“Dare I ask?”
Ruby looked at Asil. “Everyone asks why we’re here hunting ghosts in the daylight.”
“Daylight doesn’t affect ghosts,” said Asil, sounding taken aback. “The dark just makes it easier to scare people.”
“And trip downstairs,” agreed Max heartily as Alan folded the bills he’d collected with great ceremony and put them in his wallet.
“Ah,” said Asil. “That sounds painful indeed.”
And over the next half hour Ruby watched from the sidelines as her Internet date charmed his way effortlessly into her team’s good graces. Even Peg—who generally had no liking for any member of the opposite sex—opened up to him shyly as they bonded over a dislike of Max’s favorite coffee brand.
He was gentle with her friends—and she finally admitted she was glad Miranda had talked her into this date. But there was no way she would ever let this sweet and beautiful man meet her nemesis.
She shivered and worried at the steady burn on her wrist.
Asil could have been of help fixing the camera—modern gadgetry was one of his many talents—but his prey was not the ghosts who lived in this house.
He gave half a thought to his still-damp pants, which would doubtless pick up every speck of dirt on the ballroom floor. Ah, well. He sat down beside Alan and started with a plug and began to work backward in the tangle, moving as quickly and efficiently as he could without tearing the cord in half. Apparently they all needed to be separated and then strung throughout the house—and Asil had decided that was how he was going to get Alan alone.
“There are better ways to store extension cords,” Asil observed to Alan in the nonthreatening voice he’d been using since he’d entered the ballroom.
“Dusty likes to tangle them,” Alan explained. “Or so I’m told. I’ve actually never seen him—caught a whiff now and then. But my wife says he tangles the cords, so I believe he tangles the cords.”
“And thus you stay married,” murmured Asil.
He knew his voice was light and his body language was neutral, but Alan angled his head to expose his throat without even being aware he was doing it.
Watching the geas work on Ruby and getting an inkling of how she’d been living since she’d... escaped? The situation had that feel—of an interrupted hunt with wounded prey. Then meeting Ruby’s team—her collection of broken people—had just about been the cherry on top of his gathering rage. And Alan had sensed the edge of Asil’s anger.
It was a good thing Asil’s wolf had decided to revert to the partner he’d not been for the last few hundred years. If he were still dealing with the rabid fiend, even his amazing control might be strained.
Ruby had gathered together a band of misfits and given them a mission, an odd mission of rescuing miserable spirits. Still, no one who spoke to any of them for longer than half a minute could doubt their dedication. Caring for others, even if those others were dead, when they could hardly care for themselves—it touched Asil’s heart.
Peg was a white witch who used up all of her meager power feeding the shadow of her brother. Terry was a white witch too, and he had less than half the power of even Peg. Normally he did not like witches, but not even his wolf could find anything threatening about those two. Max had some sort of lesser fae somewhere in the family tree. With Ruby’s power straightjacketed, the lot of them had about enough magic to light a witch lantern.
Allah in His infinite wisdom knew that a little magic was so much worse than no magic. There were dozens of types of creatures out hunting for victims with just a little magic.
He no longer wondered why Alan had been the one waiting for him on the porch with Ruby. In this group, the submissivewerewolf had been the most powerful guardian they owned. Without Alan, this lot were bait looking for a big bad shark to eat them.
“You are going to help,” said Alan, very softly. If Asil had not been sitting next to him, he would not have heard him.
“I am,” Asil said. He had two of the cords untangled—and reached for the next to see that the rest of them lay in neat bundles. He stilled for a moment, unhappy to have had such a thing happen without his notice.
He looked into the face of the shadowy boy and said, “Thank you.”
You are going to help, the boy said, though his still mouth never moved.
To that spirit, Asil said, “Inshallah.”
“And that’s not weird,” muttered Alan, staring at the tidy cords.
Asil stood up and gathered cords. “Come, my friend. You and I can lay these while the others work on that poor camera, no?”
For all that it was gently said, Alan heard the demand in it. He nodded, grabbed the two cords Asil had not, and followed him out of the door and down the stairs.
“I don’t actually know where these cords go,” Alan said.
“It does not matter,” Asil said. They were far enough away from the ballroom that their voices would not carry if they were quiet. “We need to talk and this is an excuse. You need to tell me what Ruby’s troubles are.”
