Page 10 of Temple of Magic and Bone

The female leaned down and purred, "Good boy."

Vanth's body tightened at the effect the praise had on him. Yeah, he really needed to get coffee into him. The female unclipped their pendants and moved off him before his thoughts could get any dirtier.

"If we are going to talk like adults about whatever the fuck is going on, we need to go out in public to get food. You need to change into something that isn't going to attract so much attention, Scary Black Widow," Vanth said, getting up off the floor. "Also, what the fuck have you done to scare my ghosts?"

"I haven't done anything. They are wary of me because they know I can reap them and send them through the Veil. A task that you should have done already," she replied. She picked up a bag by the fridge that he hadn't noticed in all the excitement.

"Don't tell me and my ghosts what to do." Vanth pointed. "There's a spare bathroom though there. You could do with a wash. The blood on you, I mean. It's not yours, is it?"

Cool gray eyes assessed him. "Not a lot of it."

"Are you hurt? Do you need...assistance?" Vanth didn't know why he felt the need to offer. What the fuck was wrong with him? He should be kicking this strange female out, not offering to tend her wounds for her.

"I am fine. I will accept the shower. I have been on the run for three days, and there hasn't been time," she replied.

Vanth nodded and then asked, "What's your name?"

"Elektra Nova."

"Sounds fake."

She smiled. "I wish it was. You know how the fae are with their ridiculous names."

"I do, so please call me Vanth. Tarael makes me feel like I'm in trouble."

Elektra huffed out a soft laugh as she headed for the bathroom. "You are."

The door to the bathroom closed, and Vanth's brain tried to catch up with everything that had just happened.

"Yeah, I really fucking am," he whispered and then went to find his own shower.

6

Maybe Vanth was too trusting of a strange female in his house, but if she had wanted to kill him, Elektra could have done so already. He washed off the previous night and studied his half of the pendant again. Nothing had changed, except now he knew it had another half and played a pretty tune.

His mother's words came back to chill him,'Tarael, Tarael, they are coming for you.'He got out of the shower and got dressed. He needed food, and so did his mysterious visitor.

Three days on the run…from what? Elektra had training; she had thrown him around without breaking a sweat. So what had her so spooked that she would run for that long to get to him? And what did his father have to do with it?

Vanth had never known anything about his father other than his mother had made a point of never bringing him up. There was a niggling in the back of his brain. His intuition told him all sorts of things his rational mind didn't know what to do with. He had a touch of his mother's foresight power but not in visions. He would just get feelings about things, and he had learned to trust them.

Right now, it was telling him that Elektra was the key to something important. He didn't like to get into fights that weren't his own, but she had information that he wanted to know. Like who his father actually fucking was.

With his mother's curse eating away at her, there was a strong possibility she didn't even remember who had knocked her up.

By the time Vanth had put clean clothes on and come out of his room, Elektra was already waiting for him. She wore tight black jeans and a gray T-shirt, her black boots laced tight. She didn't wear any make-up and had no jewelry except the necklace that matched his own. She was a warrior of some stamp, but the death magic pulsing off her was confusing.

Vanth knew all the necromancers in Inferno—the list was damn short—and he had no idea who she was. Mysteries made him nervous.

"There's a café just across the road that I like. Let's get food, and then you can tell me why you're harassing me," Vanth said, pulling on a leather jacket. The ghosts still hadn't returned, and the ghouls would still be too busy eating. Everything seemed too quiet.

"Food would…would be appreciated," she said.

All the fire that had been in her eyes had been banked. Exhaustion radiated off her, and Vanth felt a protective instinct kick in, thanks to his fae side. She wasn't weak or helpless, so he fought the urge to fuss.

Outside, the sun was setting on the day. Vanth's body clock was so far out of whack he had to take a moment to orientate himself. Dinner instead of breakfast. He could work with that. The café across the street was where he ended up most nights he wasn't working. It sold alcohol, so it also served as a bar, and fuck, could he use a drink.

Elektra studied the bare brick walls, the art by local painters, and the Edison bulbs hanging artistically from the ceiling. She stared, wide-eyed, like she hadn't been around people for a long time.

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