using his name, or the Michael Greenfield registered as the owner of that building was born overseas, not here.”

“Yep. I’ve just sent a request to an English mate to search the databases there, but I don’t know anyone in the U.S. or in Europe who could help us.”

“You could always join ancestry.com,” I said, only half joking.

He snorted. “That wouldn’t help us if he’s changed his name.”

True. And knowing our luck, there’d be thousands of Michael Greenfields out there in the wider world. “I’ll get Stane on it, too.”

That’s if Stane hadn’t had enough of my near constant requests for help.

“Between us, we might be able to find something,” he said. “I’ll send you through what I’ve found, and I’ve asked Jason – the English mate – to copy you on any replies he makes. If you could do the same with Stane, I’d appreciate it.”

“Will do.” I hesitated, then added, “Now go home and be safe.”

“I really think you’re overreacting but —” He paused, frowning as he glanced at something offscreen. “That’s strange.”

“What?” I said, my heart leaping as fear surged through me.

“The lights in the foyer just went out.”

“Jak, get out of there. Use the stairs or something —” I stopped as the lights over his head went out, plunging him into darkness. “Jak? Move!”

“Moving as ordered,” he said, confusion and perhaps a touch of fear in his voice.

“Hide if you can. I’ll be there in a minute.” But if it was a vampire – if it was Hunter – then he didn’t even have a minute.

Which meant I had to get there now. And the quickest way to do that was to have Azriel take me. Changing into Aedh form might be fast for me nowadays, but travel wasn’t instantaneous. It was with Azriel.

“Problem?” Tao said.

I grabbed a jacket from the back of one of the chairs as I jumped off the table. It was sodden, but right then I didn’t care. My handbag was in my bedroom, and I needed a pocket to shove my phone into… the thought barely crossed my mind when Azriel appeared in front of me, holding out my handbag.

Thank you. I glanced at Tao as I swung the bag over my shoulder. “Jak’s in trouble. Can you ring the cops and the ambulance, and get them to his building ASAP?”

As Tao nodded and reached for his phone, Azriel caught my free hand and pulled me close. I had a brief moment to enjoy the press of his body against mine, to feel the warmth and strength of him, before his energy ripped through us both. He transported us through the gray fields so fast that the reapers’ ethereal, unworldly homes were little more than a bright blur. We re-formed into darkness. A darkness ripe with the metallic scent of blood.

Oh god…

Azriel? Can you see anything? I swung around, my nostrils flaring, trying to catch the source and location of the blood. Trying to discover if Jak was here.

Whether his attacker still was.

The vampire is to your left. He runs for the foyer doors. Azriel hesitated. Remember, reaper rules mean I cannot interfere unless he attacks you.

I didn’t care about his rules. Or being attacked. All I cared about was Jak – and he’d obviously never made it to the stairs.

No, Azriel said, mind voice soft. He dies, Risa.

If we get him to a hospital straightaway —

It will not make a difference. He would not survive being transported, anyway. He has not the strength left.

Grief swept through me, but it was twisted with fury. At Hunter, for doing this, and at myself, for involving Jak in our goddamn quest.

I drew Amaya. The flames that flickered down her side were fierce and angry. What did they do to him?

He has been gutted. And no reaper waits, as it is not his time.

Gutted him, not drained him. A deliberate choice on Hunter’s part, meant to kill with as much pain as possible. And if he died when there was no reaper here to guide his soul onward, then he