I didn't hang about, simply imagined the gigantic shed that was the Central Pier function center on Melbourne's docklands district – the place where I'd not only first met Markel, but had interviewed the ghost of Frank Logan. In an instant I was there.
And so was Markel. He was tall, with regal features and a body that was as lean as a whip. He bowed as my gaze met his, his expression giving little away but his brown eyes showing a touch of relief.
It is good of you to come. His mind voice was cool, without inflection, but not unpleasant. I wasn't sure that you would.
I did think about not coming. My reply, like his, was thought rather than spoken. You couldn't actually talk here on the astral plane, just as you couldn't physically move. Everything had to be done on a subconscious rather than conscious level – although that didn't restrict you from fighting or even dying on the fields. And if you died on the astral plane, then you died in real time, too. But curiosity got the better of me. Of course, curiosity has also gotten the better of many a dead cat.
He smiled, although it held little humor or warmth. I did not arrange this meeting in order to harm you.
Then why did you arrange it?
He hesitated, and that in itself was enough to send trepidation skittering through me. Markel was a Cazador. They never hesitated. They just did whatever needed to be done, in the most efficient way possible.
Because someone wishes to speak to you. Someone neither of us should be seen with.
And with that, he moved to one side and a second man stepped forward out of the ghostly surrounds.
It was Harry Stanford, the manager of Hallowed Ground and the vampire who wanted me to kill Hunter.
Chapter 8
Fury swept through me and the plane responded instantly; shadows crowded close and the very air began to vibrate ominously.
I flexed imaginary fingers and tried to calm down. Getting angry in a place that reacted to your every thought and emotion was damnably dangerous.
What the fuck are you playing at, Markel? I glared at him. So much for attempting to calm down. If you were following me the day I went to Hallowed Ground, you know full well I want nothing to do with this man's schemes.
I said as much to Harry, Markel replied, voice even and expression unperturbed. But he insisted.
"Harry," not "Stanford." Suggesting he and Stanford were, at the very least, well known to each other.