Free Where Dark Collides: Part 1 (Shades of Dark) by Claire Robyns Page A

have exploded my window. My back was up, my blood hissing. Anything else, and I might have taken a night and day to assess the situation, to prepare for when and if they next attacked. I wasn’t a fan of explosions; I hated that crippling fear almost as much as I hated Demors.
    I veered off the gravel driveway and across the patch of lawn to the even lower hedge that separated my front garden from the narrow lane, my eyes scanning the wooded copse across from my house. Mist swirled through the stately trees of Clayburn Park, swallowing every hint of life and depth. The yellow halos from the street lamps penetrated less than an inch from their posts. I could barely see a thing, but that also meant I was less exposed than I felt.
    Kial caught up to me as I patrolled the hedge. “What exactly are we doing?”
    “I thought I told you to stay put.”
    “Since when do I take orders?”
    I sent a glare in his direction, then remembered the danger lay across the street and blinked that way. “It wasn’t an order,” I growled. “I don’t want to put you at risk—”
    “—when you’re being reckless,” he finished. “I don’t need protecting, Raine.”
    Neither did I, but that was another fight for another day. I did nudge him, hard, when he tried to insert himself between me and the hedge. When I reached the end, I turned, retracing my measured steps, my eyes pricked for the slightest sign.
    Was he there? The Demor responsible for the gas explosion at my parents’ house? The one who’d gone into the wreckage straight after, when they were injured, disorientated, weak, and sliced them apart from limb to limb, scorched their internal organs, fire-slashed their throats to shreds?
    I’d never know and it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t stop, not until there were no Demors left on the face of the planet, including their damn Shinmar. I’d get the bastard responsible eventually, by intent or by default. Maybe I already had.
    I had no more tears left. Only revenge and burning hate.
    A blue spark zipped my thoughts, but I’d already reacted a fraction of a second before that, before my brain relayed the alarm, shoving Kial one way while I went the other. Maybe I had an arsenal of spidery senses after all.
    The streak of fire hit the sodden hedge with a wet sizzle.
    “Damned Demors.” Kial rolled to his feet and slid me a look of disgust. “What have you done to piss them off now?”
    I almost smiled. “Nothing that I know of.”
    Before he could call me out on the lie, another flash of blue sparked. This time I was ready. Angeon power flicked from my fingers; a shot of brilliant white hit the blue fire head-on, resulting in a mini-firework waterfall of blue and white embers.
    As the display petered out, I aimed my index finger at the ancient oak from where the Demor fire had originated. “Perspi ocana cuus.”
    The oak lit up under the spotlight of my spell. From the massive trunk to the clusters of naked branches, the substance of the tree reduced to a watery image, revealing the shimmering outline of a male, at least six foot three in stature and close to a hundred and ninety pounds.
    Leashed white flames flew from Kial’s fingers.
    The Demor was faster, fading out a split second before Kial’s fire scorched the entire tree into an instant heap of ashes.
    I kept a sharp eye on the line of trees as the transparent oak slowly solidified. “There could be more.”
    “He could have faded behind another tree.”
    “What do you think they’re waiting for?” Both my hands were raised for battle, every instinct within me alert and primed.
    If I was half as reckless as Kial presumed, I would have charged into the forest, spell-lighting every crook and cranny, bush and tree, until I flushed the cowardly Demors out. I certainly considered it, my foot tapping with the urge to burst forward, but I didn’t have a death wish.
    Movement to my left whirled me about, the enchantment to stun the Demor on the tip of my tongue. I