Emerald Eyes Read Online Free PDF Page B

to emerge when he began to tie in related collections. Gemstones. Archaic magickal books. High-end auctions for spell components.
    One name -- one that he had heard before -- kept coming up, again and again.
    Mic Silvia.
    Goddamn it. This was going to be inconvenient, at best. Awkward. At worst, suicidal going after the man.
    Part of him wished Luc was here to help. Luc was so much better than he was at the whole burgling thing. Still, it wouldn’t be his first time. He would go in, get what he needed, and get out.
    Yves switched gears, researching Silvia’s holdings.
    Where would Silvia keep the pieces? They’d need care and security, but you wouldn’t want them where there was any real contact. They tingled. That was why Yves had several stored in a safe deposit box. The more of them you put in one place, the more they hummed.
    Somewhere with a vault, then. Somewhere secure...
    There.
    He found an address on the old side of town, somewhere that had been prosperous thirty years ago, but now was a ghost town. An unlikely spot, but the blueprints were... fascinating. There had to be all sorts of false rooms, and the underground section had been permitted two years ago for renovation.
    That was it. He memorized the map and the fastest way there and back. In and out, that was the way.
    He sent a sideways look at the sleeping Reuben, one wolf ear twitching madly. That ear seemed to have a permanent itch. How did he ditch his babysitter?
    Maybe the best answer was to just go. Now, before there was a chance to think.
    He slipped his laptop into its bag, then grabbed his duffel. Yves would get a locker for them somewhere so he could go in light at Silvia’s place. He wished he could leave them with Reuben, but he knew better.
    Reuben would find him again. Yves just needed some time. Somehow he didn’t think the pup would be willing to break into a protected building in order to raise the dead.
    He grinned, excitement building. Yves did love an adventure.
    He slipped into the bathroom, managing to wiggle out of the high window and be on the road before Reuben woke.
    Maybe his pup would sleep until he got back. Unlikely, but he liked Reuben enough to hope it happened. He needed some downers to slip in Reuben’s water in case another situation like this sprang up.
    Oh, that would be fun. Of course, the thought gave him a niggling bit of guilt, too.
    Guilt was not something he wallowed in. Unless it came to Girard. Okay, so he swam in that.
    Drowned in it, occasionally.
    He zigzagged across town and then ended at the bus station, finding a locker for his things before heading to the industrial area. Now he needed to be more careful, because he would stand out if seen. For all he knew, Silvia’s people knew what he looked like, thanks to Luc.
    He hid his hair beneath a hat and slipped a pair of dark brown contacts in. Those were his most recognizable features, and he wasn’t Luc. He didn’t change on a dime.
    Once he got to Silvia’s building, he took the time to study the guard patterns, see what kind of security system the place had. He’d already poured over the schematics and he’d explored his entry possibilities -- low would be easiest, but going in high would be safest.
    Yves pursed his lips. Yeah. High, for sure. He circled to the side of the building, knowing there would be less security where there was no obvious entry.
    He found the darkest shadow and leapt, reaching for the ledge that separated the stories. He hit it just right, his inner cat helping boost his human body. He needed those opposable thumbs too much to shift.
    He gauged his next move, fingers finding a spot where he could dig in, start his climb. He needed to gain four more floors and he needed to do it quickly.
    Yves found a rhythm -- scramble, rest, scramble, rest. When he reached the safety of a floor out of view from the street, he began to search for a way in.
    There’d been a window... where was it? Poorly mortared brick showed itself and he