Memory Zero (Spook Squad 1)

“So why isn’t he a shapechanger like Gabriel? How can twins have two totally different talents?”

“Both talents are strong in their family.” He shrugged. “Twins aren’t always identical, so why would their talents always be identical?”

“Makes sense, I suppose.” She swallowed the last of her drink and held out the glass. “I don’t suppose I could have another?”

“I think we both need one.” Karl accepted her glass and moved back to the bar.

She sat back down and watched the vid-screen. There were still lots of people pouring out of the partially destroyed building, and there were plenty more milling around a safe distance away. That was surely a good sign, especially since the state police offices had only a skeletal staff on at night. But she guessed it depended on just how much damage was done to the underground floors.

“It’s sometimes better not to watch,” Karl said, holding out her glass.

She blinked away a tear and accepted it with a nod of thanks. “I need to know—”

She stopped. He was right. She didn’t need to see this. There was nothing she could do to change what had happened. Nothing she could do if someone had died in her place. Nothing she could do to ease the sense of guilt that would probably haunt the rest of her nights.

“Turn it off.” She took a large swallow of scotch. At the rate she was consuming the alcohol, she’d end up drunk in no time. And maybe that would be a blessing.

The panel eased shut over the images, and Karl sat back down. “Want to talk about the tests and why I want to run them?”

“Let me guess. I can see the kites, and you want to know why.” Her voice had a sarcastic edge. She glanced at the liquid, then shrugged and took another drink. What the hell. Maybe if she offended him enough, he’d throw her out of the house, and that, too, might be a blessing. Alone, she just might be able to start finding some answers instead of stumbling into blocks all the time.

Karl considered her for a moment, his brown eyes curious and friendly. “Actually, no. I’m more interested in the fact that you may have Shadow Walker blood in you.”

She blinked. She’d wanted honesty, and Karl was certainly giving it. “Shadow Walker? What the hell is that?”

“A race that died out some fifty years ago.”

“If it died out, how can I have it?”

“Maybe someone kept it alive.”

Maybe it was the alcohol, but his answers weren’t exactly making sense. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not really sure myself.”

He wasn’t trying to avoid an answer—he simply didn’t know. Both his body language and her own innate ability to sense a lie told her as much. And yet that same innate ability was telling her something was very wrong. She shifted and tried a different tack. “So what is a Shadow Walker?”

“It’s a very rare race that is said to be vaguely related to the vampires, without possessing their need for blood to survive.”

She hastily swallowed more scotch, then asked, “Why are they called Shadow Walkers?”

“Because, like vampires, they could disappear into shadows.”

Which was definitely something she could not do. “Why the hell do you think I might have Shadow Walker blood in me?”

“Because of your eyes.”

She raised her brows. “My eyes waver between blue and gray. Nothing special in that.”

“Walkers supposedly had eyes the same as yours.”

She snorted. “So does half the population of Melbourne. Blue eyes are very fashionable at the moment.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “Are you prepared to take the tests?”

“Why the hell not?” It couldn’t hurt, and maybe one of these damn tests might eventually give her some clues to her past.

“Good. We’ll start them in the morning.”