Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel

everyone else. Fantastic. “They can go around invisible during the day. And if you ever saw one, you’d know it. They don’t look like any human or animal. At night, they stick to the shadows. Lyhtans don’t live in large groups. They’re pretty solitary. I don’t know for sure, but I think they live in the forests, parks—places where they can hide above human eye level. Trees, bridges, cracks, and crevices. Lyhtans stay above your head and well out of sight. Honestly, though, I’m not surprised you haven’t seen one. It’s been quiet around here for a while —as far as the supernatural community goes. But a month or so ago, there was a bit of a population explosion. Seems Seattle is the new hot spot.”

Well, that explained why I hadn’t noticed Seattle’s nonhuman inhabitants: Until recently, there hadn’t been many. “How do Lyhtans make a living if they’re so obviously not human?” Levi looked at the counter, and I sighed, slapping down another fifty.

“They don’t need money.” Levi laughed. “If they don’t look human, they’re not very likely going to be shopping at the Gap. Lyhtans are more like animals than people. They hunt for their food. They don’t live in houses. I don’t even think they wear clothes, for that matter. Hence, they don’t need money.”

Lyhtans might not shop at the Gap, but Levi sure did. I had a feeling I’d be fronting the cash for his new wardrobe too. I drained the gin and tonic and handed the glass to Levi, along with another folded bill. “What do they eat?”

“Anything they can get their hands on,” Levi said. He paused to take a tray laden with discarded glasses from one of the waitresses, and handed her an empty one. “But they prefer fresh meat. Human or other.”

“Sounds lovely.”

“Yeah,” Levi scoffed. “You know how spiders inject their prey with venom? Well, Lyhtans can do that too. It’s in their teeth. Paralyzes the prey and dissolves its insides and bones into goo. Then they slurp it out like a smoothie, leaving an empty husk behind.”

I thought of my Lyhtan visitor commenting on how it would like to suck my innards out through my nose, and my stomach heaved, threatening to send my gin and tonic back the way it came. I took three fifties, folded them in half, and handed them to Levi. “Can they be killed?”

“Yes, but don’t ask me how to do it. I have no idea.”

“Anything else I need to know about them?”

“They can compel a victim if they want to,” Levi said, and I wondered if I imagined the shudder that seemed to shake his body. “I’ve only heard stories, so I don’t know for sure. Maybe through their venom. Whatever it is gives them some sort of mind control over their prey. The ones they don’t eat, that is.”

“For what reason?”

Levi shrugged. “Who knows? Protection. Slavery. Meals on wheels. What would you do with a walking, talking zombie? One ready to do whatever you asked.”

Hmmm. I wonder. “What else creeps around out there, Levi? If Shaedes and Lyhtans are running loose all over Seattle, there have to be more. Who are they? What are they?”

Levi plucked the bill I’d thrown him off the counter and pressed it back into my palm. He reached up and rang a bell above the bar, giving the lingering patrons a start, and hollered, “Last call!”

Grumbling replies answered, and Tiny stepped through the entrance, ready to send any hostile stragglers on their way. Levi grabbed a bottle of imported beer from the fridge and popped the cap before sending it rattling down the bar toward Tiny. He scooped it up in his paw of a hand and tipped it back, nearly draining the bottle in one swallow.

“Keep your money,” Levi said, low. “You can’t afford for me to answer all of your questions. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Cheeky. College boy knew his Hamlet. “Horatio,” I said in response.

“Huh?”

Well, well. Maybe I should be asking for a partial refund if I had to answer any of his questions. “ ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ Hamlet is speaking to Horatio in that scene.”

“Oh!” Levi smiled, his face glowing like an ad for high-end cologne. “Gotcha. Don’t worry about what you don’t know, Darian.” Boy, did those words hit a nerve. Azriel had said that to me more times than I could count. It’s easy for someone armed with knowledge to tell the ignorant one to relax. He offered me another refill and I took it gladly. A whole bottle of gin wasn’t going to be enough to get me over this night. He checked his watch and grinned. “Just enjoy the ride.”

I downed the drink in a single swallow, slamming the glass down on the bar. Enjoy the ride. Sure. Whatever. No one was trying to kill his ass. Or tell him bald- faced lies. But I couldn’t deny that Levi was a fucking fount of supernatural information, and I wouldn’t forget it. He was worth the cash.

“Thanks for the drinks, Levi,” I said, pushing off my stool. “You’re a good guy.”

He flashed me a flirty smile, saluting me with my empty glass. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Darian.”

Smart-ass. With a tilt of my head and a parting smile to Tiny, I left a little more informed and a lot more angry.

Chapter 11

The pristine blue sky graced Seattle with a shining sun. I took the beautiful weather as a sign, and decided to see if I could get myself into a little trouble. Ignoring Tyler’s urging that I call him whenever I went out, I walked the sun-drenched sidewalks, hoping my Lyhtan friend would pay me a visit.

I’d passed the corner of Pike and Fourth when I noticed the snick-snick-snick like tiny insect legs scurrying on the sidewalk. Then I recognized the disturbance in the air around me. I tried not to let it see how the sound of its many facets of voice unsettled me. For a block or so, it merely called my name, taunting me with its nearness. I felt a waft of breeze now and again and recognized the dense air where it traveled beside me, unseen. Its stench sickened me, hanging over me like a cloud. I don’t know how the Lyhtan would have smelled to a human or if it would have smelled at all. But I found its odor foul, sour, and nothing like the sweet scent of my own kind, or the delicious aroma that clung to Ty.

“My master wants you,” it said in my ear.

I pushed the image of my insides melting into a slurp-able goo to the back of my mind. Who was its master and why did he want me? I swallowed the fear threatening to overtake me. “Your master?” I goaded the thing. “I wouldn’t boast about servitude. It makes you pathetic.”

“As pathetic as you, Shaede?” Its grating voices used my own words against me. “Aren’t you a slave yourself?”

“I am my own,” I said.

“NO!” A blast of wind whipped at my face. “You belong to that scum of a king!”

“I am employed.” I kept my voice steady, my gaze straight ahead, even as the other pedestrians on the sidewalk gave me a wide berth. I must have come off as bat-shit insane.

“You are purchased,” it seethed. “You are a king’s whore and nothing else.”

Now, I’ve been called a few names here and there. Most of them didn’t even cause me to bat a lash. Whore was not one of them.

I stopped dead in my tracks. “You are a cowardly piece of shit,” I said in voice dripping with malice. “If you were half as tough as your talk, you’d show yourself so I could kick your ass and send your soul into the light forever.”

The Lyhtan’s many voices laughed in my ear, and I felt its presence close to me, like a bulldozer pressing against my body. “You speak with the arrogant supremacy of all Shaedes. But the eclipse will see to the end of your conceit.”

Again with the eclipse talk? I guess this particular Lyhtan was an astronomy buff. I looked straight ahead. I didn’t blink. I didn’t breathe. My hand twitched as I thought of retrieving the katana from my back. Another gust of air pushed at me and then dissipated, followed by the familiar scurrying sound, only to