Darkness Unmasked(37)

 

"They do not see it that way."

 

I stared at him for a moment, seeing the bitterness beneath the mask. "They don't, or you don't?"

 

A cool smile touched his lips. "Does it matter?"

 

"They're your family, Azriel—"

 

"And they're not important." This time there was no disguising the scathing edge, but I had an odd feeling that it was aimed just as much at himself as at me. "Nothing and no one else matters until the task that lies before us is completed."

 

I snorted softly and reached for the open bottle of Coke sitting on my desk. "And when this task is completed and you go back to hunting those who come through the dark portals, you still won't see them, will you?"

 

"Do you not have work you must do?"

 

Though his voice had lost the edge, there was a hard glint in his eyes and Valdis still flickered with angry fire. Frustration ran through me, but I resisted the urge to stoke the fire a little more and took a drink instead. He'd told me a whole lot more in those brief few seconds than he ever had about his reaper life, and while it was nowhere near enough to quench my desire to understand him more, I knew it was better to back away for the moment. Push too hard, and he'd make like a clamshell and not say anything else at all.

 

So I simply got back to work. It took me a couple of hours to get all the accounts done. Once I'd changed into clothes that weren't literally falling off me, I headed downstairs to help out with the waitressing. Tao was in the kitchen, but we were so damn busy that we barely had time to even smile at each other.

 

As it neared midnight—and the end of my shift—I counted the takings and secured the cash upstairs, then grabbed four glasses of ice and Coke and shouldered through the kitchen's double doors. The only person in the kitchen was our pot washer, Frank. Neither Tao nor Rachel, our other chef, was in sight, although the fridge door was open and the toe end of a brown work boot was visible. It had to be Rachel's—it was too small to be Tao's.

 

"Where's Tao?" I asked, handing Frank his drink.

 

The older man shrugged and wiped the sweat from his face with a brawny arm before accepting the glass with a smile of thanks. He was slightly simple, but he did a damn fine job and he seemed to enjoy it. At least he was reliable, unlike some of the kids we employed.

 

I swung around and headed for the fridge. "Hey, Rachel," I said, popping my head around the corner of the door. "There's a drink on the counter here for you. Where's Tao?"

 

"Outside I think, and thanks."

 

She didn't look up from her stocktaking, and I spun and headed out. The rear door was open, and the breeze was icy compared to the heat in the kitchen. I paused in the doorway, allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but didn't immediately spot anyone.