Page 107 of Silver Claw

Just a light, brief touch, but deep inside me, something began to hum in response. Then she straightened, smiling, and the humming abruptly stopped.

I climbed out of bed, abruptly sick of lying in my room feeling like I just needed one more day to heal. “Come back and visit,” I said, then held out my hand. “Please.”

Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she smiled, and she took my hand. “I’ll see you again. I have no doubt.”

“I’ll welcome you, as long as you don’t try to take whatever magic I might eventually manage to build up.”

She lost her smile and studied me soberly. “I’ll never again take anything from you not freely given, Kait Silver. I swear it.”

I believed her. She wouldn’t go back on her word once she’d given it. I just had a feeling. “When I first met you,” I told her, “I thought you were terrifying.”

She squeezed my hand before letting it go. “And now you don’t think I’m scary?”

“Oh, I still think you’re terrifying. Just not to me.” I released her hand and stepped back. “I’ll see you, Siphoner.”

“See you, Silver Claw.”

Then she strode out of my bedroom, and I watched her go with a frown, wondering why I felt like it was the end of something. Wondering why I cared that she was leaving.

And finally, I threw open the windows to allow some fresh spring air in, then went to take a shower to wash off the last of my pain.

Gavin Voss was dead, and it was time to move on. Monsters were plentiful. I had no doubt I’d be meeting another one soon.

I wanted to eat, see Jared and Rick, play with Ash, go to the office. I wanted to talk to ghosts, clean houses, and help find missing people. I needed to help Rick with the city’s latest serial killer, a supernatural who was killing humans.

And halfway through my shower I paused, frowning, my fingers against the fading scars left by Anika’s blade.

I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Gavin’s magic had been lurking inside me, making me weary, sad, and deflated, and Anika had quietly pulled it from me the way she had pulled it from Rick. Because I felt…good. Abruptly good. She’d touched me, and she’d sucked away the sorrow.

Anika was an enigma, and she was powerful.

As I was dressing, my detective called. “We got him, Kait,” he said. “We got the serial killer.”

I sucked in a breath, for one instant thinking he meant Sam. “You got him?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t even hard.” He hesitated. “I’ll stop looking at Sam.”

“Thanks, Rick,” I whispered.

It was over. The killer was in custody, and Sam was in the clear.

Saul called five minutes later, like he was secretly watching me and knew the second I was out of bed and ready to live.

“It’s time for that meeting you missed,” he said. “The council is ready for you.”

I frowned. “Now? It’s the middle of the day.”

“Aaron is waiting for you.” He paused. “It’s good to have you back, Kait.”

Then he ended the call.

Surprisingly enough, I was ready to face the council. I wasn’t physically ready to fight the demon to get back my blade. Not yet. But it wasn’t the end of me and my demon blade.

Humming, I strapped on a belt, filled it full of lovely weapons, and went eagerly into the rest of my life.