Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel

lustrous, hung around her childlike form. Totally unremarkable. Only her blindness made me take notice.

Her milky blue eyes gave her away and creeped me right the hell out. And they didn’t move—ever. If she heard a noise or sensed movement, her head would jerk and tilt. The motion of a small creature, alert in the presence of a predator. She stayed close to Tyler, moving with every shift of his body as if tied to him with a length of rope, urging her to stir whenever he did.

“You should have called first,” I said. I didn’t like company. Especially weird company.

Tyler shrugged, leaving his guest in my living room and following me into the kitchen. “I wanted you to meet Delilah,” he whispered.

“Why?” I adopted his quiet tone, ignoring the girl. “What makes you think I would want to meet her?”

“Well, if you don’t want me around during the day, I thought Delilah could give you a hand.”

“Really?” I said. “Sorry, Ty, but she doesn’t look good for much. What am I supposed to do with her?”

“I’m standing right here!” Delilah snapped. Well, she had more-than-decent hearing and a fiery temper. Good. It was a bit of a shock, really, to hear such a strong, snarky voice come out of a weak and fragile body. I’d expected something much more demure.

“Sorry, kid,” I said. “So . . . you tell me: What good are you?”

“I have a gift,” she said. “I can see things you can’t.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“I can see the Lyhtan during the day when it’s invisible.”

Okay, that got my attention. Not even Levi had supplied me with that little tidbit of information. “How do you know what they look like? Have you seen one before?”

“Yes.”

A real conversationalist. We might get along after all. “Well, what did it look like?”

“Ugly,” she said. “Ugly as sin.”

Her assertion seemed to match Levi’s. Maybe I’d finally stumbled across a couple of people who weren’t intent on bullshitting me to death.

“They can’t pass as human?” I asked, waiting to see if once again her answer would match Levi’s.

“No. Not even a little.”

“Can you see me right now?” I asked her.

“No. But if you were to take your other form, I could.”

Hmm. More food for thought.

“So, again, what help do you think you’d be to me? I can hear the Lyhtan. And I can sure as hell smell it. That’s good enough.”

“Is it?” she asked. “How do you fight a voice?”

Damn. She had a point. Even if Raif was successful in getting me something to defend myself with, I didn’t want to hack away at the air, hoping I was getting a piece.

“You might be worth keeping around for a while,” I admitted.

“I don’t work for free,” she said.

A woman after my own heart. “Fine. Ty can negotiate your fee.”

A stiff nod sealed the deal, and Tyler led her back to the lift.

“I have to take her home,” he said. “But I’ll be back later.”

“Don’t bother,” I told him. A suspicious glance was all he was going to get out of me tonight. I guess I wasn’t the only “interesting” person Tyler hung out with. “I’m meeting Raif in an hour.”

He turned and, without another word, left with weird little Delilah in tow.

Chapter 12

Raif stood in the center of the warehouse, staring at an empty bottle. I approached him slowly, wondering at his strange behavior, and wary that he was trying to trick me into distraction. His body looked too relaxed for a fighting stance, his concentration centered on the vessel. I paused a couple feet away, and Raif’s eyes drifted shut. He brought the wide mouth of the bottle to his lips and expelled a slow, long breath. My own halted in my chest as I watched his breath become visible, dark and glistening. Thick like black mercury, the substance crept into the bottle, and when he had no more air to expel, he shoved a cork into the opening, trapping the murky sludge inside.

“Holy shit, Raif!” I said. “What in the hell is that?”

“A means to defeat sunlight.” An unguarded smile dawned on his face, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

I looked at the sludgy black goo in the bottle and back at his face. I didn’t know what sort of expression I was wearing, but Raif looked back at me, his smile faded. He couldn’t stand my lack of knowledge—and I didn’t blame him.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

“I’m only one of a few of us who can produce that little bit of magic.” Raif sounded proud of himself, and he had a right to be. Damn. “Anam Scath. Soul Shadow.” Raif shook the container of bottled shadows, presumably extracted straight from his soul. Must have been the deadly shadow Xander had been talking about. Amazing.

“I had no idea—” I bit back the words. No shit I had no idea. I didn’t have a fucking clue. “I can’t do anything like that,” I said, still amazed. “Who else can do it?”

Raif raised a challenging brow. He had no intention of spilling that little secret. “Our individual abilities are connected to our lineage. Those of us closer to the roots of our family tree are blessed with certain . . . gifts. But you”—he gave me an appraising stare—“are nothing more than a leaf on that tree, twisting in the wind.” I sensed a touch of Xander’s arrogance in Raif’s tone. An almost royal superiority that hinted of bias. He’d been spending a little too much time with his king.

“Well, aren’t you special?” I drawled. Did I mention that I hate being treated like a second-class citizen? “So, tell me: What’s that little parlor trick for anyway?”

“There are only two times in a day’s cycle that Lyhtans and Shaedes can face each other as equals and you won’t need this. Can you guess when that might be?”

I thought about the question for a moment. My brain kicked in to high gear; I didn’t want Raif to be disappointed in me. Understanding dawned, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner. “Twilight and dawn.”

Raif smiled his deadly smile. “You’re catching on a little quicker, aren’t you? We are both vulnerable to any attack in the gray hours and much easier to kill. We won’t heal as quickly, and any wound could end up being fatal. In full day—or night, for that matter—we’re each much harder to kill. I’d suggest beheading if you should come across a Lyhtan after twilight. A quick and effective kill. Necessary too. They’re fast on their feet—faster than you could imagine, no matter the hour. If you should be attacked in full day, however, use the bottle.”

I wondered how I should use it. Pour the contents on to the ground? Drink it? Bash it over the head? Ask the Lyhtan to drink it? But I didn’t think such an evil and calculating creature would simply take the offering and swallow it down. I laughed.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“How do I use this?” I took the bottle, swirling the contents before I stuffed it into my coat pocket.

“Just pop the cork.” Raif drew his sword, tested the sharp edge with his thumb. “The shadows will do the rest.”

Okay, so play-by-play instructions weren’t exactly Raif’s thing. Sounded simple enough, though.

One: See a Lyhtan.

Two: Pop the cork.

Three: Watch the shadowy action go to work. Kind of like a shampoo ad. If shampoo were deadly.

“Delilah told me that Lyhtans are ugly as sin,” I said, shucking my coat and tossing it over a bench near our practice area. No need to mention Levi. I didn’t want to expose him to any undue scrutiny. “And in my opinion, we’re all pretty good-looking. I’ve been thinking of the whole, good-guy, bad-guy, beautiful-ugly, light-dark thing. Which are we? Good or bad?”