She recoiled slightly. Blinked. Glanced around.
She was in Adam’s office, lying on the modern leather love seat opposite his desk. Papers were strewn on the floor. The mess was familiar, but she couldn’t place why.
Her throat was desert dry.
Jim looked furtively over his shoulder, toward Adam’s open office door. He pushed a water bottle into her hand. “Drink this.”
Her hand shook when she took the bottle. The fluid went down like liquid heaven.
“What happened?”
Jim leaned forward, restlessly. “You screamed, Death came. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”
I screamed—? Talia remembered. She let the dev il into the world. The black demon with the red eyes. Her father. She had to admit that now, to herself and to everyone. Custo had reeled away from her. The soldiers fired in fear. Adam’s expression had been…different, strange as he looked up at her.
“I need you to call Lady Amunsdale.” Jim’s words came out in a rush. “We don’t have much time. Adam will be back any second. Can you call her for me? Please call her.”
“What are you talking about?” Talia shifted, but Jim was ahead of her, hoisting her complaining body into sitting position.
“You’re a banshee. You have some pull with Death. Maybe you can call her, get her to come back.”
“I’m a what?”
“Banshee. You know, ahhhhhhhh.” He raised his hands to his cheeks for emphasis. “See, there have been no sightings of Lady Amunsdale since you got here, and I…I just really need to see her. I want to talk to her. For once. Please.”
“I don’t understand—” Talia slid away from him.
“I brought you a book that will tell you all about it. I filched it just now from Philip’s library.” Jim pressed a dusty hardback into her hands. “But read it in the car, when you have time. Right now just call her. Just try. Just say…‘Lady Amunsdale, come out. I mean you no harm. Jim wants to talk with you.’ ”
He waited, a weird, desperate light in his eyes.
“It’s ridiculous. I don’t want to.” Talia pushed the book away.
“Jim, leave her alone.” Adam stood in the doorway, a pack on his back, keys in hand. His gaze hard with anger. A muscle twitched in his jaw.
Jim raised conciliatory hands. “I just wanted her to call Lady Amunsdale. Is it too much to ask to speak to her one single time in my life? I’ve been tracking sightings and energy readings for years. I’ve been waiting so long to find her. To be with her.”
“We’ve all had to wait,” Adam said. “When this war is over, I’ll bring Talia back. We can try then.”
“The wraith war will never be over,” Jim whined. “Please. Can’t you just give me a moment?”
“Come on, Talia.” Adam held a hand out to her. “We’ve got to get going. Can you walk?”
Good question.
Adam pulled her to her feet. She didn’t want to know what he thought of her since her horrific performance outside, but she needed to get away from Jim.
“Think about it, Adam,” Jim said. “Lady Amunsdale could tell us things. Could tell you things like…like…what that asshole Spencer’s been up to. She is a witness. She’s been here—everywhere—all along. Make Talia call her.”
Adam’s expression shifted, his gaze sharpening with interest. He glanced at her. Jim had finally struck a chord.
Oh, no. She shook her head. “It’s crazy.”
“It couldn’t hurt to try,” Adam reasoned. “And it could help.”
Talia backed away.
“Come on, Talia,” Jim said, his hands clasped together to beg.
Talia shook her head. “It’s not safe. I don’t want to let that…that dev il back into the world.”
“What dev il?” Adam dropped his pack on the floor.
“Uhhh—the one with the scythe? The one who killed dozens of people.” A sob gathered in her throat. Say it, an inner voice commanded. “My father, Shadowman.”
“Talia, he saved us. He’ll save the world.”
Adam was wrong. She stepped back again, hit the wall. “I saw the bodies on the lawn. He’s a demon. Red eyes, vicious.”
Adam inclined his head. “I don’t know what you saw, but he looked damn beautiful to me.” He moved toward her. “And he seemed to have a good grasp of who was man and who was wraith. He only attacked the wraiths. It was the wraiths who killed the men down there, crushing them or using them to hide behind.”
But what about…“I saw him cut down Melanie, in my apartment at the university. A wraith had her and…and Death cut right through her.”
Adam shrugged. “Maybe she was dead already, I don’t know. But today Shadowman only killed wraiths. He’s no demon; I think he’s one of the good guys.”
“He’s Death!” My father. Which made her, by connection, worse than she’d ever feared.
“Exactly. And I, for one, am delighted that he is on our side. Will you try to call Lady Amunsdale or not? She might have information for all of us.”