Magic Graves by Ilona Andrews, Jeaniene Frost Page A

realized the midnight green drapes hung around a large bed, cocooning it. The firestarter lay in the center of it, fully clothed, his eyes closed as though he were asleep.
    Gotcha , I thought, torn between relief and dismay at finding him in what I knew was the present.
    I'd only seen him before through the grayish tones of past memories, so I took my time studying him now. At first, he looked like a normal, well-built man in his thirties, but then hints of his uniqueness showed. His espresso-colored hair was past his shoulders - longer than most men dared, but on him it somehow looked supremely masculine. Black pants and an indigo shirt draped over muscles that appeared far harder than a gym membership usually accounted for, and though no flames clung to his hands, they were crisscrossed with scars that looked like former battle wounds. His high cheekbones were accented by stubble somewhere between five o'clock shadow and a beard, yet instead of coming across as unkempt, it was rugged and enticing. I hadn't seen a man pull off that look so well since Aragorn in Lord of the Rings , and his eyes...
    Were no longer closed. They opened, not an indistinct gray from the colorless lens of the past, but a rich copper shade encircled by rings of evergreen. I would have thought they were beautiful, but at the moment, they looked as though they were staring right into mine.
    It unnerved me, but I reminded myself it was only coincidence. No one ever knew it when I used my abilities to establish a link. I could be the world's biggest voyeur if I wanted, but my most fervent wish was to know less about people, not more -
    "Who are you?"
    I jumped as though stung. If I hadn't seen his finely shaped lips move, I would've thought I'd imagined the words. Coincidence , I reminded myself again. Any second someone would come into my line of vision and I'd see who he was really talking to -
    "I'll ask a second time," his deep, slightly accented voice said. " Who are you, and how the hell are you inside my head?"
    That scared me into dropping the link at once, forcing all of my focus back to the hotel room with my four kidnappers. The ornate bed with its encircling drapes disappeared, replaced by ass-ugly wallpaper and a bed that would probably result in my getting bug bites. I let go of the silver knife as though it burned me, still reeling over what just happened.
    "Well?" Jackal asked. "Did you find him?"
    "Oh yeah." My voice was nearly a croak from shock.
    " And ?" he prodded.
    No way was I going to tell him the firestarter had somehow realized he was being been spied on. If Jackal knew that, he'd kill me on the spot so the firestarter couldn't follow the link back through me to find him. It was possible. If he could feel me in his head, the firestarter could probably hear me, too...
    With a flash of inspiration that was more reckless than smart, I knew what I had to do.
    *** *** ***

    Twitchy, Pervert, and Psycho had already left the room, but Jackal stayed by the tiny desk. From his expression, he had no intention of moving.
    I let out a sigh. "You think I'm going to escape out the window if you leave me alone? Come on, the others would hear it and stop me. Can't call 911 and say, "Help, a bunch of vampires kidnapped me!" either. Even if they didn't think it was a crank call, you'd just mesmerize any cops into leaving. Or eat them. Either way, I'm not going anywhere and I know it."
    "You're up to something," Jackal stated.
    It took all my willpower not to flinch, but I schooled myself to stay absolutely still. Don't panic, don't panic...
    "I don't know what, but I can smell that you're plotting something," he went on.
    I cleared my throat. "What you smell is someone whose been breaking out in cold sweats ever since she was kidnapped by vampires . If you want more information on your fire guy aside from how nice his drapes are, then leave. How am I supposed to concentrate when I'm being stared at by a pack of creatures that keep looking at my