“This,” Ebel said as he rubbed his finger across hisnecklace’s pendant, “allows me to tap into the power of the gem I know is inyour possession.”
He looked at Jedda, Manda, and Reina in turn, his icygaze sending a tingle of dread skittering up Jedda’s spine.He’d caught them inthe house they’d shared, a sprawling seventeenth century French manor that hadbelonged to their deceased parents.
“Where is it?Where are all three of them?”He movedtoward Manda as she cowered in the corner, his booted foot coming down in thepuddles of blood and gems spilled all over the floor.“I sense mine.You reekof it.I want it back.”
“She can’t give it to you!”Reina screamed.“It’simpossible.”
He grinned, and around his neck, the amethyst charmglowed.Suddenly, his hand flew out, and a gash, larger than the others he’dinflicted, split Manda’s skin from her shoulder to her elbow.She shrieked inpain as blood streamed down her arm and pooled on the floor.Gems formed in theblood, some no larger than akaratin size, whileothers, like the duck-egg sized enchanted lapis they’d stolen from a vampire acouple of decades before were more impressive.
Which was bad.The larger the stones that formed outsideher body, the more damage was being done to the inside of her body.
“Do you want to understand the full power of the gems?”he asked silkily, and no, Jedda really did not.She and her sisters had eachclaimed a stone and absorbed its considerable energy.That energy had giventhem abilities they hadn’t possessed before, but they’d been aware that thepower of the gems wouldn’t be fully unlocked without their mates, and now itlooked like they were going to find out how powerful those things were.
Screams blasted through Jedda’s brain, screams that belongedto her sisters, herself...no, wait...
She blinked, realizing she’d been lost in the past, whenright here in the present people were screaming from beyond the door.Shrikewas grinning.
“More sacrifices,” he purred, the ecstasy in his voicealmost as disturbing as what was happening in the other room.“Lothar isdemanding.And with every scream, his will is seeping into you.”
Horror left her struggling to breathe.“What...what do youmean?”
“I mean that every day that passes without you bringing mewhat I desire,more and moremisery will wrack yourbody and life.Don’t worry, it won’t kill you.But before the month is out,you’ll wish it would.”
Razr tossed the book onto the pile on the table and spunaround.
“You sick fuck.”He twisted the ring on his finger as iftrying to find something to do with his hands that wouldn’t involve stranglingthe bastard sitting across from them.
Jedda voted for the strangling.
Shrike’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead.“You’re a fallenfucking angel.”He sneered.“An Unfallen, I suspect, but you still fucked upenough to get kicked out of Heaven.So don’t tell me you’ve never killedanyone.”
Razr’s voice went low and ominous, and the hair on Jedda’sneck stood up.“As an angel I killed thousands of fiends like you.Some of themeven deserved it.”
“So will Jedda,” Shrike said, “if she doesn’t bring me whatI want.”He speared her with a look that promised agony on a grand scale.“Andyou will update me daily on your progress, or I’ll send my men to deal withyou.”
Son of a bitch.This was why she was in businessfor herself.Whyshe refusedto work for anyone excepton her own terms.She didn’t like being controlled or tied to anyone, and whatShrike was doing both tied her to him and controlled her choices for the nextmonth, at the very least.
Fury scorched her throat with every word.“Soyou brought me here under false pretenses in order toforce me to do your bidding?”
“This wasn’t entirely a ruse.”Shrike steepled his hands onhis desk, his countenance so laid back that she got the impression he fuckedpeople over a lot.And got off on it.“I do sponsor a legitimate annual sorceryconference.You can Google it.”
She had, which was why she’d felt comfortable attending.“I’m so going to destroy you on Yelp,” she snapped.
Razr laughed, but it abruptly cut off as he glanced down atthe back of his hand, where the raised outline of what looked like a wing wasglowing with an eerie crimson light.Had it been there earlier?She didn’tthink so.
“Well, well,” Shrike murmured.“AnAzdaiglyph.”
Razr’s gaze snapped up to meet Shrike’s.“What do you knowaboutAzdaiglyphs?”
“I know more than I should.”Shrike’s expression softened,even as his voice grew bitter, leaving Jedda more confused than ever.
“I need to go.”Razr made a “come with” gesture to Jedda andstarted toward the exit, but Shrike shook his head and the clank of a heavylock sliding into place rattled the door.
“We aren’t finished here.”
Razr wheeled around with a hiss.“If you know anything aboutAzdaiglyphs, you know I have to.”
“I know you need someone to deliver your punishment.”Shrikecame smoothly to his feet.“I’ll do the honors.”He held out his hand.“I oweyou for the right hook and the cracked skull.”
