Page 44 of Edge of Darkness (Night Prowler 4)
He’d tested it himself. He really couldn’t die. Or if he could, he’d failed to find the way.
“But—but sire, we were attacked in the street—there was a stranger—he Shifted—”
“Shifted?”
This got Caesar’s attention. The intelligence fed to him by his spies indicated the strict, archaic Law the five Ikati colonies hidden around the world operated under was still very much in effect. Especially now. Even though the Queen who led them had allowed them more freedoms of late—including women on their formerly all-male Assemblies, allowing all of them to choose their own mates—the rules that had kept them secret from humanity for thousands of years still stood, iron-clad and unbendable.
For the rest of them, that is. Not for Caesar’s little band of rebels. And not for the fed up, disgruntled deserters from the other colonies who were flooding to
him day after day after day.
“Tell me what happened,” he commanded, turning to Nico, abandoning for a moment the girl shackled to the wall.
Nico—tall and well-formed like all the Ikati, black-eyed like only the Ikati of the Roman colony were—ran a hand through his thick, disheveled dark hair. He huffed out a long, low breath. “Gian and Armond and I were in Gràcia—near the bordello you like—when we felt him, right there on the street. He’s amazingly powerful. I don’t think I’ve felt a male so powerful since your father…”
Nico trailed off, realizing his mistake when he caught sight of Caesar’s thinned lips, his narrowed eyes. He had the good sense to blanch. “Forgive me, sire—I—I meant no disrespect.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Caesar purred in a menacing tone. “You would never be so stupid, now would you, Nico?”
Nico went a shade paler than before. “No, sire,” he whispered, frozen still.
Momentarily mollified by this show of deference and fear, Caesar waved a hand, indicating Nico should continue with his story.
Nico took a shaky breath and continued. “We knew he wasn’t a deserter from the other colonies right away because he was aggressive immediately. He Shifted and attacked practically before we could react and charged us. Gian Shifted, too, and Armond pulled out his gun. After that…” He trailed off again, an expression of shame creeping over his face.
“What?” Caesar prompted, stepping closer. “After that, what happened?
Nico’s gaze dropped to the floor. “After that I don’t know what happened because I…I ran away.”
Caesar tilted back his head and laughed out loud. It bounced off the cold stone walls of the bunker with an eerie, sinister echo. Upon hearing it, the girl in chains began to sob.
“You ran away?” he repeated incredulously, though without anger. Caesar understood the instinct for self-preservation all too well; he’d been running away from things all his life. Well, before he knew he was immortal, that is.
Nico nodded, miserable, still staring at the floor. Caesar clapped him on the shoulder, startling Nico, who looked up at him with unmitigated terror in his eyes. “Not to worry, old boy, we can’t all be heroes.”
The look of profound relief that crossed Nico’s face was priceless, and made Caesar smile. How he loved his people to fear him! The feeling of power he experienced when he scared someone was almost as heady as the feeling of power he had when he whipped a girl bloody.
Terror and violence were such exquisite aphrodisiacs.
Heat rushed to his groin and he shot a glance at the girl on the wall, needing suddenly to get back to his unfinished business with her. “We have to assume this isn’t a coincidence, though why this Shifter was alone, I can’t fathom—the Council of Alphas would have sent a contingent if they knew we were here—”
“He wasn’t alone, sire,” said Nico. “He was with a girl. A human girl.”
Arrested by this new bit of information, Caesar turned back to Nico. He knew for a fact the other colonies did not allow Shifters to mix with humans, on pain of death. Especially after what he’d done at Christmas. The massive killing spree he’d orchestrated at the Vatican had ended the lives of the pope and many others, ensuring the world would never forget exactly who they were dealing with. In response to his act of terrorism, so many were hunting the Ikati it wasn’t safe for them anywhere anymore, not even in their heavily fortified colonies. It was all part of his ultimate plan, of course, but for a Shifter to be in Barcelona, alone, and hostile—clearly not wanting to be part of his growing colony as so many others were—what could it mean?
Perhaps he was some kind of outcast? A lone wolf? Or, perhaps…an assassin, sent alone so as not to attract attention?
But if he was an assassin, he’d still be bound by colony Law. Why would he be with a human on the street?
Caesar asked, “What was he doing with the human girl?”
Nico made a small motion with his shoulders, the barest of shrugs. “Kissing her, sire. The two of them were kissing in an alley when we passed by on the street. He shoved her away as soon as he saw us and she ran, but before that…they were just kissing.”
Openly kissing a human. Hostile to other Shifters. Willing to Shift in full view of anyone who cared to look. Mulling over these facts, Caesar’s mind began slowly to churn.
“Nico,” he said thoughtfully, “would you recognize this girl if you saw her again?”
Nico nodded, a definitive yes. Of course his vision would be keen enough to see over distances and in low light; the Ikati could even see in the pitch dark.
