Azrael did his usual thing, he stared. Only this time it wasn’t the vacant newborn look. His expression was soft and settled, as if for once he weren’t trying to peer into shadow. Kira leaned forward, holding her breath. The emerald-green of his eyes was impossibly vibrant. Tiny rust-coloured specks floated in the green pools, giving them a depth good enough to dive into.
Jesus, she wanted to dive in. Sink down and drown.
Azrael leaned forward to meet her, and Kira’s own reflection shimmered in his eyes. Her lungs ached with the need to breathe, but that could wait. Everything could wait. The world was waiting. Perfectly still.
Something flickered in the depths of the tiny emerald lakes, a shadow passing beneath the surface. The car stopped dead. Kira gasped as the jolt pushed her back. Away from Azrael.
‘Okay.’ She squinted against the sudden dullness of the car’s interior. ‘That happened.’
What the hell was that? She needed a cigarette and a lie down. The vibration in her arm was gone. Kira tugged at her cardigan, glancing down. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see her tits hanging out; the contact had smashed into her like a one-night stand in a nightclub toilet. But she was fully clothed. An odd sense of relief filled her. Az was beautiful, no doubt, and something freaky had just happened, but getting wet in the panties over it felt all kinds of wrong.
He was a hot lump of dumb again. Mouth open, eyes vacant again. Slumped against the back seat. If he drooled, it wouldn’t surprise her.
‘God, what is going on, Blake?’
She glanced at the wristband. Sending a mute, catatonic robo-boy out into the world with her pisshead sister wasn’t Blake’s usual MO. She craved control the way most people craved chocolate or heroin. Something was up in the Facility. Very high up. Granted, Kira had been quite adept at blending Eron in, if she did say so herself, but Eron was different. The guy could wipe his own ass. And though he had stunning eyes – if white eyeballs were your thing, which it turned out, for her, they were, who knew? – nothing hid in the depths of them. Or rose to the surface like a miniature aurora borealis.
‘So, mental note.’ Kira cleared her throat. ‘My metal and your metal, not such a good combination.’
Fucking great combination actually. But she couldn’t sit in the pub touching up the mute, getting her kicks. She’d have to make sure it was flesh hand only for contact. ‘We’re going in there, okay?’ She nodded at the faded red door. The car had parked them in the alleyway alongside the pub, beside the staff entrance. Cat piss and rotten vegetables scented the air. ‘You ready?’
Getting Az out of the car was surprisingly easy. He mimicked her. Right down to the overhead arm stretch she did when she stood up. Then things got adorable. Azrael ran his hand over the brick wall, fingers tracing the graffiti there.
‘First time seeing brick, huh? Always a memorable moment.’ Kira stood at the door. She should herd him inside, but it was too precious. He moved on to one of the dumpsters. Put both hands on it, moving along the side as though he were reading some kind of braille on the smooth metal. An old, disturbingly-stained mattress hung over the far edge. He made a beeline for it, and Kira considered stopping him for all of two seconds but watching him sniff the grotty fabric was amusing. And there’d been far too little amusement lately. The guy was all goggle-eyed and entranced, like a kid seeing snow for the first time.
‘You think that smells good, wait till you smell the inside of the Barrow,’ she said. ‘Beer-soaked carpet and toilets that will make your eyes water. But the vodka is good, and the curry divine. Let’s go.’
Two hours in, everything was going well. As well as could be expected when babysitting a giant child. At just after nine on a Tuesday night, the pub had barely a dozen people in it. Mostly regulars. Most of them beyond bored with Kira’s ever-changing assortment of sidekicks, and after the initial interest when Kira had walked in, they’d all gone back to their beer and fish curries. Surprisingly, no one had complained yet about Perry’s music choice. K-pop tunes thudded through the speakers, loud enough to force everyone to yell-speak at their companions.
Perry let the last few drops from a Moet bottle drip into a flute and handed it to Kira. ‘It is good to see your ugly mug again, K.’
‘Ditto, my friend. Forgot how damn huge your nose was.’
Perry blew her a kiss. Kira feigned catching it and snorting it off the wooden bar top.
‘Sweetie,’ Perry said, ‘your new little friend is delightful, but whatever happened to that tall, lean piece you brought in a couple of times? One with the silver hair and lips like a slice of heaven?’ He threw the empty Moet with well-practised aim into a bin at the far end of the bar, where it joined the other bottle Kira had sucked back since they’d arrived. ‘Alice, go grab some more of those from the storeroom, will you?’ Perry called to the redhead clearing tables.
She nodded, balancing an impressive pile of stacked plates against equally impressive breasts.
Kira dipped her finger into the foam settling in her glass. To be fair, the first bottle was only half-full when she’d arrived. Someone else this evening had an appetite for expensive champagne.
‘Meh.’ She shrugged off mention of Eron as if he were a fly settling on her. ‘Got bored with him. He wouldn’t put out.’
Perry scratched at the short-trimmed beard covering his chin. ‘Sweetheart, please. We’ve known each other too long. Occasionally, you dive a little too deep into someone, and that’s about the time you start fucking around. Booking in Liam till the poor guy’s dick is ready to fall off. That’s
