Trench Coat, TC, aka, The Archer, smiled at me, and a cold icy shiver raced down my back. "h.e.l.lo, Zoe. Miss me?"

CHAPTER NINE.

The cold outside was nothing compared to the paralyzing fear that abruptly gripped every inch of my body. It was different--thinking of him when he wasn't around. And maybe in a small way, romanticizing his almost--almost--knight in shinning armor emergence that helped me defeat the Symbiont in Rollins.

Romantic? A small part of myself--you know, that little mother look-a-like that sits on your shoulder with the wings--growled at me. You cannot be serious.

I flicked it away like a stray piece of lint. I didn't want that kind of grief right now--this wasn't the time.

You said something about protecting Daniel?

He c.o.c.ked his head to the side and smiled again. "You need to act fast--destroy the Betrayer."

Why should I believe anything you say?

He shrugged. "Because as you misfits sit around in there and eat your food and talk, the Betrayer has already discovered who you are--and what."

The icy feeling along my back froze my entire body solid. Fear like nothing I could remember before had me in its grip. You mean...you mean Bonville knows what I am?

"Would I lie to you?"

Yes.

I wasn't in the mood to argue who had what minions at that moment. I took a step closer--and he backed up. I mean the spook literally vanished from the chair and reappeared behind it.

Wha--?

His expression didn't tell me anything about what he was thinking. But--was he afraid of me?

TC held up the index finger of his right hand. On it he wore a silver ring with a skull on it. Typical. "Cautious."

Stop reading my mind.

"Stop thinking so loud, Wraith." He held out his hands, palms up. "Do you want to hear how we can be mutually beneficial to one another?"

Gimme back my voice first.

He shook his head. "No can do, lover. Are you open to hearing my offer?"

His use of the word lover just p.i.s.sed me off. And I knew he was goading me on purpose.

And then something dawned on me. I'm usually the first person who will admit to being a secret blonde--I don't always follow the obvious. And sometimes I see things no one else sees which irritates the h.e.l.l out of Rhonda on more than one occasion.

As I looked at TC, and I mean really looked at him, I realized he didn't seem to be as menacing as he had been before. He seemed almost diminished--like there was a vital piece of him missing. Had it been my Wraithy Wail that did this to him? Or something else? Making the deal with me--had he broken some-- You're in service again, the thought came unbidden, but I knew I was right.

The look on his face told me I had nailed it. TC the bad-a.s.s Archer wasn't an independent anymore, but a Symbiont in service to the Phantasm. Just like he'd been in the beginning before his encounter with me had set him apart.

What's wrong with you?

He straightened up, and seemed to grow in size. "There is nothing wrong with me!"

When I didn't move or flinch, standing on the porch with my hands in my pockets, he calmed down. "When our connection was made, the Phantasm wasn't aware of it and I was able to separate long enough to grow strong."

Ahhh...but when you made the deal with me the Phantasm knew--he was there.

"And he took advantage of that," he looked away and I could see his profile. Yep, Vin Diesel. "I have been in his service ever since."

And you think by me helping you-- Hunh. Helping him what?

He looked at me and took a step closer, his duster flaring out about him and he clasped his hands behind his back. "The Betrayer is the same as before--not in ident.i.ty but in greed. They sought a contract with the Phantasm--wishing eternal life and wealth. And as you know, the Phantasm can grant such things."

Yadda, yadda.

I made rotating motion with the index finger of my right hand. Speed it up.

TC glared at me. Like that was new? "They were given a Symbiont and a contract set. Only the Betrayer wanted even more. So the Phantasm offered them eternal life--"

He can do that?

"Ever heard of the undead?"

Never mind.

TC moved to the edge of the porch and looked up at the moon. It was full and cast his face in a blue hue. I realized then he wasn't wearing his shades.

Wait...where did the moon come from? And where had the wind gone? Too late I realized everything around us had calmed. Still. As if frozen in time. I couldn't hear the others either.

"But eternal life comes at a price--four souls. Each one taken simultaneously during the Fain-Dun ritual of the Seventh Black Seal."

I glared at him. Did you make that up? 'Cause that totally sounds made up.

"The Phantasm has a love of the theatrical. The ritual was created to transfer eternal life--and during it the four sacrifices are killed and the Phantasm increases his power by giving the fool an undead existence," he turned and looked at me. "Seven out of ten undead go insane after the first one hundred years. They never last for eternity. And the Symbionts return the souls to the Phantasm anyway."

Four sacrifices. Four initiated idiots. I thought of Dags. Are these sacrifices marked?

"Might be. I'm not the ritual expert." He turned completely from the moon and crossed his arms over his chest.

What happened?

TC nodded. "One of the sacrifices didn't work--like plugging in a bad Christmas bulb. Made everything else short circuit. In order to cover up the blunder the Betrayer used a forbidden spell to shove the physical bodies of the sacrifices into the Abysmal plane."

Oh geez...the other guardians. Did he only put three in?

"Thirteen."

Thirteen? I thought there was only supposed to be four?

"They were overcompensating for their blunder."

s.h.i.t. Now I know for sure where all those people went.

"Wraith--placing a physical body inside the Abysmal is like befouling the most holy of sacraments." He arched an eyebrow. "Imagine pouring menstrual blood in the vestal of the church."

Oh G.o.d... the very thought turned my stomach.

"Physical bodies in the Abysmal plane cannot survive--and so they dissolve. Painfully. And the remaining soul is tainted--neither living nor dead. Neither Abysmal or Ethereal. They're like gunk in the pipes. They're a cancer in a healthy heart."

Like nuts in a brownie?

And to my surprise he nodded. "Like this they are no use to the Phantasm. You call them Shadow Folk--Shadow People--we call them irritants. And they can only be destroyed by one means."

And somehow I knew that was me. And this is where I come in. So the Phantasm told you to contact me to get rid of the Shadows?

"I'm contacting you because we can help each other. We can destroy the Betrayer and I can retrieve the contracts."

I thought of the contract in the house, the one the Shadow People had showed me.

"They'll be drawn to you and your power--"

Oh great.

"--and then they can be destroyed by your hand. Once they're gone I can take my revenge--" he paused and smiled. "The Phantasm's due on the Betrayer."

I wasn't all that happy about delivering up the soul of any human being to the Phantasm. But then--Bonville had done some pretty awful things to innocent human beings. I thought of Dags and wondered if those marks on his hands would ever go away--or could they be removed at all?

It also scared me how close he'd been to falling bodily into the Abysmal plane.

And I really didn't believe this a.s.s-wipe.

What's in it for you?

He looked shocked.

Oh get off it--you don't do anything unless you benefit from it.

He held out his hands and bowed deep, actually bending on one knee. "Ah--I must once again marvel at your complexity."

a.s.s-hat.

"And your vocabulary. Yes--there is something I get out of it. But that something shall remain mine to keep if you want your dear cop protected."

I actually didn't want this b.a.s.t.a.r.d anywhere near Daniel--my love was in this pickle because of the Archer. This creature was the cause of all the wacky-ness in my life since I first saw him murder William Tanaka.

We have a maybe.

TC bowed again.

So when do we do this?

"You'll know--on the appointed hour."

Something banged like a door slamming. "Zoe!"

I blinked. And TC was gone. The night sounds of nearby traffic on Euclid returned, as did the cold wind. I turned and looked to see Rhonda standing in the doorway looking at me.

"What's up? Why did you come out here? And what the h.e.l.l were you staring at?"

It was obvious she hadn't seen TC, which I'm sure he arranged. Part of me wanted to tell her what'd just happened--but for some reason I just smiled and nodded before following her back inside the cozy shop.

Everyone was still in place, though Tim was absent. Where had Steve gone?

"Honey," Mom said before I sat down. "What were you doing out there?"

I pointed to my head before I stripped off my coat.

"You were thinking?"

Geez mom...you didn't have to look so shocked.

I found my board on the papasan where I'd left it and erased it as I sat down. After I was done scribbling I held up the board. CAN SYMBIONTS EAT SF?

Everyone gave me a blank stare on that one. Mom's lips flattened. Uh oh. I got her thinking. That could be bad.

"Zoe," Rhonda frowned at me. "Why do you want to know that?"

I didn't want to tell them about TC just yet so I needed to make something up really quick. I erased and scribbled, trying to write smaller to fit more on the board. WHEN I SEE DUDE AT HOSP. I HAD FEEL OF SYMBIONT.

Dags c.o.c.ked his head sideways. "And?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Rhonda nodded at me. "Zoe can sense Symbionts, right? Or you get that metallic thing you talked about before. But you did sense it with Bonville--and Maureen's journal said he got the Symbiont before he demanded more."

I scribbled a bit more. BUT NOT THERE.

Dags' eyebrows rose high on his forehead. "Maybe you sensed just like, the residual? So--where did the symbiont go if it's not inside of Bonville?"

I held out my hands--that wasn't why I asked--but it sure as h.e.l.l was a poignant question. And it threw everyone off the real reason why I asked. Uh...so it did.

I re-scribbled on board and held it up. SO CAN SYMB EAT SF?

Rhonda shrugged. So did Dags. Mom answered. "Symbionts consume the essence of the living. Some like the Archer consume it all at once, gaining a lot of strength--so much that he didn't need a body. But then Rollins' symbiont had fed off his soul for years improving his health. Which is the power that Hirok.u.mi wanted."