Shadow Thief - Eva Chase Page 0,43
ever needed one except that night when the hunters came for Luna. As I meandered down the hall now, I found myself clutching my purse strap as if holding onto it would ensure everything was okay.
Snap leaned in to examine my face, his own divine visage so close that my skin flushed in spite of everything. The heat didn’t reach my cheeks, apparently, because he knit his brow with concern. “You look a little pale. Should you eat something?”
Of course that would be his answer to the problem. I considered pointing out that there might not be anything to eat in my kitchen anymore, after the way the three of them—especially him—kept pillaging it, but I didn’t want to make him feel guilty.
“No, it’s not that.” I flopped down on the sofa. “I’m just tense after… everything. If I put on some mindless TV and zone out for a bit, I’ll start to unwind.” At least, I hoped so.
Ruse hummed to himself as he sauntered into the room after us. “I think we can do a little better than that to raise your spirits.” He ran his fingers over the shelves by the TV and plucked out a CD case. With deft fingers, he set the disc in the old boombox that sat on one of the end tables.
The buoyant beats of an ‘80s song careened from the speakers. Ruse came over to me and held out his hand to help me up. “You missed out on most of your dancing time—not that the bar was an ideal venue for it. This is more the music that’ll liven you up, isn’t it?”
I let him pull me to my feet, but I gave him a wary look. “Have you been peeking inside my head? I told you—”
He waved me off with a chuckle. “Miss Blaze, I don’t need to read your mind to pick up on your taste in music. Your CD collection speaks for itself.”
He had a point there. Considering CDs had been defunct for years now, I only had a few albums other than the ones from Luna’s original essential stash. He’d picked the Top Dance Hits one—she’d owned every year from ‘80 to ‘89, but only ’86 had made it into the emergency bag set. As the Bangles encouraged us all to “walk like an Egyptian,” I had to admit she’d made the right choice.
“Okay, fair,” I said, only grumbling a little.
He smirked at me. “Who has CDs anymore anyway? Are you as committed to the technology of times past as you are to the music?”
However much my spirits might have lifted with the beat, they sank again at that question. “They were my aunt’s—I mean, they belonged to the shadowkind woman who raised me.”
From the flicker of Ruse’s eyes, he recognized that he’d stumbled onto delicate ground. He twined one hand around mine and tugged me into the middle of the room. His tone gentled but kept the same playful quality. “So that’s where your obsession began. You honor her well by enjoying the era as much as she did.”
I liked that way of looking at it. “I grew up listening to these songs,” I said in my defense. “And they are catchier than a lot of newer stuff.”
“I’m not going to argue. You’re just lucky I even knew how to work that player.” He gestured toward the boombox. “It’s your good fortune that I happened to spend a decent amount of time in the mortal realm during the years those machines were popular.”
He’d been passing over to seduce and feed at least a few decades ago. To look at him, I’d have placed him in his early thirties, but with shadowkind, that didn’t mean much.
I gave him a sharp look. “Exactly how old are you?”
“A gentleman never tells.” He winked. “Let’s just say that on one of my first excursions across the divide, I shared pork rinds with Leonardo Da Vinci.”
My eyebrows shot up of their own accord. “So, you’ve got several centuries on me, then. I never thought I’d be one to go for men quite that much older.”
“I’ve made it worth your while, haven’t I? Besides, age is more a mortal concern. In the shadow realm, we barely notice that time exists. If you calculated based on my visits into your world, it wouldn’t add up to more than a few years.”
I gave him a shove with my free hand. “In that case, I’ve been hooking up with a preschooler. So much better.”
The next