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“Do you wish to return home now?” Azriel asked softly.
“I wish I could.” Wished he would just take me in his arms and hold me. Just hold me.
But he didn’t react in any way—even though he could follow my thoughts and knew my desires as clearly as if I’d spoken them—and I sighed softly. “But I need to collect my car from Adeline’s, and then we have that meeting at the rail station.”
“You should eat—”
I cut him off with an abrupt wave of the hand. “I’ll grab a burger and chips along the way.”
“That’s hardly what you need right now—”
“It’s food,” I cut in wearily. “And it’s better than nothing. You’re not my mom, so don’t nag me, Azriel.”
“Someone has to.” His blue eyes flashed with the annoyance he wasn’t quite containing. “Because you seem absurdly determined to run yourself into the ground.”
“And we can’t have that when there’s keys to be found, can we?”
“As I have said before,” he said coldly, “that is not a fair comment.”
I sighed. “Sorry.”
He once again accepted the apology with an almost regal incline of his head, then said, his tone still frosty, “You wish to go back to Adeline’s now?”
“Yes.”
He stepped close, and once more whisked us through the gray fields. Adeline jumped when we reappeared in her living room.
“Gracious,” she said, placing one hand on her heart. “You could at least give some warning before you pop into existence like that.”
“I thought you could sense reapers.” I stepped free from the warmth of Azriel’s arms, but distance did little to ease the fires his presence ignited. I picked up the cup of tea Adeline had poured earlier and gulped it down. I might not be fond of the stuff, but it was better than nothing.
“If they are on this plane, yes, but not before then.” She eyed me for a moment, then said, “You didn’t succeed in saving her.”
“No, but only because he didn’t keep his end of the bargain. He killed her too early.”
“He is a dark energy, so that can be expected.”
Stupid of me to expect otherwise, I suppose. “This isn’t his first kill, though. The Directorate is on the case.”
“At least you could provide a description—”
“No, I couldn’t,” I interrupted. Because he didn’t have a face on the fields.”
“That is unusual.” She frowned. “How indistinct were his features?”
“Totally—he had no facial features whatsoever. It was as if someone had completely erased them.”
“But that’s not possible.” She hesitated. “Well, obviously, it is, but it is extremely rare.”
“Why?” I asked curiously. “I mean, you can change your outward appearance, can’t you? Things like clothes, shoes, even hair color?”
“Yes, but it is almost impossible to change your actual features. Normally your spirit won’t allow it.”
“Well, this guy’s spirit did.” I paused, remembering the sensations that had rolled over me. “I actually felt him out there long before the woman screamed. It was as if the astral plane was rejecting his presence. It set up this really weird vibration.”
Adeline chewed her lip for a moment, then said, “And the woman? What was she actually doing?”
I described what I’d seen, then added, “The woman claimed they were having sex, but that sure as hell wasn’t what it looked like.” I paused. “Is it even possible to have sex on the astral plane?”
