Jessa Slade - Marked Souls 1 by Seduced By Shadows

Author:Seduced By Shadows [Shadows, Seduced By]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-08-12T14:50:45.265000+00:00

CHAPTER 17

At his loft, they unloaded the truck. Despite the ache in her healed arm, she found relief in the mindless

task of ferrying boxes. He never let her out of his sight—nice to know when she was the target of some

supremely badass demon.

While he messed with his computer, she steeped a pot of tea. As if unseen forces flowed around it, the

bed drew her gaze.

He’d excused himself for rejecting her because he’d almost gotten her killed on the hunt. But if a

djinn-man was gunning for her, did getting accidentally dismembered by a raging feralis even count as a

worry?

Archer dumped a laptop into her hands, startling her out of her daze. “This has the annotated library of

Bookkeeper studies over the last few-hundred years. Find everything on demon crossings and the effect

on the Veil.”

“What am I looking for?”

He gave her a hard look. “Everything.”

She settled in the chair on the other side of the couch, so she didn’t have to face the bed, and buried

herself in the small screen. When he brought her a cup of the tea she’d forgotten, the water was stained

dark as the sky outside.

She blinked and started to get up. “What time is it?”

“Time for me to go out on rounds.” His hand kept her pinned to the chair. “You stay here. Don’t leave.

Don’t let anyone in. I’m setting the perimeter alarm. Someone will be close by.”

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She lifted her chin. “I’m not afraid. Cautious, yes.”

“Then maybe you’ll stay alive.” His fingers tightened. “We’ll find him.”

“We have forever,” she reminded him.

He took a step back. “Call if you need me.”

She watched him go from the window, knowing he could see her but not caring.

The loft, with its isolated pools of lamplight, felt vast and cold. She heated the tea again, managed only to

make it bitter, and went back to the computer.

Her search yielded little in the way of Veil crossings. Demonic emanations seemed unidirectional. Djinn

and teshuva crossed into the human realm and stayed. Though horde-tenebrae energy could be dispersed

and took time to regenerate, if a djinn and teshuva host was killed, the higher strains of demon simply

possessed another soul and continued on their heretofore separate paths of wickedness or repentance.

The only interesting note was a centuries-old meditation describing the Veil as woven from atoning souls.

Such souls formed a natural—or supernatural—barrier between the realms.

Sera shuddered to think of such never-ending suspension. That her demon had breached the Veil to send

the malice and ferales back seemed unprecedented.

The hours passed, and she fell asleep on the couch. Archer returned just after dawn.

“Sera.” Weariness roughened his voice and brought out the lingering Southern jangle. “Just me. I’ll sleep

like the dead, so make all the noise you want. Don’t leave.”

Without waiting for a reply, he’d headed for the bathroom. He didn’t even turn on the lights.

That didn’t stop her imagination from supplying the pictures. She lay back, listening to the water. He

hadn’t walked as if he’d been wounded during the night’s fighting, but no doubt he’d keep his shoulders

square, whatever the maiming.

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