Darkness Splintered (Dark Angels 6)

A reluctant smile touched my lips. “Oh, I don’t know about that. There were definitely occasions when it seemed your thoughts were elsewhere.”

“If my thoughts were elsewhere, you can bet it was because I was trying not to come. You, my dear, can sometimes make a man a little too quick on the trigger.”

My smile grew. “I did notice you had a tendency to fire off a little too soon —”

“It didn’t happen that often,” he said, nudging me with his shoulder.

“If you say so,” I murmured, amused. The elevator door opened and I stepped inside.

He followed close behind. “What floor are we heading to, and why?”

“Top floor, to what would have been Lucian’s apartment. I’m looking for clues.”

He punched the appropriate button. “Clues for what?”

I grimaced. “I wasn’t Lucian’s sole bed partner. Not only was he bedding a dark sorceress, but we’re pretty sure the two of them were partners in crime with the sorcerer who stole the keys.”

“Well, speaking from experience, the man had to have superman’s stamina if he could cope with more than you in his bed.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You and I are over, so you really can stop with all the compliments.”

“Hey, throwing a compliment doesn’t mean I want back in your bed. I mean, yeah, I’d love it, but I’ve come to accept it’s not going to happen.” He paused, then added more seriously, “So we’re looking for something to pin down the sorceress?”

“No, because we know who she is. However, we’re not looking for anything. I’m looking. I don’t believe you were invited to this particular party.”

“Unfortunately, you’re stuck with me. I mean, considering the options and all, what choice do you have?”

“That sounded like a threat, and really? That’s not a place you want to go.”

“It wasn’t so much a threat,” he murmured. “Not considering you could probably get your uncle to throw my ass into jail or erase my memory.”

“Then what the hell was it?”

“More a… reminder. I know what I know, simply because I have the contacts. Contacts you still need.”

I should have been annoyed, but the reality was, he was right. I’d gone to Jak in the first place because of those contacts, and I still very much needed them.

But given the fact that everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, I at least owed him the chance to back away. Not that I thought he would – not when the scent of a story was in his nostrils.

“Jak, the people who want the keys are threatening the life of everyone I care about.” I met his gaze again, hoping he’d see that I was totally serious. “The more you attach yourself to this quest, the more likely the chance of you becoming one of its victims.”

“And tomorrow I could die crossing the road,” he said, with a shrug.

“Jak, I’m not kidding —”

“I know.” He squeezed my arm lightly, his fingers warm against my skin. “I don’t mean to downplay the danger, but it’s a danger I’ve faced before. I’m a paranormal and occult news investigator, remember?”

“You’ve never faced this sort of danger before,” I muttered, glancing up at the floor indicator as the elevator came to a bouncing halt.

The doors swished open. “Perhaps not,” he agreed. “But it doesn’t alter the fact that I always do whatever is necessary to get my story.”

And one of those necessary things was hooking up with me to get a story on my mother. While I knew not everything about our relationship had been faked, it had certainly been more real to me than it ever had been to him.

The elevator opened directly into what Lucian had planned to be the living room of his penthouse apartment. It was still filled with building debris, although many of the plastic sheets that had defined the different areas the last time I was there were gone. But the new walls hadn’t yet received a coat of paint and cables hung everywhere, looking like a network of intertwined snakes.

Snakes were better than spiders, I thought with a shiver. And then wondered whether that was clairvoyance or merely paranoia speaking.

“Wow,” Jak said, looking around. “This place is huge.”