Moon Sworn (Riley Jenson Guardian 9)

I pulled on the gloves then cautiously touched the wire. Even through the gloves I could feel the heat of the silver, but it wasn't hot enough to stop me from undoing the wire.

Evin jerked away the minute the wire was loose enough and quickly rubbed his raw neck. "Fuck, that stuff burns."

I chucked the wire out the door then slammed it shut. "I gather you've never had an encounter with silver before?"

"No. But I take it you have?"

"I've been shot by the stuff so many times I'm now super-sensitive to it." I flicked open the switchblade and studied the point. It was certainly sharp enough to do the job. After a moment, I became aware of Evin's heated stare. "What?"

"Did you even hear what you just said?"

I smiled. "Yes. And no, I can't explain it, beyond the fact that I'm involved on some level with the Directorate."

"Then whoever is behind all this is playing a mighty dangerous game. Even I know you don't fuck around with Directorate people. Not if you value your life."

"Which is probably why he gave me another identity. Then he could kill me without raising any alarms."

"As I said before, this whole situation is fucked." He gave the knife point a somewhat dubious look. "I take it you want me to take the earrings out of your ears."

"I tried taking them off the first time I had a shower. They wouldn't budge. Cutting them out seems to be my only option."

He took the knife somewhat gingerly. "It'll hurt."

I shrugged. "I'm tough."

"I'm beginning to realize that," he muttered, then motioned me to turn around.

I did so, reaching across with one hand and sweeping the short strands of my hair out of the way. His touch on my ear was light and firm.

"It does feel like they're embedded," he commented. "Don't jerk away when I cut or I might just tear your lobe off."

"I won't."

Cold metal touched my ear, slicing into my flesh. Evin's touch was surprisingly delicate, and the cut didn't hurt all that much. After a few seconds, the blade was gone and his fingers were pulling at my ear. Something dropped onto the seat between us and bounced onto the floor of the truck.

"Other one," Evin said.

I resisted the impulse to reach down and grab whatever had fallen out and twisted around on the seat, so that he could reach my right ear. He repeated the process, but this time, he had to pry the thing out of my ear. It felt like it was being pulled out of my ear canal rather than my lobe, a sensation that had my stomach rising and my head spinning.

"Fuck," I said, jerking away the minute it was free and rubbing my ear fiercely. "That one hurt."

And other than the pain, I didn't really feel any different with the earrings gone. For some reason, I thought I would.

But maybe I needed to do something - like shape-shift - to see if removing them had actually improved my situation. Right now, we didn't have that time. West would be close to the whaling station by now. We really needed to get moving, just in case he came back. I took the brake off and hit the gas. Dirt and stones sprayed the underneath of the truck as the tires skidded then gripped, and the big truck surged forward once more.

"It looks like a battery," Evin said, examining the earring. "Only it's got a tail."

I held out a hand and he dropped it into my palm. It was small and round, and the silk-fine tail was about two and a half inches long.

Evin reached down and picked up the remains of the other earring. It was also small, but without the tail.

"I have no idea what they are," he said. "Do you?"

I shook my head. "But when I tried to shift shape, I was hit by an intense pain - it felt like my brain was on fire. Maybe this is the reason why."

"How the hell can something that small stop a shifter from taking their other shape?"

"Nanotechnology means the smallest devices can be extremely powerful."