Lost Soul (DarkWorld: SkinWalker Book 2) (14 page)

I swallowed and turned the key over in my hands. "So dark water again, I take it?"

Kira nodded. Then she turned her attention to the book and spoke no more.

I was dismissed.

I hesitated a moment, then looked at Nerina. She turned to the door and beckoned me to follow. I slipped the key into my jacket pocket as she opened the door.

Logan was already standing. He was agitated, his hair sticking up on end. He must have been pacing and he didn't look happy. "What took you so long?"

"What do you mean?" I looked from Logan to Nerina, frowning.

"You were in there almost two hours." I glanced at Nerina again and she gave a small nod.

"Really? Two hours?" I asked, hardly believing it.

"Yes. Rituals can take more time than we realize. And we did perform two of them."

"Rituals?" Logan looked from Nerina to me and back again.

I spoke quickly. "The rituals were to get the portal key to work." Nerina glanced at me, a small question in her eyes, although she seemed to understand and said nothing further.

"So was it really necessary to leave me outside?" He was still angry.

I laughed. "Unless you were offering your blood to the portal key, then I think so."

"Blood? What did you offer your blood for?" I explained how the portal key was coded to the user and Logan nodded as if it made sense but he didn't look satisfied. Then he stared at me. "Blood means your energy levels will be lower than ever. We have to get you home fast."

"She didn't drain me of every last drop, Logan." I smiled at him. "I'm fine. No ill effects from blood loss, although I will readily admit to being strangely exhausted."

"Fine. Let's get going then. I'm not going to be carrying you up all those stairs to your apartment." He began to walk off down the passage. I looked at Nerina and rolled my eyes and she giggled.

We followed Logan in silence until we were almost at the door. Nerina put a hand on my injured arm and I had to force myself not to flinch. "Kailin, you must be careful. Keep the portal key very safe, and if you ever need any help or advice, please call me. When you arrive, try to blend in. It's best you not talk to anyone, demon or ghost. That way they will think you are also a ghost, and hopefully, they will leave you alone. And don't tell anyone your name. Don't address each other by your names. You do not want anyone to overhear your names. And, Kailin, you really must take care. You can die within the Greylands. I am very concerned because you
r sister lives in darkness. Her heart is hard and slowly blackening. It is possible she may be possessed or under the control of some kind of evil. It is not impossible for an evil entity or spirit to possess a person in the Greylands. So please be very, very careful."

I nodded and looked up to face the worry in Logan's eyes. He'd heard every word and the reality of it was sinking in. I looked away. Nothing he said would change my mind and he knew it. I held Nerina's hand. "Thank you, Nerina. And please, if you ever need anything, you must promise to come and see me."

She smiled her serene smiled and nodded. "I will." And I believed her.

She led us to the door and opened it. The skies were already inky black with night, reminding me of how long we'd been there. Hurrying to the car, I jumped in, feeling more sure of myself now that I had the key in my possession. I waved at Nerina and she shut the heavy door.

Logan gunned the engine and took off in a flurry of gravel. His anger had faded but he was still pretty annoyed. I stole a glance at his profile.

He'd be way more than annoyed if he found out about the blood promise.

Not that I planned on letting him know.

***

The drive back was long and I nodded off, surprised at the toll the rituals had taken on my energy. Logan was silent for much of the drive. Thankfully it was more a thoughtful silence than a sullen one.

He remained quiet until we were inside the apartment. All he said was, "Lie on the bed. I'll be there in a minute." Then fixed his gaze on his phone.

"I'd like to shower first. I feel a little contaminated. Mistress Kira isn't the nicest of people." I made a face.

Logan glanced up at me, giving me a thoughtful stare. "Sure. I didn't think of that. Yell when you're ready."

I nodded and headed for the shower. Although I wanted to stay under the hot spray, I hurried, thinking of how tired Logan looked. He really needed to take better care of himself.

Comfortable in yoga pants and a tank top, I went to the door to call him only to find him sprawled on the sofa, fast asleep. I smiled. He looked so endearing, phone in his hand, mouth a little open. Even the soft snore that emanated from his mouth failed to annoy me. I tiptoed to him, saved the phone from his relaxed fingers and threw a blanket over him.

A second night on my sofa. This was becoming a habit.

***

I'd fallen into an exhausted sleep, awakening only when a light footstep made the floorboard at my door creak. I sprang from the bed, claws already lengthening when the door swung open and Logan stuck his head into the room. He grinned to see my face inches from him.

His grin faded when he caught sight of my extended claws. "I think you can put those away," he said, giving me a wry smile.

"Right," I said and put them away. "Did you sleep well? You look rested."

"Why did you let me sleep?" He scowled, mussing his hair. "I had work to do."

"You had fire healing to do. Probably not a good thing to do when exhausted. Besides, you looked so adorable." I gave him a little sexy smile.

"Adorable?" He laughed. "I'll show you adorable." He grabbed my good arm and pulled me to him, giving me a thorough, toe-curling kiss before letting me go. "Get on the bed."

"Ooh, now you're talking." I skipped to the bed.

"Behave. I'm going to be working," he said, his tone dry.

I laughed and got comfortable on the bed. A glance at the clock said it was just after six in the morning. Logan rounded the bed and took up his cross-legged position beside me. It was then I noticed the small black bag he held toward me.

"Ooh, you come bearing gifts." I grinned.

"I think you'll like this." I took it from him and began to unzip it. "I wasn't sure it would work, but it did. Needless to say, we were all pretty surprised."

I flipped open the top of the zip-up bag to reveal a row of six syringes. A fiery golden liquid swirled within the barrel of each one.

"Don't tell me you managed to bottle your fire."

"That's exactly what I did. With Jess's magical help, of course." Logan nodded. "I don't think it would be possible without Jess's power."

I nodded, suspecting that Titan power would have something to do with transforming simple Fire Mage power into something as amazing as this. "Wow." I nodded. "This is going to be so helpful."

"So use two to three at a time on the original wound. That should be enough of a treatment. Unfortunately, half a dozen was all I could manage to create with the time we had."

"That's great.
Six is probably all I need. I'm not staying there a minute longer than is totally necessary—don't you worry." I smiled and his shoulder relaxed a little. Leaving the case safe on the nightstand, I gave him my arm and said, "You may begin."

He looked at my arm and then at me, shocked. "I didn't realize it had gotten so bad so quickly." He stared at the blue and purple and yellow bruises covering my forearm around the scar. He narrowed his gaze. "What have you been up to? You must have done something to drain yourself of energy for this to happen so quickly.

I shrugged. "Just a little Wraith hunting." I winced, expecting the backlash.

"What? Kai are you insane? You are supposed to be resting. And when did you find time to hunt a Wraith anyway?"

"Last night. It was a now-or-never kind of thing." He glared and I just shrugged. "Something is happening, though."

"What do you mean?"

"This Wraith was methodical, businesslike. He'd taken over a pimp's body, down in the red-light district. I haven't seen this type of behavior with the Wraiths before. It used to be just the power of the soul they wanted. Now it seems businesses are playing a role in their choices. Not to mention the fact that this Wraith was interested in sex." It was out before I realized it.

"What?" Logan stared at me. Then he asked warily, "What do you mean by that? How do you know he wanted sex?"

No point in holding back. I told him the story and was half amused and half worried at his reaction. His face was black with fury.

"You shouldn't have gone in without backup. Why didn't you call me?" he demanded, his fist curling, tendons taut.

"Logan, I was hunting Wraiths long before you came on the scene. You can't go all knight-in-shining-armor on me now. I can take care of myself. I can do my job and I can do it very well." I spoke firmly but kindly.

"Yeah, but you've never had Wraith poison flowing thick in your blood before, have you?" He glared at me, shaking his head slowly. "You have no idea what this poison can do to you. It could weaken you so badly a Wraith could kill you because you couldn't react fast enough."

I knew that but I didn't say anything except, "I had backup."

"What do you mean
backup
?"

"Lily. I'm training her. She did pretty well. Kind of came to the rescue too." I was still proud of Lily. She really had guts.

He snorted. "Great. A poisoned panther and a kid lynx. You make a fine fighting team."

I snorted back. He decided that line of conversation was over and bent his head over my arm. I didn't resist. But a rush of warmth filled me at the thought he cared so deeply for me, and for my safety. I liked the feeling very much. Although I wasn't sure I liked the idea I had to keep calling on Logan for his treatment so I could remain active and healthy. I liked that he cared for me, but I didn't like that I was becoming dependent on him. And it didn't matter who he was really. I'd hate being dependent on him even if I didn't like him so much.

"How far off are you from perfecting the technique?"

"Not very far. I'm hoping I can do one more treatment before you leave." He glanced up at me. "Any idea when that is?"

"As soon as Tara and Gracie give me my weapons, I'll be good to go."

"Fine. Whenever that is, even if it's tomorrow, I want to do a full treatment before you leave. It may not fully resolve the poison, but at least it
should give you enough poison-free time in the Greylands. I'm just worried how being in the dead plane will affect you and your wound and the poison."

"I'd have to deal with that when I come to it. No point in stressing about it now." I shrugged. It was true. We knew nothing about how things will pan out in the Greylands. What was the point in stressing over something we couldn't even imagine, much less prepare for?

I watched as he repeated his fire treatment process, hands covering my arm top and bottom, sending flashes of first soothing, then searing heat into my body. I watched as the skin on the parts of my hand that were mottled with purple slowly faded to a less-angry color. He spent a while bent low over my arm, frowning and concentrating while my hand burned beneath his touch.

At times I wanted to hiss with the pain, but I let him do his job unhindered by my agony. This time the treatment took much longer, draining both Logan and myself of almost all our energy. I felt a stab of guilt knowing it had been my hunt that had depleted my energy.

But I couldn't just sit around and do nothing. There were Wraiths out there. Ones with more serious agendas. Knowing that, I definitely couldn't waste time lying in bed all day.

And now that I had the portal key, I could stop wasting more time and get Greer.

***

I woke at lunchtime to find Logan already gone. I'd passed out just after he had completed his treatment, so I had no idea what time he'd left. I limped to the bathroom, brushed the fuzz from my teeth and headed to the kitchen to get coffee.

And found Grams making chicken salad sandwiches.

"Hello, darling." She patted my cheek. "You do look tired. What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, training sidekicks, killing Wraiths, bleeding all over portal keys and getting supercharged fire straight into the bloodstream. So yeah, not much. How about you?"

Grams smiled and pointed a finger at the other side of the kitchen counter. I went dutifully and sat on the nearest stool, still a little unsteady on my feet. She slid a plate with a sandwich on it, and soon joined it with a mug of fresh coffee.

"Eat, miss smart mouth."

"That's miss smart mouth destroyer of the world to you." Grams' face fell, and the look of worry she gave me made me want to eat my words. "I'm sorry. I'm just teasing. Don't look so worried."

"It's my job to worry about you, silly girl."

"Why does everyone want to worry about me?" I complained.

Grams glared at me and I turned my attention to my food. Too soon my plate and mug were both empty and I sat back patting my stomach, hoping I wouldn't burp too loudly.