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He strode past the pit trap, seely headed toward the shadowed corner He wasn’t the sorcerer – his build was far too short and stocky – but if he was going to use whatever lay hidden by those stones, then he was someone we needed to talk to

Do it fast, Azriel coer

Like I didn’t realize that The shifter drew closer and tension wound throughwith the need to move, to attack I waited until he’d passed the office in which I’d hidden, then rose and ran after him, as quickly and as silently as I could

He sensedout with a booted foot The bloas so fast it was little more than a blur I twisted away, and his heel scraped acrossitself inblade rather than hilt, and swung her hard The blow caught hih in the forearuttural, alht his balance all too swiftly and launched at limpse of his features as I spun away, and realized with a sinking sensation exactly what I was dealing with He wasn’t a shifter, or even a Razan, but rather another of those beings who’d been twisted byas his brethren Maybe our sorcerer was getting the hang of perverting the souls of others

I ducked under another leap but this ti in midair to crash body-first into runt, briefly winded, led in his I swore, pulled an arm free, and chopped doith A cracked He howled, the sound one of fury and pain combined, and lashed out with an elbow The blow struck h to rattle teeth, and for a moment I saw stars

Amaya hissed in fury, a sound I could only echo I bucked, trying to get hi a ton of bricks He laughed and grabbed at rimy concrete, his breath thick and fetid as it washed across my face He may not have s inside

I bucked again, this tiet my knees under him I thrust hied toward hi out, trying to hook mine I leapt over it and landed, knees first, in the s, I smashed my fist into his chin with as much force as I could muster His head snapped sideways and his body went limp He was out cold

I blew out a relieved breath, but didn’t immediately climb to my feet Azriel, can you read him from a distance?

Normally yes, but this creature’s soul and ic I need contact

Meaning I have to carry him out? Bummer

It’s not far

Says the ru him

Not if ant any hope of our presence here to rerease and muck And while my footprints would undoubtedly show, at least there was a chance of theiven that the twisted shifter and who knohat else carabbed the shifter’s hands, then hauled hi his arms around my neck, I knelt in front of him and let his body fall overon to one ar to keep him in place That done, I turned and headed for the exit

It felt like I’d run a fuckingbay The shifter ht not have been overly tall, but he was thick and oddaainst the roller door and sucked in great gulps of air When the trerip to his arm and let him drop sideways And, in the process, just about ripped his arm out of its socket Not that that particularly worried h the hole in the roller door, and Azriel dragged the rest of hiain

I studied the street,any particular attention to ere doing, then knelt on the other side of the prone form "So, can you read hiers lightly against the shifter’s high forehead After several lanced at ic and blocks, and it feels like the work of the Aedh It has not the feel of dark ic"

I frowned "But Lucian’s dead --"

"Yes," he cut in "But these creatures were more than likely created by our sorceress while he lived, and the Aedh was more than a little aware of et information from this ?"

He smiled "The Aedh was not as clever as he liked to think There is et information from a mind"

With that, he placed his hands on either side of the shifter’s head and closed his eyes Al the ied, its feel sharp and fierce, and in the space between Azriel’s hands pictures began to flow – flickering ies that moved so fast they were little more than blurs of color The last time I’d seen hi memories from a dead man’s mind This es were sharper, faster

I watched in silence, catching an occasional glimpse of Lauren but little else After a few minutes, Azriel lowered his hands and leaned back on his heels

"Well, that was interesting"

I raised my eyebrows "In ay?"