Smoke and Shadows

Table of Contents

 

 

It sounded so incredibly stupid, Tony regretted the words the moment they left his mouth.

Lee stared at him for a long moment, blinked once, and started to laugh. “I'm a what?”

Oh, crap. Now he was going to have to repeat it because there really wasn't any variation on this particular theme. “You're a minion of the Shadowlord.”

“That's what I thought you said.” Scooping his shirt up off the floor, Lee shrugged into it, still chuckling. “You know, you're a very weird guy.”

“You're not leaving this room.”

“Is this supposed to be where I strike a dramatic pose and tell you that you can't stop me?” Lee leaned closer, his position a parody of his earlier seduction. “Guess what? You can't.”

And he couldn't.

The shadow swept across the room, holding him against the wall. Tony couldn't move, he couldn't speak, and most importantly, he couldn't breathe. It was like being trapped under a pliable sheet of cold charcoal-gray rubber that covered him from head to foot like a second skin, curving to fit up each nostril and into his mouth. Obscenely intimate.

As the door closed behind the thing controlling Lee's body, the shadow flexed, flopped away from him, and slipped through the final millimeter of open space.

He had to stop Lee before he left the building.

SMOKE AND SHADOWS
SMOKE AND MIRRORS
¹

BLOOD PRICE
BLOOD TRAIL
BLOOD LINES
BLOOD PACT
BLOOD DEBT

SING THE FOUR QUARTERS
FIFTH QUARTER
NO QUARTER
THE QUARTERED SEA

The Keeper's Chronicles
SUMMON THE KEEPER
THE SECOND SUMMONING
LONG HOT SUMMONING

OF DARKNESS, LIGHT AND FIRE

WIZARD OF THE GROVE

The Confederation Novels
VALOR'S CHOICE
THE BETTER PART OF VALOR

Copyright © 2004 by Tanya Huff.

All rights reserved.

 

 

DAW Books Collectors No. 1289.

 

DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

All characters and events in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.

 

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ISBN : 978-1-101-57311-2

 

 

 

 

 

First Paperback Printing, April 2005

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HECHO EN U.S.A.

 

S.A.

For Karen Lahey because until I met her I never made the connection that “people” write books. (Where I thought they came from, I have no idea.) Essentially, Karen's responsible for my being a writer so if you've enjoyed any of my books, you should thank her. Thank you, Karen.