Page 29 of Silver Claw

“You don’t want to destroy the world,” she murmured, finally. “You don’t want to cause harm to innocents. You’re a protector. A veritable fucking angel. And I messed you up. I went too far. But I’m going to try to make up for my mistake.”

“There’s no making up for that,” Joe said.

My insides were quivering, and I began to pace. I said nothing, because I was drowning in the realization that I really had lost my power. It wasn’t coming back. It was just…gone. Dead.

It sank in, and it was odd that my first thought was calling upon the angel, Lucas. He was an actualangel. Powerful like nothing I’d ever seen. Surely he could help. He could give me some power. He wanted me to fight with him, eventually. How could I fight with the angels if my power was gone?

“Kait?” Anika said. “You still with me?”

“Because you have a need to play God, I’ve lost magic that I would only have used to fight the evil, and people are going to die,” I murmured. “I fought things a woman, a wolf, and a demon blade can’t handle. How can I be a protector when I have no magic? Every person who dies because I wasn’t enough to save them…that’s on you.”

But I knew I’d only ever blame myself.

She was silent for a few seconds. “No one is perfect, Kait Silver. Not even me.” Abruptly, she changed the subject. “There are fights coming, and you’ll handle them. I put a little something extra in those cuts. All for you.” There was a smile in her voice.

Anika Draper was one strange supernatural. “I’m taking that blade,” I told her. “Someday, I’m taking that fucking blade.”

“I won’t blame you for trying,” she said blandly. Then, “There are a couple more things I need to tell you.”

I closed my eyes, wondering if it could possibly get worse.

She spoke into my silence. “One, the wolf, Gavin Voss.”

“What about him?”

“This is going to hurt you, Kait, but Voss has taken over the territories he’s gone after because…”

Her hesitation surprised me. Anika Draper hadn’t struck me as the type of person who dreaded imparting bad news. “Spit it out,” I told her.

“He has magic inside him, Kait. Not like you did. Not so much magic that a siphoner is going to be summoned to sort him out. But he is powerful. When you fight him, one-on-one, be ready for that. He’ll take it out and play with you before he kills you with it. That’s how he’ll destroy Jared Walker, if Walker isn’t aware. Voss likes to surprise people with his magic. And that’s how I’m going to make up for killing yours. I’m going to help you take that fucker down. I’m good backup, I promise.”

I sat down behind my desk, abruptly tired.

“Suck it out of him,” Joe demanded. “Kill it the way you did Kait’s.”

“I can’t do that,” she said. “I can’t take magic just because it’s there. The second thing I need you to know.” She didn’t wait for me to prompt her. “When I was siphoning out your power, I told you I felt something else in there. Something I couldn’t touch, and I didn’t want to.”

I got the feeling she shuddered, because there was something close to disgust in her voice. I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re a shapeshifter. That’s extremely powerful.”

I shook my head. “You sucked that out, too. I’ve tried twice to shapeshift since your attack. I couldn’t do it.”

“That’s not because of me, sweetheart. Your shifter isn’t something I can take. It’s still there, so if you’re not shifting, the problem is in your brain. But that’s not—”

“You can stillshapeshift,Kait?” Joe’s voice rumbled, quietly joyful, and I couldn’t help but begin once again to feel some hope. “If she’s right, you have your wolf and your shapeshifter. Even without your magic, that’s some powerful stuff.”

“I’ll try again,” I murmured.

“Anyway,” Anika interrupted. “You two need to shut up and listen to me. It’s not just the shapeshifter I felt. It’s something worse than that.”

Definitely disgust.

“What is it?” I asked, impatient.

“There’s still magic inside you, but I couldn’t reach it. I couldn’t touch it, and like I said, I didn’t want to. It was bad shit, Kait. And without the good to balance it, I’m not sure what would happen if you found it. If you became it.” She paused. “I’m just not sure.”

“My psycho,” I whispered, and despite myself, I began to smile.