City of Light (Outcast 1)

“Even if they were using the rift in the brothel,” Jonas said, between mouthfuls of stew, “it still doesn’t explain how they’re getting from that basement and into the children’s homes without being either seen or crisped by the UVs.”

“Unless, of course, they have help from someone in Central,” Nuri commented. “And I’m afraid I believe that to be the case.”

I munched on some bread. It was still warm, and as delicious as the stew. “But how would the wraiths even make a deal with someone from Central? As I’ve already said, they don’t speak our language, and it’s not like they can advertise.”

Nuri half smiled. “True. And I don’t think that’s what’s happening here, anyway. The magic is more a bastardization from both worlds, and there is something very volatile about its feel. It’s almost as if the two were fused together by force rather than desire.”

“Meaning what?” Jonas asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I need more time to study that barrier.”

“And the false rift in Deseo?” I said. “What’s happening with that?”

“Ela—the other shifter your little ghost saw in the bar—has just acquired a job there. She’ll keep an eye on who goes into—or comes out of—that basement.”

“She can hardly be there twenty-four/seven. And Jonas said electronic surveillance is impractical.”

“Which it is,” Nuri agreed. “And that is why Ela is not the only one going in.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How many people do you have working for you?”

“With me, not for me.” Amusement touched her lips. “The core group is four, but we have half a dozen shifters we trust who we can call on in times of need.”

“Are those shifters the same ones you were having the disagreement with when I first arrived with Penny?” I paused. “How is she, by the way?”

“No. And Penny . . . she’s okay.” Nuri hesitated. “We’re currently keeping her isolated, as I can’t break past the darkness that clouds her thoughts, and I do not trust it.”

“There was something about her manner that disturbed me.” My gaze swept from Nuri to Jonas and back again. “But I figured it was the same shadow that I sometimes sense in both of you.”

“Did you, now?” Nuri shared a brief glance with Jonas. “But you’re wrong. Whatever you sense in our auras, it is not the source of Penny’s current problems.”

Which didn’t tell me a whole lot. “Then what do you think is?”

She hesitated. “I’m not sure, but it has the same basic feel as that barrier in the crater.”

“Meaning Penny is linked to the barrier somehow?” Even as I asked the question, a very bad feeling began to grow deep inside me. That barrier had ultimately led to a rift that had taken me to a laboratory guarded by vampires—and if the darkness of that barrier had infused Penny’s aura, what were the chances that whatever was happening to her also somehow linked her to the vampires?

“Either that, or she’s linked to whomever created that barrier.” Nuri paused, and her power surged briefly, burning across my skin, tasting, testing. “What is it?”

I swallowed my mouthful of stew and met her gaze. “Is it possible the darkness within that barrier also has the taint of vampire?”

She frowned. “Vampires are not capable of magic.”

“No, but they do share a collective consciousness.”

“Yes, but I don’t see how that connects to the barrier and Penny.”

“The false rift I went through today took me into some sort of old military bunker,” I said, “within which was a new and fully functional lab. It was protected by lights, but the vampires were protecting the lab itself.”

“Which explains the mess you were in when you appeared back in Carleen,” Jonas murmured. “It’s a wonder you managed to get out if you appeared in the middle of a nest.”

“It wasn’t a nest.” I met his somewhat skeptical gaze evenly. “And they were initially asleep.”

“I’m still not seeing why you think Penny and the vampires might be linked,” Nuri said, with another of those warning looks to Jonas.

I hesitated. “Last night, when the vampires attacked my bunker, they also raised the grate that protects it. Aside from the fact they didn’t need to, no one but myself and my ghosts know the code for that gate. No one but Penny, who saw me key it in.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch,” Jonas commented. “For a start, the technology is so old it would probably take someone with an electronic lock pick all of three seconds to crack.”