One With the Shadows by Susan Squires Read Free Book Online Page A

for his lenses? There had been a fire in the sitting room. But they had been in her bedroom …
    “I … want … the … stone,” the woman said.
    Kate took a breath. “As do, apparently, quite a lot of people. I may have undercharged for it.” Kate had her balance now. This woman had an extraordinary force of will and some experience with hypnosis, like Urbano. That was all.
    The woman’s mouth opened in a little O of surprise, before she set her jaw and glared at Kate. She began to pace back and forth, tapping one long-nailed finger against her lips.
    “I have no intention of giving you the stone, so you might as well leave.”
    “I have a better idea,” the woman said. She whirled so fast, Kate hardly saw her. She took Kate by the throat. “Tell me where it is, or you are going to die.”
    Kate looked up into those implacable eyes, coughing. She scrabbled at the hands that had locked around her neck. How could a woman of her size be so strong? Urbano’s threat had been almost a caress by comparison. But the same ploy might work.
    “I … I took it to a bank,” she choked.
    In the corner of the room, a whirling darkness seemed to gather behind the beautiful woman. It must be the onset of unconsciousness.
    Urbano stepped into the lamplight. “Let her go, Elyta.”
    Kate had never been so glad to see anyone.
    The woman he had called Elyta turned and straightened, but she didn’t let Kate go.
    “You dare interfere with a mission given me by Rubius himself, in my city?” Urbano growled. He was anything but nonchalant.
    “You didn’t seem to be getting very far with your ‘mission,’” Elyta snapped.
    Kate sputtered and gasped.
    “I revoke your welcome. Leave my city this instant.” Kate registered Urbano’s determination from far away. “Now let her go.”
    Kate’s vision began to darken at the edges.
    “Do you really want to do this?” he growled. “What will you tell Rubius?”
    The woman let Kate slump to the floor. It was as if Kate had forgotten how to breathe.
    “That LaRoque killed you and I finished your mission.” The woman called Elyta laughed. Her eyes went from burgundy to carmine.
    “Who would believe that?” Urbano trembled with some unseen effort.
    “You’d be surprised what an old, old man believes of a beautiful woman,” Elyta hissed. “He appreciates me, even if you do not.”
    The power in the room seemed to batter Kate. She touched her bruised throat, willing herself to breathe.
    Urbano began to tremble. A slow smile spread over the woman’s face.
    “I’m older than you, my pretty man, and so much stronger.” The power in the room felt like a weight on Kate’s chest. A sparkling blackness danced at the edge of Kate’s field of vision. She sucked in a breath. It was almost painful.
    A popping, fizzing sound reached through the haze in her brain. The draperies burst into flame. Urbano narrowed his eyes. Breath hissed in and out of Kate’s lungs. It seemed enough. The upholstered wing chair near the cold grate to her right sprouted flickering tongues of flame. Urbano glanced to the flame, shock and dismay registering on his face.
    “I want that stone!” Elyta shouted.
    “By all means stay and look for it.” Urbano too was gasping. The room was almost fully engulfed. “Are you ready to face the flames?”
    “I’ll heal.”
    “Ahhh, but the pain…”
    Elyta hesitated. Then she decided. “This isn’t the last,” she hissed. “And when I return, I will bring friends.”
    The words came from a distance. The pain of being burned alive. That would be Kate’s fate as well. She should crawl toward the door. But the sparkling blackness ate at her field of vision. And she couldn’t crawl. She couldn’t see. She …
    *   *   *
    Kate coughed and sputtered back into consciousness. Her cheek was pressed against woolen fabric. Cinnamon and something else, something sweet but quintessentially masculine, assailed her nostrils.
    “Quiet. You’re well.”