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“As you saw it.”
“Which is the only way I can ever report things.” His gaze sharpened. “And now, you’d better tell me about that sword-wielding man who suddenly popped into existence and saved my ass.”
I sat back on my heels and wondered why he’d seen Azriel’s real form.
In this case, simply because I allowed it. Generally, it is only powerful clairvoyants who see us as we are.
Which Jak isn’t, so why reveal your true self?
You trust him.
Yeah, but I trust Lucian, too.
That is totally different.
I wasn’t so sure it was, but I glanced back at Jak. “You don’t want to shift shape and heal your wounds first?”
“Just answer the damn question, Risa,” he snapped. “I’m really not in the mood for games.”
I grimaced. “Remember I mentioned that I could see the reapers?”
He stared at me for a moment, then said incredulously, “You’re telling me he’s one of them?”
I nodded. “Although technically, he’s not just a reaper, but a Mijai—he guards the gates to heaven and hell, and hunts down the bad things that come through them.”
>A fact the Raziq had undoubtedly been aware of when they’d shoved the tracer into me. I drank some more coffee, then said, “What are we going to do about the Rakshasa?”
“We will find it and kill it, as the councillors require.”
I snorted softly. He made it sound so simple, yet we both knew that was far from the case. “Yeah, but it knows you’re hunting it now. Do you really think it will come into that room without first checking that we’re not near?”
“If we are not near, we cannot know when it arrives.”
There was that. I gnawed my bottom lip for a moment, then said, “There was a camera in the room, and I’m guessing there’s sound, too. Maybe we could use that to our advantage.”
“The Rakshasa will not be visible on a monitor. Nor will you hear either her or the ghosts through a microphone.”
“No, but doesn’t the Rakshasa scratch her victims and follow them home before devouring them?”
“Yes.” His eyes gleamed with sudden understanding. “We can watch for such an event from a distance, then arrive at the victim’s house and set a trap for the Rakshasa before it arrives.”
“The only trouble is, the victim will be a vampire, and will sense my presence before he or she gets near the door.”
And given that I felt like shit and it was a state that didn’t seem to be improving in any hurry, I very much doubted I’d have the strength to remain in Aedh form for very long.
“I will set the trap and wait for the Rakshasa,” Azriel said softly. “You do not need to be near.”
I sighed. “Yes, I do. Hunter—and the councillors—want me to prove myself, not you. It has to be my sword and actions that kill this creature. Remember, her watcher is a witness to all that we do.” I paused. “Or have we permanently lost him?”
“He is downstairs. It appears he returns to our home base—wherever that happens to be—when we take energy form and he loses us.”
“Well, it doesn’t alter the fact that I need to be involved in the Rakshasa’s demise. I need to prove myself useful. Otherwise I’m dead.”
“Hunter does not want you dead. Not when you are still of use to her.”
“Hunter is not the council, even if she has grand plans to become head supremo.”
“Do not doubt that if Hunter wants you alive, you will remain alive, no matter what the council might threaten.”
