Page 3 of Light

There. A body cutting through the air, displacing the natural order of things with its unnatural presence. He stilled, hand on the door. It was unusually fast. To capture it, he could not simply walk out and face it.

Moving through space with so many humans present was a risk, but one he would take to rid the streets of another vile being. He dissolved into dust and shifted through the air to the place the creature would be in seconds. Materializing with Dina’s flaming sword in hand, he sliced through a body as it solidified on the blade.

Eyes of gold and amber rounded in surprise before the nasdaqu-ush slid down steel, hanging limply against the pommel.

He placed both hands on the vile thing, returning it to the dust from whence it came. Bits of ash floated to the ground, the only evidence it had been there.

Flicking his hand, he cast blue fire along his fingers, running them down the sword, cleansing it of the creature's remains, and smothering the flame before sheathing it beneath his camouflaged wings.

Glancing around the darkened street, he saw a form crumpled against a dark wall.

Crossing, he stooped and pressed two fingers against the boy’s neck. Nothing. He lifted the lad’s chin, exposing torn flesh. Although Sanura’s goal was to wipe the Gavras line from the Earth, she never missed an opportunity to add to her ever-expanding army. It would be better not to leave a body behind for her to use.

He laid both hands on the boy, dissolving his form to dust—one less creature to hunt.

Chapter 3

Adalaide

Adalaide pressed the worn leather journal against her chest, sighing. Tonight, as with many nights, she had found herself on the roof, seeking redemption from the heavens. It had been eight years, but the burden she carried for her crimes weighed no less heavily on her soul than it had the day she’d committed the offenses.

It had been self-defense. An accident. But it had left her an orphan at sixteen.

Lifting her skirts, she stood and moved to the edge, glancing down at the street below. It was pitch dark, the only light the faint glow of street lanterns sparsely illuminating the winding path.

Leaning back, Adalaide gripped the roof’s overhanging ledge and stretched her head upward to take in the night sky. Millions of tiny lights glittered and sparkled in some happy parody of a beautiful night.

But there was nothing beautiful about life anymore.

A breeze trailed along the back of her neck, sending goose pimples rippling over her skin. It was unseasonably warm, and the air spoke of grim foreboding. Something dangerous was coming.

Another featherlight breeze ruffled her raven curls, and apprehension slid down her spine. This was more than a premonition of dark deeds to come. It was a warning—an immediate one.

Adalaide closed her eyes, opening her third eye, and sent it wafting on the phantom wind. She let it drift toward the thing that set her nerves on edge. Her third eyesight swam lazily over building tops, stretching further than it had traveled before. It stopped, hovering far to the left where the Thames dipped through Jacob’s Island, catching the poorest residents’ filth and waste. A blue haze settled there, forming the soft shape of an arrow. It pointed downriver.

She tried to press her sight toward the arrow, but it dissipated, going no further.

What did it mean?

Her abilities had arrived early and by sixteen, she was aware of their magnitude. A formidable energy lived within her, powered her, like one of Alessandro Volta’s strange inventions, lighting her up.

Each day, she discovered new gifts. But as time passed, she became more convinced she was the only one of her kind. Her father had had exceptional abilities, made greater by the use of wicked magic and the amulet she now wore, but his gifts, even amplified, paled in comparison to hers.

A new breeze—hot this time—drifted by, warning her of approaching danger.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she cast her third eyesight around her in a circle and jolted as the blue haze, previously on the other side of town, beat a path toward her at a rapid pace.

Blinking her lids open, she backed up, sending both hands to her sides, and lifted herself into the air, maneuvering out over the ground. She gave the air magic a little push and angled herself into the window on the third floor of her townhouse.

Whirling as her feet met the carpet, she slammed the window down and bolted it shut.

She closed her eyes once, confirming the blue was nearly there. It was blocks away, moving faster than any creature she’d yet encountered. She ran to the first floor and slid the deadbolt into place.

Heart racing, she sagged against the door. The creature was coming for her. She knew it with every fiber of her being.

And it wasn’t the first.

She’d encountered dozens of the strange creatures since her gifts had awoken. Once, she’d believed them to be of her father’s making, but now that he was gone, she knew they were something else.

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