Page 36 of A Shade Too Far
Daya covered her mouth because she’d eaten some chocolate. “Speaking of which, Evani keeps asking about her playdate with Boo and the baby.”
I chuckled, stirring more sugar into my tea. Emmett was going to hate that so much.
“Emmett is staying with Tatiana,” Laurent said. “Sadly, that can’t happen.”
“It can and will as soon as Tatiana is out of danger.” I nudged Laurent. “I made a promise to Evani, and I intend to keep it.”
“He’s not coming back to live with me,” Laurent grumbled. “I don’t run a home for wayward golems.”
Naveen knocked on the table. “Forget that. How did you get through the booby traps? Did Tatiana or the vampire have information on them?”
“I wish.” I tore off another bunch of grapes and popped one in my mouth. Summer fruit was the best. “It was luck and…” I shivered.
Naveen nodded. “The remains.”
“That young man didn’t deserve to die. I mean, yeah, he wanted the gloves, and he’d taken us hostage, but we didn’t kill him. It was one of Torres’s booby traps.”
“I know,” Naveen said.
A text came in on my phone, startling me. It was Harry informing me that I could drop by Blood Alley anytime tonight. I set the screen facedown on the table. “We got a lot more careful after that, but still. The outcome could easily have been very different.” I twisted my hands in my lap.
Laurent draped his arm on the back of my chair. He wasn’t touching me, but it was a comforting gesture, nonetheless. It was done so casually, without him even looking at me, that I’m not sure he was aware of it.
“If neither Tatiana nor BatKian had that info,” Laurent said, “how likely would it be that this dybbuk-woman unearthed it?”
“Unlikely, but not impossible,” Naveen said. “Those rooms were built in sections, each one by a different group, and Santiago didn’t leave loose ends. However, his personal guards had the route in case they ever had to get him out.”
Jeez. He’d murdered his workmen? My failure to save him was getting easier to live with.
“You think one of his guards betrayed him?” Laurent said.
“For the right price?” Naveen shrugged. “It’ll make sussing any intel out of them trickier.”
Daya shook her head. “Why couldn’t you become an explosives expert like you declared when you were a kid? I don’t let you live here out of the goodness of my heart, Nav, and if I have to find another babysitter for Evani, I will be extremely put out.”
He raised his eyebrows. “And leave her alone with you? Please. I wouldn’t do that to the child.”
“You’re a right shit.”
He grinned.
Their fierce loyalty and loving manner sent a pang through my chest. Daya didn’t seem to have any difficulties with magic, even with the tragedy it had brought into her life. Would Sadie, Eli, and I get to this same place?
When I’d left my librarian position at the law firm a few weeks ago, my work friendships had fallen away. I was slowly building a new circle with people that I didn’t have to hide my magic from, and it would have been nice to include these two, but I wasn’t sure how realistic that was.
“Even so.” Daya mussed up her brother’s carefully groomed locks. “Be careful. You told me Santiago was extremely powerful and that dybbuk, wherever it came from, still killed him.”
“Yeah, he was,” he said thoughtfully, smoothing out his hair. “If an Ohrist’s magic can make someone’s head explode, it’s a problem if they get possessed. But if all they can do is slide a glass across a table, the magic itself doesn’t make the dybbuk dangerous. The dybbuk’s desire to inflict pain would have to take different forms.”
“Like Mei Lin manufacturing drugs,” Laurent said, referring to a dybbuk we’d tracked down a while back.
“Right,” Naveen said. “But if this woman’s magic let the dybbuk leave her body, then that’s the full extent of her power. It doesn’t explain how she killed Santiago. Or rather, why he couldn’t defend himself from the attack since she had nothing else to boost the dybbuk’s strength. Can Ohrists not kill dybbuks?”
“Santiago being attacked, rather than inhabited by a dybbuk, is new territory for me.” Laurent absently traced a circle on the table. “Ohrists can’t sense dybbuks or see them, so if we get enthralled, we aren’t aware of it until they make their presence known by trying to take control of our bodies. This was different. Santiago would have felt the attack, but he couldn’t see his assailant to strike the dybbuk directly with his magic.”
“Santiago’s magic flared out like a net. There’s no way it would have missed the dybbuk, and you’re avoiding my question, mate.” There was a pointedness to Naveen’s easy smile and friendly tone that put me on edge, and I braced myself for more accusations. Naveen stood up to lean over the table. “Can Ohrists kill dybbuks? Yes or no?”
Laurent didn’t answer, his head bowed.
Naveen’s eyes widened, his brow furrowed, and he took an unsteady step backward. “Ohrists can’t kill the bastards, can we?” He slammed the table. “Can we?”
I glanced between them in confusion, which only grew when Daya looked away guiltily.
“Only BS magic can.” Naveen exhaled in a single hard breath like he’d been punched and a cold mask dropped over his features. He clenched his fists, his arms shaking. “You son of a bitch,” he snarled and lunged for Laurent.
