Shadowlands Read Online Free Page B

Rider?”
    “Because they did this. They brought the Hunt here. It’s their responsibility. We can’t,” he swallowed. “We can’t fight them off ourselves.” His voice shook a little, the assured lawyer of the Christie Institute almost gone.
    “If people aren’t actually
dying
…” My voice dried up, and Nik squeezed his eyes shut.
    “The Hunt takes our
dra’aj
,” he said. “It’s worse than dying. It makes us empty. We don’t live, we can’t even want to die.”
    I got it then. I got what it meant. Nik had been bitten. That’s why he felt all fragmented.
    “But you’re okay,” I said.
    He shook his head, impatience getting in the way of what he was trying to tell me. “There’s a fix, but it has to be renewed, and now, with so many new ones, we can’t keep up with the demand.”
    New ones?
“Those people in High Park,” I said. “Wandering around without a clue why they were there? Half starved?”
    He nodded.
    “Not vampires.”
I knew it.
“Not some kind of flu. The Hunt.”
    He winced, looked as though he was going to say something, and then shrugged before nodding again.
    Part of me wanted to take him home right then and there, even though I wasn’t sure what Alejandro could do to help him.
    But another part of me wasn’t thrilled by the idea that here was yet another person thinking of me as someone he could make use of. Even his saving me had more to do with getting me to help him than it had with me personally—or impersonally, for that matter.
    And speaking of personal, I admit I was disappointed that all that stuff about my caramel eyes hadn’t meant anything after all.
    Most of my life I hadn’t been allowed to make my own decisions. Since my rescue, I’d been learning how—but this wasn’t about me. It was about Alejandro. I couldn’t make decisions for him.
    I stood up. “Okay, I’ll ask my friend, but I can’t promise anything. I’ve got your card.”
    “I’ll go with you—at least let me walk you to the subway,” he added when I shook my head. Before I could say no again, his mobile rang. I paused when he answered it, holding up one finger. Somehow I couldn’t just walk away.
    I watched the color drain out of his face. “It has to be me,” he said.“I’ll have to take her.” He glanced up at me. “Wait until I get there.” He snapped the mobile shut and stuck it back in the breast pocket of his jacket.
    “Would you come with me?” he said. His voice trembled, as if he was keeping a tight rein on himself. “You need to—” he broke off and took a deep breath. “I need you to show you someone, for a profile. Please?”
    “What, now?”
    It was fear I was reading from him. Fear and anger and grief. “Please.”
    I think it was the please that did it. Not very many people had ever bothered to say “please” to me.
    Next thing I knew we were in a cab, and heading to an address on Spadina north of Bloor. Nik spent the ride on the phone, but traffic was with us, and in practically no time we were running up the steps of an old, double-fronted Victorian house, and in through the heavy glass-inlaid doors, past ground-floor offices, all the way up to the second floor. Two women were waiting at the spacious landing at the top of the stairs. One was wearing slacks and a short, military style jacket; the other had a flowery print dress. Both were clearly secretaries.
    “Is she in her office?” Nik asked the one in slacks. “How long since you first noticed it?”
    “She seemed a bit odd yesterday morning—”
    “And you waited until now to call me?” As if he realized that losing his temper wasn’t going to get him anywhere, Nik took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sorry,” he said. “Just tell me what happened.”
    “She kept saying she was okay,” Print Dress said. “Maybe just a bit run-down. But then yesterday she had no dictation, and today she canceled all her appointments.”
    “You have to speak to her a couple of times to get