“I guess I’m just going to have to owe you.”
He stopped. Took a second to think. “Yes, and I have just the debt in mind.”
“You do?”
“Her name is Lucille Robinson.”
“Go on.”
“I want you to kill her.”
He’s waiting for you to say something. So say something! Wait, don’t swear. Don’t call him an asshole. Okay, go ahead.“And tell me why I have to do your dirty work for you?”
He sighed with disgust. “Reavers cannot kill unless their victims have been Marked and paid for, or unless they can prove self-defense. Why do you keep making me say that?”
“Because I know it pisses you off?”
“I despise rules.”
“You know I never do anything unless there is some advantage to me,” I said.
Yale fixed me with that yellow glare. It was like looking into the eyes of a python. “The woman, Lucille’s, Spirit Eye is beginning to open.”
Spirit Eye . . . what the hell is that? It just can’t be good. Not even if it’s bad for reavers. What if it’s in the middle of my forehead, like theirs? Eeew!My hand itched to travel up my face and feel the familiar lines that creased my brow whenever I frowned. Would there be a new one with an eyeball underneath? The thought made me want to gag.Okay, get a grip. You’re working. Freak out on your own time .
I said, “How should that affect my plans?”
“It already has. She can see the weakness in the young ones’ shields. She has killed two of them, including Wu, who I’d placed aboard your yacht just today.” He jabbed a finger at me as if it was my fault. Which, of course, it was. Speaking of shields, I couldn’t see his. Not at all. The medallion was working for, and against me, once again.
“Are you sure it was her? Perhaps—”
“I am sure. I do not know the source of her power, but she is beginning to See, Pengfei. And when her Eye fully opens, she will also begin to Know. After that none of us will find life as easy or as lengthy as before. Do you understand?”
Though I didn’t understand, I nodded, because I figured I was supposed to. I said, “Tell me how to find her.”
“Lure her to you. She will not be able to resist the chase once you have killed the woman she was with the day I met her.”
“Do you know where to find this woman?”
“Her name is Cassandra. The cab company picked her up at this location. I believe she is one of the entertainers.”
“Oh my God, was that cool or what?” The voice belonged to a young guy, coming this way by the sound of it.
“You have got to be the king of first dates!” Sweet-sounding girl. Cruising for a make-out spot?Go away!
Yale’s eyes glowed as he nodded at me and licked his lips with the tip of that grisly pink tongue.
“There they are,” he whispered to me. “The boy has been Marked by his ex-girlfriend. I was going to share him with Wu, but given the circumstances, why don’t I treat you to dessert?”
Aw, hell. Could thisbeworse timing ?
Yale pulled aside a flap on the right leg of his sleek leather pants that hid a long, slender sword. I used his momentary distraction to draw Grief. Taking a deep breath, I yelled, “Get lost, kids! There’s a maniac with a sword over here!” Girly scream and sounds of running feet. Apparently they’d seen some horror flicks recently and knew better than to come exploring. Good for them.
Yale, having seen his share of battles, didn’t stay surprised long. Still, I had time to nail him with every bit of ammunition Grief held. Bullets. Bolts. They backed him up, gave me room to kick in the only blade left on me worth using. Vayl’s.
I twisted the blue jewel at the hilt, launching the carved sheath at the reaver. It hit him in the throat.Dammit, he didn’t even grunt! Hoping to score some intimidation points, I came at him fast and figured out quick that I’d discovered his niche. Only my age and training prevented him from transforming me into a Jaz-kebob right then and there.
Clearly he’d been parrying and riposting since long before my Granny’s gran was a baby.My techniques, all learned at the knees of my martial arts teachers, barely kept their feet under his concerted attacks. Even if I lucked out and squeaked in an offensive move here or there, I didn’t know where to direct them because . . .the medallion’s still blocking my view of the shield. Take the damn thing off, Jaz!
God, he could wield that blade. Was it actually coming faster or was I just getting worse?
I grabbed the chain around my neck and yanked. “Ow!” Chains always break easily in movies. This one may have caused minor whiplash. But that was fine and dandy, because suddenly I understood about the Spirit Eye.
As I parried a slash that saved a good part of my forearm I noted the heat in Cirilai. Even for those few minutes I had felt disturbingly incomplete without it. Its increased warmth assured me Vayl was on his way. I just needed to survive.
But maybe I could do more.
Yale’s shield showed plainly against the backdrop of the shoreline, no longer a single color now, but deep velvety black with lighter areas of purple and blue where I’d hit him and, theoretically at least, weakened his resistance. It didn’t waver the way the first two reavers’ had, however. Not encouraging when sliding a weapon in those breaks was the only way I’d found to kill them.
He fought purely as a swordsman, and it took all my concentration to keep him from slicing and dicing me like a sack of Idaho russets. But I wasn’t beneath throwing in a kick or a punch when I could manage them. It felt like connecting with an old freezer, but the shield lightened in those spots too.
I kept moving, trying not to let him back me into the water where I’d be trapped. But with all my attention on that swift, sharp sword of his, I had none left for footing. I stepped into one of the craters left by Lung’s explosive spikes and went down, the breath bursting from my lungs so utterly I lay there gasping like an asthmatic.
Yale grinned, the tip of his tongue wagging free as he swung his sword in a long arc, meaning to split me wide open. I rolled clear, the blade slicing the point where my throat had been seconds earlier. Just as quickly I spun back, using the trick he’d pulled on me at Sustenance to catch him behind the knee. Already somewhat off balance, he fell easily.
LOOK,Raoul’s voice boomed in my head, focusing that part of me that saw beyond color and form into the realm ofother . What Yale had called my Spirit Eye. To keep myself from freaking further about the eyeball-in-the-forehead possibility, I imagined it as a lovely, azure blue, long-lashed orb floating above my head, slowly waking to a new, bigger reality.
Just now it saw ratty Jaz and stunned Yale lying on the ground mere yards from a gazebo containing a badly mutilated corpse. Yale moved better than Jaz, which did not bode well for her future health. Especially since his shield, while wearing the purples, blues, and even yellows of a bad bruise, still seemed wholly intact. However, a ridge in the middle of his forehead was rimmed in bright, glowing red like a big, circular target.
Huh.
Snapping back to myself, I bear crawled over to Yale, grabbed him by the shoulders, and head-butted him so hard that for a second my regular vision completely winked out. It returned just as Yale staggered to his feet and retrieved his sword. Spurt of fear as I realized I didn’t know where my weapons had gone. In fact, the last thirty seconds were kinda hazy. I put my hand to my forehead and felt the bump.