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  Dante snorted. “Yeah, I’m great. I almost peed myself when you

  started talking. Is he going to kill us?”

  “As I haven’t been paid to do so, I will forego any murders this

  evening,” the demon promised. “I was looking forward to a very dull

  passage. Now I have a bit of excitement. It was very clever of you to

  find the door, Your Highness. The hag is going to be somewhat upset

  to discover you’ve found your way back to your kingdom. I believe

  her employer will be upset as well.”

  “Torin,” Meg surmised.

  The demon smiled, showing his jagged teeth. “Yes, the pretender

  is terrified of the warrior king. He should be even more frightened

  now. The philosopher king has a bit of the warrior’s rage since the

  bonding. He could prove even more formidable than his twin.”

  “Beck isn’t sure he even wants the throne anymore,” Meg said,

  remembering the bond they shared. Her warrior husband was tired of

  fighting.

  The demon studied her shrewdly. “I doubt he’ll have a choice

  when the time comes. As for you, Mr. Dellacourt, your choices are

  just beginning. There’s a whole world open and ripe for the plucking.

  I think you’ve made the first choice that will take you on the road to

  greatness.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dante said. There was

  an odd look on his face. If Meg hadn’t known better, she would have

  sworn he looked guilty.

  “Don’t listen to him, Dante,” Meg said, grasping his hand in her

  own. He was shaking slightly. “He’s a demon. I don’t think they’re

  known for their honesty.”

  “On the contrary, Your Highness,” the Planeswalker said with an

  offended air. “I never lie when the truth is so deliciously awful. But

  Mr. Dellacourt’s future is neither here nor there. It is your future that

  is at risk. I am looking forward to seeing if you can save those boys of

  yours.”

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  “They’re in danger?” Meg asked the question, but she knew the

  answer. They would have been weakened without her to bridge their

  minds. They had been in danger the minute she was taken from them.

  “Oh, yes,” the demon said smoothly, as though he were discussing

  some juicy gossip. “The hag managed to catch one of them with her

  spell, but the intellectual half evaded her. I’m afraid she didn’t ask the right questions. She asked for a spell that would shift the warrior’s

  magic. She assumed it would shift into her. That was a mistake.”

  “Cian absorbed it,” Meg realized. “Then he was strong enough to

  run with Beck?”

  “Oh, yes, Your Highness, King Cian was able to flee with his

  brother on his back. His own poor body, however, could not handle

  the strain of both their powers. He had to find safe haven. Both he and

  the warrior are currently in a fugue state. They sleep, waiting for the

  one who can set them to rights.”

  Tears pooled in Meg’s eyes. “I have to get to them.”

  The demon nodded sagely. “Yes, I suspect you do. The hag was

  getting close to breaking through the barriers to their haven when I

  moved through yesterday. If you could kill her, Your Highness, I

  would be grateful. She signed her soul over to me, you see. As she

  should live a very long time, I doubt she was worried she would have

  to pay up. I could use her skills on the Hell plane.”

  Meg wouldn’t do it to help the demon. She had her own reasons

  for killing the hag. And she wouldn’t feel an ounce of regret when the

  demon dragged the bitch to hell. “I promise I’ll kill her the minute I

  get the chance. I have a plan, you see.”

  Her plan was currently in a shoulder holster under the sweater she

  wore.

  “Excellent,” the demon said.

  There was the slightest feeling of air moving through the

  warehouse, followed by a quiet pop. The demon’s eyes widened. His

  body seemed to swell. “Ah, the veil is open. It’s time to go, Your

  Highness. Now, now, I see the suspicion in your eyes. You found this

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  place yourself. I am merely offering to travel with you. The door is in

  an unusual space. It might take you a moment to find it, and then it

  would be closed again. You would have to come back tomorrow

  night.”

  “I’m not signing a contract,” Meg stated firmly.

  “And I am not asking for one,” the demon replied. “I believe you

  will kill the hag. I am helping you entirely for my own selfish

  purposes, dear.”

  Meg turned to Dante, who handed her the duffel bag. She settled it

  on her back and hugged him. “Good luck, Dante.”

  “You, too, Meggie.” His hands tightened around her waist, and

  then he backed away. “I hope everything works out for you. Look me

  up if you ever come back this way.”

  Meg leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. She would miss

  this version of Dante, but it was time to go home. She followed the

  demon up the stairs, aware that Dante watched her the entire way. The

  stairs creaked and shook under her weight.

  “Hurry, dear,” the demon called from the darkness above. “You

  don’t want to miss it.”

  Meg braced herself and took the final step. The demon looked out

  over the railing. He pointed to a spot just below them. “There it is.”

  No wonder it was so hard to find. It was in the middle of the air.

  She would have to jump. If she missed, she would break her legs at

  best and her neck at worst. The demon gracefully leapt onto the

  railing. “Just follow me.”

  He jumped from the railing, feet first, and disappeared

  completely.

  “It’ll be all right, Meg,” Dante said from below her. “It’s fate,

  right?”

  “Yes.” She climbed on the railing. It shook and rattled under her

  weight. There was nothing stable about it. Moonlight filtered in from

  a window above, illuminating the ragged warehouse. Her hands were

  shaking as she made the mistake of looking down.

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  There was another popping sound, and Meg knew her time was

  running out. The door would close, and she would have to wait

  another full day before it opened again. She couldn’t risk it.

  Meg closed her eyes and took a leap of faith.

  * * * *

  Dante watched Meg disappear through the veil. A piece of him

  was very sorry to see her go. She had been lovely, and he had liked

  her spirit. If she had stayed, he might have been able to love her.

  Still, as he pulled the vampire computer from his jacket, she

  hadn’t left him with nothing to show for his efforts. He stared down at

  the computer. He’d slipped it out of the duffel bag when he’d

  gallantly taken it from Meg. He just hadn’t been able to let her take it

  with her. It was his because he’d been smart enough to steal it. And

  she would find another one. He had plans for this one.

  When Meg had suggested he go with her, Dante hadn’t told her no

  because he was afraid of
going to another plane. He wasn’t afraid of

  visiting other places. It just seemed silly to waste time when this plane

  was so ripe for the conquering.

  Why, Dante asked himself, should he settle for being a little fish

  on a bunch of planes when he could be a shark on this one?

  The computer in his hands was his ticket to the big time.

  Dante Dellacourt left the building, his mind racing with plans.

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  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Meg hit the ground with a great thud and promptly landed on her

  ass.

  The demon shrugged over her. “Not the most graceful of landings,

  Your Highness, but it will do.” He walked on without offering to lend

  a hand. “Good luck.”

  Meg scrambled up and looked around her. She was in the forest.

  The door closed roughly six feet above her. No wonder it was hard to

  find. It would be even harder on this side of the door since there was

  no handy set of stairs to climb up. Meg wiped water off her face. It

  was raining. She looked up the path. It looked like the rain got worse

  up ahead.

  The demon seemed to have disappeared again, and she was alone

  in the forest with no sense of direction. She ran for the shelter of a

  thick tree. It was less wet beneath the tree’s wide canopy, and Meg

  tried to pull out her computer. She went through the bag three times

  before admitting the truth.

  “Bastard.” It was obvious that the human version of Dante had

  helped himself to a souvenir of her visit. That damn computer would

  have been helpful.

  She heard rushing water to her left and knew she was in luck. The

  village had been built to take advantage of the river. She could follow

  it, and she would be able to see houses and docks when she got close.

  Meg repacked her duffel bag and prepared herself for a potentially

  long walk. There was nothing else to do. She couldn’t just sit here,

  and Human Dante had taken away her ability to call his vampire

  counterpart.

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  Meg trudged to the river. She realized she had another decision to

  make. She had no idea where she was in relation to the village. It

  could be north or south of where she was. She could walk for days,

  only to discover she’d gone the wrong way. Meg chewed nervously

  on her lip and stared through the rain, trying to see if there was

  anything familiar. The only times she’d come into the forest, she had

  been either righteously pissed off at Beck or sleeping peacefully in his

  arms. She hadn’t been memorizing landmarks.

  Ahead in the distance, she spotted a beautiful horse standing in the

  water, and her decision was made.

  “Screw you, you cannibal horse,” she shouted at the kelpie and

  turned the opposite direction. It was enough of a sign for her.

  Decision made, Meg began to jog.

  It might have been a bad decision, Meg decided half an hour later.

  She seemed to be walking toward the intensifying storm. The rain was

  pelting her. There wasn’t an inch of her that wasn’t soaked. She

  shivered as she hiked on.

  After a few minutes, she heard a magnificent sound. It started like

  a slight whir, and there was no mistaking its man-made nature. Well,

  there was no mistaking its vampire-made nature.

  She stopped and let the sound come to her. It didn’t take long. The

  hover bike was fast. The bike got louder. The sound seemed almost

  anxious to Meg’s ears. The rider was outfitted for the storm. He was

  in head-to-toe water-repellant gear. Even his eyes were covered with

  goggles. He steered the bike right toward her.

  “Get on.” Dante had to shout over the noise of the storm. “We

  need to talk, sister.”

  Twenty minutes later, Meg took the towel Dante handed her. Like

  everything else about Dante’s little camp, the towel was very high-

  tech. She rubbed her hair, and suddenly, it was dry. She didn’t

  question it. She was just grateful to be warm. The tent was toasty and

  dry. There were soft lanterns giving the room a nice glow. It was

  everything she could ask for.

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  “Where the hell have you been?” Dante asked, pouring himself a

  Scotch. “Do you have any idea how bad things have gotten while you

  were doing whatever it was you were doing?”

  “Well, I didn’t go willingly.” Meg rubbed her hands together

  before shrugging out of her sweater. “Someone paid the Planeswalker

  to take me home.”

  Dante’s mouth hung open slightly. “You went back to the Earth

  plane?”

  “And then found my way back here. I didn’t even need a demon

  to help me, though I did come back with one,” Meg said proudly.

  Dante sighed. “You came back.”

  “Of course I came back,” Meg replied. The vampire had really

  believed she’d abandoned them. “I love them, Dante. I never wanted

  to leave them. Now, tell me everything. Are they alive? Has the hag

  been able to hurt them? How did you find me?”

  Dante looked slightly amused as she pelted him with questions.

  “As far as I know, they’re still protected. I can’t get close. The storm

  is horrible. It’s kept the hag away, though she’s closing in. Once that

  blonde bitch gets into their hidey-hole, she’ll be able to slit their

  throats, and there’s nothing they can do about it. As for how I found

  you, I planted a locator device on your back that first day we met.

  Remember, I gave you a big hug and slapped you on the back? The

  locator device is small and burrows into the skin. I had a feeling you

  would be trouble.”

  “You LoJacked me?”

  Dante shook his head, seemingly unconcerned. “I don’t know

  what that is, sweetheart. However, I did make sure I could keep tabs

  on you. Don’t mention it to Ci, but I ‘LoJacked’ him a long time ago.

  I was too scared to try it with Beck. I do it to the people I care about. I like to know where they are.”

  “So where are they?” Meg chose to set aside Dante’s questionable

  actions for now. They were fortuitous any way she looked at it.

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  “About a half a mile north. I don’t know what happened, but the

  twins took refuge in a small cabin in the middle of the forest. It’s

  covered with vines, and let me tell you, those vines have thorns. I

  tried to hack my way in while the hag was sleeping. The plants took

  exception.”

  Meg pulled off her wet jeans and shirt. She ran the towel across

  her skin, marveling at the way it instantly dried her. “That’s Cian’s

  doing. He came into his power shortly before that asshole demon

  hauled my butt back to Earth.”

  “Cian’s a Green Man?” Dante lisped a little around his fangs. Meg

  threw him a dirty look. “What do you expect, sweetheart? You’re

  half-naked. It would be rude not to get horny. Now tell me about Ci.”

  Meg rolled her eyes and accepted that Dante was just Dante. She

  moved to her duffel bag and was pleased to find that everything she

  owned was not soaking wet. “All
that legendary stuff about royal

  symbiotic twins is true.” Meg put on the soft, suede-like pants the

  village women had sewn for her, and her shirt and vest. “Cian is a

  Green Man. Beck can control storms.”

  “Well, he’s not doing a very good job of it, is he?” Dante asked,

  referencing the raging storm outside. “It’s been like this since I got

  here a week ago. I came when your locator signal went off-line and I

  couldn’t get the computer I gave you to answer me.”

  “About that, I’m going to need another one of those. Your human

  self stole mine, the little weasel. I have no doubt he is, even now,

  plotting something ruthless. He had that look about him.”

  “Nice,” Dante said, showing off his fangs. “So you met the human

  version of me. How hot was I? I was really rich, but, like, on my own,

  right? I see myself as a self-made man.”

  “You were sad and sweet and potentially very selfish.” Meg

  strapped her shoulder holster on. She thought about Human Dante.

  “Your life wasn’t as good there as you have it here. I’m actually a

  little worried about what you, the other you, is going to do with that

  computer.”

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  Dante looked vaguely pleased. “Probably something incredibly

  evil. I always thought I’d make a good super villain.”

  Meg checked the .357. The weight felt good in her hands.

  “Speaking of villains, tell me the blonde bitch who’s trying to kill my

  husbands is Liadan.”

  “Is that the chick Beck’s been banging?” He quickly corrected

  himself. “I mean was banging before he met his one true love and

  started being completely faithful?”

  “You’re a good wingman,” Meg remarked. “And yes, I’m talking

  about Beck’s ex-honey. Please tell me I get to kill her.”

  Dante took a long gulp of Scotch. Meg was sure it was top-of-the-

  line stuff. When he looked back, Meg saw the fear in his clear eyes.

  “If she doesn’t kill you first, sweetheart. She’s quite horrible. I saw her face, her real face. I wish I didn’t have to see it again.”

  Meg checked to make sure the gun was loaded. She looked back

  at Dante as she placed the .357 Magnum in the holster and reached for

  the extra jacket the vampire had offered her. It was too big, but it