After Dark

Chapter 6

"SO WHO'S THIS guy you're going out with tonight?" Zane Hoyt helped himself to a can of Curtain Cola from Lydia's small refrigerator. "Someone you met at the museum?"

"Sort of. He's a new client." Lydia peered into the hall mirror and adjusted the gold hoop in her ear. "It's a business meeting, not a date."

"Sounds boring."

Whatever else Emmett London was, Lydia thought, he was definitely not boring. She met Zane's gaze in the mirror and smiled.

Zane had just turned thirteen. Dark-haired and dark-eyed, he was slim, energetic, and hitting the awkward stage when he badly needed a man's firm hand on his shoulder. Unfortunately, there was no adult male in the picture. His father, a ghost-hunter, had been killed years ago in the catacombs. His mother had died in a drunk-driving accident shortly thereafter. Zane was being raised by his aunt, Olinda Hoyt. They lived downstairs on the third floor.

The majority of Lydia's so-called friends and colleagues at the University had disappeared after the Lost Weekend incident. Zane and Olinda had befriended Lydia at a time when she had found herself badly in need of friends. She was deeply grateful.

"The important thing is that Mr. London is going to pay me big bucks to help him find a lost family heirloom," Lydia said.

"Huh. Still sounds boring." Zane paused hopefully. "Unless we're talking about something from the catacombs?"

"Nope. It's an Old Earth antique."

"Why do you want to mess around with Old Earth stuff? I thought you wanted to get back underground."

"I do. But before I can attract that kind of business, I need to establish my reputation as a private consultant. That means I'll take any business I can get."

"I guess." Zane took a swallow of cola and wrinkled his nose. "So is it okay for me to study here tonight with Fuzz while you're out?"

"Sure." Anything to encourage his educational efforts, Lydia thought. "Fuzz enjoys the company."

Zane was a budding dissonance-energy para-rez. Unless he was forcibly prodded into a different path, his career prospects were all too obvious. It was almost a given that he would join the Guild when he turned eighteen and become a ghost-hunter. To make matters worse, he was thrilled with the image of himself in leather and khaki.

Lydia was doing her utmost to discourage him. At best, ghost-hunters were little more than high-priced bodyguards, in her opinion. Bodyguards, furthermore, who could not be depended upon in a crunch, as she had discovered at her own expense six months ago. At worst, they were gangsters.

Zane was too bright to waste his life in a dead-end muscle job. She might not be able to keep him from doing some ghost-hunting on the side, but she was determined that he get a college degree and study a respectable profession.

She sat down in the chair across from him. "Zane, before Mr. London, gets here, I want to ask you a question. This is real serious, okay? So please don't tease me."

He gave her a quizzical look. "Something wrong?"

"Maybe. Last night someone summoned a ghost and sent it into my bedroom to frighten me. Today, at work, I got a weird phone call about it. I think it must have been someone from the neighborhood. Any idea who it was?"

Zane sputtered on a mouthful of cola. "Are you kidding? None of the guys I hang with are strong enough yet to actually summon a ghost."

"How about one of the older boys? Derrick or Rich?"

Zane took another swig of his soda while he pondered that. "Jeez, I dunno, Lyd. I don't think so. Maybe it's someone new in the area."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Lydia muttered.

"A lot of the guys would probably tell you they could do it, but don't believe 'em. They like to flash a lot of amber around, but I've never actually seen any of 'em do much except maybe get a couple of flickers going." Zane eyed her closely. "You sure that wasn't what you saw? Some flickers?"

"Positive." Lydia knew that Zane and his buddies used the word "flickers" to describe the tiny, harmless scraps of energy that were too small to be classified as real ghosts. They lasted, on average, for only a few seconds before winking out of existence. They were too little and too weak to be manipulated. Even the youngest and weakest hunters could summon flickers by the time they reached puberty.

"You're sure it was a real ghost?" Zane looked doubtful.

"Trust me on this, Zane. If there's one thing I can recognize on sight, it's a real ghost."

"Yeah, sure," he said much too quickly. "I believe you, Lyd."

But she caught the flash of concern in his gaze and knew what he was thinking. Zane was her friend and loyal defender, but deep down he, too, was worried that she had been badly damaged by whatever she had experienced during her Lost Weekend in the catacombs.

Until she got back underground and faced a few traps, she could not prove to herself or anyone else that she wasn't going to crack under pressure.

The knock on the front door interrupted her before she could grill Zane further.

"That will be my hot date." She started to get to her feet. But Zane leaped off the sofa and charged toward the door.

"I'll get it."

He opened the door with a flourish. There was a moment of acute silence while man and boy regarded each other.

"Hello," Emmett said. "I'm here to pick up Lydia."

Zane grinned. "Hi. I'm a friend of Lydia's. Zane. Zane Hoyt."

"Nice to meet you, Zane. I'm Emmett London." Emmett glanced at the large chunk of amber that hung around Zane's neck. "Nice necklace."

"Thanks. I'm a dissonance-energy para-rez. Gonna join the Guild and become a ghost-hunter when I turn eighteen."

"That right?" Emmett asked politely.

Lydia frowned. "You're only thirteen, Zane. You'll probably change your mind about what you want to do a thousand times before you turn eighteen."

"No way," Zane said with absolute conviction. He grimaced at Emmett. "Lydia's not real keen on ghost-hunting. She had a bad experience a few months ago, you see, and she blames—"

"That's enough, Zane," Lydia cut in swiftly. "I'm sure Mr. London has dinner reservations. We'd better be on our way."

"Yeah, sure," Zane said. He looked at Emmett with a proprietary gleam in his eyes. "Lyd's ready to go, Mr. London. She looks real nice, doesn't she?"

Emmett swept Lydia with a considering expression. His eyes gleamed, too. Lydia was pretty sure she saw amusement in that amber-colored gaze, but she thought she also saw something else, something that might have been masculine appreciation. She grew unaccountably warm.

She wasn't blushing. She could not possibly be blushing. This was business, after all.

Maybe she should have worn a business suit instead of the little aqua dinner dress. She had bought it just before the disaster in the catacombs, right after she and Ryan Kelso had started dating. But Ryan had eased himself out of her life in the weeks following her Lost Weekend, and she'd never had an opportunity to wear the dress.

When she had taken the frock out of the back of the closet where it had been hanging unworn for more than six months, it had seemed discreet enough for a business dinner. The long sleeves and the high neckline gave the garment an almost prim look. At least, that's what she had told herself. Suddenly she was not so sure.

"Yes," Emmett said, "she looks very nice."

Nice? What did "nice" mean? She wondered. She eyed his slouchy, unconstructed black linen jacket, black T-shirt, and black trousers. Definitely not nice, she decided. Dangerous, sexy, intriguing, but not nice.

She cleared her throat. "We'd better be on our way. Zane, you can do your homework here and keep Fuzz company until it's time for you to go back to your place. But no watching the rez-screen. Understood?"

Zane made a face. "Jeez, Lyd, I don't have enough homework to fill up the whole evening."

"If, by some bizarre chance, you happen to finish your schoolwork early, you can read a book until it's time to go home," she said heartlessly.

Zane groaned. "Okay, okay. No rez-screen." He paused speculatively. "How about ice cream?"

Lydia grinned. "Sure. As long as you leave some for me."

"No problem." Zane waved her through the door with a gallant motion of his hand. "Have a good time."

Lydia grasped the strap of her purse tightly and moved out into the hall. When Zane closed the door very loudly behind her, she was suddenly conscious of being alone with Emmett. Without a word, she walked beside him to the stairwell.

"Known Zane long?" Emmett asked as they started down to the fourth floor.

"I met him and his aunt right after I moved into this apartment complex. He and Olinda were very kind to me at a time when I, well, when I needed friends."

"Olinda is the aunt?"

"Yes." Lydia stepped into the elevator. "She's okay. A good-hearted soul. Runs the Quartz Cafe down the street. But I'm afraid she's got plans for Zane, and they don't include a college education."

"What kind of plans?"

"Olinda makes no secret of the fact that she can't wait until Zane is old enough to join the Guild and train as a ghost-hunter. A good one can make excellent money, you know."

"So I'm told."

Lydia grimaced. "Unfortunately, Zane shows every sign of becoming a very powerful dissonance-energy para-rez."

"In other words, good old Aunt Olinda thinks Zane's going to become an asset to the family's cash flow as soon as she gets him into the Guild."

"Exactly." Lydia glanced at him. "Don't get me wrong. I'm very fond of Olinda, but she and I are engaged in an undeclared war. I'm fighting to make sure Zane goes to college before he even thinks about becoming a ghost-hunter. Olinda wants him to join the Guild the day he turns eighteen."

"I get the picture."

"I'm doing my best to discourage his fantasies about ghost-hunting, but I'm not making much headway. Young boys are so impressionable. All that macho hunter stuff really appeals to them, especially at Zane's age."

Emmett slanted her an enigmatic look as they exited the stairwell and walked out into the parking lot.

"Being a dissonance-energy para-rez isn't something you can ignore. Sooner or later Zane will have to come to terms with that side of his nature. He won't be able to pretend his talent doesn't exist, no matter how much he tries."

His calm logic irritated her. "Zane's a bright kid. He could be a doctor or a professor or an artist. I'm not saying he can't exercise his talents on the side. But I don't want him to become just another high-priced, overrated bodyguard."

"I realize the profession doesn't rank very high with you, but bodyguards occasionally have their uses."

"Huh. That's a matter of opinion."

He stopped beside a dark gray Slider and reached out to open the passenger door for her. "If you were going to continue as my consultant, you might need one."

She paused, one high-heel-shod foot inside the car. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to fire you."

Outrage and disbelief swept through her. "You're taking me out to dinner to tell me that you want out of our contract?"

"That pretty much sums it up. Those burn marks on your wall have changed everything, Lydia. There's some stuff I haven't told you about this job."