Free Edge of Dawn by Melinda Snodgrass Page A

Richard hoped she was going to be fascinated rather than terrified when the blade appeared.
    He held up the hilt. “This is the hilt of a sword.” He closed his right hand into a fist and pressed it against the base of the hilt. “When I do this”—he pulled his hand away from the hilt—“the blade appears.” Azura/Amy gasped as the long blade seemed to slide from his hand.
    Her eyes went wide. She clapped her hands together and breathed a single word. “Coooool.”
    â€œNow, I’m going to touch you with the flat of the blade. You will have a reaction. I can’t predict how much.” Richard had learned not to tell people it would hurt. That never went over well.
    Amy thrust out her arm. “Go for it.” As the blade was lowering toward her skin, she asked, “What’s it inoculating me against?”
    The strange metal touched her. She cried out and her body jerked. Richard dropped the hilt, the blade vanishing, caught her, and eased her down to the floor. She shook in his arms as a series of small convulsions took her.
    â€œMagic,” Richard said softly, answering the question, though he doubted she could hear him as the sword did its work and stripped away her ability to ever do magic or have magic used against her. Now no Old One could feed on her. If only he could do this to every human in the world, the creatures would have to retreat back to their own worlds or starve. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a viable option.
    As for Amy, he’d seen much worse reactions. The spasms passed after about ten minutes. He went over to the water cooler and got her a glass of water. She leaned against his shoulder, taking tiny sips.
    â€œWow, that hurt.”
    â€œI’m sorry. Warning people seems to only make it worse.”
    â€œWhat did you do?”
    He explained the sword’s power.
    She pulled away from him. “Well, that kind of sucks. Maybe I want to be magical.”
    â€œTrust me, you don’t. Bad things can feed on you then. I hope you won’t quit, but I’ll understand if you want to.” Richard checked his watch. “And now I really need to go if I’m going to catch that plane.”
    She stepped back, planted her fists on her hips, and glared at him. “Okay, bub, you do not get to throw out a statement like bad things can feed on you and then not explain it. You are buying me dinner as partial compensation for taking my magic, and you’re giving me a much better explanation than this is an ancient and powerful weapon that removes from an individual the ability to do magic or be a conduit for magic. ”
    â€œAmy, your mask just slipped. You are not a ditzy actress with only three brain cells to rub together. You repeated back my statement verbatim, and partial compensation ? Really? Did you graduate from law school, or did you drop out?”
    She went beet-red and rubbed her bobbed hair into a haystack. “Guilty. I dropped out a year short of graduating. I just hated it. But how did you…?”
    â€œMy father’s a judge and one of my sisters is a lawyer. Believe me, I know the lingo.”
    â€œYou didn’t…?”
    â€œNot smart enough.”
    â€œHow do you know what I’m going to ask before I ask it?” Amy demanded.
    â€œCop.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œAnd you’re right, I do owe you a fuller explanation, but not today. I have to get back to New Mexico.” Richard headed for the door. “When I get back. I promise.”
    â€œAnd when will that be?”
    â€œA couple of days, no more. I’ve got things here…” His voice died away as he contemplated the subdivision. He would need to call Calder ó n and explain the situation. He hoped the man would believe him and not think he was trying to renege on their agreement.

 
    Chapter
    FIVE
    R ICHARD rode down the final escalator at the Albuquerque Sunport to the exit. The automatic