Rachel Caine & Kristin Cast & Claudia Gray & Nancy Holder & Tanith Lee & Richelle Mead & Cynthia Leitich Smith & P. C. Cast by Immortal_Love Stories, a Bite Page A

superdork on him and then vaulted to the other side of the car?
    â€œYeah, umm, we match.” I tried to stay as perky as I had been when I ruined the moment. “We’re both strong, fearless creatures of night sent here to . . . do . . . stuff. What exactly do we do?”
    â€œWe all have different abilities.” He cleared his throat in preparation, and I wondered how many times he had had this conversation. “I can affect time. That’s how I got you to the bus stop, since you were taking too long getting there on your own, and that’s also why you woke up today . . . again. Guess you could call that part a side effect. But, I’m not too sure what your ability is, but you’ll figure it out pretty soon. It’s the same for each of us, but different. You have to discover your own way. I was sent from below—”
    â€œHell?” I interrupted. “You came from Hell?”
    â€œNo. Or at least not your idea of Hell. Look, I was sent here to help you serve up vengeance on some and to save others.”
    â€œLike you saved me?”
    â€œWell, kind of.” He sighed and cleared his throat. “There are these ancient monsters whose spirits have been locked in the Underworld, and occasionally they find some way to escape. If they do, their only goals are to find a body and create the same chaos they did centuries ago. I’m the first of my kind, our kind, that were made to find these creatures and send them back. So, we’re more like—”
    â€œMonster-slaying superheroes?!” Holy shit! What am I? A toddler?

    He laughed. “I guess you could call it that. I know where to take you, and we’ll just wing it from there.” He put the car in gear and started driving down the street.
    Wing it? That didn’t sound very reassuring.
    I stared out the window, trying to make myself teleport or move things with my mind, when I noticed the reflection of my eyes. They were flashing from their normal plain brown to brilliant amber. That was good, right? I kept looking out the window and tried to concentrate. We passed a crowd of people leaving a late night movie when it happened again.
    â€œOh my God! That’s it! I just thought it was part of me going crazy, but really it was my hidden superpower.” I giddily turned to Alek, expecting him to know what I was talking about.
    â€œWhat was your hidden power?”
    â€œI can see stuff.” It was just like with my mom, the weird vanilla smoke I’d seen around her. I leaned over Alek and pointed out the window to a cluster of people. “Like, I know that the girl in the pink cardigan and those really cute fuzzy boots is completely and totally in love, because I can see hot pink misty ribbons floating off of her. Oh, oh, and look at him.” I pointed to a guy standing on the corner holding a WILL WORK FOR FOOD sign. “The smoke stuff around him is all brown and nasty. Hey! He has cancer.” I paused, thinking hard, and suddenly knew. “He has lung cancer. He’s gonna die. Soon.” I shivered, not sure how I felt about my new superpower. Plopping myself back in my seat, I stared out the window and watched rainbows of smoke dance off
people and twist through the autumn air, and knew things I simply shouldn’t.
    â€œThat’s good, you’re learning already. There’ll be more to come, though.”
    I closed my eyes and drew a long, shaky breath. You’re okay . . . you’re okay. . . .
    â€œWe’re here.” Alek turned off the car, and when I opened my eyes I half-expected to see creepy boat docks or a dark alley. Instead, we were in the middle of suburbia parked in front of a brick house identical to the ones on either side of it.
    â€œYou’re kidding. This is the monster hideout where I’m supposed to fight crime?” Alek was already out of the car, and I hurried to catch up with him, following his longer legs up the driveway