Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass Page A

of hybrids in the middle of a major thoroughfare.” Sanchez took a step forward. “This after going to a club with questionable clientele. Not exactly the actions of a competent Shadowchaser looking for leads or grieving a loss.”
    It was so tempting to wrap her hand around Sanchez’s severe bun and yank the life out of her. Not kill her exactly, but put a hurting on her and find out exactly what the woman had against her. Oh yeah, Kira thought, I could do that, could drop the section chief before the goon quartet even realized what had happened.
    A flash of blue caught her attention, reminding her she hadn’t put her gloves back on. She took a mental step back. Gilead had taught her better than that. She was a Shadowchaser first, last, and always. Going off on Sanchez would make her feel better for all of a few minutes, maybe even an hour. But it wouldn’t bring Bernie back. It wouldn’t help her find his killer. That was the most important thing to her.
    “You wanna know what I know? Fine, I’ll tell you. Seeker demons are brought through the Veil for one thing only—to find something for the person who calls them over. They’re mindless, nasty, acid-dripping creatures that go through anything and everything until they find their target. When they find it, they’re freed from the spell that brought them over. Every Shadow Adept that’s summoned a seeker demon has been mauled to death and eaten. If they were lucky.”
    She stepped closer. Sanchez took a healthy step back before recovering. Kira hid a smile. “I didn’t detect a flameout, so I think it’s safe to assume that the seeker demon is still out there. Given the fact that any Adept who’s tried to control one ended up being its snack after it found what it wanted, I’d also have to say that whatever’s controlling this seeker is a Shadow Avatar for one of the Fallen.”
    “Fallen? Are you sure about that?” Even under the pale lights around them, Kira could see that Sanchez had gotten a little ill at the news. She couldn’t fault the other woman—it meant her job had just become that much harder.
    “Pretty damned sure.” One of the first lessons Kira had learned at Gilead was that every human myth had a basis in reality, and the term “demon” was given to a variety of otherworldly beings with distinctly nonhuman capabilities.
    Some were on the side of Light; some served Shadow. A large population lived in between, intermingling with the Children of Man and spawning hybrid offspring that had given rise to enduring tales of vampires, werefolk, merpeople, and others.
    The Fallen, though .  . . they were the heavy hitters of Shadow, the sons and daughters of Chaos and Darkness. Eons before humanity was a gleam in the primordial ooze, an epic interdimensional battle had been fought that threatened the very fabric of the Universe. Some of those belonging to Shadow had attempted to escape by opening a rift in the Veil—but in passing through had lost their ability to take corporeal form. The only way they could hide from the Light and interact on this plane was to inhabit a host body—an Avatar—and human bodies were easy to inhabit.
    “The alley reeked of Chaos magic,” Kira said. “And the construct on the barrier was in a pattern I haven’t seen before, like someone making lace out of barbed wire. Shadow Adepts are good, but I’ve never seen one use that combination of artistry and brute strength. I certainly haven’t seen one strong enough to funnel Chaos magic into anything other than a weapon. Only one thing’s got that kind of power and that’s Fallen .”
    Sanchez smoothed a hand over her bun. “If we have one of the Fallen here, looking for something your handler had in his possession .  . . ”
    The section chief thought so hard that Kira could almost smell the gears burning in her brain. Ambition warred with the need for self-preservation.
    “Things are about to get real nasty, Chief. Why don’t you let me take this