Darkness Unmasked (DA 5) (21 page)

Given they were black market, I’d imagine very hard, and very expensive. “What’s the range of the thing?”

“Fairly extensive. Why?”

“So if I were to place it in an apartment up on the Gold Coast, you’d be able to pick up its signal?”

“No, but if you were willing to fork out the cost of hiring a buddy of mine, I could get him to pick up the signal and bounce it down to me.”

“Done. Can we pick it up later, after we’ve checked out the storage unit?”

“You can, but I won’t have everything in place by then. And I’m not sure if Fitz will have the necessary relay stuff on hand.”

“Do what you can.”

“I will.”

“Thanks.” I hung up and shoved my plate toward Tao. “You want to finish any of that?”

He snagged the rest of the steak and gave me a thumbs-up. I took the rest out to the kitchen and dumped it in the trash, then grabbed my bag and coat and turned to Azriel. “Let’s go.”

We reappeared in the side parking lot again. The evening air was cold enough for my breath to fog, so I pulled my coat on as I walked toward the entrance.

But I’d barely taken half a dozen steps when the building exploded in a gigantic ball of flame.

Chapter 8

The force of the blast knocked me off my feet and sent me tumbling. I landed in an ungainly heap near the shrubs that lined the parking lot, with bricks, metal, and wood thudding all around me. I didn’t move, just squeezed my eyes shut, threw my hands over my head, and prayed like hell that I wasn’t hit. Then Azriel landed on top of me, knocking out whatever breath I’d had left.

But the minute his body covered mine, the debris stopped falling—not just on us, but around us. And it became quiet. Whisper quiet. I frowned and opened my eyes. We were surrounded by a halo of blue fire.

“What the
hell
?”

“Valdis shields us.” His warm breath tickled my ear. “She formed it the minute the building exploded.”

“Is that why you’re lying on top of me?”

“Yes. It was easier than transporting us both out of here—especially given you would only want to come back.” He hesitated, then added, with a hint of a smile in his voice, “Of course, this way I also get to touch you more fully, and that is not entirely unpleasant.”

I snorted. “You’re beginning to sound like a regular male, and that’s scary.”

“Right now, I feel like a regular male.”

Laughter bubbled through me. “Well, I
was
going to be polite and not mention that bar you have—”

“I meant,” he cut in, the amusement in his voice deeper this time, “that I was feeling protective. You, Risa Jones, have what I believe is called a dirty mind.”

“Hey, I’m
not
the one manning up.”

“
That
is a function of
this
body I have no real control over.” Valdis’s shield flickered and died, but he didn’t immediately move. “Are you all right?”

I opened my mouth to say yes, but the word never came out. With the shield gone, the noise hit, and it was
horrendous
. But the creak and groan of a dying building wasn’t the worst of it. It was the screams of those trapped and injured that were the hardest to take.

“Oh god, Azriel, we have to help—”

“We cannot,” he said, voice firm. “It is too dangerous to go in there just yet.”

I bucked my body, trying to get him off me, but I might as well have tried to shift a brick wall. “Damn it. I can’t just lie here—”

“You can, and you will,” he said. “It is not within your ability to save those people.”

“But it
is
within your ability.”

“No.”

“Azriel—”

“No.”
This time there was an edge of anger in his voice. “I am not here to alter the hand fate has dealt to any of those people inside.”

“Not unless it had something to do with the keys, which this
does
.”

“Only peripherally. I have no justification for interfering in either the life or the death of those within that building.”

“What about Genevieve Sands? She might be connected to both the dark sorcerer
and
the keys, so why can’t you at least go in there to see if she survived?”

“Look at the building, Risa. Do you really think it possible she could be alive?”

I twisted around and my gaze widened. Flames leapt high from either end, but it was the middle of the building—in the area that had held Lauren Macintyre’s storage unit—that had taken the brunt of the explosion. It was
completely
destroyed. There was nothing left but the charred remnants of brick walls and the twisted remains of metal. There is no way in hell anyone in that area could have survived.

“There’s no guarantee she was actually
in
there at the time of the explosion. She might have set it all up and then used the stones to escape.” That was what I would have done if I’d been in her somewhat ugly shoes. “We need to go check the Razans’ place and see if she’s there.”

Azriel’s expression went back to being noncommittal. “You cannot go in Aedh form, as they will sense you.”

I met his gaze. “You could go.”

He hesitated. “I prefer not to leave you—”

“Who’s going to attack me here? The Raziq are waiting for my father’s appearance, Hunter still has use for me, and anyone else I can cope with.”

“Given you do have the unfortunate habit of attracting danger, that is no comfort.”

I smiled. “It’s going to take you a couple of minutes, if that, to check. What trouble could I get into in that amount of time?”

“Plenty, I suspect.” He rose, his movements fluid and graceful, and offered me a hand. “Do not go into that building.”

“I won’t.” Not in human form, anyway.

“Risa—”

“Stop being such a worrywart and go before she escapes us again.”

He did. I brushed the dirt and grit from my hands and clothes as I studied the blackened, broken building. There was little sound coming from the building now—little in the way of human sound, anyway—but the flames were intense, a caress of heat that would burn my skin if I got any closer. But I had to get closer, no matter what Azriel said. Though the approaching wail of the emergency vehicles was barely audible over the fierce burn of the fire, they were little more than a couple of minutes away. If I wanted to check if anything in that locker had survived the blast, I’d better do it now, before officialdom descended and perhaps destroyed whatever evidence still survived.

My gaze went to the front of the building. Fire licked along the roof, but much of the front office still seemed to be standing. Which meant that Maggie, the cheerful receptionist who’d been working there yesterday, might still be alive.

And I couldn’t escape the sudden notion that I needed to check—not only to save her life if that were possible, but for the sake of our mission.

My clairvoyance sure picked the oddest times to kick in.

A good-sized crowd had gathered across the other side of the road, but few of them were looking in my direction. I called to the Aedh and she rushed through me, changing my form in an instant.

Heat and dust whispered through my particles as I moved closer to the building, an unpleasant combination that made me want to scratch even though I had no flesh. I slipped through the ugly hole blown in the side of the building and made my way above the debris that had once been a corridor. The storage units on either side were little more than skeletal remnants, with boxes and god knows what else hanging out of them like the innards of a gutted body.

But the wall between the storage section and the office area was still basically intact, and though it was barely visible through the smoke and flames, hope rose.

The door into the office area hung limply from one hinge, tilted inward by the force of the explosion. Flames licked the doorframe and slipped fiery tentacles along the inside ceiling. I went through, mentally wincing as the flames danced through my energy form. It felt like red-hot fingers were being shoved inside me.

The office itself hadn’t escaped damage, despite the buffer of the standing wall. Furniture was strewn everywhere, paper and glass littered the floor, and the front windows were smashed and were held in place only by the thick mesh grills covering them. The air was a morass of dust, smoke, and heat.

I spun around, searching for any sign of life, but couldn’t immediately see anything. The desk where the receptionist had been sitting had tipped over sideways and was now covered by part of the ceiling. There was no sign of life. But, by the same token, there was no evidence of blood or broken body parts.

Then what sounded like a groan came from under the debris of the desk. I swore mentally and shifted back to flesh. The air was so damn hot that it felt like I’d fallen into an oven set on high, and the thick, heavy smoke swirled around me, stinging my eyes and catching in my throat, making me cough.

“Maggie?” I had to shout to be heard above all the noise. “Where are you?”

No answer came, but after a moment, I heard another groan. It was definitely coming from underneath the desk area.

I began grabbing bits of plaster and rubbish from the pile covering the desk and tossed them to one side. Another explosion ripped through the building, and the walls around me shuddered. I ducked instinctively, scraping my thigh along a jagged piece of wood as dust and bricks fell around me. The remnants of plaster still clinging to the ceiling began to crack alarmingly; it wouldn’t take much to bring the rest of it down.

I swore and drew Amaya.
Don’t cut or burn the woman’s flesh.

Will not,
she replied.

Fire ignited along her blade, the lilac flames bright in the smoky darkness. I used her steel to hack apart the larger chunks of wood, plaster, and metal that lay between me and the receptionist, kicking the smaller bits aside as Amaya’s flames consumed everything else.

From somewhere under the mess came another groan.

“Maggie? Can you hear me?” I shoved Amaya’s tip under a long piece of wood, then thrust it up and back.

There was a pause, then a weak, “Here. Help.”

Something shimmered in the smoky shadows near the door. I tensed, my fingers tightening around Amaya, then realized it was a reaper. She wore the image of an elderly woman and had a kind face and sorrowful blue eyes.

“You can’t have her,” I said fiercely. “She’s not going to die.”

“That is neither your decision nor mine,” the reaper replied softly.

I blinked. None of them had ever talked to me before. None of them except Azriel, anyway.

“That is because you have never spoken directly to any of us before now,” she said, her expression somewhat amused.

“I had no real reason to before now,” I muttered. I grabbed another chunk of wood and threw it away.

A flash of familiar heat across my skin told me Azriel had also appeared. “I thought you weren’t coming in here in flesh form,” he said.

“Yeah, well, you knew it was a lie, so why sound so aggrieved now?” I shoved another piece of wood out of the way. “You could help, you know.”

“I cannot interfere in this one’s life or death, Risa, and you know that.”

“Damn it. I’m
not
asking you to interfere. I’m just asking you to help me remove some of the rubbish on top of her.”

“I cannot.”

“Well, fuck you
both
, then!” I raised Amaya and brought her down hard. Her blade hit the desk and, with a resounding crack, split it in two. As her lilac flames began eating into the wood, I raised a foot and kicked half of the desk with all the force I could muster. It tumbled up and back, revealing the bloody and bruised torso of the young receptionist.

I squatted beside her and gently brushed the hair from her eyes. “Maggie? Can you hear me?”

She nodded, though she didn’t open her eyes, and the movement was so weak it might have been imagination on my part.

My gaze slid down her length. Her hips and legs were trapped under the remains of the desk, and the blood I hadn’t seen earlier was there. Everywhere. I bit my lip, then added, “I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”

Her eyes fluttered open. She blinked, and just for a moment, confusion briefly outshone the pain in her eyes. “You. Changed again.”

I frowned, not sure what she meant. Not even sure if she was seeing me. “Your legs are trapped under the desk, Maggie. I’m going to free you, but it could hurt. Okay?”

She swallowed, then nodded and closed her eyes again. I rose, stepped over her, then, as quickly but as gently as I could, grabbed the edge of the desk and flung it up and over her. She screamed. The sound cut through me, as sharp as a knife, then abruptly stopped.

The reaper stepped forward.

“No,” I said. “Please, don’t.”

“Her decision is made. Her soul moves on.” The elderly reaper’s voice was filled with gentle understanding. “There is nothing you can do for her now.”

“Damn it, no,” I said, and looked down. A soft shimmer rolled over the receptionist’s body; then her soul pulled free. She looked at peace, happy almost. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see her spirit take the reaper’s hand and move on.

Not wanting to acknowledge my failure to yet again save someone.

Another explosion ripped through the building. Above, the ceiling cracked and plaster began to fall, the pieces small at first, then getting gradually larger as the cracks grew and joined.

I swore and called to the Aedh, changing form just as the remainder of the ceiling crashed down. It would have crushed me if I’d still been standing there. As it was, dust and debris plumed through my particles, making me feel as if every inch was coated in grime.

I headed back into the hellhole that the main storage area had become, quickly winding my way through the remnants of the corridor until I found Genevieve’s storage locker. Or rather, where it once had been, because this area was definitely ground zero. There was very little left here, nothing but a few blackened, twisted metal remains. I turned around, trying to find the middle of the unit where the stones had stood. What I found instead was the remnant of a leg—though it was little more than crisped strips of skin and meat hanging from a cracked and blackened femur. I looked around for the rest of the body, but couldn’t see anything. Why just that section of whoever’s body it was had survived was anyone’s guess.