Darkness Clashes by Susan Illene Page A

the rest of the way with Sable at her heels. Felisha—who’d been watching them while I was gone—must have dropped them off while I was out on my walk. I’d been past the half-mile range and didn’t sense their arrival.
    “Did you find out anything about Micah?” she asked, almost out of breath.
    Emily’s mother might have become a vampire a few years ago, but before that she’d produced a daughter who was a sensor like me. I couldn’t lie to her without her knowing.
    “If Micah was in Spokane, he isn’t there now,” I said, choosing my words with care. “But Lucas is going to keep looking.”
    “Good. I miss Micah.”
    She tucked her hair behind her ears. One section was shorter than the rest. The brown locks had been shaved off for surgery back in the spring, but if we kept trimming the rest to shoulder length it would be even in a few more months.
    You almost wouldn’t know she’d had brain damage except for the changes in her personality. She used to be sweet and easygoing. Now she was falling in line with the moody and rebellious types of teenagers. The change had been so swift I had a hard time dealing with it.
    “What are you wearing?” I narrowed my eyes. She’d cut the length of her tank-top in half and her shorts were bordering dangerously close to Daisy Dukes.
    She glanced down before giving a shrug. “It was hot outside.”
    “I can see your stomach.” I grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. “And if your shorts were any shorter I’d be able to see your ass cheeks.”
    “Mel!” She jerked away from me.
    “Go put some clothes on,” I ordered, pointing at the house.
    God, I was becoming such a parent.
    “Yes, please,” Kerbasi said. He’d turned his back on us and had his face covered with his hands. “She looks like one of those ladies of the night who seduces virtuous men and damns their souls.”
    “There is no such thing as a virtuous man.” I grabbed a pinecone and tossed it at his head. It was the only weapon I could find on short notice.
    “Hey!” he shouted, spinning around. As soon as he got a good look at Emily his face turned red and he covered his eyes again.
    It was actually kind of funny considering he’d kept his prisoners naked—which included Zoe—but he couldn’t handle seeing a young girl in a skimpy outfit. Still, I was glad he wasn’t interested in looking at her that way. Kerbasi was determined to keep his body pure. At least, that’s the story he’d stuck to so far.
    “Let’s get inside.” I guided the teenager back the way she’d come.
    “Fine,” she groused.
    “So, how was your weekend?” I asked as we came into the clearing where the house sat.
    Emily huffed out a breath. “It was okay. Felisha did a lot of cooking—I mean a lot—but it tasted really good. Hunter came over and hung out for awhile last night. That was about it.”
    Felisha was a fairy and my boss at the herb shop where I worked. She’d just returned a few weeks ago from an extended stay at the fae city. Things had been difficult for her after discovering her fiancé—of the arranged variety—was behind a massive explosion that rocked the region and killed a lot of people. Then she’d had to face the fact that the man she really cared about had taken up with an old flame. Coming back here hadn’t been easy for her.
    “How is she doing?” I glanced at Emily.
    “The same. She kinda deals with her problems the way you do. I was getting headaches from watching her clean, cook, and make flower arrangements.”
    “Hey! I don’t do flower arrangements,” I said, shuddering.
    “True.” Emily kicked at a twig. “And she can cook edible meals.”
    I decided to let that one pass.
    “So what do you want to do for dinner?”
    “I vote for pizza.” Kerbasi called from a short distance back. “I’ve found the less contact you’ve had with the food the better it tastes.”
    “This isn’t a democracy,” I called back. “Anyway, I was thinking of making