Darkness Unmasked

“Tell her she’s a spoilsport.”



“Oh, I have, trust me.”



Grinning, I walked across to the dining table to transfer the search results from the computer to my phone, then walked into my bedroom to grab a coat and my purse.



Once I’d finished my sandwich, I stood in the middle of my room and said, “So, are you going to make an appearance, or is this snit going to continue?”



“As Ilianna has already noted,” he said, voice even, “I am never very far away.”



I swung around. He stood several feet away from me, his arms crossed and his expression back to its usual noncommittal self. “Then why couldn’t I sense you?”



“Because I didn’t allow it.”



I frowned. “If you’ve always had the ability to stop me from sensing you, why haven’t you?”



“Because I haven’t always been able to.”



I blinked. Definitely not the answer I’d been expecting. “Then why have you suddenly gained the ability?”



“For the same reason you are catching more of my thoughts and emotions than I might otherwise wish. The closer our link becomes, the more it opens some . . . abilities and closes down others.”



“Meaning it’s a two-way street?”



“Possibly.”



Meaning yes. I briefly wondered just what it meant for me other than more insight into his thoughts and feelings, but I knew him well enough by now to know he was never going to tell me that sort of information. “And you can’t stop it from happening?”



“No.” He regarded me steadily for a moment. “We are going in search of the next key?”



“Yes. As scary as Hunter is, she has nothing on the Raziq. If I don’t start actively trying to find the keys, they just might stop threatening and start doing.”



And Tao and Ilianna would be their first targets; of that I had no doubt.



A chill ran through me, although I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was the thought of my friends coming under attack from the Raziq, or a premonition of trouble of another kind headed their way. Fast.



“How do you wish to travel to Ballarat?”



I hesitated, very tempted to ride the Ducati there and tell him where to shove it until he got over the moodiness, but I really didn’t have the luxury of time. Not if that premonition was to be believed.



“You can take me, if you’d like.”



Amusement briefly touched his lips, and there was something close to mischief shining in the blue of his eyes. “Oh, I would like.”



I raised an eyebrow. “If I didn’t know you better, reaper, I’d think not only was that a double entendre, but you were flirting.”



“Reapers don’t flirt.” He stepped close and wrapped an arm around my waist. His body was warm against mine, his touch tender and yet oddly possessive. “It is merely a truth I cannot deny.”



I rose up on my toes and said, my lips so close to his that I could almost taste him, “So you’re saying that you want me?”



“From the very first moment that I saw you,” he murmured; then his lips met mine and he kissed me fiercely and very thoroughly as his energy rose and swept us through the gray fields to the chill of Ballarat. Not that I actually felt, in any way, cold. Such a thing wasn’t possible when Azriel’s arms were still around me.



“God, get a room, will you?” a woman muttered as she walked past us.



I laughed softly and stepped back. His hand slipped from my waist, and my hormones mourned the loss. “Where are we?”



“At the Aboriginal Culture Centre.”



I turned around. The building was modern in style, all concrete and glass, and painted in colors that reminded me of the outback—reds, gold, pinks, and browns. I frowned. “This really doesn’t look like a museum.”



“That is something we cannot be sure of until we go inside.”



“True.” I half shrugged and headed for the entrance, paying the fee for both of us but refusing the guided tour. It was interesting to look around, but there was nothing in this place for us.



“Well,” I said, once we were back out. “That was a waste of time.”



“At least there is one less option on the list.” He pressed warm fingers against my spine, gently guiding me away from the cultural center. “What do you wish to do now?”



I pulled out my phone and glanced at my list. “Let’s try the Aviation Museum. That’s probably the next least likely.”



“Done.” He wrapped his arms around my waist again and took us there. The museum, it turned out, was a big tin shed.



“It is also not open,” he commented



It certainly looked that way. The huge sliding doors that ran almost the entire length of the building were closed, and the tarmac forecourt was empty. I grabbed my phone, brought up the files I’d transferred, and checked the opening time. “What sort of museum is open only on weekends and public holidays?”



“This one, obviously.”



There was amusement in his voice. I smiled and lightly nudged him with my elbow. “That was a rhetorical question, not one that wanted an answer.”



I scanned the outside of the building. Though I couldn’t see any physical guards, there were plenty of cameras on the outside and no doubt plenty of security measures on the inside. “I might just take Aedh form and have a quick look around.”



“If the second key is in there, you will not sense it in Aedh form.”



“I know, but at least we’ll know if the place has any sort of military weapons on display.”



“Presuming it is a military dagger.”



“Yeah.” Given the cryptic nature of the clues, who actually knew?



I called to the Aedh, and she swept through me in an instant. In energy form, I made my way through the fence, across the tarmac, and through the small gap underneath the massive doors. The shed was huge and filled to the brim with all sorts of old-looking airplanes—some single wing, some double wing, some with propellers and others without. I didn’t know much about planes overall, but I had a feeling this collection was pretty impressive. There were also engines, various machine parts, and tools. But nothing that resembled an actual dagger. I turned around and headed out.



“Nothing?” Azriel said, as I became flesh again.



“Not as far as I can tell.” I rubbed my arms against the chill in the air. “I guess we should try the Eureka Centre next. If the dagger isn’t there, then we’re left with Sovereign Hill being the most likely location.”



“And yet you do not think it is there.”



“No, but I’ve been known to be wrong before.”



“I think it best I not say anything about that particular point.”



I grinned and wrapped my arms loosely around his neck. “Wise man.”



He smiled as his hand came around my waist again, but he didn’t say anything, just swept us across to the Eureka Centre. Which was also closed—for renovations, this time.



“Well, shit,” I said, staring at the sign on the door.



“Which leaves us with Sovereign Hill, I believe.”



“And that’s too big to check right now.” I briefly glanced at my watch. “We’ve got only an hour and a half before we have to be at Hallowed Ground.”



“Then what do you wish to do?”



I hesitated and stared up at the huge blue flag with its famous five eight-point stars that formed a cross in the middle of it. Though it was now a symbol of democracy and protest, it had originally been designed as a flag of war, and it was that symbol that spoke to me now. In very many ways I was in the middle of a war myself and, like the men who had fought under her on this very hill, my war was one I suspected could not be won. Not by me, anyway.



I pushed the rather gloomy thought away and swung around to look at Ballarat. “I don’t know. Maybe we should wander down to the Visitors Center, on the off chance there’s something the search missed.”



“You wish to walk?”



I hesitated, then nodded and headed down the hill. He fell in step beside me, his arm brushing against mine and sending little slithers of desire skittering through me. It was, I thought with amusement, an almost normal moment in a life that had become insane.



With a little help from Google Maps, we found the Visitors Center and headed inside. It was, as was usual with these sorts of places, filled to the brim with information and souvenirs as well as local food and clothing. The thick jackets, I noted with amusement, seemed to be particularly popular today.



I walked across to the wall of information about local events, and almost immediately a brochure caught my eye. I picked it up and showed Azriel. “Well, looky here—an Arms and Militaria Exhibition.”



“That is the one place we are certain to find military daggers. Whether it is the right place is another question.”



“And one we won’t answer until we go see it.” I flicked the brochure around. “It doesn’t open until tomorrow and runs until Sunday. At least that gives us plenty of time to check it out.”



He nodded. “And plenty of time for your father to come up with a way of keeping the sorcerer and the Raziq out.”



“Yeah.” I tucked the brochure into my pocket and glanced at the time. “I guess we can head to Hallowed Ground. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll start her set early.”



“Luck has not been particularly favorable to us as yet,” Azriel commented, as he caught my hand and drew me closer. There was something in the way he looked at me that had my pulse racing. “And I can think of other, more pleasurable ways to fill in our time.”



A smile teased my lips. “Can you, now? And what about the snit you were in not so long ago?”



“Would you rather talk yet again about the reasons for the snit?” he said, voice soft as he slid an arm around my waist. “Or perhaps explore the possibilities of a rather quaint human expression that goes something along the lines of makeup sex being the best kind?”