Page 18 of Temple of Magic and Bone

Vanth's smile softened. "You okay after last night?"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Elektra asked.

"Heidi was one of your reapers. It must have been hard to see her like that," he said, dark eyes softening with compassion.

Elektra ignored the sudden ache in her chest. "They both deserved better. I'll grieve once Lazarus and all of his followers are tossed into Tartarus."

"Oh, that sounds like fun. Can you really dictate where a soul goes?"

Elektra laughed. "No, but I can always try."

"Damn. I thought you had some sexy reaper superpower to do that. I usually just turn my enemies into ghouls and make them serve me to teach them a lesson." Vanth said it casually, but it didn't stop the chill from sweeping down Elektra's spine.

"Do they know that they are ghouls in there?"

Vanth's smile turned vicious. "Hardly seems like punishment if they didn't. Does that bother you?"

"All depends if they actually deserve it and didn't do something like cut you off in traffic," Elektra replied. She had never tried to make a ghoul. The temple and its reapers were about stopping things from coming back from the dead, not bringing them back to life. Or a half-life.

Vanth's smile disappeared. "If you really want to know, my current two ghouls were pieces of shit. One tried to kill me, and the other was a ghost eater."

"A what?" Elektra asked, putting her coffee down.

"He was a mage that was using magic to trap ghosts and then feed off their soul energy. Kind of like a less advanced version of what Lazarus did to those females in the morgue, now that I think about it. And if you are worried about what the ghouls were eating last night, he was a serial killer with a fondness for children who was going to pay me to clean up his mess. I decided to clean him up instead," Vanth replied and crossed his arms. "Anything else?"

Elektra took a moment to think about it. "Did the serial killer suffer?"

"Most assuredly."

"Good," was all she said. She knew she needed Vanth to stop Lazarus, but she really hadn't expected to like him as much as she did. She cleared her throat. "You better go and find a shirt, Tarael."

Mischief sparked in his dark eyes. "And why is that, princess? Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Elektra snorted. "Fine. We will visit your mother with you in your skull pjs." She reached over and snapped his hem. "Very cute, by the way."

"I'm glad you think so," he replied, a smile dancing over his lips. "I can't wait to see what yours look like. Let me guess, moon and stars? I can only imagine."

"Wrong." Elektra put her cup in the sink. "I sleep naked."

Vanth's smile widened. "That's okay. I have averygood imagination."

11

Elektra felt naked not wearing her normal uniform. Vanth had convinced her to stick with jeans and a T-shirt, but she wasn't happy about it.

"I'm not going to have you freaking any of the other residents out at the facility," he said stubbornly. "You are intimidating enough without the leather murder suit."

"It's not used for murder. I am a reaper. The suit is tactical when fighting things that manage to get through the Veil."

Vanth hadn't budged, so Elektra had given in to the jeans, but she still carried her sickles.

"It's a hospital, Elektra.Youare the most dangerous person there," Vanth said, getting into the driver's seat of his van. For all of his bluster, he carried a dagger in his boot, and the two ghouls were already in the back, watching her with dead eyes.

"Apart from you," she replied drolly.

"Please. I'm a pussy cat."

Elektra pulled a face. "Save your lies for someone who will actually believe you."

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