Shadow Kissed 03 - Shadowman

. .”
    â€œIt’s fine.” Adam shook his head as he lifted a hand. “No details or complicated explanations necessary. I get the idea. Tonight, though, will you? Shadow is a mixed bag, good and bad. Talia’s comfortable using it, and Khan’s basically made out of it, but I’d still like to be absolutely certain that we don’t have an additional problem on our hands.”
    â€œâ€™Kay. Sure. Next time I see him.”
    â€œLook, Talia’s tied up with the kids for a bit, but if nothing happens in the next two hours”—he scratched the back of his head—“I promised her that I’d show you the wraith holding facility. You can take pictures if you’d like, though if you’re going to publish something, I’d like to know beforehand.”
    He couldn’t be serious. “Don’t you have stuff to do? Wraiths? Devils?”
    â€œThere’s always stuff to do, and lately always something new and dangerous to watch out for, but I have been informed in no uncertain terms that you are my first priority. Life goes on.”
    Had to be Talia bossing the boss.
    Adam squeezed her shoulder. “You okay?”
    Layla nodded. “I’m going to set myself up in the library with Talia’s homework.”
    â€œGood girl. Then I’ll look for you there.”
    Layla claimed a whole table, thinking to create a time line of wraith growth and activity according to Segue’s records, which were considerably superior to anything available to the general public. The institute was founded to house and study Jacob, Adam’s brother, who had apparently murdered their parents shortly after turning wraith. Like Layla, Adam had focused on scientific studies of Jacob’s condition, but soon diverged to include the paranormal. Looked like Talia was brought in to use near-death experiences to augment the research.
    Yet according to Segue records, Jacob was in no way the first of the wraiths. Adam had detailed accounts that identified murders with indicative facial lacerations and jaw fractures as far back as seventeen years. Seventeen. There were two more from eighteen years ago, but that couldn’t be right. And then a list of others, spotty yes, that included possible deaths as far back as twenty years. Twenty-three, if the last record was viable.
    And here she’d tried to pin Adam on ground zero.
    The WHO was way, way off. This had been a growing problem for a long time.
    And who was The Death Collector? Sounded like “debt collector” to her. Was he the first wraith? Or something worse? Layla wished she could ask Talia.
    She grabbed lunch—Marcie had made killer pizza—then went back to work. Dr. James stopped by with a handful of her articles, which he’d found on the Internet and printed out. He’d taken the time to read them and highlight all the things she’d gotten wrong. Which meant there was more color than white space. Generous of him.
    Talia came in and collapsed into a chair. She looked frazzled, almost in tears over her kids. Seemed Michael, the firstborn, was playing with Shadow. It took all Talia’s concentration, all her magic, to keep him firmly in mortality. Adam had kicked her out while they napped so she could breathe. A half hour passed before she got a call. Michael was up and at it again, so she was off.
    It was late afternoon when Adam showed. He had good news. An agreement had been made for Mickey Petty’s release. Transport was arranged for tomorrow, when things would get very interesting. Adam acted like it was just another day in the life at Segue. Even after Layla’s day of quiet work, she was still shell-shocked, but she had the even stranger sensation of fitting in.
    The wraith holding facility was a mound of earth like a fairy ring, topped with the same yellowing winter grass. A soldier in some whacked-out supergear stood post outside an innocuous-looking door cut into the side of the hill. Entering took two simultaneous key cards and some weird scan that Adam had to stand still for.
    â€œWe used to hold a wraith in captivity under the main building,” he said, “but that didn’t work out too well.”
    Layla could imagine.
    â€œWe lost three people the day my brother escaped, so now the wraiths are kept out here. This building can be completely sealed off in the event of an attack. We’ll have to do some kind of service to dedicate it as a