Page 72 of Discarded (Shifter's Vault 1)

"Uh, Bain?" Kerina gestured behind me.

I turned to see a man dressed in black trousers, a loose black shirt, black boots and a black scarf over his head. His brown eyes bore into mine with the intensity of the dogmatic.

"You're looking for me?" The man's voice was gravelly, his accent difficult to place. He might have come from the south, or around the corner.

"Am I?" I asked. "Should I be?"

"How are you not sweating to death in all that black?" Kerina asked.

The man ignored her question and kept his attention on me. "You believe we mean to cause trouble in the Vault."

That was precisely what I assumed. "I've never met a mindreader before," I stated.

The man's expression became derogatory. "I do not need to read your mind. Your Keeper harbours a witch. Such an arrangement is an offence to Comus."

"Who?" I asked.

"Some think there's a god with that name" Kerina said dismissively. "That's he's somehow the son of Hades, Proteus or both."

My eyebrows jerked upward. Who was I to question the methods of deities? Brothers raising the same child was not unheard of after all.

"Comus is the one, true god," the man declared. "Born of man and Hades."

"Let me guess," I said slowly. "Someone declared themselves a messiah and you think a witch is a threat to him?"

"Ugh, religious zealots are the worst," Kerina muttered. "Tell him to crawl back into his hole and stay there."

I glanced at her and urged her to silence. "Where does one find this Comus?"

"One does not," the man replied. "He will show himself to those who are worthy. Obtain the witch for him and he will give you eternal life."

I frowned. "What does he want with her?"

The man made a slicing gesture through the air with his hands. "That is not for me to know or for you to speculate."

"If I was to 'obtain' her for him, what then?" I asked.

Kerina made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat. I didn't need to look or sense her emotions to know she was angry. With me and with the zealot.

"He will contact you," the man said easily. "He has eyes in every corner."

And ears in every wall, no doubt.Although if he had a sizable following, I would have heard of him before now. That I hadn't made him uneasy.

"What if we don't do as you ask?" Kerina asked.

The zealot fixed her with a look which would have made most people step back. Typically of Kerina, she was unfazed and simply raised her chin to stare him down.

"We have people close to the Keeper," the zealot said finally. "Obtain the witch and the Keeper may live."

Apparently that was too much for Kerina. She pulled a knife and had it at the man's throat before I could register she moved at all.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," she growled.

The zealot didn't even blink. "I do not fear death. Eternal life awaits me. However, you will suffer eternal damnation if you murder an unarmed man."

"I'll take my chances." Kerina pressed the knife enough to break the skin, but not to make him bleed.

The zealot swallowed. It seemed he had a survival instinct after all.

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