Lupi 08 - Death Magic

he’d mentioned that she didn’t seem to be angry.
    They hadn’t talked at all about Lily going to jail. About the loss of her career.
    They would. If she didn’t bring it up, he’d see to it. Rule wound a strand of her hair around his finger and spoke close to her ear. “What was I thinking? It’s not as if you get upset when I keep things from you.”
    “First, this is different. I knew you had secrets about the Shadow Unit and why they needed to stay secret. Second . . .” She straightened slightly, but left one hand resting on his chest. “Why do you think I told Isen instead of Mika that I wanted to talk to Ruben’s second?”
    Both his eyebrows shot up. “You guessed?”
    “I wasn’t sure, but you were the logical choice. You obviously knew a lot about the Shadow Unit. Then there’s the communications staff.” She snorted. “That’s what Fagin called the dragons. Not many people that dragons will even listen to, much less allow to recruit them.”
    Bemused, he said, “They are allies of the Shadow Unit, not recruits.”
    She waved that off. “Plus you’ve got the whole two-mantled thing going. You can call up Leidolf with a word. It might take a couple words to call up Nokolai, but you’re probably already using some of the clan for things I don’t know about. You carry your own little cone of silence around as far as Friar’s eavesdropping is concerned, and you already know what’s going on. Last but not least, Ruben knows you’ve got what it takes to run a clandestine operation. I figure you were the one Ruben planned to put in charge before he decided he’d better keep the reins himself.”
    “You’re so far ahead of where I thought you were . . .” He stroked her damaged arm with one hand . . . but the damage was gone. His fingers skimmed over intact muscle. Deep inside, he seemed to vibrate, as if . . . he didn’t know. He knew what the feeling was, but he didn’t like it. “What do you intend to do now that you’re a ghost?”
    “What I always do. Find the bad guys. Stop them. I’ve got a plan—which consists mainly of questions, but with some assumptions mixed in. I need to know what kind of resources I’ll be able to draw on.”
    “We can’t match what you’re used to, but you’ll have help. Some of it will be at the house by the time we arrive.”
    “Cullen?”
    “Yes, though he’s not the only one.”
    “That reminds me. Someone else won’t be there. The Rhej had to leave. I gave her five hundred dollars.”
    His eyebrow lifted. “Did you?”
    “She asked me if you kept any Leidolf funds around, since she’d blown her bank account on a plane ticket. I didn’t know who that money in the safe was from, but I gave her five hundred of it.”
    “You did the right thing.” He dug a hand into his pocket. “Did she say where she was going?”
    “On mysterious Rhej business. That’s what she said. That’s all she’d say.”
    “I’d give a good deal to know what that business is. Here.” He held out a smooth black pebble. “Your secret decoder ring.”
    Puzzled, she took it. “Okay, it’s got a tiny tingle of magic, but it’s not a ring and . . . oh.” It was glowing.
    “If you touch it for five seconds, it glows for two.” Hers had already faded back to dull black. “It won’t react to anyone but you. You use it to identify yourself to other ghosts as an active agent.”
    She met his eyes. “You expected me to join your gang of conspirators all along.”
    “Not expected. Hoped. I need to give you a quick rundown of how the Shadow Unit is set up.”
    She glanced at the back of Mark’s head.
    “He will be trying not to listen, but if he hears it’s all right.” He bent his head anyway to speak closer to her ear. It let him swim in her scent. “There are three types of ghosts—active agents, irregulars, and allies—plus an additional resource we call associates. You can assume that allies and agents know about Ruben’s visions, about the Great Bitch and Friar—pretty much everything. Agents are able to call on irregulars, allies, and associates for assistance, depending on the situation and the need.”
    “Allies like the dragons?”
    “Yes. Also brownies, and lupi as a whole are considered allies, though some individual lupi are also agents or irregulars. We’re still negotiating with the gnomes, but expect them to ally themselves soon.”
    She pulled back slightly to look at him. “I can see where gnomes could be useful, but