My fingers shook as I opened the door. It was a stupid and illogical response given everything I’d survived over the last couple of weeks, but I just couldn’t help it. I feared my father. Feared him more than the Raziq themselves, even though he’d done little more than threaten me and my friends if I didn’t comply with his wishes.
And his threats were nothing compared to what the Raziq had actually done—they’d torn me apart, placed a tracker in the fabric of my heart, and then rebuilt me.
Perhaps that was the problem. I knew what the Raziq were capable of, and I knew what they wanted. Hell, I knew what Azriel, the Mijai, and even the vampire council wanted from me. But my father’s motives were little more than murk. All I could be sure of was that what he said he wanted and what he actually planned were two entirely different thingss.ferent s.
It was the not knowing that scared the shit out of me. That, and the intuition that he could be far more dangerous than the Raziq as a whole ever could be.
The locker door swung open, revealing a totally empty interior. No letter, nothing to indicate what he wanted or what I was supposed to do next. It didn’t make sense. Why send me here if he didn’t intend to leave instructions?
“What the fuck is going—”
The rest of the sentence died in my throat, because it suddenly felt like someone had a hand around my heart and was threatening to squeeze the life out of me.
And hot on the heels of that came the awareness of an approaching presence. Only it wasn’t body heat I sensed, wasn’t humanity, but rather the heat of a being that was all energy, all power.
An Aedh.
My father, to be precise.
Chapter 3
As the awareness of my father’s presence grew, so did the ache in my heart, until all I felt was pain, inside and out.
I doubled over, unable to do anything more than gasp. But it wasn’t a heart attack. It was something far more deadly—the transmitter the Raziq had placed in my heart, reacting to my father’s presence.
Calling the Raziq, telling them he was coming.
And I could barely even breathe, let alone give him any sort of warning.
An instant later, I was flung up against the lockers, my feet off the ground and a band of iron against my neck.
“What have you done?” The voice was a deeper, angrier version of mine, and it seemed to shake the foundations of the room around us. “What have you agreed to?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out because no air was getting in. Panic surged, and for a moment I wondered if he intended to kill me in sheer and utter rage.
Blue-edged steel appeared in my line of vision, the sword’s sharp point aimed at the heart of the fierce energy holding me captive.
“Tell us where we can find the keys,” Azriel said flatly. “Or die now.”
Deep inside me anger flared. For fuck’s sake, Azriel, I’m choking and in serious pain here, in case you didn’t notice!
He either didn’t hear me or didn’t care. Neither, apparently, did my father. The iron band of energy continued to squeeze my neck, and it felt like my lungs were about to burst. Tiny spots began to dance in front of my eyes.
“If you kill me, reaper, you will fail in your quest to capture the keys.”
There was no hurry in my father’s voice, no urgency. h="rAs the shadows of unconsciousness began to crowd close, I wondered where the hell the Raziq were. At least their arrival would break this uncaring tableau.
“As will everyone else who seeks them,” Azriel replied. “That is an outcome I could live with.”
It was an outcome I could live with, too. If I got to live, that was.
“You and I both know such an outcome would be unacceptable to those who sent you here, reaper.” Amusement ran through my father’s deep tones. “It would appear we have reached an impasse.”
Azriel!
The mental shout was filled with desperation, and his gaze flickered briefly toward me. Frustration and anger burned in his eyes. “Release her. Or I will kill you.”
And hurry. The spots were getting larger, my heart felt like it was about to shatter, and the need for air was so fierce my lungs were on fire.
“You won’t kill me, reaper.” The trace of amusement was gone from his voice. “As I’ve already stated, you need the information I carry too much.”
“And we both need her alive. Release her—now!” Valdis’s flames skittered across the fierce energy that was my father’s presence, enveloping him in a fiery cage.
Whether it was the threat of the flames or simply the realization that he did need me alive, the steely band of energy bruising my neck suddenly disappeared and I collapsed to the ground. There I remained, on hands and knees, dragging in shuddering gasps of air and grateful that I could still do so.
“You bear the device of the Raziq in your body,” my father said. Though the force of his anger no longer held me captive, it vibrated through the undernotes of his voice. “Why?”
Because I had no fucking choice, I thought, but the words remained locked in my throat as I continued to suck air into my still burning lungs.
God, where the hell were the Raziq? My father might have released his death grip on me, but the Raziq’s transmitter had not. The pain of the device was all-encompassing, and spots still danced madly across my vision.
“It was not her choice,” Azriel answered. “And if you know a means of removing it without killing her, tell us.”
“There is no removal except death.” My father paused, and the energy of him pulsated. “The Raziq come. I will find another way to contact you.”
“Leave a damn note—” I croaked.
“No,” he said.
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because I need to read your mind and understand what the players around you do.”
And despite the net of fire enveloping his form, the force that was my father disappeared. I couldn’t say I was entirely sorry to see him go. I might not have gotten any answers, but at least the fire in my heart began to ebb away. It left me trembling and weak.
“I’m aice">“Ifraid it is not over yet.” Azriel tucked an arm under my arm and hauled me upright. “The Raziq come, as he said.”
The words had barely left his mouth when another storm swamped me. Panic surged, but I drew Amaya and tried to ignore it. Of course, past experience told me she wouldn’t be enough against the force of them, but at least this time I had Azriel by my side. Surely he wouldn’t fall victim to the mind tricks the Raziq had used last time I was with them.
Fire dripped from the points of the two swords. It hissed and spat as it hit the concrete, and spread out in a sweeping arc, forming an incandescent barrier around us. It was almost as if the swords had drawn a line and were daring the Raziq to cross it.
The storm grew stronger, until I was being physically buffeted by it. I narrowed my gaze against the dust and rubbish flying through the air, my breath caught somewhere in my throat and my stomach churning. Every time I’d faced the Raziq, something had gone wrong.
Every single damn time.
“Not this time,” Azriel said. He took a step forward, half protecting me with his body.
No protect! Amaya’s protest echoed through my brain. Want to kill.
There is time enough for that, I snapped, my gaze on the flicker that was growing beyond the circle of fire. Once upon a time I would not have seen it, but my sight seemed to have altered fractionally since Amaya had become one with me.