Against the Dawn (28 page)

“Run!” I shouted to the still shell-shocked girl who scrambled from the corner only to have her ankle caught in the Lyhtan’s taloned grip. I brought the sword up in a high arc and then down in a forceful strike, severing the creature’s hand from its wrist. The girl screamed loud and long, powerful enough to have damaged her vocal chords. She kicked at the severed hand until it dropped from around her ankle. Caked grime peeled from the floor beneath her fingernails as she pulled herself away, stumbling to her feet as she ran. I couldn’t chance a look back as Asher cut down, his daggers crossing as he sliced the Lyhtan’s throat open.

“I win,” Asher replied as the Lyhtan bled out on the floor moments before its body dissolved into a shimmering explosion of golden sunlight.

I looked back, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl before she disappeared, only to find us alone in the building. Really, what would I have done if she’d stuck around? Invite her over for pizza? Try to fix her like I tried to fix everything only to further break her? Maybe her encounter with the nightmarish creature would scare her straight. Hell, maybe it would send her even farther into self-destruction. I sent a silent hope for her wellbeing out into the universe—the same universe that Reaver said I asked too much of.

“You won, Ash,” I agreed as I sheathed my sword. Though really, I was beginning to wonder if anyone was a winner in these situations.

With our interlude of excitement over, I found myself in uncharted territory otherwise known as, do nothing and wait. I was so used to jumping into action without any forethought, hell-bent on forcing the results that I wanted and not giving a damn about the consequences in the process. Going back to my apartment with Asher to sit and do nothing for the rest of the night totally went against my grain. Right now, though, it was my only option.

“What’s in the envelope?” Asher indicated the manila envelope on the coffee table as he tossed a piece of discarded crust into the pizza box. He selected a fresh slice from the half-eaten circle and lounged back on the couch cushions.

“The same thing that was in there the last time you asked. None of your business.”

Disappointment pulled down the corners of his mouth but his pouty face had no effect on me. You’re a total buzzkill, Darian.”

“Why are you even here, Ash? Not that I don’t appreciate the company, but seriously, I’ve gone almost an entire month without getting in over my head and as far as I know, no one wants to kill me.” Which, considering my track record for the past couple of years, must have been some kind of record. “Why the high security, follow me like a shadow routine?”

Asher’s gaze shifted to the TV. “My king wants you to know that he takes your protection very seriously.”

I answered that lie with a snort. “More like your king needed someone to spy on me and he knew that I wouldn’t turn your nosey ass away.”

“My place is not to question my king, only to obey.”

Uh-huh.

Asher’s loyalty was unquestioning, but I wondered if I could use his boredom and need for excitement to make him a double agent. Maybe I could find a way to make the suggestion on the sly. “You have to admit, the night wasn’t altogether boring. Not for me anyway. I mean, I got to fight alongside the
Lyhtan Slayer
.” He looked embarrassed from the mention, but the emotion was fleeting. If anything, Asher was proud of his skill and humility didn’t wear well on a warrior’s façade. “How did you earn that title, anyway?”

“You know, I’m not as young as you think I am,” Asher said by way of an answer. “And I’ve served my king in other ways before I came to Seattle.”

“Doing what, exactly?”

Asher’s gaze settled on me and for once I saw the years behind the amber depths. “Whatever was asked of me.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of it? Blind servitude. Unwavering faith. Letting him keep you like you’re some sort of—”

“Pet?” Asher ventured with a smirk.

“Hey, I didn’t stick that label on you. And it’s not like I haven’t worn the same name tag once or twice over the past couple of years.” I selected another slice of pizza and sat back, allowing my comment to sink in. He had to have at least considered his position in the royal scheme of things… “I’m not saying that Xander isn’t uncaring. He is. In his way. It’s just that it’s sort of dehumanizing, don’t you think? Like he’s keeping us on a shelf and pulling us down to play on a whim. We’re all a bunch of toys for his entertainment.”

“Not toys,” Asher replied. “An arsenal.”

Tyler was wary of some two-bit Fae criminal for bringing unique supernaturals into his fold. What he should have been concerned about was the powerful king that was doing the same. “How many are there?” Surely Ash knew. “In Xander’s arsenal?”

He answered with a noncommittal shrug. Liar. “Darian, why do you hold his power against him?”

“I don’t.”

“You absolutely do.” He shifted on the couch, leaning forward to drive his point home. “What you forgive in others, you condemn him for.”

Sounded like someone had been coaching Ash. Hadn’t I heard the same argument from the king himself a few days ago? “Are you sure Xander didn’t send you over here so you could talk him up?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what he asked me to do,” Asher said, dry as dust. “I also have a note in pocket from him, asking you to the school dance. All you have to do is put an X in the appropriate box. Yes or no.”

“Ha. Ha.” Ash was a laugh a minute.

“Seriously, Darian. Why the double standard?”

“Honestly? I have no idea.” I hadn’t signed on for any sort of deep self-reflection tonight but Ash seemed bound and determined to drag an answer out of me. “Maybe it’s because he’s so sneaky with his power. Manipulative.”

Asher rolled his eyes. He totally wasn’t buying it.

I took an unsteady breath. I knew the answer and it prompted the sort of refection I wasn’t quite ready to address. “If I tell you, you’ll just tell him and then he’ll have one more tool to use against me.”

“I’m loyal to my king, Darian. But I’m even more loyal to my friends.”

Asher had seen me at my most vulnerable. He’d held me in his arms, tight against his chest as I cried and begged Tyler not to kill Kade. He’d seen me half naked and crazed with need for a man that I despised. Asher had been there for me when I needed him. How could I possibly question his friendship or his loyalty?

“I hold Xander’s power against him because…” I drew a deep breath. Held it in my lungs. “Because I know that he loves his power and station more than anything else in this world.”

“More than you?” Asher asked, his tone gentle.

“Yes.” The admission of jealousy twisted my heart but it was the truth.

“And Tyler doesn’t love the power he possesses?”

“I think that Tyler finds his power a burden. He doesn’t wield it carelessly and he does nothing to bring attention to that power. And I think that if given the choice, he would relinquish it in a heartbeat.”

Asher’s voice conveyed his pity when he said, “Don’t be so sure, Darian.”

I tossed the half-eaten slice of pizza back in the box and swung my legs down from the armrest of the chair. Asher had managed to sour my mood, though I didn’t hold it against him. He’d simply pointed out that my idealistic outlook of Tyler’s selflessness and humility might’ve been just that: idealistic.

“Sorry to be a killjoy, Ash but I think I need to hit the hay. And don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not interested in having a sleep over with you.”

Asher sat up straight and grabbed two slices of pizza. “Don’t
you
take this the wrong way, but I wasn’t planning on staying. I’ll be close though, in case you need me.”

“Ash, come on. Nothing’s going to happen and you need to sleep, too. Just go back to Xander’s. I’ve got Reaver’s wards and Raif’s security system to keep me safe. No need to prowl the block, looking for trouble.”

He took a gargantuan bite from one of the slices and headed for the elevator. “I said I’d be close, not outside the door.” He finished off the slice in a second massive bite and stepped into the car, pulling the gate closed behind him. “See ya tomorrow.”

“See ya.”

As the elevator came to a halt at the ground floor, I waited until I heard the door to my building slam shut and even after that, I waited another twenty minutes before I climbed into bed with the manila envelope and all of its contents. I trusted Asher not to use his little mind-bendy trick to make himself invisible and violate my privacy, but I still guarded the contents of that envelope like a dragon guarding his gold.

“Okay, Ty,” I murmured. “Let’s see what you left me.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

My stomach knotted up as I removed the thick stack of photos and paper from the envelope. The first thought to cross my mind was that Ty must have assumed he’d be in custody for a quite a while because he’d left me with a
ton
of information. The first was a legal document giving power of attorney to Levi. Interesting. He’d put a sticky note on the document letting me know that for the time being, Levi would be handling all of his business, including his “contractors.” Guess I had a new handler for the time being…

The second bundle was paper clipped and at the top of the stack was a photo of an onyx disk that looked a lot like the poker chip I’d been given upon entering Kieran’s lair. I studied the image for a moment and removed it from the stack to find several pages of notes scrawled in Tyler’s handwriting. I skimmed over the information, research he’d conducted into Lorik’s mysterious debt. According to his notes, Ty had been working under the assumption that Lorik was holding a death marker.

I read on, making mental notes of pertinent information as I went. Apparently, if Lorik had indeed gambled his life away, he’d be in possession of a black chip like the one in the photo. It would be on his person at all times and bound to him so that when the debt was called in, he could be located easily. Whoever held the debt could use the chip as leverage, pretty much turning Lorik into a slave. Do the bidding of the holder, live another day. It made me question Lorik’s story about his immortality being gifted to him. Dollars to donuts, his long life had been forced on him and he’d been buying himself time by serving whoever held his marker for quite a while now. I shuffled through Ty’s notes and paused at the last page. He hadn’t finished his research but wrote three things: Motives? Connections? Stakes? And circled all three in thick black ink. Below the unanswered questions one sentence was scrawled and underlined three times: Who is the Rakshasa queen?

I refastened the paper clip to the stack and set them aside. He’d given me a jumping off point and if anything, Ty’s research indicated that I needed to be very careful around Lorik. If he was back in Seattle under orders from a big, bad supernatural, I could be in for a little more trouble than I’d anticipated. Especially if this mysterious Rakshasa queen was involved. The last thing I needed right now was do deal with yet another royal headache.

The next stack of papers was a mish-mosh of those “loose ends” he’d mentioned. A list of things he wanted me to take care of at his condo, a couple of sealed envelopes he wanted me to pass on to Levi and another for Marcus, one of his human employees who didn’t like me too much. That meeting ought to be fun. I set the envelopes aside and looked over another group of notes. More research, this time on Mithras. Ty had gone the extra mile, giving me too much to think about so I’d be distracted from trying to get him out of jail. He was one smart cookie.

For some reason, Tyler didn’t think that Mithras had anything to do with Lorik’s death marker. Rather, he was working on the assumption that Lorik had been sent to Seattle on business for the holder of his marker, but being the greedy, opportunistic SOB he was, had been on the hunt for a little side action. According to Ty’s research, Lorik had been in Seattle the entire six months I was away in
O’Anel
, giving him plenty of time to establish himself with the local criminal networks. He left me a note stating that if I had the opportunity for a face to face with the elusive Mithras, to take it. It might be my one and only shot.
Gods amass power from the faith of their followers
, he wrote.
The old gods are weak and so is Mithras. Don’t allow him the opportunity to gather power
. I guessed that answered my question about whether or not Mithras was the real deal. Ty suspected he was and so I was going to assume he was as well. Ty might not have been omniscient, but he was a stickler when it came to research. Any intel he’d gathered would be as good as gold. Lastly, he’d included a note from the client who’d requested proof of death, but Ty left it up to me to decide what that would be. I’d have to lay eyes on Mithras before I could make that sort of determination, though. And thanks to Lorik’s ambition and persistence, I didn’t have much longer to wait.

The last item in the stack was an envelope with my name on it. I held it in my hand, traced the letters with the pad of my forefinger. How could I sit here and pretend that this wasn’t the most fucked up situation ever? That Tyler being hauled out of The Pit in cuffs didn’t make me want to burn the PNT facility to the ground just so I could get him out of there. I’d made a promise to him that I’d let this play out, though. And no matter how badly it tore me up to do nothing, I refused to break another vow to him ever again.