Darkest Night - Smoke and Shadows Part 46

"What?"

The expression on her face was everything he could have hoped for. "It's a two-for-one deal-double your pleasure, double your fun. It's a search for you and it's a conquest.

h.e.l.l, for all I know it could also be a dessert topping."

"Tony!"

"He'll probably do the people who produce Live, too, come to think of it-that'll give him access to their studio, the morning show, the noon show, the news, and a whole lot more people."

"Tony, what the h.e.l.l are you talking about?"

"Television." He buried his fingers in the sand. "Shadows made of light. Your Shadowlord's going to use it to create enough shadow-held to find you, help destroy you, and then take over the world. Henry said it way back in your apartment: evil is never content with what it has. It has to keep moving, keep acquiring."

"He doesn't know anything about television!"

"He knows what I know. And he's a smart guy with access to everyone in the studio; he's figuring it out."

Her eyes widened. "He's in the studio? He's here?"

It was Tony's turn to stare for that long moment. Arra seemed to be doing her best to make him believe that she wouldn't be sitting here if she'd only known it had gotten that bad. Just another lie to make it easier to live with herself. With what she'd done. Lie to yourself if you have to, but leave me out of it. "Don't give me that c.r.a.p. You had to have felt him come through the gate this morning. You couldn't have missed that kind of an energy ..." There was a word.

He couldn't think of it. "... thing. You had to have known he was here while you were moping around getting sand in your knickers." And drawing gate patterns with a stick, he realized suddenly. Reaching out in front of her, he rubbed them out with the side of his hand. "What you might not know is that the moment you open the gate, he'll know where you are and he'll be on you like a dirty s.h.i.+rt."

"And you know so much, Mr. Smart-a.s.s!" She shook her head, looking old as the burst of anger faded. "As it happens, you're right; he'll know, but he won't be able to manipulate enough energy to jump here."

"He doesn't have to." Tony pointed at a gull's shadow skimming over the beach. "He controls shadows."

"Not the ones he hasn't touched."

The shadow of Tony's arm lying on the sand, waved. Tony stopped waving as Arra got the point. "He's touched me. A couple of times. Touched me; touched my shadow. That's why he let me leave, knowing what I know about him. Because of what he knows about me. Why should he exert himself to find you when I will? Especially since when I find you, he has a weapon handy."

Arra's pale eyes narrowed as she stared at a darker patch of sand. "So you're a threat to me. I could remove that threat."

"I don't think he'll do anything until you try to gate," Tony told her hurriedly. This was the weak point in his presentation. She could take him out and open the gate and leave this world. Except that running was one thing. Killing a friend ... ally . . . coworker, at the very least . . . first was something else again. He hoped. Apparently, the Shadowlord thought so. Or at least he thought Arra thought so because evidence suggested he was definitely the kind of guy who'd cheerfully skin a friend, ally, or coworker alive. "If you'd gone before I found you, you'd have probably been fine."

"You knew that and you came after me anyway?" she asked, lifting her gaze to Tony's face. The clear subtext in both tone and expression said, I don't like being manipulated.

"Actually, I just figured that out. Just now." He nodded toward his shadow. It had seemed so obvious when he saw it moving across the sand. "Like right now. Thirty seconds ago." When she seemed at least partially convinced, he added, "Why didn't you?"

"Why didn't I leave? I don't know."

"For the same reason you hung around the gate, knowing he'd find you eventually. Because you're basically a decent person and the guilt's been eating at you for seven years."

"Shut up."

The fabric covering her shoulder felt damp under his hand and he wondered how long she'd been sitting there. "You've got a second chance, the chance you've been waiting for. Hoping for. We can take him."

"We?"

"You and me and CB. And Henry." He nodded toward the west where the sun was still a good distance above the horizon. "Sunset's not until 8:00, but that'll give us time to prepare."

"And the Shadowlord will wait patiently while we marshal our forces against him?"

If the level of sarcasm was any indication, she was starting to perk up.

"He might think you have a chance, but he believes he can win." Tony flicked up a finger.

"He thinks you believe the same thing and that's what gave him the TKO in round one."

A second finger joined the first. "He's already told me I'm no threat to him." Finger three.

"And besides, CB waved some s.h.i.+ny stuff in front of Mason that'll keep him on the sound-stage until late. He needs Mason to get on Live at Five." He folded the fingers into a fist and shook it out as Arra snorted derisively.

"He doesn't need Mason if he has CB."

"Would you try taking over CB if there was another option?"

"Valid point." She sighed and stared out over the water. "I love it here. It reminds me of home. The sky, the water, the smells, the sounds ... I just look straight ahead and pretend that if I turn around I'll see the city walls and not half a dozen broiled bimbos courting melanoma. How did you find me?"

He told her about the picture on the computer.

"Very clever, but not what I meant. When you were sitting back there, behind me, how did you know I was here?" One palm patted the sand. "Right here."

"I don't know." Although he'd definitely known she was there when he threw the stone.

"I just did."

"Uh-huh."

"Honestly. I have no idea." He made a mental note to get freaked about that later.

The same juvenile gull wandered past again, gave them a dirty look, and took to the air.

Arra watched him fly, her eyes squinted nearly shut.

"You should have sungla.s.ses on."

"Because you know everything." She snorted explosively, then squared her shoulders and snapped. "Do you really think we can beat him or are you just throwing words at me in a desperate attempt to get me to help?"

Yes. "I think this time you're going to have to fight him regardless. You open a gate, he'll come through shadow and stop you."

"Or I could kill you to clear the shadow away and then gate safely."

"And he'll have won because you'll have become him. Like him. Evil.She raised a hand as he searched for other synonyms. "Yeah, I get it."

"Good. Because if you have to face him, why not go in believing you'll win?"

Tony half expected her to say: Because we won't.

She surprised him.

"All right. I won't fight for you. But I'll fight beside you."

"All I'm asking."

"I know."

"It was all I was ever asking."

"I know. Now help me up. I've got to get my cats back from that idiot Vera before they convince her that they always have fresh salmon for dinner."

"And yet you were going to leave them with her when you bailed."

Her hand tightened almost painfully around his as he helped her to her feet. "Don't push it, boy."

"Sorry."

She tucked her arm into his as they walked toward the parking lot, graciously allowing him to support more and more of her weight as they traveled. Tony suspected she was making a point, but since he had no idea what that point was, he just braced himself and kept going. Maybe she was just making sure he wouldn't drop her. Yeah, of the two of us, I'm the only one who's never run out on an entire world. I won't be the one doing the dropping. Maybe she was just being a pain in the a.s.s because she could.

The latter seemed more likely.

"I know something else about the Shadowlord," he said as the muscles in his arm started to protest. "Something you don't know."

"You have no idea what I know."

"He's gay."

"You're right, I didn't know that." s.h.i.+fting her weight, she leaned far enough away to sneer up at him. "However, he's an evil wizard from another world; I doubt very much your gaydar applies."

"Never doubt the gaydar," Tony snorted as they stepped over the concrete divider and into the parking lot. "But that's not it. I told you, he's touched me. I mean, talk about queer eye on the straight guy-every time I come in contact with a straight boy that's being shadow-held, they go after my a.s.s."

"Do they now?"

"They do."

"So that would be Lee and Mouse and Ben . . ."

"Technically Ben just winked at me, but yeah." He really didn't like the speculative sound she made as they reached the car. With any luck, it was about the car. Not that his luck had been great of late."Maybe it's not them. Maybe it's your a.s.s." Arra leaned back, looked down, and made a small dismissive moue. "And then again, maybe not. Did you happen to mention that CB has his memory back?"

"I didn't, exactly, but he does."

A raised brow invited him to continue.

"I retraced the paper. Like he did for me." Might as well spread the reaction around.

"Did he now?"

"Yeah. He's kind of p.i.s.sed."

"No doubt. How fortunate, then, that I'm probably going to my certain death."

Chapter Eighteen.

"UH, ARRA, that's a new lock. Remember, I told you about the break-in."

"I'm not senile, boy." She paused and tossed a twisted grin at him over her shoulder.

"At least you'd better hope I'm not, all things considered." The key turned smoothly and she pushed open the apartment door. "You put the supplies in the kitchen; I'm going to rescue my cats."

Wondering whether it was wise for her to waste energy on something that could be solved by a visit to Julian-and the next instant realizing that the thought of a visit to Julian was probably why she'd done it that way-Tony set the two bags of groceries and the single bag from the liquor store on the counter. By the time he heard the door open again, he had the frozen dinners in the oven and the coffeemaker on. A bottle of vodka in each hand, he watched both cats stalk down the hall, noses in the air and tails las.h.i.+ng from side to side.

"I thought they'd be glad to see you," he said as the wizard came into the kitchen.

Arra snorted. "You've never had cats, have you? Put those down; we'll eat first, then you can put the potion together while I try to remember just how the Light of Yeramathia goes."

"Try to remember?"

"Give me a break." She pulled the coffeepot out and shoved a mug under the drip. "It's been seven years, it was a joint effort originally, and it may have to be adapted for local conditions."

"Yeah, but..."

"But what?"

Good question. "Nothing." Wait. Something. "I'm to put the potion together?"

"That's right. Better make a double batch, we're probably going to have to pour it down the throats of the entire crew. Those that survive anyway."

"But ..."

"Until the final ..." A spark leaped off her fingertip. ". . . zap, it's nothing more than organic chemistry-no more complicated than putting together a decent salsa." "I don't cook," he protested, shooting a wary glance at her fingers.

"You do now." She took a long swallow of coffee and peered at him over the edge of the mug. "I'm not doing this on my own; that was the deal."

"I'll fight with you, not for you."

"Yeah, that was the deal, but ..." f.u.c.k, he wished people would stop staring at him. If he hesitated, if now she was willing to fight he even once suggested it was all up to her, she'd bail. Guilt or no guilt, she was still on the edge; he could see it in her eyes. "Okay, fine. I'll make the d.a.m.ned potion. What's the recipe?"

Arra shrugged and bent down to peer into the oven. "You know the ingredients, just use as much as seems right to you. How long until these things are ready? I'm starving."

Tony stared down into the pot of heated vodka and took a cautious sniff. Mostly, it smelled like catnip and since that's what this potion mostly smelled like when Arra made it, he supposed it smelled like it was supposed to. What kind of measurement was . . .as much as seems right to you anyway?

"So much for wizardry being an exact science."