Chapter 55

It had been twenty-four hours since Anya was taken, and plans of the city littered the thick cream carpet in Trajan"s wing of the house. Isabelle had marked areas that she had been suspicious of, but two buildings had already come up empty.

They had only just started to admit a need for sleep, leaving Trajan alone to pace. Yvan had barely spoken since they had discovered Anya gone, and when Trajan had tried to talk privately with him, Yvan had turned into the firebird and ignored him.

"Have you slept at all?" Isabelle asked as she walked in.

"Not exactly. Why aren"t you resting?" There was something about the hunter that just didn"t feel right to Trajan. Unlike other humans and their bright souls, she was a blurred presence in his mind.

"I don"t need a lot of sleep," she admitted as she made herself comfortable on one of his couches.

"Why is that, Isabelle? What kind of bite turns someone into a supernatural creature?"

"The kind that"s dead, so you don"t have to worry about it. The important thing is finding Anya, not what I have running through my veins. I"m going to revisit some places I got a weird vibe from. I dismissed them at the time, but they are worth checking just in case."

"Thank you," he said, but it didn"t alleviate the worry eating him away.

Isabelle leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "They might hurt her, but they won"t kill her, Trajan. She"s too valuable for that. They won"t break her unless they have no other choice."

"I would like to say that your words give me comfort, but it would be a lie."

"I know. It doesn"t make them less true." Isabelle was a blunt and beautiful woman, and he could see why Hamish was so infatuated with her.

"May I ask you something?" Trajan said as he sat down on one of the plush chairs.

"You may ask, but I might not answer."

"I want to know why you broke up with Hamish and let him believe you were dead," Trajan said.

The confidence that Isabelle always exuded seemed to abandon her. "I was being hunted, and they had seen me with him. I couldn"t let them use him against me, so I left."

"He said he found your bloody clothes."

The hard edges to her voice softened fractionally. "The bomb, I didn"t expect. I was injured, and I thought if I left some kind of evidence behind, my enemies would be satisfied and leave Hamish alone."

"He mourned you for many years, just so you are aware."

Isabelle crossed her arms. "Why are you telling me this? To make me feel guilty?"

"I want you to know because he"ll never tell you himself. Try not to be too hard on him. He is unsettled enough by your presence."

"I"ll try to keep that in mind."

Trajan managed a smile. "Did you really shoot him when you first met?"

"I put a bullet in his ass." Isabelle laughed softly. "That"s what you get when you run away from a fight."

"We aren"t going to sleep, so we might as well be busy. I don"t suppose you want to give me half of those other addresses of yours?" Trajan asked. He thought Isabelle would protest in some way or try to talk him out of it. She seemed pleased to be doing something other than waiting for people to wake up.

"Just promise you"ll call me if you find anything," she said sternly. She passed him a list from her pocket and a card with her number printed on it. "Don"t go charging in."

"Only if you promise to do the same. You aren"t all human, but that doesn"t mean you are invincible."

"I"ll call," she replied.

Trajan knew Isabelle lied, just as she knew that he did. They wouldn"t risk waiting for backup. They would investigate for themselves before calling and wasting each other"s time if their hunch proved groundless.

Trajan got his coat and disappeared out onto the streets of Paris, his blood boiling for vengeance.

Trajan was walkingalong the Hauts-de-Seine, making his way steadily towards one of the addresses on Isabelle"s list near Le Port-Marly when a flash of blue in the water beside him caught his eye.

He paused as the small head of a woman bobbed up in front of him. He leaned closer over the railings for a better look. She was definitely there, but the other people walking past didn"t seem to notice her. She was without a doubt a supernatural of some sort, but not one Trajan knew of.

"Can you see me?" she asked tentatively. "What manner of creature are you?"

"I"m a thanatos, and I don"t mean you any harm."

"Are you the Darkness?" she hissed, her beautiful face turning vicious.

"No, I"m neutral. Why? Have you seen the Darkness around here? I"m trying to find someone that they have taken."

Something flashed over the water creature"s face. "Who is it that you are searching for?"

"A woman about so tall." Trajan indicated to where Anya"s head reached the groove of his chest. "She has very fair hair. Almost white. With green eyes."

"Yanka"s blood," the woman said, her dark eyes wide. "She said you would be looking for her."

"You have seen Anya?" he asked eagerly, not caring to keep his voice lowered, so passers-by didn"t think he was crazy.

"She helped me get free of them last night in the rain." She looked like she was crying, but there was so much water on her face it was difficult to tell. "She risked the evil one"s wrath and used her magic to get me to the water." The creature began moving back and forth in distress.

"That sounds like something Anya would do."

"I fear they would have punished her terribly for it. She shouldn"t have done it, but I was so desperate, I was dying."

"Calm yourself. She would"ve known that she would pay for helping you. She still did it, so don"t feel guilty. Is this why you haven"t left Paris?"

"I am a Shishiga. I owe her a life debt. I can"t leave until I have repaid her."

"Tell me where she is being kept. I can save her. Your debt will be repaid," Trajan replied. He smiled viciously, letting his inner monster shine through. "And I will kill them all for what they have done."