"Later," he said, and winked out of existence.
I swore softly, then looked over at Stane. "I guess I have to go."
"Sounds like it," he said, amused. "Good luck with getting that information. Personally, I think it’d be simpler getting blood from a stone."
"You could be right. And don’t forget to send me your account details so I can flash over the money."
He leaned sideways and pressed a couple of buttons. A second later my phone beeped. "Ta," I said, and waved a sketchy good-bye.
The containment field went down as I neared the door. I walked around to my Ducati and was relieved to see she was still in one piece. I pulled on the helmet, jumped on the bike, and headed home.
Azriel appeared as I drove into our garage. "We really must be going," he said, a slight edge of impatience in his voice. "It is nearly one."
"Fine, but I paid an absolute fortune for this bike when I was younger, and I do not want her damaged."
"You are rich, are you not? You could buy another."
"Yes, I’m rich, and yes, I could buy another, but that is not the point. I bought her with my own money, not with anything Mom had invested for me." I stowed the helmet and pocketed the keys. "How do I follow you in Aedh form?"
"You don’t." He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. Before I could even register surprise, power surged, running through every muscle, every fiber, until my whole body sang with it. Until it felt like there was no me and no him, just the sum of us—energy beings with no flesh to hold us in place.
Then the garage winked out of existence and we were on the gray fields. Only it wasn’t the gray fields that I saw—to me, they were usually little more than the real world covered by thick veils and shadows, where things not sighted on the living plane gained substance. But in Azriel’s arms, the fields were vast and beautiful, filled with airy, intricate structures and sun-bright pulses of life that teased the imagination.
Then the fields were gone, replaced by darkness that smelled of earth, mold, and disuse. The old sewer tunnels the Aedh were apparently using for their lair.
Azriel released me the minute we were solid. I stepped back, my body still humming from the energy he’d released—not to mention our closeness.
"We are down the far end of the tunnels from where the Razan are," he said softly. "They are apparently not using this section."