Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) (22 page)

The redhead had mentioned the Hunter. Had they been aware that I was coming? Or was I just that famous?

I
CONCENTRATED
AS
N
ERINA
LEANED
forward and opened her mouth. A stream of grey smoke poured out. The cloud rose and swirled before turning and diving into the mouth of the dead man.

She bent closer so that her lips hovered over the agent's mouth and drew the grey smoke back into her lungs. As weird as it looked, it made a kind of sense.
 

Then she sat back, her face was serene and expressionless, and when she opened her mouth again it was the dead man who spoke.

"Where am I?" he asked.

Neither man's body nor Nerina moved, so and I was forced to answer. "You're on your way to the Graylands."

As the words left my mouth, I realized how harsh that may sound especially to someone so recently dead.

"Oh," he said.
 

My words hadn't frightened him. "You're not going to panic?"

"Why should I?" he said. "I knew this was likely to happen."
 

Resignation, not fear. "You expected to die?"

"Not expected. More like I knew it was a hazard of the job."

"And what job are we talking, exactly?" I asked.

"I work for Division Seven."

"What is Division Seven? Government?"

"Yeah. Off the books."

I'd bet it was. "What does Division Seven have to do with Omega?"

There was a pause. "What's Omega?"

Okay.

"What's your name?"

"Daniel Chou." He didn't say more so I left it at that.

"Who was the fourth agent? Not the young one who ran, the older man."

"Oh," Daniel said. "That's Blake. He's on loan from another agency. Inter-divisional cooperation or something like that." His voice faltered, becoming hollow as if echoing through a long dark tunnel.

 
"Blake?"

Daniel nodded. "
Agent
Blake. He's an odd one but he keeps to himself." He fell silent for a moment. "He ran?"

"Yes, he did."

"So much for interdivisional cooperation." Daniel sighed and even the sigh seemed to be getting fainter.

I had to hurry. "So what does this off-the-books division of yours do, exactly."

"We eliminate paranormals."

What could I say in response to that? It was very much cut-and-tried. "On whose orders?"

"That's need to know."

"Well, I need to know, and you're dead so nobody will care that you told."

He shook his head. "I'd tell you if I could. But our section leader just passed on the orders. Orders come from above. We followed them. We didn't need to know who gave them."

I didn't understand this attitude. If I was ever told that I didn't need to know where an order came from I'd make finding out my first priority. "And those guns?"

"Don't start me on those things," he said. "I hate them. Way worse than using normal bullets for humans." He paused. Seemed to struggle to speak. When he began again his voice had grown fainter. "Like using hand grenades to kill a herd of deer. Cruel and unnecessary."

This interrogation wasn't going to last much longer. "So what exactly were you doing here? We thought you were Omega agents."

"We were supposed to watch the site. Eliminate any intruders. Eliminate any paranormals."

He seemed to accept the existence of paranormals easily for a human. But there wasn't any time to get into why. He was probably trained well.

"Who killed the Sentinel watch?"

"Blake."

"Why?"

Daniel shrugged. "Don't know. We asked but . . ."

"Need to know?"

"You got it." Then he paused, his voice tinny now, fading. "Sorry I couldn't be much help."

"Sorry we shot you," I said, feeling a little stupid even as I said it.

"We did our jobs. Mission complete."

"You mean 'mission successful?"
 

"Mission complete," he repeated, his resignation clear even as his voice faded to nothing.

Nerina shuddered, lifted her head, and opened her mouth. The smoky gray tendrils wafted from her lips, rising, roiling on the air until they gathered together as if compelled by some invisible force, and swooped to the boy's mouth.

The smoke plunged between his lips and disappeared, leaving Nerina shuddering. She bent over, sucking in great gulps of air.
 

"You good?" I asked, a little worried.

She nodded. "I'm fine. He seemed . . . okay with his death."

"Too okay if you ask me."

"Yes. I agree."

Footsteps crunched outside on the concrete floor of the hallway and Logan came in.
 

"Anything?" he asked, even as he scanned the room and the hole in the external wall for potential threats.
 

"Not much." I said softly. "Agent Daniel Chou, Division Seven. Off-the-books government agency. He was a drone who did what he was told, never asked questions, never knew where his orders came from. But he'd never heard of Omega, and your friend was on inter-departmental loan and his name is Blake."

"Blake, my ass," muttered Logan through gritted teeth.

Nerina cleared her throat. "We should speak to the second agent before her time passes."

Nerina was right, but I wished we had more time for her to recover. She looked tired and strained. Saying so, however, would hurt her feelings--or her pride--so I stepped aside so she could access the redhead.

Logan remained at the threshold, gun in hand, his attention focused on the door and the hole in the wall.

Nerina sank beside the woman's body and performed her smoke exhalation/inhalation procedure. Despite having just witnessed it I found the process just as fascinating the second time, and just as gross.

When the death talker finally lifted her head, her face was expressionless. And, unlike Daniel, this one wasn't talking.

"Can you hear me?" I asked.

Nerina's body stiffened. Then her lips stretched. It wasn't a nice smile. And she remained silent.

I glanced over at Logan to find he'd moved so he could cover Nerina as well as the other threats. And he was right. Something was definitely wrong with her.

"Can you hear me?" I repeated. "What's your name?"
 

"You think you're so smart," she sneered. "But
we
are smarter."

Nerina began to shiver. The pale whites of her eyes began to go black and a cough ripped through her like a dull scream.

"Let her go, Nerina," I yelled, hoping she would hear me and pull free from whatever hold this dead girl had on her.

Nerina's shivers changed to shaking and then to convulsions, as though a terrible fight was taking place within her. I leaped over the redhead's body and grabbed Nerina's shoulders, supporting her through the convulsions, praying she wouldn't break bones, wouldn't die.

"Nerina," I shouted. "Logan?"

I looked up at him, terrified now that we wouldn't get Nerina back. That we'd lose her.

He was looking at the redhead. His face darkened. And I saw it too. The dead woman smiled.

The bitch
smiled
.

Logan didn't wait, didn't flinch. He chambered a bullet and shot her straight in the heart.

The sound of the shot thundered in my ears and Nerina again convulsed in my arms. Once. A second time, weaker. A third time, weaker still. Then she stopped moving, her skin paler, her eyes wide open.
 

I sucked in a shuddering breath. Nerina's eyes were slowly returning to normal, her skin beginning to warm to its usual simple paleness instead of a porcelain death-face.

I grabbed my jacket from the pile of rubble beside her and folded it before dropping it on the ground. Then I lowered her to a lying position, her head on the jacket.

Just in time. She gave one last, massive shiver. It lifted her head inches off the jacket and then dropped it back so hard that it bounced.
 

I winced. How would I explain a death talker with a cracked skull to Kira?

"I'm fine." Nerina took a deep breath. "I'm feeling better now."

As she inhaled again, the air beside us shimmered and Jess arrived. "Cassandra Monteith let me know you needed transport back home."

I blinked and shared a worried look with Logan, wondering what he'd say about his superior officer now knowing he was investigating a case off the books.

But he didn't miss a beat. "We'd better get moving," said Logan. "We've been here long enough. Their backup will be arriving shortly." Logan kept his eye on the doorway.

I put an arm around Nerina and Jess helped her to her knees, then to her feet.

"I'm fine," she said again. "I can manage to walk myself."

I glared at her, refusing to let go. "You don't look fine to me. The last thing I'm going to do is to let you kill yourself on my watch. I like my head on my shoulders, thank you very much."

Logan snorted and Nerina laughed, too.

"So, Lady Kira scares the shit out of me. I admit it."
 

Nerina patted my shoulder. "I really am all right. You will be able to get out of here faster without me." She took a step away. "I can't take you with me, but I can get myself to your apartment safely enough."

I nodded. "If you're sure."

"She's sure," said Logan. "Go now, Nerina."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she said, and disappeared in a cloud of gray smoke.

Jess didn't say a word, just held out her hands. Logan and I took a hand and Jess took us home.

 
J
ESS
LEFT
US
ON
THE
landing outside my apartment and left after a quiet word with Logan that I pretended not to hear.

When we walked into the apartment, Grams and Mom were sitting in the lounge having a heart-to-heart with Nerina. Thankfully, she looked fine, alive and well.
 

I was safe from Kira.

The women of my family had plied the death talker with tea and cookies, and seemed to have had much success, judging from the satiated smile on Nerina's face.

I dragged my feet as I stumbled into the room, dropping my bag on the floor as Logan closed the door behind me. My limbs trembled and though Logan attempted to grab my waist for support, I shifted away and sank into the nearest chair, exhausted, both mentally and physically. I leaned forward, and unzipped my boots. Too late, I realized the impending danger of keeling over. I blinked and swallowed hard before flinging the boots at the coat rack behind the door.

One landed at least a foot from its destination and Logan shook his head. He toed the errant boot back to its partner and frowned as his phone began to buzz loudly. He tugged the device from his pocket, but by the time he answered I'd already lost my concentration. I closed my eyes, squeezed them tight, then opened them again.