He grinned. "My pleasure. As I keep saying, the black market is positively boring after you lot."
"Well, I'd rather have your boring life than my exciting one at the moment."
"Everyone always thinks the other person has it better," was his somewhat philosophical comment. "It's the way of humanity."
It might be the way of humanity, but in this case, he was very wrong. I glanced at Azriel. "I'm ready to go."
He wrapped his arms around me, nodded a good-bye to Stane, and then his energy surged, flooding through me, sweeter and sharper than before. As were the gray fields in the few brief moments between leaving Stane's and reappearing in Blake's shed.
"Whoa." I grabbed Azriel's arm tightly as the shed reeled around me. I waited until everything settled, then added, "Why did the fields appear so much clearer this time?"
He half shrugged. "Perhaps you're merely getting used to traveling with me, and therefore are more able to understand what you see."
Which was totally logical, yet not the real answer—but why I was so certain about this I couldn't say.
"I usually see delicate-looking structures, but this time they just seemed more solid." I hesitated. "And there were beings—or at least, wisps of them. Sort of like souls."
"They could have been souls under escort." He shrugged again and walked over to Jak. "We've lost our watcher, by the way."
I glanced around—a pointless action when I'd never been able to see our Cazador follower in astral form. "Really?"
"Yes. It would appear he loses the connection when we take alternate form."
"Then it's a shame I haven't the strength to take it more often." It would have been nice to be able to follow up on leads without Hunter knowing our every move.
Azriel touched Jak on the neck, and disappeared. Jak blinked; then his gaze focused on me and he said, "I guess making a run for it with the disks is out of the question?"
It took me a moment to realize he was continuing the conversation we'd been having before Azriel froze him. "You can try, but that will only lead to the access we've been given to the crime site being abruptly withdrawn. Besides, Uncle Rhoan isn't only half wolf; he's half vampire, too. You wouldn't have any hope of outrunning him."