Free Shadows by Paula Weston Page A

hair.’
    I lean over. ‘There’s nothing there.’
    ‘Touch it.’
    I run my thumb over the skin near the base of his skull. There’s a rough area there, like an old burn. ‘What is that?’
    ‘The mark of the Rephaim. It’s a crescent moon. We all got branded during conception.’
    I’m still stroking his skin with my thumb. I stop. He turns around and I slip back to my corner of the couch. ‘So I should have one?’
    ‘You did. Right where your scar is.’
    I reach up under my hair. ‘Convenient.’
    ‘The only way we can be killed is decapitation, and theblow has to sever the mark. It makes perfect sense that someone wanting to kill you would try to take your head.’
    I think of Jude. And his missing head. I can’t deal with that yet.
    ‘Nathaniel found all of them?’
    Rafa glances out at the sky beyond the window. A lone cloud blots out the moon. ‘There are a hundred and eighty-two of us that we know of. A chance, maybe, that there are more half-angel bastards out there, keeping their heads down, doing their own thing. Nathaniel found the majority of us in those first few years and took care of—’
    ‘Hang on. What about their mothers?’
    ‘All died in childbirth.’
    ‘All of them?’
    ‘Yep.’ He swirls the water in his glass like it’s expensive whisky.
    A log on the fire ignites. I watch the flames caress it until it’s completely engulfed.
    ‘What does it mean to be…like you?’
    Rafa stretches his legs out. ‘We’re stronger and faster than humans. And we can shift. That’s how we got here. It’s one of the gifts we’ve inherited from our fathers—the ability to shift from one place to another in the blink of an eye.’
    That’s impossible. Even if I have just changed time zones without boarding a plane.
    ‘And we’re immortal—unless we lose our heads, of course.’
    I clutch my glass to my chest. He’s messing with me again. Right? ‘Shouldn’t you be old and wrinkled if you’re a hundred and thirty-nine?’
    ‘We all stayed whatever age we were the first time we shifted. For most of us, it was late teens. There are a couple of exceptions—’
    ‘Is that what you did after I got the crap kicked out of me last night? Shifted?’
    ‘When we shift, we can exchange energy. You were hurt. I helped you heal quicker. It’s why we usually travel in pairs.’
    My fingers stray to my ribs. ‘Where did you take me?’
    ‘Here. Just for a second. The place wasn’t important, just that we shifted. Maggie was hammering on the door, so I didn’t have long.’
    ‘That’s why you were so wrecked this morning?’
    He nods.
    ‘So why haven’t you shifted us before now if you’re so keen to get me out of Pan Beach?’
    ‘Force you to leave?’ He yawns. ‘That only works on humans. A Rephaite must consent—unless we’re unconscious or incapacitated. That’s why Taya ambushed you. You were with me, so she figured she’d have to knock you out before she could take you with them.’
    ‘Take me where?’
    ‘To the mothership.’
    I pause. ‘What?’
    He laughs. ‘God, this is too easy. To the Sanctuary. Rephaim HQ. It’s an old monastery in the Italian mountains. Not a spaceship.’
    ‘I knew that.’
    ‘No, you didn’t.’ He grins. ‘Your head hurt yet?’
    ‘Like it’s going to explode.’
    He puts his glass down. ‘Let’s get some sleep. I’ll show you Jude’s room when the sun’s up.’
    ‘What about Mags? She’ll be worried.’
    ‘No, she won’t. You get snarky, you disappear. Don’t tell me she hasn’t seen that before.’
    I straighten the blanket around my shoulders. That was just a good guess—he can’t know me that well.
    ‘Your turn for the fire.’ Rafa gestures towards the wood pile beside the hearth.
    I use a log to flatten the coals and then toss it on. Sparks shower up the chimney. When I turn back to the couch, Rafa has stretched out, filling its entire length. He’s got one blanket around him and the other in front of him spread