Authors: Jaime Rush

Burning Darkness (31 page)

He left a twenty on the table, and they stood. His violet-blue eyes scanned the restaurant. “You walk out first. In case the assassin has found me, I don’t want him to know we’re linked in any way.” In a low voice he said, “You will need to be even more careful when we meet next.”

She blinked as an image flashed in her mind.

“That is where we’ll meet,” he said. “Speak not of it, not to Cheveyo, either. Just bring him to the location.”

She nodded, knowing where it was. “This is starting to sound scary again.” Scary, yes, but her heart was thrumming with adrenaline. Good God, she couldn’t actually miss the danger, could she? That would be sick.
Sick
.

“I’m doing everything I can to protect you. All of you. But I need Cheveyo’s help.”

She nodded. “I’ll make sure you get it.”

Yurek watched a blond woman walk out of the restaurant. She headed to the right, unraveling her long straight hair from its braid. Pope emerged a few seconds later, watching the woman for a moment. She looked back, and in that glance he saw a connection between them. Yurek was close enough to pick up on the woman’s emotions: an odd mix of excitement and trepidation. But he also picked up something from Pope. Was it . . . caring that came from him? Yes, he cared about the girl. Interesting. They weren’t supposed to have those feelings, and yet . . .

He also picked up something else from the girl. The Geo Wave, an almost electric sense whenever one of their kind met up with another. It shouldn’t be coming from the girl.

Intrigued, he followed her, making sure he wasn’t picking up Pope’s Wave. She was beautiful in Earth terms, like the women he saw in advertisements here: tall, full mouth, long legs in black, tight pants. Her bag matched her shoes and earrings.

Anyone who came from their dimension was warned not to get physically involved with the humans here. Mixing their blood, a bad idea.

People streamed past them, many tourists who were paying more attention to what was in the shop windows than where they were going. Some looked at him, at the handsome visage he had chosen for his costume here.

The woman stopped at an intersecting road, and he nearly bumped into her. She turned and looked at him, and he apologized. She gave him a quick, forgiving smile and turned forward again.

Yes, a beautiful woman . . . who was part Callorian, his species. Then the pieces clicked together. Pope had been coming to the Earth dimension for many years on various assignments. He was a valued dignitary, before he went Scarlett. He had obviously had an assignation with a human, and this lovely creature was the result. It explained why Pope cared about her.

The crowd surged forward again, and he continued to follow her. He smiled. Now that he worked for the Collaborate, his duties included eradicating anything troublesome on this dimension. This woman was troublesome. It would trouble Pope if his daughter was killed, and that would further weaken him. Yurek liked the idea of bringing down the last vestiges of the once powerful Pope.

By Jaime Rush

B
URNING
D
ARKNESS

T
OUCHING
D
ARKNESS

O
UT OF THE
D
ARKNESS

A P
ERFECT
D
ARKNESS

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN 978-0-06-201885-4

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