Shadow Kissed 03 - Shadowman

hard with a wrench of timeless connection.
    Shadowman drew her up for one last kiss. Even as his mouth pressed to hers, hard, dark, full of passion, the gate spoke in her mind. kat-a-kat-a-kat: What do you think he made me of ? Every strike has a piece of you.
    And those flowers, so she’d endure. Hold out, against all odds.
    â€œGet her out of here!” Shadowman roared.
    Then he frowned in confusion when the angels drew back, as if a thought had been shared among them. They looked at her. At each other. At the gate.
    Layla knew what that thought was.
    Those memories sure would be nice. Better than most of what she had in her head. But Kathleen had given them up for another chance at the real thing. And Layla wasn’t about to let it go.
    She met Shadowman’s tortured gaze. “The flowers, love.”
    The flowers made the gate, the keeper of the memories, endure as well.
    She had to be right because the gate’s rattle grew stronger, shaking dust and loose rocks from the cave’s dark ceiling and tumbling rocks down the narrow opening at its mouth. The gate knew she had the answer. The angels ducked as the debris rained down. One or two made a dash for the gate, giving in to temptation as the opportunity to open it presented itself in the chaos. These were knocked back by the blond-haired angel and Custo, whose veins had turned to lead.
    Layla darted toward the gate herself. An arm went around her middle, whipped her back as a large boulder careened in a blue-black arc of Shadow magic and cracked to the cave floor. She took the hammer from Custo, unafraid of the chaos in the cavern. She was well protected. Always had been.
    The tool made her arm buzz with a tingling-glowy feeling. This was not any old hammer.
    kat-a-kat-a-kat: Open me! Open me! OPEN ME!
    The cave rolled with a great earthquake as she stepped up to the gate. Eyed the first flower on it, drew her arm back with all her might, and struck.
    The flower’s stem bent, and the petals pointed downward. She liked the flowers so much, better even than her gorgeous red roses. When this was over, she wanted to gather them into a black bouquet. His hope that she’d endure. Well, she was right here to prove it.
    She struck again as the ground lurched, and the flower fell into the dirt. One, two, three more . . . no a fourth, right there.
    The gate stood naked before her, rocking on its posts.
    kat-a-kat-a-kat: He loved Kathleen more.
    Layla held out the hammer to Shadowman. “You want to do the honors?” kat-a-kat-a-kat: Desired her more.
    â€œIt would be my pleasure.” His expression was savage, violent and ecstatic. kat-a-kat-a-kat: He’ll never—
    And the gate was silenced with Shadowman’s first strike.

Chapter 20
    Two months later
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    Khan held the thrashing wight at bay, mesmerizing it with an orb of faelight. The creature shivered in the air, as if to shed its flesh, but it could never die. At least, not without their help.
    â€œEasy . . .” Talia warned as she directed Shadow to mask the barrow behind them.
    The barrow was an ancient construct redesigned for modern times. The outside was the characteristic faery mound of grass. Inside, a large steel capsule, monitored for breaches, took the wight deep into the earth.
    â€œNow!” Khan shouted as he cast the orb into the barrow.
    The wight shrieked after it into darkness. A sheet of steel enclosed the wight within but could never hold the thing. Only earth. Dark, rich soil was dumped onto the silver entrance by a waiting truck. Khan took himself out of the way so that another vehicle could pack the earth hard.
    The wight was buried, though it would never rest.
    The barrow keeper, a man named Chuck, hopped down from one of the vehicles. His job was to ensure that the soil did not erode.
    Talia joined them, wrapping her arms around herself and stamping her feet. “Did it work?”
    Khan was cold, too, but he liked the smoky shapes his breath made against the night sky. “Can you sense death in the air?”
    He watched as his daughter inclined her head, turning thoughtful. After a moment she said, “No. All I feel is the cold.”
    â€œThen it worked,” he concluded. “Let’s get you out of this weather.” He lifted a hand in farewell to Chuck. They’d gotten to know each other well in the past weeks and would know each other better in the future.
    Khan was becoming accustomed to the Hummer. Liked