face stranger, and suddenly I was there.
The first person I saw wasn’t our faceless killer but my Cazador follower.
Fancy meeting you here, I said, my voice dry.
He bowed slightly, amusement creasing the corners of his brown eyes. You sound about as pleased to be here as I am.
It’s more accurate to say I’m less than pleased about my reasons for being here. A soft vibration began to stir the air, a sensation that crawled across my skin and made me shiver. I rubbed imaginary arms and added, I gather you’re still on a watching brief?
Yes. His gaze swept me critically, one warrior sizing up another. Not that I’d ever be half the warrior Aunt Riley was, let alone go up against someone like him. But your energy levels do not seem up to scratch right now, so I will step in if he threatens harm.
I frowned. Why?
Because Hunter would not be pleased if you were in any way hurt during this.
Yeah, because then I wouldn’t be able to do her dirty work. The unpleasant vibration was getting stronger, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I turned and scanned the shadowy environs, glad that at least on the fields you couldn’t actually smell anything. With the heat of the last few days, the rubbish and putrid- looking puddles would have been close to rank.
The sensations rolling across my skin seemed to reach a peak. Once again both the Dusan and the charm at my neck reacted, the latter burning so fiercely it cast the figure of the man who suddenly appeared into stark relief.
Fear stirred briefly. There was something very wrong with this man. Yet he wasn’t evil. Just wrong.
I resisted the urge to retreat and studied him as intently as he seemed to be studying me. He still had no facial features, but lank hair that seemed to merge with the shadows around us covered half his brow, and he was dressed casually in faded jeans and an Adidas sweater. For some reason, that struck me as odd. I hadn’t noticed his hair last time, let alone his clothes, and I suddenly wondered why I was doing so now.
Was it deliberate on his part? Because he certainly didn’t look comfortable in them.
You came. His voice, as before, held little in the way of emotion, and yet I had an odd sense of amusement.
For the second time that day, I said, It’s not like I had any other choice.
No, it is not. You, huntress, are the type determined to save. It is your failing.
Perhaps. The air continued to roll away from him, washing his darkness across me in fetid waves. I resisted the urge to step back, sensing I couldn’t afford to show any form of weakness to this man.
If a man he was.
Right now, I wasn’t so sure.
If I am the type to save, then what is your type? Because it wasn’t me hunting on these fields, stranger.
He tilted his head sideways, and I had the sudden impression of a cat contemplating its prey. I was not hunting when you found me. My prey had been well and truly ensnared by the time we arrived here.
Why even hunt her in the first place? She was harmless—
No one who has the darkness within them is ever harmless, he cut in forcefully. The buildings around us shimmered, as if caught in a blast of heated air. She had to die. They all have to die.
I had a vague suspicion that if he’d had features I’d be seeing the glow of madness in his eyes right now. But why? Because you say so? Or is there an actual reason behind this madness?
There are always reasons. In this case, they are good ones. But they’re not ones I wish to share just yet.
Meaning he intended to string me along just like he was the Directorate. So what has any of this got to do with me?
Ah, he said, and once again his voice was even, without inflection or emotion. It was weird—almost as if he flowed between humanity and not. The speed with which you found dear Dorothy impressed me. I thought it might be interesting if we had a little challenge.
What is the point of another challenge if you’re only going to kill your victims anyway?
What if I were to offer a guarantee that I would not kill my next victims until their allotted time?
Why would I trust a man who can’t keep his word? A man too scared to reveal his face or share his name?
Just for a second, the vibration in the air halted, and I had an odd sensation of everything around me freezing—as if the astral plane itself held its breath. Then that moment passed, and the vibrations rolled on, little maggots of energy that crawled across my skin.
I cannot show what I cannot see. As for my name . . . His voice lowered, forcing me to lean forward a little to hear him.
But rather than continue, his hand shot out, something I felt rather than saw. I pulled back, Amaya instantly in my hands, an action that was more reflex than any spoken desire on my part. His fingers hit her blade rather than me, and his skin split. Blood flowed, though it was black rather than red. Purple fire leapt from the blade to his hand, and he jumped back, shaking his fingers in an attempt to rid his fingers of flames.
Amaya, release him.
Her grumbles filled the back of my mind, but the flames crawled from his flesh and dropped harmlessly to th Kmleze=e ground.
I swung her lightly back and forth in warning. The stranger’s features followed the movement, even though he had no eyes.
Do not attempt to do to me what you did to Dorothy, stranger. Amaya still burned with hunger and the need to attack, but her flames failed to lift the shadows around us. Whoever this stranger was, he seemingly had the ability to control how I saw the plane.
He didn’t say anything for several seconds, simply continued to study me as he shook fingers that looked red and blistered. It was a clear indication that you could be harmed on the astral plane, and made me wonder what the hell he’d actually been trying to do.
But waiting for him to speak made my nerves crawl, so I said, What is this challenge you’re offering?
It is a race, of sorts.
Define “of sorts.”
I had an odd impression that he was smiling, but I didn’t think it was a nice sort of smile. Tomorrow I will send the Directorate a clue to help you find my next victim. You—and you alone—will conduct the search.
And what will you be doing while I’m trying to save the next victim?
The sense of cat and prey suddenly sharpened. I shivered, and the buildings around me darkened even more. I swallowed heavily and thrust away the fear, but it didn’t do a whole lot to ease the tense atmosphere.
What will I be doing? he repeated softly. Well, my dear huntress, what I will be doing is hunting you.
With that, he disappeared.
And all I could think was, what the hell was he going to do when he found me?
Chapter 6
I cursed mentally and swung around. Any idea where he went?
He has left the astral plane. Markel studied me for a moment, then said, It is impressive that your sword works on this plane. Usually, such a weapon would not.
Amaya is no ordinary weapon.
To which she practically preened. My sword was gaining a personality. Fabulous. Not.
Were you able to read his mind?
He shook his head. Unless there is some form of physical contact between astral bodies, you can’t.
I frowned. Is that what he was doing when we came across him the first time? Reading Dorothy’s mind?
