Kiss the Night Good-Bye by Keri Arthur, now you can read online.
Chapter One
Motes of dust danced in the beams of light filtering through the grubby window panes. The room was narrow but long, and the dusky sunlight did little to lift the shadows. The silence crawled across Nikki's skin like a live thing, yet she knew she was not alone.
She flexed her fingers, trying to ease the tension that had sweat running down her forehead, and swept her gaze from left to right.
They were here, somewhere. Four of them, hidden amongst the dust and the shadows and the wooden boxes. Two vampires and two shapeshifters. All she had to do was reach the far end of the room unscathed. Easy, except for the fact that the others were allowed to use weapons, and she was not. She gave the ceiling a quick look. The monitors were on her, and undoubtedly those watching in the next room were growing impatient. She'd been standing in the doorway for a good five minutes. But Michael had told her not to rush, and it was a suggestion she was following to the letter. If she didn't pass this test, she'd have to undergo yet another month of physical training, and that was something she definitely didn't want. She and Michael were supposed to get married in thirty-five days, and she hadn't even gone shopping for a wedding dress.
She wiped the sweat from her eyes and scanned the shadows again. After three months of intense training—training that was both physical and psychic—she was fitter than she'd ever been in her life. However, in some ways, she was no closer to understanding or controlling her newer gifts than she had been three months ago.
But she wasn't about to admit it. How much the trainers suspected about her lack of control was anyone's guess, though she had a feeling Michael might have told them. They'd been concentrating more on her psychic talents of late.
Worry about one thing at a time, she told herself sternly. Jake, her best friend and ex-boss, had passed this same test four days ago. Surely she could do the same. Only she didn't like the feel in the room. Someone in the shadows was not what they pretended to be. She flexed her fingers again and wondered if all the knocks she'd taken over the last few months had finally made her crazy. How could anyone in this room not be what they pretended to be? Here in the heart of the Damask Circle's Washington training center there were no secrets. Except perhaps, where Seline was hiding. And why she was in hiding.
If Michael knew the answers to those questions, he certainly wasn't telling her. Which wasn't really a surprise. He couldn't be expected to break three centuries of habit in a matter of months, even though that's exactly what she'd expected of him for a while there. She glanced at the monitors again. Was he in the control room, watching her? He'd said he wouldn't be, because he couldn't watch someone beating her up without wanting to do something about it. Even if he was watching, she couldn't reach out to him with her mind, because this room was a psychic "dead-zone." She couldn't even use her gifts to protect herself if something went wrong. She bit her lip, trying to ignore the cold sensation creeping across her skin. It was nothing more than nerves. Nothing more than the knowledge that she'd failed this test once already and she couldn't afford to do so again. Not if she wanted to meet wedding deadlines.
She took a deep breath and released it slowly. There was no delaying the inevitable. If she didn't move soon, they'd fail her anyway.
She stepped right, keeping her back to the wall as she inched along. In the wasteland of boxes and shadows ahead, something stirred. Air brushed past her cheek, rich with the scent of the sea. Delphine, the dolphin shifter. The person who had caused her to fail last time, simply because she'd never expected a shifter in human form to be as slippery and as fluid as their animal counterpart. A mistake she would not be making a second time.
She reached the corner and stepped into the shadow of a large box. The scent of the sea grew closer, though no sound could be heard in the thick silence. No sound other than the rapid pounding of her heart, anyway.
She peeped around the corner of the box and felt, rather than saw, the strike of air. She twisted out of the way, barely avoiding the hand that punched only inches from her nose. Air stirred a second time, heralding the approach of another blow. She dropped, sweeping her foot toward the woman still hidden by the shadows, hooking Delphine's leg and knocking her off her feet. Before Del could rise, Nikki lunged at her, smacking her hand against the other woman's chest.
"Bang, you're dead."
The smoky-blonde's green eyes twinkled in the hazy light. "Good. Now I can sneak out the door before they lock it and get that cup of coffee I've been craving."
"Wish I could join you," Nikki muttered, stepping back so the other woman could rise. Del slapped a hand on Nikki's shoulder. "You'll do fine. Stop worrying."