Shadow Watcher (Darkness #6)(2)

As if hearing my assessment, Charles muttered, “He’s a born fighter. I bet he’d be trouble for any human he came across.”

“And you?”

“Don’t be an idiot, Sasha. I’d rock his world.”

Ego. The man had it in spades.

“We need to get him alone. If we stop him here, he’ll probably throw a punch. He obviously knows you can fight, or he wouldn’t be getting all puffed up.”

“How long did he look at me?” Charles rolled his massive shoulders. He was preparing for trouble.

“Just a moment, but it was enough. He sized you up immediately. Either that or he already knew what you were…” I elbowed Charles as he flexed his fingers. “We aren’t trying to fight him, you moron. The last thing I need is people watching a human fighting with empty air. Or seeing me do magic. I don’t want to see the inside of a lab any more than Tim does.”

“Tim turns into a bear. You don’t. You wouldn’t go to a lab; you’d go to a mental institution.”

“Oh, well, that makes me feel much better.”

The man slowed as he approached an alleyway. I put my hand on Charles’ bicep as the man veered off the sidewalk and into the murky gray. Shadows reached out, wrapping him in their tight embrace before sucking him in and masking his body.

My fingers tightened around Charles’ arm. “Did you see that? Did you see the way the shadows grabbed for him?”

“Yeah, so? C’mon, he’s getting away.”

“Charles, shadows don’t do that with humans. They do that with your kind.”

Charles gave me a puzzled look before dragging me toward the alleyway. “You’re just getting worked up because you sense the danger. Relax, I got this covered. He’s big for a human, but small for my crew. He’s not one of us. And unless he’s a freak like you, he can’t throw magic. We’re good.”

“What if he’s got…friends?” I gulped as we stepped into the dark of the alley. I could do magic, yes. Failing that, I could run fast. But these situations still made me nervous until I knew what I was up against.

I felt Charles’ hand on my back, guiding me into the murky pools of shadow. The edges of shapes hazed as deep colors blended into the darkness. Light from distant streetlights caught only patches of the garbage-strewn ground.

Squinting didn’t provide any more definition. I relied on Charles’ guidance as his eyes adapted well to the night while I willed my own to adjust faster. The guy could be waiting in there, hiding only a step away. Hell, a small army could be in there somewhere and I wouldn’t notice them until they jumped out and yelled, “Boo!”

“Up there.” Charles directed me to the right side of the alleyway. There, in a pool of dark beside a dumpster, lurked a large shape. I could barely see something metallic in his hand.

“Gun,” I said in a quick release of breath.

Charles pushed me against the grimy wall and shielded me with his body, but my magic was already in full flow. I shot off a spell to wrap the man’s body in tight black bands. As my shoulder scraped the wall I yanked the magic taught, trapping the man’s arms to his sides and sending the gun clattering to the ground.

“What the f*ck?” the man roared in an angry rasp.

“Okay, we’re good,” I mumbled into Charles’ back. “Get off!”

As soon as Charles was out of the way I approached the dumpster. The hazy glow from the streetlight wasn’t enough light for me to make out the man’s features, but it didn’t take a genius to know he was freaked out. Unless he’d seen all this before, and was afraid of what we were about to do to him.

I glanced at the sky and then the ground. I pointed to a brighter patch of light a short distance away. “Move him over there, Charles.”

“Why?” Charles was staring at the man.

“So I can see. I don’t have raccoon eyes like you do.”

Charles stepped forward and bent so his eyes were at the same level as the man’s. “Stay calm, human, and this won’t hurt.”

The man didn’t flinch when Charles lifted him off the ground then set him down where I’d indicated. He didn’t complain, either. Or struggle. He didn’t pay much attention to Charles at all. His attention was fixed on me. No matter where I moved, his focus always stayed on me.

These weren’t the reactions of a normal human. I should know—I had reacted much differently when I met Charles for the first time. This guy might be human, but he wasn’t what he seemed.

Steady, Sasha, don’t jump to conclusions too quickly.

I tried to keep the accusation from my voice. “Do you have magic?”

The man continued to stare as if he was waiting for something.

I glanced around looking for the hidden army that might be about to try to save him.

Nothing.

What the hell was he waiting for? A rabbit to appear?

“Do you know how I am holding you prisoner?” I demanded. “Is that why you’re so calm? You’ve been through this before?”

The man continued to stare. It was starting to get irritating.

“Maybe he’s already had a run-in with Jonas,” Charles suggested.

“I doubt he’d be this calm if he’d had a run-in with Jonas. If he even remembered it.”