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“Rhoan hasn’t your reaper, nor your ability to sense dark spirits.”
The Directorate witches had the latter, if not the former. But again, I held the comment back. She didn’t want the Directorate to find this killer—she wanted me to, so that she could then get her revenge. And what Hunter wanted, Hunter usually got.
Unfortunately.
I walked into the bathroom. Having a pee while talking on the phone wasn’t something I usually did, but it was oddly appropriate when it came to Hunter—if only because I wished I could so easily flush her from my life.
“So where is the stand-in going to be playing tonight?”
“She’ll be at the Hallowed Ground from midday today.”
Which at least explained why Hunter wasn’t going to interview the woman herself. She might be an extremely old vampire—and therefore able to stand far more sunshine than most—but the lunchtime hours were still as deadly to her as sunlight was to any of them. “Isn’t it a little unusual for nightclubs to be open during the day?”
“Hallowed Ground has been around for a long time.” She hesitated. “It is a haunt for those who might otherwise be alone during daylight restrictions.”
Dread filled me. “Does that mean it’s another blood whore club?” And if it was, why were they bothering to provide musical entertainment? It wasn’t like the addicted vampires would care about anything other than getting their next fix.
“No,” she said, voice cool but still holding an edge that sent chills down my spine. “Although it wouldn’t matter if it was. You would still be going.”>Amaya, release him.
No; want.
Do it, I said. Now!
She hissed her displeasure, but her flames unfurled from Tao’s waist and dropped to the ground, slinking back to her blade with some reluctance.
As the remaining flames flickered and died, Tao opened his eyes and blinked. Then awareness surged, and horror spread across his pale, thin face.
“Oh god, Ris,” he said, voice hoarse and raw. “What have I done?”
I quickly sheathed Amaya and tried not to think about the agony radiating from my left hand—a hard thing to do given it was so bad, all I wanted to do was throw up. “Nothing that can’t be—”
I cut the rest of the sentence off as he collapsed, and I lunged forward to catch him. Azriel got there before me. He slung Tao like a sack over his shoulder, then swung around to face me.
“Your hand—”
“I can heal it when I change to Aedh form,” I said, barely resisting the urge to cradle my hand and weep like hell. “Let’s just get Tao home and worry about me later.”
Azriel didn’t look at all happy, but he merely nodded and disappeared from sight. I took a deep breath and glanced at my hand. Bad mistake. All I saw was a raw and swollen mess, and the pain—which had been bad enough up until that point—became overwhelming. A chill swept me, I began to shake, and my legs went from underneath me. But even as I hit the ground, my stomach rose, and I threw up.
Then Azriel was there, holding me, supporting me. The heat of his presence fanned through my body; a warmth and strength chased the weakness from my flesh and snatched the pain from my burned and blistered hand.
Eventually, I pulled away and glanced down. Though it was still red and tender, my hand was no longer blistered or weeping, and I could flex my fingers without pain. My gaze rose to Azriel’s. “Thank you for healing me.”
“I’m glad that I could.” He brushed the sweaty strands of hair from my eyes, but despite the tenderness of his touch, there was anger in his expression. “You should not have endangered yourself that way, Risa. It could have ended very differently.”
“But it didn’t.” I hesitated. “Where did you take him?”
“Home, as you wanted. I brought Ilianna in to tend to him.” He placed a hand under my elbow and gently pulled me upright. “And we should go. The police are coming.”
I glanced past him and saw the approaching red and blue lights of the emergency vehicles. “At least no one got hurt.”
“No one but you,” he commented, as he wrapped his arm around my waist and swept us from flesh to energy form. He didn’t immediately release me when we reappeared in the living room, simply continued to hold me close.
My gaze rose to his again, and there was an intensity, a ferocity, that had my heart doing an odd sort of dance. “What?” I said, almost breathlessly.
“Do not ever ask me to do something like that again,” he said. “Because I will not.”
Annoyance flared. I tried to step back, but his grip tightened around my waist, pressing me closer. “Damn it, Azriel. He’s my friend—”
