The Nightwind's Woman Read Free Page A

their families than being told they were
drained of blood then brought back to unlife and therefore had to be burned to
a crisp.”
    Kenzi stared at him for a few moments then
shook her head. “This is so far beyond my ability to absorb,” she said. “I’m
having a hard time visualizing what you are saying.”
    “There really are fiends like wendigos,
rougarous, ahuizotl , or drochtáirs out there running amok, feeding from the flesh of the living,” he
told her. “And those beasts are infecting others and unless we eliminate them
they will continue to do so until we have an epidemic similar to that in 28
Weeks Later or the Resident Evil fiction series. Would you like to
see that happen?”
    “Those are movies,” she mumbled. “Pure fiction.”
    “Are they?” he countered. “Most fiction has
some basis in fact.”
    She bit her lip, studying his
expressionless face for a long time, searching his eyes for the truth of what
he’d said. At last, she drew in a deep breath.
    “You said you were a Shadowlord. What is
that?”
    “There are four kinds of Shadowlord,” he
replied. “Each is a mage with vast psychic abilities. The lowest level is
Shadowlord then Deathlord and finally Ridge Lord. A Ridge Lord has immense
powers and he is capable of fighting the most virulent forms of evil. Now we
have the Gravelord and—as far as we know—there is only one of him. His psychic
abilities are off the chart.”
    “Psychic abilities such as…?”
    “I am telethetic and telepathic. Do you know
the difference?” When she shook her head, he explained that telethetic meant he
could transmit thoughts and words over great distances. “I am retrocognitive, pyrokinetic,
psychokinetic, clairvoyant and transvective.”
    “I know retrocognitive means able to see
into the past, pyrokinetic is obvious, and psychokinetic must mean you can move
objects with your mind, manipulate matter, space, time and energy. Everyone
knows what clairvoyant means but I’m not familiar with transvective.”
    “I can levitate,” he said simply.
    She blinked. “Beg pardon?”
    “I can levitate,” he repeated then grinned.
“Wanna see me do it?”
    “You betcha,” she said with a snort.
    He pushed to his feet, lowered his hands to
his sides, his chin to his chest and took a deep breath. She saw his eyes were
closed when he raised his head but he slowly opened them as his feet lifted
from the floor.
    “Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” Kenzi whispered,
just barely refraining from crossing herself as the man before her rose almost
all the way to the ceiling then floated from one side of the room to the
other—a good foot between him and the carpet. As he slowly settled to his feet
again, she whistled.
    “The Gravelord’s psi powers are stronger
than mine and my brother’s, plus he can bilocate.” At her perplexed look, he
explained it meant the Gravelord could be in two places at once.
    Kenzi stared at him in awe, never doubting
it for a moment. “Well, alrighty then,” she said on a long breath.
    “Psi powers are nothing compared to the
abilities of the creatures we deal with,” he said.
    “Such as?”
    “Imagine creatures that can shift from
human form to avian, to lupine, to dragon,” he said so softly she had to strain
to hear. “Imagine beings from worlds, from galaxies far beyond our own. Imagine
spending time with them, learning of their cultures, of how they died and came
back to life.”
    “Died?” she echoed, eyebrows shooting up.
    He sat on the edge of his chair, his eyes
steady on hers.
    “Reapers, vampires, revenants, Nightwinds,”
he said. “All died then returned, brought back by the Triune Goddess or the
fallen angel Lilith to serve mankind, to atone for sins they committed in past
lives. The Reapers come in three forms—one of which we only recently learned
existed. They can shift to lupine, canine and feline shapes as well as bird
when they need to take to the skies. They can walk among us in the full light
of day