Winter Halo (Outcast 2)

“Do you know why she moved it?” Because by doing so, she’d basically informed Sal’s partners there was a witch of some power working in opposition—if they didn’t already know it, that is.

Bear’s energy touched my arm lightly. She said the ghosts had suffered enough. That while she could no longer offer them the choice of moving on, she could at least stop the suffering the rift was causing.

I frowned. Why couldn’t she help the ghosts move on? She’d forced the déchet ghosts in the Broken Mountains bunker to move on, so why not those in Carleen? Why could she move déchet spirits on, and not human? “What are they doing now?”

This time it was Cat who answered. Nuri returns to Chaos to replenish herself. Jonas has gone to the bunker. There are men there again.

“Doing what?”

Deciding whether it is worth the effort of restoring the museum.

Which could be either good or bad news, depending on whether closure meant simply abandoning it or going to the trouble of bulldozing it and then reverting the area to more parkland. Not that they needed more parkland outside the walls. Few people used the current parks, especially these days when the vamps had all but wiped out the wildlife.

“I gather our little ones are keeping an eye on them?”

Amusement spun around me. I had a feeling the engineers were suffering an inordinate number of misplaced tools.

And while Cat and Bear might be oldest of all the children, it was still something of a favorite trick of theirs. Even I wasn’t immune to it, especially when they had nothing else to catch their interest.

I pushed away from the window. Going back to the bunker was now out of the question, so I might as well rest here. It wasn’t like I was going to get a lot of sleep when I met Charles tonight. He might be in his sunset years, he might not have had many lovers of late, but there was certainly nothing wrong with his stamina. “Can you both keep an eye on what is happening on the street? If any corps or guards look set to enter the building, wake me.”

Bear’s energy touched mine briefly. Can we explore the building?

I smiled. “Just don’t forget to keep an eye on the street.”

They spun around me happily, then zoomed off, leaving me wondering if the residents here were also about to suffer an inexplicable number of missing or moved items.

I headed upstairs. My head had barely touched the softer-than-a-cloud pillows when sleep

hit. I woke at sunset—not that it was evident, given the never-ending brightness that was flooding the room. Central’s people feared darkness so much that they didn’t even sleep in it. There’d been no light controls in any of the apartments I’d been in; the lights were simply on twenty-four/seven.

I dressed and headed downstairs. Cat and Bear happily filled me in on everything that had happened over the day. They’d explored the entire building—in between checking the street, they added somewhat hastily—and approved the place as a temporary residence.

“I’m afraid it’s not one you can stay in,” I said. “I need you both at the bunker tonight, just in case another attack comes. But return once the sun is up tomorrow.”

I gave them a hug and sent them on their way. Then I headed out to meet Charles. He gave me a smile when he saw me approaching, but there was little warmth in it, and the kiss he placed on my cheek was also rather functional.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, when he didn’t immediately do anything else.

He started, then scrubbed a hand across his eyes. “Yes. I mean no.” He grimaced. “Sorry, it’s work. And I shouldn’t be letting it get in the way of my time with you.”

“If you’d prefer to simply go home, we can do this another—”

“No, no,” he cut in hastily. “The prospect of your company is the only thing that got me through the day.”

“Then perhaps we should retreat somewhere where you can relax rather than continuing on to the restaurant. My place is just down the street. Or we could go back to yours.” I hesitated and touched his arm. Despite the fact that it wasn’t skin-on-skin contact, one word nevertheless leapt into my mind—Daybreaker. Whatever it was, he sure as hell was worried about it if my seeking skills were picking it up on such a fleeting contact through cloth. “And I have been trained as a sexual masseuse.”

“Ah well, that is an invitation I cannot refuse.”

I smiled and tucked my arm into his. “I also have a very well-stocked autocook and a lovely selection of wines. And as a bonus, I have the place to myself for the next two weeks.”

“You share?” He sounded somewhat horrified at the thought.

“Yes.” I shrugged. “Until I decide what I want to do, it is for the best.”

He grunted and lapsed into silence again. I didn’t mind, because my seeking skills were picking up random bits of information. Whatever Daybreaker was, it was sucking up huge amounts of money—too much, in Charles’s opinion. There were also staff troubles, but the images I was receiving on that were rather random and fleeting. To know more, I’d have to wait until he was deep inside.

Once we reached the apartment, I pulled free and stepped toward the kitchen. “Would you like something to drink before we start?”