I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, long enough that the purple sky went to black, long enough that when I turned around and started walking back toward my car, the path was lined with crows, an honorless guard garbed in cloaks of black feathers.
Each of them with their eyes missing as if someone had purposefully poked them out so they would be blind to the world around them, to the darkness I carried with me.
Creepier than that.
When I finally left the realm of the fae and made it to my car, the darkness had followed.
I stopped walking and turned around as stark blackness filled my line of vision. It should have been impossible.
And yet there I was, surrounded by the very thing most people feared.
I had brought death to the human realm.
And I had no way of fixing it.
Other than calling on the immortal council and once again asking for help I wasn’t sure they could even give.
With a cry, I slammed my hands onto the hood of my Ferrari and looked down as ash fell from my fingertips.
I was well and truly screwed.
KYRA
I hated how much I thought of him.
Timber left like the hounds of hell were chasing him. From next to me, Tarek snorted out a laugh like something I said was funny.
Only I wasn’t talking.
“You okay?” I tossed one of the bar rags in his direction. He swiped it out of the air with his right hand and gave me an amused grin.
He was beautiful in a hipster sort of way.
Why wasn’t I thinking of my new co-worker instead of my boss?
“Life and death are a lot like love and hate,” Tarek said cryptically again like he could read my thoughts. His brown eyes went almost black as they darted back and forth as though reading an invisible book in front of his face. “One cannot exist without the other, counterparts exist to bring balance to the world, just like good and evil.”
“O…kaayyyy…” I narrowed my eyes and was tempted to press my hand against his forehead to see if it was burning up. “Too many shots?”
He snorted out a laugh. “Not near enough, I have a fast metabolism.” He patted his flat muscular stomach. No crap it was a fast metabolism, I saw him maul two burgers an hour ago, if I did that they’d have to roll me out of here.
I gave my head a shake. “Do you need help with anything else?”
“Nope.” He shrugged and gave me the goofy grin I was used to. “You can go home. I’ll make sure all the drunk college kids make good choices.”
“Hah.” I rolled my eyes. “They come in here to make bad choices not good choices.”
“True.” He winked and again I felt nothing, huh. “Go, just…” He sniffed, then sniffed again.
“Hey, are you getting sick?” I reached out toward him but he was already backing away and looking out the front window down the street. “Tarek?”
“Shadows,” he whispered under his breath. “On second thought…” He shrugged. “I think I’ll just walk you home.”
“I live only a few blocks away,” I pointed out. “And I have pepper spray.”
He winced. “Yeah, pepper spray hardly keeps someone away if they’re hell bent on killing you.”
“Wow, great bedtime story, thanks!” I snatched up my purse and jerked my head toward the door. “You can follow me if you must…”