Chapter 7

I reacted instinctively and without thought. My knives were in my hands before I knew it, and I was all but flying over the rocky, barren ground as I headed for the South Siding exit.

“Cat,” I said, “I need flares. And weapons.”

She raced away, leaving me alone with the night and the shadows. I half thought about dragging a veil around my body and becoming one with it, but I was heading for vampires, the one creature on this planet that could see through such veils—mainly because they were creatures of night and shadows themselves.

The closer I got to the exit, the more evident the sounds of fighting became. It was mixed with the sensation of fear and panic—my little ghosts were doing as I directed and protecting our home, but they were neither equipped for fighting nor very proficient at it. And if the hisses and snarls filling the air were any indication, then there was at least a score of vamps trying to gain access.

A score. And me armed with only knives and two small guns until Cat managed to get some more weapons . . . Movement, to my right. I swerved sharply but not fast enough. A body crashed into mine, sweeping me off my feet and down to the ground, where we rolled for several meters before coming to a halt. I raised a knife, but my hand was caught and held firm in a grip that was fierce and strong.

“Are you insane?”

The words were hissed, but the voice was nevertheless familiar. Jonas.

“What in hell do you think you’re doing?” I bucked as hard as I could, trying to get him off me.

“Rescuing you from stupidity, that’s what. Do you know how many vampires are down there?”

“Yes, but—”

“But nothing.” His legs tightened around me as I bucked again. “Don’t be a damn fool. It would be nothing short of suicide to go down there right now.”

I snorted and twisted my arms, trying to break his grip on them. “What do you care? You want me dead anyway, don’t you?”

“What I want is neither here nor there. Nuri wants you alive, so alive you will remain.”

“Damn it, you don’t understand! The ghosts are down there!”

“The ghosts are already dead. The vampires cannot hurt them, but they can and will tear you apart.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t understand!” The panic emanating from the exit was growing, as was my desperation to move, to get down there and help my little ones. “There are vampires who consume energy or souls, not just blood.”

“I still don’t see—”

“What do you think ghosts are?” I cut in. “An ectoplasmic force, that’s what. And it can be consumed by some vampires.”

He glared down at me, his green eyes bright and fierce despite the night. “I think your two little ghosts are clever enough to avoid—”

“That’s the whole problem!” I spat back. “It’s not just two ghosts. It’s hundreds.”

And with that, I lurched forward and smashed my forehead against his. It was a move he wasn’t expecting, and it knocked him sideways. I pushed him the rest of the way off and, despite a spinning head and blooming headache, scrambled to my feet and ran on.

He cursed and all too soon was running after me. But my fear was fierce, and it gave my feet greater speed even if he had longer legs. Cat and Bear reappeared, carrying several larger guns and a couple of flares between them. Not much, and certainly not enough, not by a long shot, but better than nothing. I sheathed my knives, caught the weapons, tossed a flare back to the shifter, then clipped the other one to my pants. I raced over the slight hill that ran down to our bunker. Below me, vampires milled around the exit, scrambling over one another in their efforts to get through the ghosts who were valiantly attempting to hold back the tide. The scent of burned flesh stung the air, suggesting that at least some flares had been lit before I’d gotten here, and vampires were still being tossed left and right. But some were getting through . . . and it was at that point I realized that the exit was open.

By Rhea, how had that happened? Why were they even here, when in one hundred years they’d never come within sniffing distance of this tunnel?

They wouldn’t come here. Not unless they were being forced. I couldn’t feel that dark, oddly mutated energy that I’d felt the last time I’d encountered the vampires, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t near.

Not that it mattered. Not immediately. First I had to secure and clean out our bunker before I began to worry about the hows and whys of the exit being open.

I raced down the hill, my weapons gripped tight. As several vampires turned to face me, I began to fire, mowing some down, missing others. Behind me, Jonas unleashed his own weapons, the soft sound of rifle fire almost lost in the hissed snarls of the vampires.

“Bear, flare,” I said. His energy spun around the flare, and an instant later it was lit. I snagged one gun onto a belt loop, then grabbed the flare and threw it into the middle of the vampire pack. They fled, creating a temporary clearway in the middle of the doorway.

“Cat, light the other one.”

Her energy ran past me, and, a second later, light flared across my back. The shifter swung his flare back and forth threateningly, keeping the vampires momentarily at bay. But they ran along the edges of the light, ready to attack—desperate to attack—the minute the flares died.

I ran into the bunker, the shifter two steps behind. My flare began to sputter and fade. As Jonas threw his on the ground just in front of the entrance, I hit the EMERGENCY CLOSE button. The grate slammed home, but that didn’t mean we were safe; this gate wasn’t protected by either silver or a laser screen, and the vampires merely had to shadow to get through it. We needed to get to light, and that meant getting out of this tunnel and into the bunker itself—the one place I had no desire to take the ranger.

But it was either that or die, because we simply didn’t have enough weapons and there were still far too many vampires.

“This way,” I said, voice tight. The ghosts fled before me, happy to see me, but their collective energy was so depleted and fear-filled it made me want to cry.

We ran down the tunnel, leaping over the bodies of the vamps who’d made it into the tunnel, our steps echoing in the silence—or mine did. The ranger’s were whisper quiet. Darkness fell behind us, and the ghosts screamed a warning—the vampires were in the tunnel and coming after us.

“Bear, Cat, get those lights on up ahead.”

They surged past us. A second later, the lights came on, the sudden brightness eye-watering. I blinked away tears and ran on, desperate to reach that room before the flood of darkness behind us hit. I ran into the light but didn’t stop until I was at the far end of what had once been a nursery. Or one of them. This one happened to be empty at the time of the cleansing; the other one hadn’t.

Jonas stopped beside me, radiating tension and a readiness to fight. I gripped my weapons, waiting, as the flood of darkness drew closer. They were shadowed, so they made little sound, but I could feel them. Feel their evil, hunger, and desperation.

I shivered, even as I wondered at that last emotion. There were plenty of easier pickings in Chaos, so why come here, after me?

Or were they, perhaps, still after Penny? They’d certainly prowled around the museum long enough last night, attempting to find a way in. Was this just an extension of that search?

Maybe. Maybe not. And it wasn’t like I could ask them.

Shadows flickered across the edges of the light; then vampires re-formed. I raised my gun, as did Jonas, and together we picked them off, one by one, until the doorway was packed with smoldering bodies and we couldn’t see the vampires beyond it.

Which, again, was odd. Vampires usually consumed their dead. “Waste not, want not” seemed to be their motto when it came to flesh and blood.

I stopped firing and lowered my weapons. Jonas kept his at the ready, his expression grim as he stared at the dead blocking the door.

“So,” he said, voice holding just a hint of anger. No surprise there, I guess, given anger seemed to be his go-to emotion. “You’re not the kind of shifter we’d presumed.”

“It’s not my fault you presumed wrong.” I leaned against the wall and briefly closed my eyes. Now that we were relatively safe, reaction set in, and it was all I could do not to collapse on the floor in a trembling, crying mess. Some of that reaction came from the ghosts milling around me, their collective energy so close and thick my skin tingled and jumped in reaction. I reassured them the best I could, praising them for the bravery and their skill in handling the vampires and protecting our home. After a few minutes, their fear began to ease and a few even gathered enough courage to drift closer to the pile of vampires. But they didn’t step beyond the light, and I can’t say I blamed them.

“What were you doing in Central?” Jonas asked. He’d finally lowered his weapon but hadn’t slipped the safety back on. Can’t say I blamed him for that, either.

“What were you doing following me?” I countered. “And how did you even know it was me, given the body shift?”

He half snorted. “I am—or was—a ranger. Following scents is something we do.”

And it was a generally accepted fact that a person’s scent never changed. Only it wasn’t exactly true—not for those of us created as lures. I could change scents if I so desired, but it took a lot of effort, and it made retaining the altered form all that much harder. Which was why many of us were simply relocated to a completely different area every new mission; it was easier than attempting to hold full body and scent transformations over weeks, or even months.

Of course, not altering my base scent was something that had almost killed me, after I’d been placed in a shifter camp that contained refugees from a camp I’d previously infiltrated. In fact, that mission going so wrong had been the reason I’d been here with the little ones when they’d unleashed the gas.

I thrust the bloody memories from my mind, then pushed away from the wall and stalked over to the smoldering mountain of flesh blocking the tunnel exit.

“Why were you following me in the first place? And how the hell did you even know I was going to be in Central?” I paused, looking over my shoulder, meeting his wary, angry gaze. “Nuri?”

He nodded. “She said you’d appear on the corner of Victory and Twelfth sometime after noon. She’s rarely wrong.”

Which made her far more than just a mind seeker. It meant she was a witch—a proper witch. One of the earth witches, who could not only read the future in the play of the world’s natural forces and energy, but control the magic within it as well. And that made her, as I’d guessed, far more dangerous than any of the shifters she seemed to command.

“And why would she order me followed when I made it perfectly clear I wanted nothing to do with either of you or your mission?”

I grabbed a body on top of the pile and dragged it down into the light, where it immediately erupted into flame. As the smell of burning flesh began to stain the air, a shadow lashed out from the space created, forming claws that slashed at my face. I jerked back, watching as the vamp’s arm exploded into fire the minute the light touched it, the ash of his skin swirling as he snatched the disintegrating limb back into the darkness. Grimly, I raised my weapons, aimed them through the small gap I’d created, and shot the hell out of the remaining vampires—or, at least, those who were too stupid to immediately run.

When both weapons clicked over to empty, I turned to find Jonas watching me, his usual angry expression touched by a hint of curiosity. It disappeared almost immediately, but it was, perhaps, a glimpse that there was more than anger to this man.

“You didn’t answer my question, ranger.”

I glanced up as Cat brought me fresh ammo unasked. I silently thanked her and reloaded the weapon before clipping it back onto its loop and heading for the exit. Jonas was here now, and short of throwing his ass back out into the night, there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it. Nor was it practical to pretend I only lived in this small section of the base. Penny would have no doubt mentioned the medical center and kitchen facilities. I might be able to get away with saying she’d been mistaken when it came to a museum entrance—they could search all they wanted, but they’d never find the tunnel I used; it was all but invisible when closed, and Penny had gone through it only when it was open—but there was no way they were going to believe everything she’d described had been little more than shock and imagination. Better to reveal the safer truths, while keeping others secret.

“She ordered you followed simply because she didn’t believe you’d let the matter lie.” Though I heard no sound of movement, his closeness pressed against my spine, an energy that was both unsettling and enticing. “That because of Penny, and because there were other children involved, you couldn’t let the matter lie.”

Nuri had understood altogether too much about me in the brief time I’d been in her presence.

The sensor light flashed as we approached the door, but it took several seconds for it to actually respond. With night upon us, all three generators would have now kicked in to fuel the main defense systems, lights, and air, but the secondary systems, like these doors, had power diverted to them only as required.

“How are you powering this place?” Jonas asked, as the door finally opened.

I shrugged. “I managed to get the old generators going. Finding parts was the hard bit.”

“Considering how old the technology here is, it must have taken quite a while.” There wasn’t suspicion in his voice, not exactly, but it was pretty obvious he wasn’t buying all that I was saying.

I met his gaze, seeing in the green depths the distrust I could feel. Seeing the awareness, however much he might be attempting to contain it. “It did.”

“And the medical scanners Penny mentioned? Did you get them up and running also?”

I smiled, though it contained very little in the way of humor. “No need. Once I got the power going, most of the remaining systems came online, although the kitchen and food facilities were pretty foul. It took a hell of a lot of scrubbing before I could even contemplate using them.”

His smile was an echo of my own, but, after a moment, he pulled his gaze from mine and looked around. A slight frown creased his weatherworn but handsome features as he studied the dusty old metal beds lining either side of the long room. “What was this place? Some kind of bunkhouse?”

An innocent enough question but one that could prove my downfall if I didn’t watch how I answered it. “According to the ghosts, this was the nursery.”

His gaze shot back to mine. “Nursery?”

I raised my eyebrows, surprised by his response. “Who did you think my little ones were? They’re all the ghosts of the children who were murdered in this place.”

“No one was murdered,” he refuted. “Least of all children.”

“And you were here to witness that, were you?” I snapped back. “Because these ghosts were, and they tell a very different story from the rewritten history currently presented as truth in today’s schools.”

“My, my,” he said, voice mild but that dark anger of his sharper. “You’re awfully vehement about a situation that supposedly happened long before you were born.”

I flexed my fingers, trying to keep calm. He was trying to force a slip on my part, trying to uncover the truth, no matter what Nuri herself might wish or order. I had to be careful. Had to watch what I said.

And I couldn’t, simply couldn’t, let emotion get the better of me.

“You’d be pretty worked up if you could listen to their story and could experience the pain and the horror they went through.” I tore my gaze away, my eyes stinging. “Their death wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t fast. No one who had been quartered in this place at the end of the war died easily. Believe that, if nothing else, ranger.”

We walked through another doorway and I led the way left, into another of the main tunnels that allowed access to the next two floors. I avoided the sixth floor—which contained not only my sleeping quarters, but the bunk rooms, main medical facilities, and the crèche and training areas for young déchet—simply because they required ID and blood work to access them. And doing that would only confirm his suspicions. Instead, we continued on to the fourth floor, which was the area Penny had seen.

“Children aren’t always the most reliable of narrators,” Jonas said softly. “And it has been a very long time since the war.”

“I agree, children aren’t always the most reliable of narrators. And yet here you are, believing every word that comes out of Penny’s mouth despite the fact Nuri herself said the child had changed.”

“Touché.” The hint of amusement in his voice was both surprising and oddly warm. Or maybe it just seemed that way simply because of the brief absence of suspicion and anger. “But that still doesn’t negate the fact—”

“There’s more than children haunting this place,” I cut in. “There’s the ghosts of all the adult déchet who were here at the time, and their story matches those of the younger ghosts.”

He blinked. “There’s déchet here?”

I smiled, though again it held little humor. “And ghosts of scientists, doctors, nurses, clerical staff, and probably a whole lot more that I’ve never even talked to. When your people cleansed this place, they cleansed it of everybody involved, be they human or déchet.”

“Perhaps,” Jonas bit back, no doubt reacting to the trace of anger that had ebbed into my voice despite my best efforts, “they figured it was the only sure way to rid this world of the perversion that was the déchet.”

Perversion. Travesty. A foul corruption of nature. We’d been called all those things and more, both during the war and the years immediately after it, before the shifters had begun altering history. It still had the power to sting, even now. Just because my creation had happened in a tube rather than as a result of intercourse between two people didn’t make me any less of a being. It didn’t make me a monster.

Granted, there were déchet who had been monsters, especially in the ranks of those who had been first assault soldiers and either designed or medicated to feel nothing. But could the same not be said of humans and shifters?

Somehow, I kept my voice even as I noted, “There’s an awful lot of hate in your voice for a race that disappeared over one hundred years ago, ranger.”

“I lost a lot of family in that war.” The dark anger in his voice was even stronger. But I guessed that was no surprise, given a shifter’s life span was far longer than a human’s. While Jonas himself didn’t look old enough to have lived through the war, his parents surely would have. “It’s not something time can erase, no matter what some might have you believe.”

Given I’d echoed those sentiments not so long ago, I could hardly disagree.

We finally reached the fourth level, and I led the way toward the same small dispensing kitchen I’d taken Penny to. I was aware of Jonas looking around, silently taking everything in, just as I was aware of his every move. His every intake of breath.

It was damn annoying, that awareness.

“Coffee?” I said, increasing the length of my stride to pull away from him. “Or perhaps something to eat?”

“Coffee, one sugar if you have it.”

Thankfully, he stopped in the middle of the room rather than following me over to the machine, and looked around. “What was this place?”

I shrugged as I ordered two coffees. The machine, like the doors, was extremely slow to respond. “From what the ghosts have said, this floor contained secondary medical facilities, kitchens, and training for pubescent déchet.”

His gaze came to mine, green eyes giving little away, but his energy watchful. Full of distrust. “How many areas can you access?”

The first coffee appeared. There was a hint of sweetness entwined through its bitter scent, so I handed it to Jonas. His fingers brushed mine as he took the cup, the brief caress electric.

“There’s six floors that aren’t filled with concrete,” I said, resisting the urge to clench my fingers and keep hold of that electricity for a little bit longer. “But not all six are accessible. Some areas require eye scans and blood-work tests to enter. I haven’t figured a way around them yet.”

“You seem awfully proficient at working with old machines,” he commented.

I shrugged and collected my coffee. “Mom was something of an electronics wizard. She used to find and repair old machines, and then sell them. That’s how we survived.”

Once again the lies slipped easily from my tongue. But it wasn’t as if I could tell the truth—that with eternity stretching before me and little else to do, I’d read not only every scrap of material left behind in the bunker, but whatever I could find and steal from Central.

“So where did you live?”

“Everywhere. Nowhere. We moved around a lot, and most of it is a blur, to be honest.” I gave him a thin smile. “Thanks to me, we weren’t made that welcome in most places.”

His gaze slipped down my length, a brief, judgmental caress. “You do not have the scent of a human, so even if you are what you say you are, that should not have been a problem.”

“‘Shouldn’t’ doesn’t equate to ‘didn’t,’ ranger.” I walked across to one of the padded benches lining the wall and sat down.

He considered me for a moment, then moved across to the bench along the wall opposite mine. Wanting to keep not only an eye on me, but distance also. It perhaps suggested he was well aware of the attraction flaring between us, even if he seemed to be controlling his reactions far better than I.

He took a sip of the bitter black liquid I called coffee and grimaced at its taste. But he didn’t put it down, as Penny had with her water. “What were you doing in Central?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Nuri didn’t tell you?”

His smile held little humor. “She cannot control what she sees. In this case, she saw where you would be, not what you were investigating.”

Which was something, I guessed, and hopefully meant she would not “see” through my veil of lies and uncover what I was.

I leaned back against the wall and took a sip of coffee. “I didn’t start off in Central. I actually started in Carleen.”

He frowned. “What were you doing in Carleen?”

“Talking to the ghosts there.”

“I didn’t even know there were ghosts there.”

“There are ghosts everywhere, ranger. You just have to be open to seeing them.” I hesitated but couldn’t help adding, “There’s several déchet sitting with you right now.”

He reached for his weapon with one hand, coffee splashing across the other, the action instinctive, automatic. Fast. As would be my death if he ever confirmed his suspicions about what I was. Then his gaze met mine and realization dawned. “That wasn’t nice.”

I couldn’t help smiling. “No. But it was amusing all the same. Ghosts generally won’t hurt you, ranger. Not unless you do something to hurt them, or someone they trust orders them to.”

“Someone like you,” he said, voice flat.

“Yes.” It couldn’t hurt to remind him I wasn’t alone in this place.

He switched his coffee cup to his right hand and shook the remaining droplets of coffee from his left. “So what did the Carleen ghosts tell you?”

“That they left you alone only because you were tracking the wraith.”

“Nice of them.”

“Trust me, it was. There is a lot of hate in that place for your kind. I wouldn’t advise going there without a damn good reason, because next time they might not be so generous.”

“I will go where the investigation takes me, ghosts or not.”

Then he was either very foolish, very brave, or had absolutely no experience dealing with the wrath of ghosts. “They said the wraiths were using what they called false rifts—rifts that are stationary and covered by that ill-feeling darkness that hovers over most of Carleen.”

Jonas frowned. “What did they mean by ‘false rifts’?”

“I’m not really sure, but their energy felt different from the energy I feel when I’m near the other rifts. Darker, dirtier, if that makes sense.” I shrugged. “Anyway, I asked the ghosts to take me to the one the wraith and Penny last used.”

Surprise flitted across his features. “That was a very courageous step, given there are few who survive an encounter with a rift.”

“Penny did, and more than once if the slashes on her arms are anything to go by.” I frowned, suddenly remembering how quickly mine had healed. “Is Penny full shifter?”

“Yes,” he said. “Why?”

“Because as I went through that rift, energy lashed at me. It left me with cuts similar to the scars Penny bears.”

His gaze slid down. The small hairs on my arms rose, as if touched by electricity. Everything about this man, even his damn gaze, seemed to cause a reaction in me. “You don’t have scars.”

“No, because I heal quickly thanks to my shifter half. Penny should have the same healing abilities, and yet she bears scars.”

He hesitated. “We suspect the drug program she and her family underwent might have made changes to her physiology.”

Perhaps, but there was more than that going on with Penny. But I guessed I could understand his not wanting to tell a stranger, even if that stranger was someone he wanted to use. Or, at least, his boss wanted to use.

“The rift is the reason I was in Central. It spat me out into the basement of a brothel called Deseo on Twelfth Street.”

“A brothel?”

“Yes. And you have to admit it’s the perfect place to hide something you don’t want anyone to find. It’s not as if Deseo’s customers would be too interested in exploring the premises when they’re paying good money for other services.”

“Yes, but surely the owners—”

“The owners,” I cut in, “were scared to death of going into the basement. But they were being paid to ignore it, anyhow.”

“And you know all this how?” He studied me critically. “Via your seeker skills?”

I shook my head. “I had to smash the scanner to get out. The owner and a guard came to investigate. Apparently several people are renting the basement. You and Nuri need to uncover who those people are.”

“As a seeker, you might be better placed to—”

“Sorry,” I cut in, “but my skills lie in fixing old electronics and talking to ghosts, and that’s as far as I’m willing to go.”

For now, at least. What happened if Sal managed the impossible and got me a job was another matter entirely.

“Even if,” Jonas said, “it might make the difference between saving those other kids or not?”

“Even if,” I snapped back. “And that is a dirty card to play, ranger.”

His smile held little in the way of mirth. “But it is nevertheless the truth.”

“You and Nuri have resources I can only guess at. You’re far better placed than a nobody living in an old military bunker to trace who Deseo’s owners might be in contact with, or to place electronic surveillance on the brothel.”

“Not electronic,” he murmured, expression thoughtful as he drank some coffee. “Most businesses in Central do regular sweeps, even those on Twelfth. Information is a valuable commodity and can be bought and sold for vast sums.”

And a brothel would be a perfect place to garner such information—especially for someone with seeker or reader skills. Was that how Sal had come to own a brothel on First? “Then how?”

He raised an eyebrow. “By placing someone inside, of course.”

Of course. There was no better way than to garner secrets during the sexual act—it was what we lures had been designed for, after all. “Would that be Ela? The brown-haired shifter in the bar?”

He raised his eyebrows. “For someone who was only in that bar a few minutes, you seem to have done a very thorough sweep of its occupants.”

“I’m a seeker,” I said bluntly, “but in that particular case, anyone with half a brain would have sensed the tension in the air and taken note of who was where in case a fight broke out.”

And now that I was actually thinking about it, that tension had been rather odd. If Nuri had been expecting me, believing I could help her, why had the shifters kept their hands close to their weapons—and even closer once I’d arrived?

“Who were the other people in the bar that day?” I added, “Were they from Central?”

“Yes.” He half shrugged. “They were potential clients, but we got into something of a disagreement just before you arrived. It happens.”

I wondered if the potential clients had anything to do with Penny’s case. I suspected they might, if only because everything seemed to be aligning in an effort to force these people and me together on this investigation.

“And they left after I’d been darted?”

“Yes.”

“Meaning,” I muttered, “they’re probably back in Central telling anyone who’ll listen that there’s a real, live déchet running around. Who cares if its the truth or not?”

“I doubt it,” Jonas said. “Those particular shifters have no desire to get involved with Central’s authorities. If they’re going to do anything, it’ll be investigating the disappearances themselves. Besides, they won’t find you in Chaos, and given Penny never mentioned this place in their presence, it’s unlikely they’d find you even if they did search.”

“I hope you’re right, ranger, because the ghosts and I quite like our current situation.”

“It is certainly more peaceful here than in either Chaos or Central,” he agreed. “Who was that man you met there?”

I raised my eyebrows. “What business is it of yours who I meet?”

“Nothing, except for the fact that you led me on a merry dance almost immediately after meeting him, and yet up until that point showed no awareness of even being followed.”

“Given I wasn’t aware of your presence, it was hardly a deliberate attempt to lose you,” I replied evenly. “We simply used a VTOL.”

“I gathered.” His expression was back to disbelief and anger, but I supposed that wasn’t unexpected given we’d deliberately lost him and we both knew it.

I finished the last of my coffee, then tossed the cup in the nearby recycling slot and rose. “As lovely as this little chat has been, ranger, I need to sleep. You are welcome to claim whatever bench or bunk takes your fancy.”

His eyebrows rose. “You trust me to roam around your sanctuary alone?”

“You are never alone. Not in this place.” I gave him another humorless smile. “The ghosts will tell me if you attempt anything that endangers our home.”

“Warning heeded.” A slight trace of amusement warmed his lips and his eyes. “Enjoy your sleep.”

“And you your investigations.” I hesitated, remembering my conversation with the adult déchet earlier. “But I would avoid the ninth level if you value your life. That is where the bulk of déchet bones lie, and they will not allow a shifter anywhere near them.”

With that, I walked out and headed for the secondary medical center. The soft foam on the mediscan beds was comfortable, and there was no other bedding on this floor, as most of it had once been the training and teaching grounds for pubescent déchet. Some of the ghosts came with me—mostly the younger ones, as well as Bear and Cat. The rest remained to keep an eye on—and gossip about—Jonas.

Once in the medical center, I switched off all the monitors, then climbed into the bed the farthest from the door and closest to the wall. In very little time, I was asleep . . . and, rather annoyingly, dreaming of a shifter with a body of a warrior and fury for a heart rather than the lover I’d only just been reunited with.

•   •   •

Ghostly chattering woke me many hours later. I didn’t immediately move or open my eyes, but simply let the small noises of the place envelop me. Beyond the ghosts’ excited whispers about their adventures following Jonas last night, there was the soft sound of breathing. The ranger, in a nearby bed. His crisp, sharp scent spun around me, reminding me of the evening storms that came after a long, hot summer day. It even had the same sense of darkness and violence lying underneath it. Beyond Jonas, little else seemed to have changed. Silence stretched through the bunker’s corridors, though the air was touched by the stench of the vampire I’d burned last night. Outside our bunker, dawn had stirred across the skies and, if the electricity in the air was anything to go by, it was going to be an unpleasant day.

I opened my eyes and met Jonas’s bright gaze. He’d been watching me sleep, and the thought stirred through me enticingly. “Enjoy your investigations last night, ranger?”

“I did.” His voice was a pleasant rumble, the anger within it briefly absent. “This place is vast.”

“It was.” I swung my feet off the bed and rose. “But much of it is now either unusable, inaccessible, or under concrete.”

“Indeed.” He sat up. “I didn’t find much in the way of bathroom facilities in this place. Where do you shower?”

In the main bunk rooms, that’s where. But given I couldn’t admit I had access to that area, I simply raised an eyebrow and said, “Why? Are in interested in sharing one?”

His gaze slipped down my body and a smile briefly teased his lips. “Not when you wear that form. Your true self is much more pleasant.”

“Pleasant” was such a nonword when it came to compliments. “How do you know the form you saw was my real one, and not this?”

“It’s something of a talent.” He shrugged. “What are your plans today?”

“Why are you asking?”

His smile lost its humor, and the warmth fled his bright eyes. “Because if you plan to go back to Carleen and investigate those other rifts, I very much intend to go with you.”

Rather than respond to that declaration, I headed out of the room and walked back down the hall to the kitchen. Jonas followed, not willing to let me out of his sight, not even for a moment, it seemed. After ordering two coffees and several protein bars, I turned and said, “And if I don’t?”

He shrugged. “Then I will wait until you do.”

“Again, I have to ask, why?”

“Because that is what I have been ordered to do.”

My eyebrows rose. “And do you always do what you’re told?”

“It depends on the order.” His gaze was heated, angry. Determined. “But in this case, my niece is involved. And I will do everything in my power to bring down those who are responsible for the change in her.”

And heaven help anyone who got in his way, obviously. “What about the information I gave you on the rift in Deseo’s basement?”

“Nuri has been informed, and will act on the information today.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How? Communication devices don’t work down here.”

“We don’t need them.”

Meaning I was right—he and Nuri could share thoughts. The dispensing unit dinged a reminder. I handed Jonas both a coffee and protein bar, then picked up mine. “I guess we’d better get moving, then.”

Surprise briefly touched his otherwise set expression. “This early?”

“The earlier the better, as there’s not so many people about to catch me coming out of the bunker.” I headed for the tunnel that would take us down to the seventh level and the South Siding exit. “Besides, I have plans to meet a friend tonight.”

I could feel his gaze on me—a quicksilver caress that sent goose bumps flitting across my skin. And they weren’t the result of fear or cold. Far from it. “Do these plans involve the same man you met last night?”

“That, ranger, is none of your business.” I glanced over my shoulder. “And no, you cannot come with me, nor do I want you following me. In this case, three is most definitely a crowd.”

One dark eyebrow rose. “Never fear, I’m not into voyeurism.”

Maybe, I thought, and maybe not. Because if he gained even the slightest inkling that my meeting with Sal was anything other than pleasure, then watch he would.

“What about the vampires?” he added as we moved through the sixth-floor cross-link. “How do you intend to dispose of their bodies? Burning them under lights will make this place rather odorous.”

I shrugged. “I can’t risk dragging them out into the sunlight, as the smoke might attract unwanted attention. I’ll just have to hope the ventilation system will have taken the worst of their smell from the air by the time I get back.”

By the time we’d reached the pile of vampires—which were still smoldering thanks to the closeness of their carcasses to the wash of light—I’d finished my coffee. I placed the cup near the wall to recycle later, shoved the protein bar in my pocket, then determinedly walked to the pile of dead and began tossing them into the middle of the room. Jonas joined me and, in a very short time, the vampires were little more than disintegrating ash. But the smell of burned flesh was sharp and rank, and my stomach churned. Thank Rhea I was going out for the day.

I walked over to the room’s control panel and set the lights to come on automatically with dusk. Then I ordered the ghosts to stay within its protection and not to approach the vampires should they attack again tonight. They were more than happy to comply.

With Cat and Bear dancing in front of me, I headed down the tunnel to the South Siding exit.

“Why do all the ghosts not come with you?” Jonas asked. “I would have thought they’d enjoy the break from the monotony of this place.”

I shrugged. “Cat and Bear were closest . . .” I stopped abruptly. To me when they gassed this place and we all died, I’d almost said. I really did have to watch myself.

“Closest to what?” Jonas asked.

Though he was behind me, I could feel the weight of his gaze. Feel the force of thoughts as he tried to read my mind and pry free my secrets. But lures could not be read by anyone other than the strongest seekers—and there were few enough of those around.

“Closest to training age, from what they said. I guess it’s natural for them to be more adventurous.”

“But you said there are adult déchet in this place. Why would they be restrained?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not like they talk to me all too often. It’s usually just me and the children.”

We reached the South Siding exit. The day was, as I’d sensed, crisp and cool, and overhead thunder rumbled ominously.

“Sounds like rain isn’t very far off.” His gaze swept the rubbish and ash-strewn dirt beyond the grate. “You might want to grab yourself a coat.”

I might, but it involved going back to the restricted floors, and that still wasn’t going to happen when he was near. “With the look of those skies, any coat I have will be next to useless inside of five minutes.”

I opened the grate, then reset the lock code. I had no idea how the vampires got the grate open last night—or why they even needed to, given all they had to do was shadow to get in—but it wasn’t going to happen again if I could help it. Once Jonas was out, I hit the lock switch, ensured the grate did come down, then guided the ranger around to the left, away from the rail yards.

“Why are we taking the long way around?” he asked as we walked up the hill to the back of the museum buildings.

“Because it’s a good way of avoiding the guards and any chance of being questioned.” I glanced at him. His skin was a warm, sun-kissed gold, even in the cool light of a storm-clad day. “I don’t know about you, but I generally prefer to avoid the interest of officialdom.”

“A point I totally agree with, so lead on.”

We made good time around the museum and across the park, and in little more than an hour were approaching our goal. Rain splattered down, big fat drops that sizzled as they hit the broken road surface that divided this part of Carleen from the park. The battered curtain wall opposite us was covered in moss and vines, and there was nothing unusual to be seen—nothing other than the pressing darkness that was now forever a part of this place. And yet . . . energy crawled across my skin. An unnatural energy.

“There’s a rift near here.” Jonas’s voice was heavy as he gazed thoughtfully to the left. “It’s on the move.”

I frowned. “How do you know that?”

His gaze came to mine and, just for an instant, the darkness I’d seen glimmering in both Penny’s and Nuri’s eyes shone in his. “I’m sensitive to them. It moves toward us, so if this false rift of yours is near here, we had better investigate it quickly.”

I hesitated, my gaze scanning the wall again, wondering if the energy I felt was the approaching rift, the false one, or something else altogether. I couldn’t tell, and that worried me.

At least I still had my guns and knives—not that they’d do much good against the force of either rift.

“Tiger?” Jonas prompted. “We need to move. Now.”

I forced reluctant feet forward. The rain hit my body, slithering down my neck and plastering the thin shirt to my body, but it wasn’t the cause of the chill that was growing in the pit of my stomach. The closer I got to the false rift, the more that chill grew. My two little ghosts crowded close, their energy bright sparks that shivered and danced across my skin.

I leapt onto the broken wall and paused to get my bearings. We were farther north than where I’d entered yesterday, but, after a moment, I saw the gnarled giant tree covered in moss and swept my gaze left. The hill wasn’t too far away . . . neither was that crater, and its heavy darkness.

I jumped down and led the way through the tangled mess of destruction and regrowth. But the farther we got up that hill, the more the darkness stung my skin, until it felt as if my whole body burned with its presence. Something was different. Something had happened between yesterday and today. I looked around, suddenly aware of the ghosts who watched, and stopped.

“Is there a problem?” Jonas asked immediately, one hand on his weapon.

“That’s what I’m about to find out. Keep an eye on that rift.” I found somewhere safe to perch, then held out a hand, palm up. “Cat?”

She settled on my hand, then seeped down into my body. The creep of death immediately began to assault my limbs, faster and sharper than before. Doing this two days in a row was dangerous, but it wasn’t like I had many other choices. The tall ghost I’d spoken to yesterday stepped forward.

“The gray creature was here last night,” he said. “He moved one of the rifts.”

“The real ones, or the false ones?”

“False. The one that was in the crater you went down yesterday now stains our resting place.”

Why would he move a rift? Was it a result of my using it yesterday, or the subsequent destruction of the security panel? Either way, it just might mean they would be keeping a closer eye on their devices. “Is this the first time they’ve moved the rifts?”

“Since they made them, yes.”

“‘They’?” I frowned. “There’s more than one?”

“There are three,” he replied, anger in his expression. “Two men, one woman. You must stop them. That rift cannot be allowed to remain where it is. It stains our bones and ashes with its malevolence.”

“I’ll do what I can.” I paused. “Can you give me a description? Were they all wraiths?”

“Wraiths?” he said, frowning.

“The gray beings with few features.”

“Yes. Though two wore clothes of this world, and one wore pants similar to what you have on.”

While that last bit matched what Penny had already said, it was odd for wraiths to be wearing clothes at all.

“Thanks again for your help.”

He bowed. “My name is Blaine.”

“Thanks, Blaine.” Then I added silently, Cat, time to leave. Her energy seeped from me and the world spun, thick and dark and cold. A hand gripped me, holding me steady.

I drew in a shuddering breath; my hands and feet were heavy with the chill of death, and its frost lingered far too close to my lungs.

“Thanks,” I said after a moment.

“What in hell just happened?” Jonas said. The warmth of his grip seeped into my body, flushing the chill from my skin.

“I was talking to the ghosts.”

“Which ghosts?” His gaze briefly skated the immediate area, then came back to mine. “Carleen or yours?”

“Carleen.” I gently pulled my arm free, though the heat of his touch lingered, continuing to warm me. “They said the wraiths were here last night, and that they moved the false rift I went through yesterday.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Meaning they’re likely aware someone used it.”

“Or—given I destroyed the security panel in the brothel’s basement—they’re simply being cautious.” My gaze swept the shadows that inhabited this place. “The ghosts also said there were three of them.”

“Three wraiths?”

I nodded. “And all of them wearing clothes.”

“Odd behavior for wraiths.” He frowned. “It’s not as if clothes would hide what they were.”

“No.” I took a deep, steadying breath, then waved a hand. “This way.”

We walked across to the crater that contained the second of the false rifts, but stopped on its rim. The blackness within it crawled across my senses; it was a thick, gelatinous evil that stole my breath and made me want to run. The very last thing I wanted to do was go into that darkness, but there was no other way to discover where this rift might lead.

“The false rift lies at the bottom of this crater, below the shadows.”

“What shadows?”

My gaze shot to Jonas. “What do you mean, ‘what shadows?’” I waved a hand toward the blanket of darkness that lay only inches away from my fingertips. “I mean that.”

He glanced down at the crater, then his gaze came to mine again, his expression curious. “I see nothing. Nothing beyond a weather-torn bomb crater and a sea of white bones.”

“But . . .” I hesitated, glancing at the thick shadows, seeing nothing beyond it. Feeling nothing beyond it. “You really can’t see it?”

“I can’t see whatever it is you see, obviously.” He considered me for a moment, then moved forward, down into the crater. Within three steps he’d disappeared. The ghosts stirred around me anxiously.

“What about now?” he said. “Can you see me, or is there nothing more than shadow?”

The timbre of his voice hadn’t changed. There was nothing of the stress, or the sheer, depressive weight of the darkness that made every step a struggle, in his words.

“Nothing but shadow.”

“Odd. Wait there, and I’ll investigate the base of this crater to see if there’s anything more than old bones.”

“The owners of those bones are watching, so be respectful.”

“As much as I can be. Tell them I mean no disrespect.”

“You just did.”

“Oh.” His voice was farther away. I waited, tension gnawing at my belly, wondering what was going on, why he couldn’t see the darkness, and why it wasn’t reacting to him.

“Okay,” he said a few minutes later. “I’ve reached the bottom. There’s nothing here but the dead. There’s certainly nothing that resembles a false rift.”

“I’m coming down.” I hesitated, glancing at my ghosts. Wait here.

Concern whipped around me, but when I stepped toward the inky soup, they didn’t follow. In three strides I was within it. It folded around me, thick and heavy, a weight so fierce every step was a battle. Only determination kept me moving forward.

“Tiger?” Jonas said. His voice seemed to be coming from a long way away. “You still there?”

I stopped and tried not to breathe too deeply or too fast. The last thing I wanted was to draw in any more of the thick air than necessary. “Yes. Why?”

“You took three steps into the crater and disappeared. There’s something very strange happening here.”

“Obviously. I’ll meet you back at the rim.”

I retreated. Leaving was a hell of a lot easier. Cat and Bear zipped around me, happy to have me back so soon, then settled near my shoulder, their energy caressing me as I sat on my haunches and waited for Jonas to return.

He appeared out of the gloom like a ghost becoming solid. His gaze ran past me, his green eyes narrowing as he studied some point to the left. “The rift is but a few minutes away. It has slowed but not yet stopped.”

“Why is it you can sense the real rift and not the false one?”

His gaze came back to mine, his expression thoughtful. “I do not know. But we need to decide what we’re going to do soon if we do not want to be caught in the true rift’s mesh.”

“There’s only one thing we can do.” I waved a hand at the inky blanket. “You can’t see what I see, and I’d wager that means you won’t be able to use it, either.”

“Why don’t we test that theory out?” He held out a hand.

I hesitated, then placed my hand in his. His warm fingers enclosed mine as he turned and tugged me forward. Only this time, there was no darkness, no weight, nothing but the eroded walls of the old crater and the bleached, white remnants of the dead at its base.

“There is definitely magic of some kind at work here,” I muttered, “because when I’m holding your hand, I can’t see anything but what is physically here.”

“One more test, then.” He released my hand. Instantly, the darkness descended and the light disappeared. I swore softly, but a heartbeat later, Jonas caught my fingers and once again the shadows fled.

“Whatever magic it is,” he said, expression grim as he tugged me back toward the rim, “it appears you can both see it and react to it, but I cannot—even when we touch.”

“Unfortunately, as I said earlier, that also means you’re unlikely to be able to use the false rift that undoubtedly lies at the base of this place.”

“Yes.” Frustration fairly sizzled through that one short word. His gaze met mine. “What do you intend to do?”

“Go down there, of course. We need to find where the other children are, and this might just take us—or me—to them.”

His smile was grim. “I do not think it’ll be that easy.”

Neither did I, but that didn’t stop me hoping. “It might be worth getting Nuri down here. She may be able to unravel the threads of magic within this crater, or at least tell us where it might have originated from—here, or from the other side of the rifts.”

He nodded and cast another glance over his shoulder. “We’re out of time. The rift will be here in two minutes. I cannot stay. I will wait for you by the grate tomorrow morning.” He paused, his expression hinting at anger again. “It would be advisable to let me in if you do not wish me to create a ruckus and draw unwanted attention to your retreat.”

“Don’t be early,” I warned. “I’m meeting a friend tonight, remember.”

“I remember.” He took a step away, then paused again, meeting my gaze as he added, “Be wary.”

“I will.”

He walked away. I watched him for several seconds, admiring his lean outline and purposeful strides, then said softly, “Bear, Cat, follow him. Let me know everything he does, but make sure you get home by dusk.” The other little ones would worry, otherwise, especially after last night’s attack.

Their excitement kissed the air as they spun off after Jonas. I took another of those deep breaths that did little to calm the fear deep inside, then reached once more for the shifting magic. I had a bad feeling I’d need all the strength I could get; holding a form that wasn’t mine was little more than a waste. At least until I knew what waited for me beyond the darkness of this rift.

The magic rose like a storm. I held my own image steady in my mind as my skin rippled, bones restructured, hair shortened and changed color. It still hurt, still burned. It always did, no matter how often I’d done it in the past. I gritted my teeth against the scream and did my best to ignore the sweat pouring down my altering flesh.

Then, finally, when the magic faded and I was once more as I was made, I stepped into the darkness. It felt ten times worse than it had only moments before. It was almost as if the magic sensed that this time, I intended to go all the way through it. It seemed heavier, more gelatinous; its thick strands resisted every step forward before they snapped, their fractured ends tearing at my flesh as they fell away. I have no idea how long it actually took to get through the barrier, but it seemed like forever. Even when I finally came to the base of the crater and broke free from the darkness, my sense of time and daylight was still scrambled. Whatever the magic was, it was playing merry havoc with that instinctive part of me.

For several minutes I did nothing more than stand there, sucking in air and waiting for the weakness in my limbs to retreat. The dark energy behind me crawled across my spine, but it was the energy in front of me that was sharper, more dangerous.

There was, as I’d suspected, another false rift here, and it was bigger than the one I’d gone through the previous day. It spun slowly on its axis, shimmering in the shadows, its surface regularly crisscrossed with jagged spears of lightning. The energy of them slashed the air and littered my skin with angry-looking welts. The cost of traveling through this rift was going to be far higher than yesterday’s, but if I wanted answers, then I had to go in.

I drew my gun, flicked off the safety, and strode forward. The jagged lightning peeled away from the surface of the slowly rotating sphere and struck at me, drawing blood as it wrapped itself around my arms and my legs, first capturing me and then dragging me toward the sphere. Dust spun around me, thick and foul and filled with bone and jagged metal pieces—the remnants of the people and the buildings that had once stood here, no doubt. As the sphere encased me, its energy burned around me, touching every part of me before it slowly, carefully, tore me apart, atom by atom. It was agony itself, and if I could have screamed, I would have. There was no sense of movement this time, just blackness in which there was no light, no sound, no sense of life. Just pain and the feeling that my particles were being stretched to the breaking point. Then, piece by piece, the energy put me back together, the lightning holding me died, and I was ejected into darkness.

I stumbled for several steps, then, as my legs gave way, fell full-length onto a surface that was hard, gritty, and cold. And that’s where I stayed, panting, groaning, my body on fire and the scent of blood thick in the icy air. I don’t know how long I remained there, desperately trying to ease the inferno of pain sweeping through me, before I heard it.

A whisper of sound.

A footstep.

My breath caught in my throat and my fingers clenched around my gun. The thick darkness was again still, silent. But it was not without scent, and that scent was old and rank.

And filled with vampires.