You said no?

Of course. Just because I sometimes choose to ignore consequences doesn’t mean I’m not aware of them. I munched on the pizza and added, And I think the consequence of me going up against Hunter would be me getting dead.

Death in this form, maybe, but you would live on in energy form.

Sorry Azriel, but that’s not something I want right now. Especially given it meant me becoming a Mijai. I frowned. If I did happen to die, what happens to our child? Would he die, or would he also become energy?

He would also become Mijai – although obviously not a serving one. Not until he reached maturity.

So by saving me, you condemned our son to a life you hate?

Yes. His gaze met mine, blue eyes hard. Better the life of a Mijai than no life, Risa.

It would have been better to have left things as they were meant to be – both of us dead. But then, if the Raziq had the power to call my soul back into this world, what was to stop them doing the same to my son? I might not agree with what Azriel had done, but I could certainly understand his reasons. Now that he’d actually explained them, that is.

I snagged another piece of pizza. “So, I guess the next thing we have to do is go see if we can get into that warehouse near Stane’s.”

“And if we can’t?”

“Then unless dear old Dad comes through with a key to get into his quarters in the temples, I’m fresh out of ideas.”

He studied me for a moment, then said, “What of your uncle?”

I frowned. “What of him?”

“Did he not study to become a priest?”

My confusion grew. “Yes, but that’s not going to help us get into my father’s quarters.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Azriel replied. “But it is very rare for a half Aedh to undergo priest training, and that alone suggests he’s more than likely extremely powerful.”

Which was something I’d never really thought about before. I mean, sure, I knew he’d undergone training, but it had never struck me to ask why a half-breed had even been allowed near the temples. Unless, of course, the priests were in short supply even back then.

“Powerful or not, from what my father said, we won’t be getting into his and Lucian’s quarters without some sort of access code.” I finished the slice of pizza and licked a few cheese remnants off my fingers. “Besides, we don’t need Uncle Quinn to get into the temples. You can do that, can’t you?”

“I can, yes, but it is unlikely I would be able to access the inner sanctums, and that is no doubt where your father’s quarters are. Only the initiates are quartered in the outer rings, and we Mijai rarely have need to go any farther.”

So once again my father hadn’t been completely honest. What a surprise. “I really don’t want to involve Uncle Quinn, if only because it’ll drag Riley into the equation.”

“Your uncle is more than capable of keeping information from your aunt,” Azriel commented. “He is Aedh as much as vampire, remember.”

“Yeah, but she’s one hell of a telepath.” And she could spot someone keeping a secret a mile away. How the hell I’d managed to keep the fact I was working for Hunter to myself for so long, I’ll never know.

Of course, it did help that I’d recently missed our weekly cake and Coke catch-up sessions. If I hadn’t, I’d probably be locked up somewhere right now while she gathered the troops and took off after Hunter.

“I still think you should talk to him,” Azriel said. “He might also be able to offer suggestions when it comes to Hunter and Stanford.”

“Maybe.” I drained the can of Coke, smothered a loud burp, then added, “Let’s go check out that warehouse first. If we have no luck there, I’ll consider talking to Uncle Quinn.”

Azriel nodded, then rose and held out a hand. I placed my fingers in his and he tugged me upward. I grabbed my coat, then locked the front door and once again melted into the warmth of his arms. A heartbeat later we were outside the old West Street warehouse that contained the first of the cuneiform stones we’d found.

It was one of those old two-story, redbrick places inner-city renovators seemed to love. The wind rattled the rusted iron roof and whistled through the small, regularly spaced windows, many of which were broken, but overall it was in pretty good shape. Like many of the other buildings in the area, its walls were littered with graffiti and tags, and rubbish lay in drifting piles along its length.

But while it looked abandoned, there was an odd, almost watchful stillness about the place. It was a stillness that seemed to affect the immediate surrounds, which were unnervingly quiet. Even the roar of the traffic traveling along nearby Smith Street seemed muted.

I shivered, despite the heat rolling off the man standing so close. “Can you sense anything or anyone in or near the warehouse?”

He shook his head and pressed his fingers against my spine, ushering me forward. “Nothing but rats.”

“Just like last time,” I murmured. And I had to hope it was a case of second time lucky when it came to this place. I really didn’t fancy falling into a pit and I certainly didn’t want to confront more damn hellhounds.

There were two entrances here on West Street. The first one was heavily padlocked and seemed to lead into an old office area. The other was a roller door over what had once been a loading bay, and this was where we’d gotten in previously. I glanced down at the bottom-right-hand edge. Someone had obviously tried to fix the hole, because it was far smaller than it used to be. But there was still a section that provided just enough of a gap for a skinny person – which I certainly was these days – to get in.

“The real question here,” Azriel said, “is whether you’ll be able to get in this time.”

“And if I can, do I really want to?” I rubbed my arms, but it didn’t do much to chase away the gathering chill. “I haven’t even got Jak to shore up my courage this time.”

“No,” he said softly. “But you could destroy the wards. That would allow me entry.”

“And no doubt notify the sorcerer that we’ve found this place.”

“True. But I suspect that – sooner rather than later – we’re going to have to do that if we wish to find their gateway onto the field.”

I stopped in front of the door and scanned it for any additional signs of security, electronic or otherwise. “That’s if it ishere. There’s no guarantee of that.”

“It has to be here somewhere, if only because of its proximity to the intersection.” He paused, then added, “I can sense no magic other than the shield.”

And I couldn’t sense anything. I took a deep, somewhat quivering breath, but it didn’t do a lot to ease the growing tide of tension. “Wish me luck.”

“I wish you safety,” he replied. “As you have noted on numerous occasions, luck is a bitch who seems to have abandoned us.”

Laughter bubbled through me as my gaze shot to his. “Azriel! Did you just swear?”

He raised his eyebrows, his expression bemused, though amusement danced in his bright eyes. “Is not a bitch a female dog? How is that swearing?”

I grinned, knowing he was teasing and trying to lighten my mood. I leaned forward and kissed him. “Thank you,” I murmured, my lips so close to his I could taste every breath.

“You are most welcome.” He gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “Just be careful in there.”

“I will.” I stepped away from the warmth of his touch, then took another of those deep breaths that did little to calm the butterflies, and stepped toward the roller door.

Energy skittered across my skin, the sensation sharp and unpleasant. I ignored it and got down on my hands and knees to squeeze through the small hole. The sensation increased, until it felt as if I was being swarmed by sand flies. My skin twitched and crawled, and I had to bite my lip against the desire to back out. However unpleasant the sensation was, it wasn’tactually stopping me. I guess that was something I had to be thankful for, even if I really didn’t want to enter this place alone.

Once inside, I stood up, dusting off my hands as I stepped away from the door. The stinging sensation eased immediately.

“I’m in,” I said, rather unnecessarily.

“Can you see or sense anything?”

I looked around. The light that filtered in through the grimy windows highlighted the dust and rubbish lying in drifting piles along the loading bay’s ramp. Three doors led off the platform that ran around the sides of the dock, and there were stairs down at the far end that led up to them. I could neither see nor smell anything or anyone out of the ordinary, but I hadn’t last time, either. But there was something here – something that crawled along the edges of my psychic senses.

Magic.

“They haven’t abandoned this place, that’s one certainty.” I drew Amaya. Flames rippled down her sides, casting a lilac glow across the nearby concrete.

“If this is where they hide the gateway onto the fields, it would be highly illogical for them to do so,” he said. “But they will more than likely have added additional security. Tread warily.”

“I did that last time, and still fell through the goddamn floor.”

“So this time don’t ignore intuition when it suggests something is wrong.”

“That would be totally logical, and you know I don’t always work that way.”

“Unfortunately, that is very true.” His voice was wry, and I smiled as I cautiously moved up the ramp. The last time we’d been here, Jak and I had chosen the middle door of the three that were situated on this upper level, and had subsequently triggered a trap. Maybe a change of entry point would change my luck.

I stopped at the first door and scanned it for anything out of place. It was one of those half-glass doors, but enough paint had peeled off the lower section that the grime had stained the wood almost black. There didn’t appear to be any sort of security – magic or otherwise – so I reached for the door handle. The damn thing was locked. Which wasn’t surprising if they wanted to direct all traffic to the middle door. But having sprung that trap once, I wasn’t about to go there again.