Chapter 2
Smoky was all for killing the daemon, but I shook
my head. “Better to keep Trytian on our side. After all, he did
warn us about your father. And if we kill the thing, Trytian will
be in our face about it. Right now, we don’t need that.”
“We can’t just let it run around the streets
loose. What will people say?” Shade stared at me for a moment, then
burst into a peal of laughter. “I can’t believe I just said that,
considering some of what you’ve told me about your exploits, but
still . . . a daemon?”
Menolly held up her hand. “Let me attend to it.”
She disappeared inside the room, and a moment later she came out,
the daemon in hand. He flashed her a guilty look, then cleared his
throat.
“I’ll cause no more trouble. Any return message
for Trytian?”
I blinked. What the fuck had she said to him? Oh
well, whatever it was, it seemed to have worked. “Tell him we’ll be
on the lookout and do our best to stop the dragon. Tell him . . .
thank him for the information. He didn’t have to tell me.”
The daemon nodded, then started to head for the
stairs.
“Wait!” I called out. He turned around. “Let me
cast a cloaking spell over you. You simply can’t go wandering
around the streets looking like you do.”
A sly smile stole across his face. “You want to
try, girl?”
I nodded, even though Trillian and Menolly were
both frantically shaking their heads. Motioning for them to stand
aside, I began to work up the magic that I knew for cloaking
spells—if I could just get him to pass for human, that would solve
the problem of people on the streets. Then we’d just have to
explain to the folks up in the bar that they’d seen a crazed
lunatic wearing a costume who had a thing against elves.
“Sweetheart, I don’t think this is wise—”
Trillian began to say, and Smoky, for once, chimed in on his side,
but I brushed away their fears, too.
“My magic has grown stronger since I’ve been
working with Morio. And there’s no other way to avoid incurring
questions that we do not want.”
Disguise spells, or cloaking spells, weren’t all
that hard—at least not for the average Moon Witch. Given my
background, there was always the chance I’d muck it up, but I was
ever the optimist, and besides, I was the only one here who could
even try to cast a spell.
Without further ado, I focused on the daemon and
summoned the Moon Mother’s power into my hands, willing it to flow
into the creature’s aura. With a tingle raging through my fingers,
like pins and needles pricking a thousand nerves, I began to
rearrange the shape of his energy field, focusing on smoothing out
the bumps and modifying the color.
Even if we could get him to pass for a Supe of
unknown variety, chances were the Seattle
Tattler wouldn’t be getting calls about some hellish creature
rampaging through the streets. Maybe a weredog or something . .
.
With one last shove to set the energy, I blinked
and stood back. The daemon began to shift form. We all waited with
pent breath, and then as the spell settled into his aura, I let out
a gurgle and face-palmed my forehead. Not
quite what I’d been going for.
The daemon stood there, on all four feet, tail
wagging, staring up at me. “What did you do to me, woman? I didn’t
think you’d actually be able to do anything. I heard you were a
bumbling idiot! How long am I going to look like this? A poodle? Are you serious?”
He took a threatening step toward me and nipped
at my ankles, but Smoky leaned over and scooped up the
daemon.
“Do not threaten my wife, even if it is with
rabies.”
“I don’t have rabies, you idiot! I’m not
actually a dog!”
“Um, I hate to differ with you,” Menolly said,
“but you are for now. And it could last ten minutes or it could
last ten days, knowing my sister. I advise you get back to the
Demon Underground before the dogcatcher sees you.”
The string of obscenities that issued forth made
even my ears hurt. Apparently, my mind hadn’t been as focused as
I’d thought, because he was nowhere human or Were looking. In fact,
he was a very ornate white poodle, clipped in the typical
powder-puff stereotype. With two glaring exceptions: both his eyes
and his toenails were brilliant red.
“You look like some sort of wacked-out
hellhound,” Trillian said. “I’m sorry, dude. My wife tends to fritz
out on her magic a lot, but it does work, contrary to what Trytian
seems to have told you.”
“Put me down, you lunatic, and let me out of
here now!” The daemon dog snapped again, and Smoky promptly curled
his thumb and index finger together and gave him a thunk on the muzzle. Not hard enough to hurt, but
hard enough to humiliate.
“Mind your manners.” He rolled his eyes and
headed toward the door. “I’m going to go release this one outside
so he can go home. Camille, my love, think twice next time. We
could have simply given him a cloak to wear.”
I snorted. “Whatever. It’s not going to hurt
him. But hurry it up because Chase needs us in Tangleroot
Park.”
As Smoky carried the struggling mutt up the
stairs, I turned to Menolly. “What are you going to tell your
patrons up there? They have to have some plausible
explanation.”
She frowned. “Fire troll?”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Most of them won’t know that. Tonight it’s
mainly a bunch of Earthside Supes and Faerie Maids up there. I
could tell them that dragons turn into pixies and they might
believe me.”
I chewed on the inside of my lip. “You’re
probably right. Tell them we subdued him. But we’re going to have
to tell Queen Asteria the truth. That poor elf has a family
somewhere and you can bet, ten to one, they’re back in Otherworld.
I don’t think he’s going to willingly oblige us by being homeless,
without next of kin.”
Menolly chewed on her lip. “Yeah, I know. Let’s
go. I’ll have Derrick bring the body down here until we can
identify him. You guys go on ahead. Call if you need me.”
As we threaded our way out of the bar, it
occurred to me that with our luck, Santa would come riding into
town with a sawed-off shotgun. Considering that I’d met the Holly
King when I was a young girl, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit. He was
a terrifying figure and it never failed to awe me just whom the
FBHs would invite down their chimneys without asking for
references.
Leaving Menolly to tackle the damage control at
the bar, we headed over to Tangleroot Park. The snow was falling
lightly, and the soft swish of my windshield wipers kept up a
lively rhythm. Trillian was riding shotgun, Smoky sprawled in the
back.
I glanced at Smoky through the rearview mirror,
wondering whether it was a good time to discuss what the daemon had
told us, but decided to wait. We already knew Hyto had it in for
us. Mentioning it would only set Smoky off, and I really didn’t
want a pissed-off dragon in the backseat. Even one whom I
loved.
As the asphalt sped by, I thought about the past
year. So much had happened. When my sisters and I were first sent
over from Otherworld, we didn’t have a clue as to what waited in
store for us. We learned the hard way, all too fast.
I’m Camille D’Artigo—that’s Dee-Ar-tee-go. At
home I’m known as Camille Sepharial te Maria, because in
Otherworld, Fae take their mother’s first name as a surname. When
we came Earthside, we just started using our mother’s last
name.
Either way you slice it, I’m half-human,
half-Fae, and all trouble, at least according to my husbands and my
sisters. I’m married to a dragon, a youkai-kitsune, and one of the
dark, Charming Fae. Simultaneously. That
doesn’t go over well with some of the Earthside community who call
me a slut and a whore, but I don’t give a fuck what they think. My
mores are my own, and if loving three men is a crime, I’ll happily
play criminal.
By heart, soul, and trade, I’m a witch, recently
promoted to priestess. The Moon Mother rode me on one hell of a
rough trial, but I walked through the shadow and—like Ishtar—came
out of the Underworld triumphant. In the wake of destruction, a new
path opened, upon which I am preparing to embark.
My sister Delilah—a two-faced Were by nature and
a Death Maiden by calling—is second born. Until recently, I worried
that her naïveté would be her downfall, but she’s toughened up and
come to accept herself for who she is. She seems much happier now,
less angsty. Delilah had a twin who died at birth. Arial watches
over her, in leopard form, and the two have met in the astral
realm.
And then there’s Menolly, who was a jian-tu—a spy/acrobat—until she was tortured and
turned into a vampire back in Otherworld. Last winter, we managed
to dust her sire, one of the most vicious pieces of filth that ever
walked the Earth. Menolly runs a fine line, controlling her
predator nature but accepting who she is. But even in death, she’s
my baby sister.
Together with our lovers and friends, we’re
fighting a demonic war, alone except with scattered help from the
elves and a few other Supes we can trust. We’re on the trail of the
spirit seals—nine artifacts broken from a single treasure formed by
the Elemental Lords and the ancient Fae Lords when Otherworld split
off from Earth during the Great Divide. We’ve managed to find
several of them, but Shadow Wing snagged one, which makes the
danger more precarious. The rest are up for grabs, and we’re trying
to prevent him from getting hold of any more. Every spirit seal the
demon lord possesses brings him one step closer to the day he
manages to break through the portals, to raze both Earth and
Otherworld to the ground.
And we’re the only ones standing in his
way.
Tangleroot State Park was ostensibly closed for
the night, but Chase was waiting near the front gates for us. A day
park, the 400-acre sprawl was a maze of picnic tables and jungle
gyms, huge maple trees and conifers. The maples were bare-branched,
naked to the sky, but the firs and cedars towered dark and brooding
over the area. Snow clung to both naked limb and needled bough,
creating a surreal, cloaked feel to the park.
As we drove through the gates and parked, I
quietly slid out of the car and stood, gazing up at the giant
sentinels that guarded the grounds.
Something about woodlands and glades, parks and
forests during winter muffled my thoughts, sent me into a quietude
that I seldom found except within my magic and meditation. They
reminded me of my days spent in study back home, when I first
became a witch under the Moon Mother’s watchful eyes.
Chase smiled tightly, raising his hand. His eyes
glimmered with magic. The Nectar of Life was taking full hold of
him. Just where he’d end up was a mystery none of us could fathom,
but watching his journey was fascinating, and I hoped to hell it
ended well for him. He’d helped us so much and, although I’d
started out wanting to smack him every time he stared at my boobs,
over the months I’d come to respect and even like the
detective.
As Delilah and Shade pulled in, a flicker of
regret skittered across his face but disappeared so rapidly I
thought I might be imagining it. Chase was dating Sharah now—the
elfin medic at the FH-CSI—the Faerie Human Crime Scene
Investigation unit. They seemed casually happy together.
“Thanks for coming,” he said. “I know you must
be tired from your trip.” He searched my face. “How’s Iris?”
I shrugged. “Better than when we left. But it
was hard—it was rough on her. It was difficult on all of us. The
Northlands are a terrifying and harsh place. And I kept worrying
that we might run into Hyto. Speaking of which . . .” Chase had to
know. Hyto could wreak havoc on the city. “Chase, Hyto’s hanging
around here.”
Chase gave me a sharp look. “Smoky’s father?
Here? In Seattle?” A faint look of bewilderment skittered across
his face. Or perhaps it was denial. “You’ve got to be
kidding.”
“I wish I were. Apparently, he’s stirring up
trouble. And we know he’s out to get Smoky and me. We just got the
word tonight. I don’t mind telling you, Chase, I’m scared spitless.
Dragons are dangerous—all of them. Even Smoky. And Shade, who’s
only half dragon. But a dragon with a grudge . . . Hyto threatened
me when we met. I know he’s more than capable of carrying out those
threats.”
Shuddering, I let it drop. There was nothing
more to say. Chase couldn’t do anything except keep a lookout. If
he tried to go up against Hyto, he’d be charcoal. Or worse. The
memory of Hyto’s hands on me, of his whispered threats, ran through
me like ice water, and I tried to shake it off.
“What have you got for us?” I asked, before
Chase could say anything else.
He paused for a moment, our eyes meeting. A
flare of magic whirled in those dark orbs, and for a moment, I felt
pulled toward him—as if there were a connection that resonated
through both of us. It wasn’t sexual, but a deeper link, one born
of magic, of the dark of night.
“Camille,” he whispered. “What . . .” And then,
as quickly as the mind-touch flared, it vanished, and we were
standing among the others as if nothing had happened.
I shook my head at him and mouthed, Later.
“You were going to show us what you think is a
portal?” I didn’t want anybody else noticing what had happened.
Chase was going through so many transformations that a bunch of
nosy questions weren’t going to help him. But I decided to
privately have a long talk with the detective. We needed to test
him, find out just what sort of magical talents were
emerging.
He stood there for a moment, pensive, then
nodded and motioned for us to follow him. “Yeah, this way.”
As we fell in behind him, he explained how he
found it. “I got a call on the tip line, of all things, telling me
there was something in the park that wasn’t right.”
“Male or female?”
“I honestly don’t know. But I sent Shamas and
Yugi out here and they found this . . . thing. It reminds me of
Grandmother Coyote’s portal. But it’s . . . different. It doesn’t
have the same feel, if that makes sense.”
He frowned. “Like when you see an impersonator. Maybe he looks like
the real thing, but there’s something off . . .”
I pressed my lips together. There were so many
things in our world that were “just a little bit off” that the
normality of life had taken a backseat. “Yeah, I know. Show us,
please.”
We scuffed through the snow, along the
ice-covered sidewalks into the heart of the park. Tangleroot Park
gave me the creeps, to be honest. I usually loved the outdoors, but
some woods are too dark, some places too wild for comfort.
Especially over here, Earthside.
The home of massive cedar and fir trees,
Tangleroot Park also housed a couple of ancient yew trees. The tree
of death, the tree of rebirth. A dark soul in a bright night, the
yew was one of the most holy of trees, and yet it calved off into a
hundred trunks, a hundred roots, all twisting in on the heart of
the trunk. The spirit of the yew belonged to the winter, to the
barren and fallow season, to the Underworld.
And the minute we began to walk toward the
center of the park, I could feel the yews watching us. Watching
me. They were curious, and their curiosity
came creeping out, feelers reaching for my energy.
Death priestess . . . dark
moon priestess . . . we feel you pass by.
Startled, I jerked my head up, but even though I
glanced around, I knew that no one walking on two feet had said
that. It was the forest. The yews.
I tried to keep my thoughts to myself, tried to
rein in my aura. Lately it had become a challenge not to blast it
wide. The more Morio and I worked together on our death magic, the
stronger I was becoming.
And when I backfired, the backlashes were more
intense, and more dangerous. As I cloaked up, warding myself
against prying eyes, we turned off on a side path, silently filing
through the snow-laden trees. A faint mist ran through the park,
sparkling and electric. Mist didn’t usually crackle; something had
to be infusing it for it to shimmer so much.
I glanced up at Smoky. “Something is feeding the
mist.”
He gave me a faint nod. “I feel it, too. This is
unnatural.”
Delilah slipped up beside us. “Shade just told
me that he senses Netherworld energy here, but there’s something
more. Something far removed from the spirit realm.”
Shit. What were we dealing with? As we wandered
farther into the flurry of white steam rolling along the ground, my
ankles began to tingle, and then the tingling moved up my legs and
before I knew it, I was shaking like a leaf.
“What’s wrong?” Smoky reached down and cupped my
elbow. “You’re trembling. Are you thinking about my father?”
“Yes, but that’s not what’s making me shiver.” I
stopped long enough to tell everyone what was happening. “Anybody
else feel it?”
Shade nodded. “I do, but it’s not affecting me
as bad as it appears to be hitting you.”
Chase let out a short sigh. “I feel something—a
discomfort, like a prickling—but I thought it might be the
cold.”
“Hold on for a moment and let me suss it
out.”
We had stopped near a bench. Trillian swept the
snow off, and I gratefully slid onto the seat. I pulled my cloak
tighter around me, then lowered myself into a trance.
“Just what’s out there? Who’s creeping around in
the fog?” The mesmerizing strands of energy clouded my focus, and I
shook them off.
Peel back layer after layer
of sparkling mist cloaking the reality behind the magic. Dig into
its core, seek the central thread. And there it is . . . a cold
thread, a dark thread, steeped in the energy of peat bogs and old
forests and bonfires deep in the grove at midnight.
Touching the strand, I sucked in a deep breath
as it sang to me, reverberated through me like an electric fiddle,
ripping out an ancient, keening reel. Like a live wire scorching
the inside of my eyelids. I caught a glimpse of sentinel fir trees
dripping with moss, and toadstools growing off downed snags.
Silhouettes flittered here and there—sparkling with energy and yet
the sparkles were shrouded in darkness.
Evil? Not really . . . and
yet, not good.
Red eyes glimmered at me from the forest. An
ancient entity, male, old beyond reckoning, he waited in the
shrouded night.
Come, join my dance. You
know you must, sooner or later. The Huntress must dance with the
Hunter as the moon kisses the sun. Come, join me in a frenzied
ring. You, guardian of the Dark Moon.
I shook out of the web being woven around me and
realized that while I’d been in trance, I’d been warm—warm as a
summer’s night under the stars. I could still smell rich roses, and
honey wine, and the fragrant loam of the earth. The winter snow
around me glared, stark and unyielding, and I longed to join the
summons.
Clearing the catch out of my throat, I stifled
the impulse to run toward the energy. As foreboding as it was, I
still longed to reach out, to touch it, to embrace the entity
waiting in the dark.
“What is it?” Delilah asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, but it’s Fae in
origin. There are several beings waiting down this path. Something
dark and hungry—all scuttle and cunning. And the Hunter, I think.
He’s old and crafty, waiting in the dark of the night. I want to
shed my cloak and go running toward it.” I turned to Chase. “Show
us the portal, please.”
Another five minutes of ever-increasing energy
and we were standing in front of a shimmering blue field between
two trees, off the sidewalk, to our left. Chase had been right—the
thing looked just like a portal, only it had a distinctly different
feel from the ones we were used to. Which meant it was either a
different kind, or a mimic.
I motioned for Shade to join me. He was the most
versed in magic now that Morio was laid up, and he’d have a better
chance of helping me if some Big Bad came tumbling through.
He leaned down and whispered, “This portal stems
from the ancient forests. Be cautious, Camille. Powerful beings
inhabit the woodlands of Earth.”
Smoky cleared his throat, eyeing Shade as his
lips neared my ear. I rolled my eyes. Dragons didn’t do all that
well in the same territory; even a half dragon like Shade had
territorial issues, but mix him with Smoky—whose full-blood dragon
testosterone put most alpha males to shame—and we’d been breaking
up sputtering matches for several weeks. As polite as Shade could
be, he was still, beneath it all, part dragon, and that side had
risen to the challenges Smoky had pushed forward.
I took a slow step away from him to calm Smoky
down. Shade cracked a faint smile, and I realized he’d stirred the
cauldron on purpose.
“A real jokester, huh?” I mumbled, then turned
back to the others. “We can’t just walk through—we have no idea
where it might lead. This has the energy of the Fae Queens written
all over it, but I sincerely doubt they conjured it up. They’d
summon it to their Sovereignty if they summoned it at all.”
“That makes sense.” Trillian stroked his chin.
With his glistening obsidian skin, he was almost lost in the dim
light. “But they might know what it is. What do you think about
asking them?”
Delilah and I glanced at each other. The idea of
asking the Triple Threat to come out here to help us wasn’t an easy
decision. As much as I respected Aeval and Titania, I equally
distrusted Morgaine. She might be our distant cousin, but she was
out for pure power—her own—and I wouldn’t put anything past her in
her attempts to claim what she could.
I slowly shook my head. “I don’t know,
but—”
“Do you hear that?” Chase interrupted me,
blanching as he turned toward the portal.
“Hear what?” I listened but couldn’t catch
anything different from the energy I’d already been feeling. But
Chase looked like he’d seen a ghost. He wavered, his eyes taking on
a glassy look, then began to bolt toward the portal.
“She’s calling my name . . .”
I jumped to grab his arm, but he shook me off,
like he might shake off a leaf. I knew damned well that Chase
didn’t have the strength to do that.
I whirled to Smoky. “Catch him—don’t let him get
through that portal!”
Both Smoky and Shade rushed past me, but Smoky
suddenly stopped, bouncing back as if he’d hit an invisible
barrier. Shade was struggling, his steps sluggish and forced.
“I can’t move.” Smoky’s hair lashed out at
whatever the force field was, sparks flying every time the whips
hit the invisible barrier.
“I can barely slog through it,” Shade said, his
voice strained.
“Fuck! Come on!” I motioned to Delilah. We began
to run. It felt like I was running through mud, but at least I
could move. So could she.
Trillian was on our heels, and he passed us by,
faster than we were. “Elder Fae energy—pure, crystal Elder Fae
energy,” he shouted over his shoulder.
And then, the siren song enveloped me, a
beckoning dance that promised to last forever if I’d just embrace
the energy. I gasped, reeling from the desire to shed caution to
the wind. The wave of passion rolled over me like the scent of
peaches, ripe on the vine. Beside me, Delilah let out a choking
sound and dropped in her tracks, grasping at her throat.
Chase was almost to the portal. I paused, torn
between going after the detective and helping my sister. But
Trillian was within arm shot of Chase, and Delilah was struggling
for breath.
Making my decision, I grabbed her wrists and
began to drag her away from the mist that now encompassed us like a
sparkling fog. The siren song still lodged in my head, I did my
best to block it out as I pulled her to safety. Shade loped in our
direction, while Smoky was still trying to break through the
barrier.
Delilah sat up, wheezing. “I couldn’t breathe—it
felt like I was breathing water. Chase—what’s happening to
Chase?”
Turning, I saw that Trillian was struggling to
control the detective, but Chase broke away, pushing him back. With
a wild, panicked look, the detective plunged into the portal,
screaming. The gateway exploded with a brilliant light, and then—in
the snow-filled night—it vanished, taking him with it.