Page 47

As soon as Nick took in the woman standing there, his muddy brown eyes grew visibly darker. I suspected they were turning blood red behind the contact lenses.

As for me, I just froze in place, shocked.

How the hell had she managed to sneak up on us?

That was damned hard to do with two seers… much less a vampire… even when they’re as distracted by something as we’d been by Wicker.

I remembered then, what Black told us, and everything clicked.

This had to be Rania Gorren, the “Ms. Silver” who came to Black’s office. She wore the slightly-less-advanced version of Rucker’s implant, the one they might be pulling out of Rucker’s bullet-mangled brain even now.

Black said the implant blocked her mind from seer probes. I hadn’t fully understood what that meant until the woman stood right in front of me.

Her mind and light felt like they lived behind a steel wall.

It made her appear unreal, doll-like.

Physically, she looked maybe forty, with pale blond hair cut in a severe bob and some of the lightest blue eyes I’d ever seen,especially on a non-seer. She strode into the room on six-inch heels, and completely ignored me and Nick.

Her eyes bored into Black’s.

Unlike with the admin assistant, I saw nothing sexual in that stare.

She eventually walked all the way around the desk to stand directly behind Leon Wicker, looking all the world like a bodyguard, or maybe a handler, despite weighing maybe one hundred and five pounds soaking wet. She looked overdressed, even here, and especially next to Wicker, who still wore the stained lab coat and cheap watch, his hair uncombed. Gorren stood erect in a gray, tailored suit, diamond earrings, a diamond pendant, a diamond-studded watch, and four diamond rings, none of them on her wedding finger, and black, silk stockings.

It was difficult to believe she was just a lawyer.

She had to be more than that.

Agreed,Black’s mind murmured in mine.But it’s a little hard to verify that, doc, given I can’t read a single fucking thing off her. I can’t hear her thoughts. I can’t feel the slightest hint of emotion, or mood, or temperament, nor even if she’s tired or hungry or about to murder me. I can’t even see heraleimi,for fuck’s sake…

He paused for a single beat of my heart.

…Can you?he asked pointedly.Can you see or feel any of those things, doc?

I knew better than to look at him.

We still had no idea if these people knew what we were.

I considered asking Black for more information, then dismissed that, too. I pushed everything else aside and focused my mind on the woman’s.

I slid past her… through her… around her.

Honestly, I’d never felt anything like it, not even back before I knew what I was, when my attempts to read people weregenerally a lot weaker and more abstract. I backed off, then tried with Gorren a second time. I reached out with significantly more of my living light. Everything on my side felt normal, strong even, probably because I hadn’t used my sight skills much in days, if not weeks.

It felt like flexing a muscle aching to be used.

I did everything right… I even tried a few tricks Jem taught me, things that were more sneaky and utilized skill over brute force. I tried a number of those, then tried hammering on heraleimiagain. None of it worked. I couldn’t connect.

It felt like climbing an ice wall with my bare hands.

I blinked, tried again.

And again.

Finally, I glanced at Black.

He didn’t return my look, but from his expression, I knew he’d already felt exactly how unsuccessful I’d been.