Cursing, he concentrated on that loss. This female was nothing to him, but he, he had an eternity to suffer.

Damn Lusse, and her quest for souls.

He forced his hand to the silver chain around his neck, letting the ancient metal links dig into his palm. This was who he was — property, nothing more. Pulling his coat more closely around him, he turned to follow.

A cold blast of air hit Kara Shane as soon as she left the bar. The two whiskeys she’d drunk did little to warm her now, and they’d done nothing to lessen the pain of losing Kelly.

Her sister had been missing a full week today. The police seemed to have given up hope, but not Kara. Kelly was out there somewhere — she had to be; Kara couldn’t accept anything else.

She gathered her coat more closely around her and walked into the wind. Maybe the frigid air would do what the whiskey hadn’t — knock loose some idea that would lead her to Kelly. Something different than the dead end that had brought her here tonight. A discarded matchbook, how cliché. Was she really so pathetic she’d jump at any straw?

She’d known she was out of her element as soon as she’d stepped into the bar. Part-time employees of cute little tea shops did not stride into a place like the Guardian’s Keep and leave with the name of their sister’s abductor in hand. No, part-time employees of cute little tea shops were lucky they left…at all.

She’d thought she could brazen it out. Even borrowed Kelly’s floor-length leather coat — very Matrix — but it couldn’t make her strong, confident, something she wasn’t. The bartender hadn’t bothered to look at the “missing” flyer she’d edged under his nose. The waitress was worse, coarsely suggesting she take her size-four ass back to the mall while she still had a chance, and the patrons…well, Kara didn’t even have the courage to approach them.