He looked at Atticus in his corner and a small smile appeared on his face. The fierce looking dog was sprawled on his back, legs straight up in the air and snoring so heavily that it drowned out the wind breaking against the house. Silas walked around his to his chair and collapsed into it with a heavy sigh.

After a few moments of rubbing the sides of his head to ward off an oncoming headache, Silas pulled his keyboard closer and begin to type his official report on the Raikov assignment. He detailed everything that happened, the method he and Raven used, the weapons each of them carried, and Raikov’s guilt. He also put his comments and observations as side notes. Such as how he thought it was much too easy to gain access to Raikov, how the blizzard proved invaluable as cover, and the ease of their escape. It had seemed too easy to execute one of the most powerful men in Russia, but he dismissed it with the fact that there had been two of them there. He finished the report and sent it to Cassie, who would send it to the Director.

There was so many questions surrounding his new assignment, questions about this woman who seemed like a beautiful, far away memory dancing in the fog that existed beyond his thoughts. How could she seem so familiar? Had he on one of the dozens of assignments that he had run through, met her somehow without committing her captivating face to memory? The seemed unlikely, just seeing a still glimpse of her had seared her green eyes into his mind. Silas imagined that when he meets her in person, her presences just might paralyze him.

Why, though, would she need him? He was one of the fabled Night Angels, able to bring down tyrannical dictatorships with a mere swipe of his bloody blade, able to change the course of the world through his actions and skill alone. Why would she, just a simple college student, need a creature of the darkness to protect her?

Then something clicked in his mind, that shadow... what if it wasn’t there to survey me… what if it was there as warning?…or as a challenge?

Shuddering at that dark thought, Silas turned his chair around to check the clock, it was almost eight. Silas shut down his computer and picked up a remote, switching over to a live news feed. They first couple of local stations were only showing sports news, so he moved over to a larger station. Finally, he managed to catch the beginning of the story he wanted to hear. He sat back in his chair with crossed arms as he listened to the anchor tell the world about the grisly scene found yesterday in Moscow.

Silas smirked in satisfaction when she reported that all evidence points Alexi Davidenko as the murderer of the wealthy businessman, slaughtering Raikov and his guards before taking his own life. Rolling his shoulders, Silas stood, contemplating this new mission. Absently, he began to make his way to the door way, his hands clasped behind his back.

Subconsciously Silas knew his final destination as he began walking, but his thoughts kept returning to that emerald gaze. She continued to haunt his mind, tantalizing him with hazy promises of answers to question he couldn’t even begin to put words to. It filled him with this unfamiliar nervousness that was somehow tinged with a strange, galvanizing excitement.

With the prospect of meeting this woman, of hopefully solving this mystery of her, Silas no longer feared that faceless shadow. If this was a challenged issued, then he would meet it head on, undaunted in the face of the darkness, both inner and beyond.

Having been lost his in thoughts, Silas looked up at the silver door, the chill of the garage turning his breath to steam. As soon as he made eye contact with the red scanner inlaid in the center of the conspicuous door, a thin stream of light shot into his eyes. After a few moments, the beams shut off and Silas blinked rapidly, his eyes watering a bit.

“Retinal scans complete. Welcome, Silas.” A male voice echoed throughout the garage.

The door smoothly slid upward and Silas walked into the dark room