by Elicia Hyder
My hands slipped to his shoulders. “We’re not alone,” I whispered.
His eyes popped open, but his alarm quickly faded into a smile. “I keep forgetting you have a roommate now.”
I’d forgotten her too.
He bent toward my neck and kissed a path to the delicate spot beneath my ear. “She’s not in your bedroom, is she?”
No, but another man might be.
My head fell back, and he kissed the center of my throat before finding my lips again. A strong hand curled around my breast, taking my breath. Before I lost my good sense completely, I broke the kiss. “I can’t.”
A muscle worked in his jaw, but after a tense second, he released me and looked away. “Is it because of work?” Before I could answer, he met my eyes again. “Because I’ll switch shifts. Hell, I’ll quit.”
“You won’t quit.”
His eyes closed again. “I’ve wanted you for years.”
Goose bumps prickled my skin. This wasn’t exactly news, but hearing the admission aloud, so vulnerably, so desperately, sent a flutter through my stomach.
I put my hands on his cheeks, and he turned his face, pressing a kiss against my palm. Everything inside me wanted to forget Orion and drag this man—this painfully perfect man—to my bed.
But I couldn’t. Not like this, anyway.
If Essex had started to wonder about my suspicious entanglement with the hypnox case, others might too. There was a very real possibility that work might open an investigation if any more leads ended at my door.
Never mind my whole family history. The events so far that week had the Nyx family all over it: Ransom and I both on scene at the Drexler; I’d found Norina Grumley; and now the missing video feed from my patrol car.
And if I found any leads from inside the Boundary, I wouldn’t have an explanation for any of them.
I couldn’t drag Essex into all that. Especially not without an explanation first and letting him decide for himself. That conversation would have to come, but not while Orion was eavesdropping in my condo.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
With a sigh, he turned toward the door, still wide open behind him.
“Please don’t leave like this.”
He stopped and curled his arms over the top of his head in frustration. “What do you want from me, Nyx?”
I stood at his back, twisting my fingers together to keep from touching him. “I want to talk later, when we’ve both calmed down, had some rest, and are thinking clearly again.”
He slowly turned and lowered his arms to his sides. “We’ll have to. We’re riding together tonight, remember?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t.”
His jaw went slack. Then his face flushed with anger. “You know what? Do whatever you want.”
As he started to turn, I bolted forward and grabbed his neck. I kissed him again, but then pulled back. “You are what I want.” My gaze fell to his mouth. “But I need it to be right.”
He searched my eyes, then kissed me again. I threaded my fingers through the soft hair at his neckline, and when I broke the kiss, I held him close. “Please,” I whispered.
He nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer, at least for the moment. “We’ll talk later,” he said quietly.
I walked him to the door. “Give Karma my love.”
He finally smiled. “I will.” I leaned against the door, and he turned around in the breezeway. “Ride with me. It’ll be all business. I swear.”
“OK,” I said. “Call me when you wake up.”
When he was gone, I closed and locked the door. Then I carried the wooden box to my bedroom and flopped across the bed. “Orion, you’d better make this shit worth what I just gave up.”
I closed my eyes.
And nothing happened.
Chapter Nineteen
I was about to give up when I suddenly detached. Orion was backing away from my bed with his hands raised in surrender. I shot upright.
“Now, Saphera, calm down.”
I moved away from my body and got up on my knees. “Don’t tell me to calm down. You murdered a child.”
“I did no such thing.” He sounded offended. “Her body was already dead. There was no way to assimilate her.”
“Wait. Is she here?” I looked around like the little girl might be standing in my bedroom.
He slowly walked forward with his hands still raised. “She’s safe in Imera. All I did was neutralize the threat of leaving her body vulnerable.”
I sat back on my heels. “You promise?”
He held up his little finger. “I pinky swear.”
I hooked my finger around his. “You should have told me.”
“I did tell you. In the safest way possible.” He sat next to me on the bed. “If I’d told you what I was going to do, you would have tried to stop me.”
That was true.
“Sometimes the choices we make aren’t easy. You’re no stranger to that.”
I thought of Norina Grumley’s tearful little boy when I put her into the back of my patrol car.
But I didn’t want to tell Orion he was right. That seemed like a dangerous precedent to set this early on. “Where have you been? I thought you’d left.”
“I did leave.”
My head pulled back with surprise.
“What? I’m not a voyeur. I stepped outside while you were . . .” He wafted his hand toward the front of the condo.
“I know what I was doing.”
“I waited out front, but then the guy left. Isn’t he your sergeant?”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh.
He smiled. “Getting kinky with the department handcuffs, huh?”
“No!” Maybe. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. “It’s complicated.”
“I bet.” He stood. “Well, do you want to sit here and talk about your love life, or do you want to hunt down some bad guys?”
I got up so fast it would have given me a head rush if I was still inside my damaged skull. “What do you think?”
With a smile, his eyes dropped to my outfit. “You should have dressed light.” I was still wearing my slouchy sweatshirt and lounge pants. And I was barefoot.
“I forgot.”
“You certainly had a whole lot going on when I got here,” he said with a chuckle. He pointed to the overstuffed chair in the corner of the room. On it was a neat stack of what I assumed were clothes. “Grab your shoes.”
“How did you know my size?” I walked over and picked up the black shoe.
“I didn’t. You’ll find some things are infinitely better in the Boundary.”
I put them on. “These weren’t what Flash was wearing. He had on light-up sneakers. Like the kind they sell in shoe stores here.”
“That’s because they are. Those shoes were a gift, brought from Earth.”
“How?”
“We have our ways to transport small things.”
“Ergane,” I said.
He nodded. “Correct. Do you have your dagger?”
I patted my calf.
“Good. Here.” He pulled something from his pocket. A pair of ergane gloves.
“For me?” I asked.
“Yes.” When I moved to take them, he held on. “Keep them with you.”
“Yes, sir.”
He released them. “And keep them hidden when you’re moving around. Humans get all freaked out by shit floating around.”
I laughed as I pulled them on. “Noted.”
“Do you have a backpack or something?”
“Yeah.”
“Pack your Boundary clothes and items into it. Think of it as your spiritual-emergency go bag.”
“I have an actual go bag from the Army.”
“That’s even better.”
I retrieved the tan tactical backpack from my closet. Most of its emergency supplies had been removed over the years, but a few staples remained: an MRE, an empty bottle, a first-aid kit, and a flashlight. “Will this work?”
I asked, plopping it onto my bed.
“Perfect.” He brought me the clothes. “Pack these into it, and tuck your gloves in here.” He hooked two fingers inside the outer mesh pocket on the side. “That way, if you’re detached, you can still get to them to open the zipper.”
“Smart.”
“Keep the bag with you. You never know when you might need it.”
“OK.”
“Did your brother bring you oneiryte?”
“Yes.” Using my glove, I opened the box on the foot of my bed. I reached inside and found the vial. “This?”
“Yes. What do you notice about it?” He crossed his arms.
“It’s fuzzy.”
He pointed at me. “It’s in Earth’s realm, not inside the Boundary. So how do you put it on and use it?”
“I need to bring it inside the Boundary.”
“And how do you do that?”
I lifted the ergane bag from the box.
He clapped. “You’re getting the hang of it.”
I put the necklace and vial into the bag and closed it. When I reopened it, both were inside the Boundary. “That’s pretty cool.” I put the necklace over my head.
“You don’t even need to take the necklace off. Ever. It won’t be seen when you’re in your body, and it will always be there when you detach.”
“What about the clothes and shoes?”
“I guess technically you can leave them on, but you don’t have to. The necklace, however, is essential.”
“Ransom said Elias could detach and travel without oneiryte.”
“That’s true, but he only learned to do that over the years he was incarcerated. Desperate times, you know?”
“So he couldn’t always do it?”
“He was never disciplined enough to master it, but it is possible, at least for you.”
“But not for you?”
“No magic runs in me. Permission to use the sand is given by the Order, and only for use outside Imera.”
I held up the sand now dangling from my neck. “It doesn’t work in Imera?”
“Sure it does, but we’re not allowed to use it. Too many of us were getting hurt.”
“Hurt?”
“Imagine people suddenly appearing in occupied spaces. From what I understand, it sounded a lot like human bowling pins.”
I wanted to laugh but I didn’t.
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
“You’re taking me to Imera?”
“No.” He crouched and drew a long line in front of us. When he straightened, he held out his hand.
With a deep breath, I took it.
“Hang on,” he said with a smile.
My other hand sandwiched his, and we stepped—off a damn cliff, it felt like. The world was ripped from under my feet, and we fell straight down at a million miles per hour. I struggled to hold onto Orion’s hand, and I crossed my legs to keep from peeing.
The ground reappeared beneath me so quickly and solidly that I landed in a heap on a familiar orange-and-brown tile floor. We were at the Sizzling Chicken all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. A pair of tanned legs flew through my face, and I curled into a ball.
Laughing, Orion pulled me up by the arm as humans passed through us to pile their plates full of eggs and bacon. I latched onto Orion’s chest, overwhelmed with the cold energy zinging through my body.
“You all right?” Orion instinctively and uselessly shielded me with his arms.
“Mmm-hmm,” I lied.
He pulled back enough to look at me. “Now imagine if we were tangible.”
My chin quivered. “We’d be the bowling ball.”
“Exactly.” He took my hand and wrapped it around my vial of magic dust. “Now, you have to get us out of here.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Where was Ryder Stone?”
“At the Drexler. Chalet One-Ten, overlooking the lake.”
He squeezed my hand around the tiny bottle. “Don’t tell me. See it.”
Closing my eyes, I pictured the chalet.
“Got it?” he asked.
I nodded.
Guiding my hand, together we poured a line on the floor. “Keep that image,” he said as we stepped. A jolt from my hand traveled through every nerve ending before the floor dropped out again. I fought through the fear and terrifying exhilaration to hold the image of the chalet in my mind.
With a jerk, my feet landed on asphalt, and when I opened my eyes, the chalet was in front of us. Orion gave me a squeeze. “Well done.”
I felt too disoriented to be proud.
“Think you can stand if I let you go?” he asked against my ear.
I nodded, almost sure I meant it.
When he released my hand, I only wobbled once before my legs felt sturdy beneath me. “Whoa. We just went all the way across town in less than a second.”
“Farther than that. We came all the way from Vegas.” He started toward the chalet. “That was the Sizzlin Chicken near the Strip.”
I stumbled when I started after him. He didn’t notice. “So how do you get around in Imera?”
“Each city center has a channel hub, where we’re allowed to channel from place to place. Otherwise, we get around mostly on foot, with a few exceptions.”
“Exceptions?”
“Other modes of transportation.”
“Like what?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” With a smile, he continued to the police-taped entrance of what remained of Chalet 110.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
“We need to find where the hypnox came from. We’ll trace the steps back to its source. So tell me what happened that night.”
“It’s still under investigation,” I replied.
“I’m not the media. What really happened? Tell me everything.”
“The Drexler sits on the line between two of the biggest patrol zones in Sapphire Lake. So the Mini Market next door is a common place my team and I meet up to talk about cases and work on reports—”
“And shoot the shit while you eat trash food that burns through your internal organs. Don’t bullshit me.”
I flinched. “Fine. When we’re not busy, we shoot the shit and eat trash for dinner. While we were there, one of the city’s regular offenders stole some stuff from the shop.”
Orion’s brow crumpled. “With a bunch of cops outside? Is he crazy?”
“Certifiably, I believe. Anyway, I was chasing him through the woods when a call came in about a noise disturbance here in one of the chalets. My boss—”
“The boss you just made out with?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, and two of the other guys on my team responded. One of them knocked on the door while my boss looked in the front window.”
“Did he see anything?”
“No. As soon as he looked inside, an explosion detonated. That was you, right?”
“Right.”
“That’s when the rest of us hauled ass over here.”
He walked inside the ruins of the chalet, and I followed close behind. I hadn’t been inside the night it happened, but I didn’t need anyone to point out where the blood spatter was. Even with the damage, it looked like someone had flung a paintbrush full of red paint at the remnants of the wall.
Orion walked to the bedroom, where the fire had started. In what used to be the bathroom doorway, he knelt and crooked his fingers over his shoulder, beckoning me to do the same. I crouched next to him as he scooped up a handful of shiny black rubble.
“That’s inside the Boundary?” I asked, surprised.
“No, but many things of my world will always be tangible here.”
“Like the shadow blade?”
“Exactly.” He let the pieces sift through his fingers. “This is what remains of the demon. Nightwalkers are highly flammable. Daylight alone can cause them to ignite. That’s why they stick to the shadows.”
“So they’re combustible with daylight, and they drink blo
od. Are they vampires?”
Grinning, he shook his head. “Not nearly so neat. I’m sure you heard what the bodies looked like.”
“They couldn’t tell much from the male victims. They were burned pretty badly, but the female was torn in half.”
“See? Not nearly as neat as two puncture wounds on a jugular.” He stood and looked around the room. “Do they have any leads on the identity of the John Doe?”
“The guy I arrested that night, I believe John Doe was his brother, Kush Fleming.”
“Kush? That’s his name?”
I smiled. “Yeah.”
“Is he into heroin?”
“Not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was. How did you know something was going on here?”
“Detaching causes a ripple through the Boundary. If it happens close to or past nightfall, the guardians always investigate. By the time I arrived, the woman was already dead in the first room. I assume she wasn’t much of a heroin user. It’s the rookies who usually die first.”
“Why?”
“They have no tolerance at all. They detach for long periods of time, making it easier for the nightwalkers to get to them. Habitual heroin users will detach but usually not completely. All it takes is skin contact with hypnox for a non-user to detach and die from it.”
I felt sick.
He pointed left toward the window where Essex had been looking inside. “A man with long brown hair was unconscious on the bed over there, high on hypnox, I’m sure.”
“That was Ryder Stone.”
“Who?”
“A celebrity.”
“Huh. That explains all the media.”
“Yep.”
“Here in this doorway is where the nightwalker was feasting on John Doe.”
“What did he look like?”
“I don’t know. All I could see were lifeless, jean-clad legs. He must have been in the bathroom when the beast entered your realm through the girl’s body.”
“They believe John Doe—Kush—brought heroin and hypnox to the room.”
“This?” Orion reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small velvet bag, much like the one in the box I’d gotten from Ransom. He dumped its contents into his palm: a glassine bag stamped with 7K and a gold crown.
My eyes doubled. “Where did you find that?”
