Winter Halo (Outcast 2)

“And one Sal was not only capable of, but also his partners. Remember, I was tracked to Old Stan’s by someone who neither of us could see.”

“Someone whose scent was feminine.” He was silent for a minute, his gaze sweeping the shadows. “Did these so-called ghosts do anything?”

I quickly repeated everything Kendra had said, then added, “But the wounds she showed me were made by either a knife or a needle. I believe they were taking a blood sample.”

He frowned. “Is that going to create a problem for you when we get you in there?”

“Given that we’re not sure what they’re actually testing for, I can’t say. They’ll find both vampire and tiger shifter DNA, but it might be something of an advantage in this case.”

“Except that they’ll know you’re a déchet.”

“Yes, but for all they know, the person I’m replacing might be one of the rare survivors of a vampire attack and therefore a dhampir. I’d imagine their DNA would be similar to that of a déchet, given survivors undergo a physical change.”

“Yes, but the vampire factor will undoubtedly cause alarm. The next logical step would be to check that person’s history, as all survivors by law have to be listed.” He paused, his expression thoughtful. “It could be possible, of course, to alter said history and add a line or two about surviving an attack.”

I snorted. “And how are you going to do that? With the government connections you swear you don’t have?”

“We are not connected. As I said, we just undertake certain operations on a per-mission basis.”

“That is a connection in my books.” I finished the portion of trail bread and brushed the crumbs off my fingers. “Whatever is going on at Winter Halo is happening in the upper levels. Until I can get in there, Fontaine is our best source of information.”

“If he knows anything. He may not.”

“If the financial director doesn’t know where the bodies are buried, I’m not sure who would.”

Jonas half smiled. “Stranger things have happened.”

Yeah, like a ranger being attracted to a déchet despite his experiences in the war and the hatred that ran river deep within him—not that he’d verbalize the attraction any more than I intended to.

It took us just under an hour to get to Carleen. I paused on the wide, empty verge that separated the park from the city’s broken walls and scanned the area. As usual, Carleen was still and silent. Something had changed, though—the pall of darkness that hung over this place whether it was night or day had deepened. But it wasn’t just the darkness that came from the suffering and the death of all those who’d been in this city when the last bombs of the war razed it, nor was it the darkness that came with the presence of so many rifts. This darkness held not only a deep and alien sense of power but also hate. The sort of hate that had started a war and almost destroyed a world.

And it was coming from the center of Carleen, where the wall of unseen energy surrounded the city square and the few building remnants that still stood there.

Nuri was right. The magic was growing in power. What that meant for not only Carleen and its ghosts, but also those of us who lived beyond its broken walls, I couldn’t say. But I had a bad feeling we needed to find some way to either stop it or destroy it before it gained too much of a foothold in this world.

“There are no rifts nearby,” Jonas said.

“I wish the same could be said about that magic.”

He glanced at me sharply. “It’s moved?”

“It’s more that it’s bleeding into the surrounding areas rather than moving.” I hesitated, then forced my feet forward. “I think you’d better tell Nuri to get her ass up here as soon as the sun is up tomorrow. I think it’s a threat that needs to be dealt with promptly.”

He didn’t say anything, meaning he was more than likely passing my comments on to Nuri. I jumped onto a low section of wall and once again paused, taking in the ruptured remnants of buildings and—to my left—the remains of what had once been a main road through the city. It was littered with building rubble, weeds, and trees that had been twisted into odd shapes thanks to the eddying magic of the rifts. Plastic of various shapes and sizes—rubbish that had survived the destruction far better than Carleen itself—provided spots of color against the gray of this place, as did the alien moss that continued to claim a growing portion of the city, and which glowed with an unworldly luminescence.

“Nuri is on the way.”

I glanced at him. “She’s risking coming out at night? When she’s night-blind?”

“Yes. There are such things as night-vision goggles, you know.” He stopped beside me. “She asked us to wait for her.”

“You wait. I need to go investigate the rift this magic protects.”

“But—”

“No,” I cut in. “It’ll take Nuri at least an hour to get here, and that is time we cannot spare if indeed it is running out for those kids.”

“If the magic has grown, then you may not get past it. Nuri can at least tell us where its boundaries now lie.”