“That would be totally logical, and you know I don’t always work that way.”
“Unfortunately, that is very true.” His voice was wry, and I smiled as I cautiously moved up the ramp. The last time we’d been here, Jak and I had chosen the middle door of the three that were situated on this upper level, and had subsequently triggered a trap. Maybe a change of entry point would change my luck.
I stopped at the first door and scanned it for anything out of place. It was one of those half-glass doors, but enough paint had peeled off the lower section that the grime had stained the wood almost black. There didn’t appear to be any sort of security – magic or otherwise – so I reached for the door handle. The damn thing was locked. Which wasn’t surprising if they wanted to direct all traffic to the middle door. But having sprung that trap once, I wasn’t about to go there again.>You said no?
Of course. Just because I sometimes choose to ignore consequences doesn’t mean I’m not aware of them. I munched on the pizza and added, And I think the consequence of me going up against Hunter would be me getting dead.
Death in this form, maybe, but you would live on in energy form.
Sorry Azriel, but that’s not something I want right now. Especially given it meant me becoming a Mijai. I frowned. If I did happen to die, what happens to our child? Would he die, or would he also become energy?
He would also become Mijai – although obviously not a serving one. Not until he reached maturity.
So by saving me, you condemned our son to a life you hate?
Yes. His gaze met mine, blue eyes hard. Better the life of a Mijai than no life, Risa.
It would have been better to have left things as they were meant to be – both of us dead. But then, if the Raziq had the power to call my soul back into this world, what was to stop them doing the same to my son? I might not agree with what Azriel had done, but I could certainly understand his reasons. Now that he’d actually explained them, that is.
I snagged another piece of pizza. “So, I guess the next thing we have to do is go see if we can get into that warehouse near Stane’s.”
“And if we can’t?”
“Then unless dear old Dad comes through with a key to get into his quarters in the temples, I’m fresh out of ideas.”
He studied me for a moment, then said, “What of your uncle?”
I frowned. “What of him?”
“Did he not study to become a priest?”
My confusion grew. “Yes, but that’s not going to help us get into my father’s quarters.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Azriel replied. “But it is very rare for a half Aedh to undergo priest training, and that alone suggests he’s more than likely extremely powerful.”
Which was something I’d never really thought about before. I mean, sure, I knew he’d undergone training, but it had never struck me to ask why a half-breed had even been allowed near the temples. Unless, of course, the priests were in short supply even back then.
“Powerful or not, from what my father said, we won’t be getting into his and Lucian’s quarters without some sort of access code.” I finished the slice of pizza and licked a few cheese remnants off my fingers. “Besides, we don’t need Uncle Quinn to get into the temples. You can do that, can’t you?”
“I can, yes, but it is unlikely I would be able to access the inner sanctums, and that is no doubt where your father’s quarters are. Only the initiates are quartered in the outer rings, and we Mijai rarely have need to go any farther.”
So once again my father hadn’t been completely honest. What a surprise. “I really don’t want to involve Uncle Quinn, if only because it’ll drag Riley into the equation.”
“Your uncle is more than capable of keeping information from your aunt,” Azriel commented. “He is Aedh as much as vampire, remember.”
“Yeah, but she’s one hell of a telepath.” And she could spot someone keeping a secret a mile away. How the hell I’d managed to keep the fact I was working for Hunter to myself for so long, I’ll never know.
Of course, it did help that I’d recently missed our weekly cake and Coke catch-up sessions. If I hadn’t, I’d probably be locked up somewhere right now while she gathered the troops and took off after Hunter.
“I still think you should talk to him,” Azriel said. “He might also be able to offer suggestions when it comes to Hunter and Stanford.”
“Maybe.” I drained the can of Coke, smothered a loud burp, then added, “Let’s go check out that warehouse first. If we have no luck there, I’ll consider talking to Uncle Quinn.”
Azriel nodded, then rose and held out a hand. I placed my fingers in his and he tugged me upward. I grabbed my coat, then locked the front door and once again melted into the warmth of his arms. A heartbeat later we were outside the old West Street warehouse that contained the first of the cuneiform stones we’d found.
It was one of those old two-story, redbrick places inner-city renovators seemed to love. The wind rattled the rusted iron roof and whistled through the small, regularly spaced windows, many of which were broken, but overall it was in pretty good shape. Like many of the other buildings in the area, its walls were littered with graffiti and tags, and rubbish lay in drifting piles along its length.
But while it looked abandoned, there was an odd, almost watchful stillness about the place. It was a stillness that seemed to affect the immediate surrounds, which were unnervingly quiet. Even the roar of the traffic traveling along nearby Smith Street seemed muted.