With a soft stirring of the air, my whisper appears across the table.
Oh, God.
I’ve never been so relieved to see her and know she’s okay. Gabriel inclines his head, and she responds in kind.
“I do not believe she will steer you wrong,deliciae.”He strokes his hand up and down my back. Some of the tension I’ve carried since walking in here fades away.
“Uh, Willow?” Zoe asks. “What’s going on?”
“My whisper is here. Gabriel can see her. You can’t?” I gesture across the table, but Zoe and Sin shake their heads.
Sinclair frowns. “The Bureau is heavily warded.Appearingin the middle of one of the conference rooms should not be possible.”
“Oh, really?” Gabriel scoffs. “Must I remind you how I first met Zoe?”
“You’re a fucking archangel. The rules simply do not apply to you. Nor do you care about them.” The tension in Sin’s voice sends a shiver down my spine. “But that is a discussion for another time. What does thiswhisperwant?”
She glides over to me, her shimmering eyes never leaving my face. A light brush of her hand sends warmth racing up my arm.
“I think…she wants me to trust you.” Her nod is the last bit of encouragement I need. I’ve cursed her more than once. Wished she’d disappear and never come back. Wondered what terrible thing I’d done in the past to be burdened by this power.
But in this moment, Iknowshe’s on my side. I needed her, and she came.
I sit up a little straighter and face the screen. “There’s a lot I don’t know. But the Blade of Liminal Transference can siphon anOther’spower and…well…transfer it to someone else. I’m the only one alive who can wield it. The device Gabriel cut out of me last night? That belongs to an organization called AURA – the Agency for Uncovering Rare Anomalies. They’re supposedly part of the NSA, but that could be a lie for all I know. The two in charge—Isaac and Hannah—won’t stop until they have me again. Unless I can find a way to destroy the Blade, they’ll use it—and me—until they have the entireOthercommunity in their thrall.”
Gabriel
It’s well after noon now, and Willow is still talking. Every time she mentions Hannah—and how the woman influenced her every decision—I wish I had done much more than throw the fae across the room.
She used hertalentson a woman with no knowledge of the Other world. She cut her off from her friends, her coworkers, her very life. Then convinced Willow it would be best if AURA implanted atorture deviceinto her body.
“Fuck!” Sinclair growls. The demon stalks over to one of the workstations built into the conference table. Each keystroke is louder and harder than the last. “I had Kunchin run a GHOST search for Willow’s name.”
“A GHOST search?” she asks.
Zoe leans closer. “Global Habitant Optical Scanning and Tracking. Basically, it’s our version of facial recognition.”
“And you called it GHOST.” Willow shakes her head. “This day—thisworld—keeps getting stranger every minute.”
“Well, we are at B.O.O.,” Zoe says with a little smile. “But I promise you, the system itself is very real and very effective. Sin? What did you find?”
The demon mutters an oath under his breath. “This was filed five days ago.”
The center screen flickers to life, and I reach for Willow’s hand. “Is that…herdeath certificate?”
Her horror slams into me—a physical force that almost knocks me out of my chair. With every hour—every touch—our connection grows, and I fear what will happen when my heart is no longer mine, but hers. Completely.
“Yes. It’s fake,” Sin adds. “Not even a good one. Sloppy.”
Time of Death: 12:30 a.m.
Cause of death: Blunt force trauma to the head
Location: Fisherman’s Wharf
“Why would they do this?” Willow’s voice cracks. She stifles a sob. I wrap my arm around her and pull her closer.
“You said you’d taken a leave of absence from your job,” Zoe says. “But you didn’t officially move out of your apartment. And, presumably, you have friends?”
