"The cat thing. How did you switch?"
Why did humans always want that question answered? Even if he explained it, it wasn't like they could do it. "It's magick," he said sarcastically. "I mumble hocus-pocus and the next thing you know, I'm a cat."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I suppose it's a step up. The last guy I had in my house could only turn into a beer-drinking Pig."
In spite of himself, he gave a short laugh at her dry tone. He had to give her credit, she had a quick sense of humor, and he was quirky enough to appreciate that in other people.
Suddenly, he was exhausted. He hadn't been able to sleep since the Apollites had captured him-to have done so would have caused him to revert instantly to human form, which would have resulted in head explosion. Now he felt the deep need to rest. "So can I take the bed until tonight?"
Her eyes widened. "Excuse me?"
"I need sleep. You know? Whole point of you getting me from the shelter? You said Leo sent you, right?"
She put her hands on her hips and gave him a sharp glare that said she wasn't keen on that idea. "Yeah, but not to let you sleep in my bed. This isn't a flophouse, you know?"
That raised his ire. "What is happening to the Squire's code? I remember a time when that actually meant something."
"What Squire's code?"
"Up the ginkgo, babe. Don't you remember the one you had to take when you went to work for Leo?"
Her eyes snapped blue fire at him. "Leo didn't make me promise anything other than to leave my sanity at home."
His disgust tripled. "That figures. You must be first-generation."
"What has that got to do with anything?"
"It explains why you don't know your job any better than you do."
She crossed the floor to stand right in front of him as she glared her anger at him. "Excuse me? I don't know my job? At least, I'm not the one standing naked in a stranger's house, clutching a throw to cover my vital parts." She raked him with a less than complimentary glare. "Who the heck are you to lecture me on what I should be doing?"
"I'm a Dark-Hunter."
Susan stiffened. He said that as if it explained everything. "And that's supposed to mean something to me?"
He curled his lip. "Of course it should. What the hell has gotten into all of you that you no longer care about us? Or your duties? Have the Daimons sucked you in to work for them, too?"
What was he talking about? "Who are the Daimons? Last time I checked, the paper was owned by the Kirbys."
He curled his lip at her. "Like you don't know who they are. Look, Susan, I don't have time for you to jerk me around. I need some sleep before tonight. We've got a lot of stuff we have to do and I'll need for you to e-mail the rest of your group and let them know what's going on. "
Boy, he had some nerve. She'd never seen anyone so commanding and sure of himself. Especially given the fact that he was standing here bare-butt naked. "Excuse me? Do I look like your personal secretary or slave? Uh... no. You don't own me. I don't even know you and I don't care how cute you look naked in my living room, I don't take orders from anyone. So there's the door-"
"You know I can't go out there. There's daylight outside."
She gave him a droll stare. "Well, that's what happens when the big yellow ball comes up over the mountains. Amazing, isn't it?"
Ravyn wanted to choke her. And he'd stupidly thought Erika was a pain. That's what you get for thinking there couldn't be a worse Squire in existence . . . here's Erika in another fifteen years or so.
And Acheron thought that saving mankind from the Daimons was nothing. Gods spare him from women such as these two.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, there was a knock on the front door.
Ravyn exchanged a puzzled frown with Susan. A small preternatural frisson went up his spine. Since it was daylight, he knew there couldn't be a Daimon or Apollite out there-daylight would fry them on the spot.
Yet that's what it felt like. There was no denying or excusing away the unique sensation.
Which meant it had to be a halfblood. Only a half-Apollite would be able to set off his senses and still walk in daylight without dying.