I’m five-one, with copper-colored cornrows that are beaded with ivory. The sound of the beads clinking when I walk reminds me that I exist, that I’m more than a living shadow. I’ve actually managed to find love in this world, and am married to a gorgeous werepuma named Nerissa who puts up with all my bullshit. And as I said, I’m the official consort for Roman, the son of Blood Wyne. While he’s my lover, Nerissa is the love of my life.
Delilah, second born, is six-one, has short, spiky blond hair, and is athletic as hell. A two-faced Were, she shifts into both a golden tabby cat and a black panther. She’s grown from a naïve and timid young woman into a confidant, formidable opponent and is engaged to Shade, a Shadow Dragon. Both are servants of the Autumn Lord, one of the Harvestmen, and Delilah is his only living Death Maiden, destined to one day bear his child. Delilah had a twin sister—Arial—who died at birth. Arial comes to help us at times in her ghost leopard form.
And then there’s Camille, the oldest of the three of us. Well, oldest being relative, we aren’t that far apart. Camille is a Moon Witch and priestess for the Moon Mother. Curvy to the max, with an almost plump hourglass figure, her hair hangs mid-back in raven waves, and her violet eyes are flecked with silver when she’s running magic. She has three husbands—a dragon named Smoky, one of the Svartans—Trillian, and a youkai-kitsune named Morio, from whom she is learning death magic. The four make a powerful quartet and are soul-bound as well as married.
Together the three of us make for a striking contrast, but we’re sisters to the core. Half-human, half-Fae, we had come from Otherworld to make Seattle our home. And as I said, we’re leading the front lines in a demonic war that threatens both of our worlds.
***
A sudden crash of thunder broke the incoming storm and the rain lashed down, driving hard. As I silently navigated the puddles, a gust of wind rattled the last leaves off the trees, howling as it whipped past. November had arrived with a vengeance.
Carter lived in the Broadway district of Seattle, in a basement apartment on a seedy side street. Hookers hung out here, and junkies, and street people who were lost and wandering, but Carter had hired a powerful witch to ward the area around the steps leading down to his place, and anybody questionable steered clear of him.
After we all parked in front and made sure the cars were locked, we clattered down the steps. Carter was at the door within seconds—he seemed to have an uncanny radar that allowed him to greet his guests before they could even raise their hands to knock.
His father was Hyperion, the Greek Titan. His mother had been a demoness. With curving horns that spiraled back over his head, the demigod seemed out of place in the middle of the city, although he could pass when he chose, appearing as a striking, but relatively normal, human.
Carter’s hair was tousled and reached his collar. It was the same copper as mine. He always wore a burgundy smoking jacket over black jeans. A brace supported one leg, and he walked with a cane. I knew how he had come by his injury—but I was the only one in our family in whom he’d confided.
Carter was a brilliant man, sensual and with a dry sense of humor. But the three of us all knew that he wasn’t a safe candidate for any sort of romantic liaison. While the sensual energy ran thick, it was dark in nature. He’d as much as warned me once that his playmates had to be able to withstand a rough and tumble time.
“Thank you for coming.” He motioned us over to his living room. As usual, the opulence was faded but neat, reminiscent of a different time. Carter definitely had his own style; that was for sure.
As we took our seats, Lara—one of his cats—a gorgeous twelve-pound black and white Aegean, leaped into Camille’s lap. She was soon followed by Roxy, Lara’s fifteen-pound white sister. Inundated under the weight of almost thirty pounds of fur and razor blades, Camille laughed, burying her head in their fur. I grinned as she maneuvered the two cats into petting position.
“I know you wanted to talk to us, but we also have a problem.” I leaned back, crossing my legs, watching Delilah as she eyed the cats warily. She slowly reached out and petted one of them. The fact that she was one caused territorial issues at times.
“Let’s hear it then. By the look on your face, whatever’s going down for you is worse than what I’m concerned about.” Carter tipped up the corners of his lips, giving him a rakish look.
We filled him in on everything that had happened. “So, have you heard anything on the grapevine about rogue vampires? And do you know anything about Severance Park?”
Carter let out a long sigh. “I don’t even need to check my files for this one. Severance Park. In the Greenbelt Park District—you know the history of the area. Heavily haunted, a lot of psychic activity has gone down there, abnormally high number of deaths—some of them unexplained.”
“What about rogue vampires? Anything on the grapevine about them? Roman’s swamped with some sort of political mess that his mother’s gotten embroiled in, so he’s dropped this one in my lap.”
The fact that Roman had re-sired me and now I was connected to the Queen of Vampires never failed to make me cringe. Roman was proving to be a good sire, and he’d solved a serious issue that had arisen for me, but being so intimately connected with the leaders of the Vampire Nation had—and would continue to—prove problematic.
Carter frowned and moved to his desk. He shuffled through a sheaf of papers. “Hmm . . . something is coming to mind—ran across it the other day but didn’t pay much attention.” After a moment, he sat down at his computer and pulled up his e-mail. Another moment of searching and he crooked his fingers for us to join him at his desk.
“Find something?”
He nodded. “Yes, I did. It’s brief, but maybe it has to play with what’s going on. A friend . . . well, here. Let me read his e-mail. ‘I heard rumors the other day of a new vampire club coming in on the down-low. I don’t know much about it, except they’re trying to keep under the radar. Not sure if they have anything to do with demons, though. All I know is that the owner is named Julian.’ That’s the extent of it. As to why they would try to keep themselves private, I’m not certain, but maybe to avoid Roman’s notice?”
“Hmm, Julian? Doesn’t ring a bell.” I shook my head. “Well, I’ll run it past Roman. He wants all vampire businesses cleared with him. I guess, if that’s all you have . . . so, why did you want to talk to us?”
Carter returned to the living area and motioned for us to help ourselves to the cookies and tea sitting there. As always, an elegant bottle of blood waited for me, and I was never sure where he got it, or who it had belonged to, but the blood Carter served me was like honey wine.
“Truth is, I’m worried.” A furrow hollowed his brow. “I have a delicate situation, and I’m not sure how to proceed. I’ve never been good with interpersonal relationships. I can’t very well write to Iris.”
I snorted. Iris had recently started up an advice column for the Supe Community Action Council, given that she was stuck at home all day with her twins. She was handing out advice on just about any subject, although some of the questions she got bordered on the freakshow side.
I glanced at Camille and she shrugged. Delilah frowned. When a demigod called you in to ask advice in his love life, something was wrong.
“Can you be . . . more specific?” I knew better than to prod any demon or half-demon. Or demigod. Or half-Titan.
Actually, I knew better than to prod anybody who could make so much dust and ashes out of me. A stake to the heart, being shoved into the sunlight, a little fire applied in the right way . . . Yeah, none of those potential scenarios sounded too comfy. And we had no clue how Carter would react when riled. We’d never had the ill fortune to find out. Then again, he had killed his foster daughter for being a spy. No two ways about it, he had a temper.
“You know I’ve been dating Shimmer—you remember? Blue dragon?”
“Yeah, that’s right
.” We knew a little about her, but not much. For one thing, the Wing Liege had mentioned her. For another, we’d met her briefly here at Carter’s not long ago. She had left before we could form any real opinions.
“Something’s happened to her.”
We waited. Carter merely looked at us.
“Dude, you have to give us more to go on than that. Is she hurt? Did she have an accident? Do you need us to contact the Dragon Reaches?” Camille leaned forward. “We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on.”
He stared at her, then turned to include Delilah and me in his gaze. “I do not want you telling Smoky about this. If he knew the full story, he might treat her differently. I figure the Wing Liege will tell him if he wants him to know.”
Okay, so that was a knotty twist.
Camille frowned. “You want me to promise to keep something from my husband? What if it’s something he should know? That might affect him? You know what Smoky’s temper is like.”
Carter shook his head. “Trust me, if he needs to know, his mother and the Wing Liege will let him in on her secret.”
The demigod was leading us down a twisted little path. I decided to intervene. Carter seemed to listen to me more than he listened to my sisters.
“Camille is right to be concerned, considering all we’re facing. How about if we promise to tell Smoky and the guys only if push comes to shove? Will that work for you?”
Carter said nothing, just stared at us stubbornly.
Delilah let out a long sigh. “Carter, you have to work with us if you want our help. For all we know, this could severely affect the demonic war. We can’t make blind promises. You know this.”
Faced with our logic, he let out a huff and then shrugged. “Fine, but you don’t bring the men in on it—especially Smoky and Shade—unless you absolutely have to. Will you promise me that?”
By now curiosity was eating me up and I could tell Delilah and Camille felt the same way. “All right. Promise.” I glanced at the others and they nodded their agreement, Camille from under the pile of cats. “Okay, what’s going on with your girlfriend?”
Carter bit his lip, showing uncharacteristic vulnerability. “Shimmer’s been acting oddly. She broke up with me. I think something’s wrong.”
I tried to repress a snort. Camille’s eyes flickered with laughter and Delilah just stared at him.
“So all this worry because a girl broke up with you? Carter, dude, you drop lovers right and left when they don’t suit you. Now you get a taste of your own medicine and you think something is wrong with her?” The situation seemed so ridiculous that I wanted to laugh. Of course, not so wise to laugh at a demigod, but then again, Carter was our friend, and if you couldn’t laugh at your friends, who could you laugh at?
But he didn’t seem to appreciate my humor.
“If she simply wanted out of the relationship, I wouldn’t have any problem. You’re right—I do drop lovers right and left, and I don’t expect them to feel any different about me. If they want out, they have only to say the word. Unless they indenture themselves to me, I don’t play for keeps. But I mean what I say—she’s acting strangely. She isn’t herself and that worries me, especially since she’s a dragon, and especially since she doesn’t possess all of her powers right now.”
His concern sounded so genuine that we quit teasing him.
“Perhaps you’d better tell us a little about her background then, and what seems so amiss.” Delilah pulled out her notebook and pencil. Ever the private eye—well, ostensibly a private eye, she didn’t handle very many cases—still, she always came prepared.
“Shimmer was sent here as a punishment.” Carter stared at us, challenging us to react.
“Punishment? For what? And who sent her here?” Camille was looking as confused as I felt. Though the Wing Liege told us she was working off a debt, that’s all he’d said about her.
“I’d better start at the beginning. Shimmer was sent here by the Wing Liege. She now works for the Fly By Night Magical Investigations Agency. Well, Alex Radcliffe, the owner, is a friend of the Wing Liege’s, and Shimmer was assigned to work for him for five years. She’s working off a debt.”
“Alex. He’s a vampire, right?” Delilah had met him briefly at the Supe Urban Café, and we’d run across a mention of him rescuing a freelance operator for the agency.
Carter nodded. “Right. Odd fellow, but seems a good sort.”
“She’s working off a debt? What did she do?” Getting cast out of the Dragon Reaches was a big deal and usually involved some major crime. If we had a murderer on our hands, then we might be in trouble.
“She stole from a prominent family of white dragons. They caught her in their treasure trove, and she was lucky—rather than kill her, they turned her in. Shimmer was wingstrapped and dragged before the Council. Since she had never been in trouble before—read: never been caught before—they went easy on her. She was sentenced to five years expulsion, to work with Alex and learn some humility. The Wing Liege and Dragon Mages stripped away some of her powers for the five years she’s here. So, she doesn’t have full use of her innate abilities.”
Camille stared at him. “She’s lucky. Stealing from white dragons? It’s a wonder they didn’t kill her on the spot. They’re the greediest of the lot.” She fell silent and I knew she was thinking about Smoky’s father and what he’d done to her. It had been a horrible, harrowing time and she wasn’t over the trauma yet, though she was making great strides.
“She is lucky, but that’s not to say they aren’t still after her. Which is why I’m worried. Just because she was caught and punished in the Council Chambers, doesn’t mean the clan she stole from will let this rest. I’m worried she decided to end our relationship in order to prevent them from targeting me in a revenge attack. She’s got quite a conscience . . . when it comes to people.” Carter leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea. He motioned to the tray of cakes and sandwiches. “Please, help yourselves. Menolly, a bottle of blood?”
“So . . . how did she act? What makes you think something was going on other than her wanting out of the relationship?” I waved away Carter’s offer of bottled blood. I wasn’t all that thirsty.
Carter shrugged. “I guess . . . I’m worried that the dragons might be involved because she became secretive. She started looking over her shoulder when we were out. And she stopped talking about work. While I know she and Alex don’t get along, she usually respects him. But she grew unusually abusive last time she mentioned him. I know she doesn’t want to be there, but that doesn’t seem like her. She may not like her situation, but when we first met, she told me that she was going to ride it out the best she could. She’s really rather vulnerable, beneath her snarky exterior.”
“When did this all happen? When’s the last time you remember her acting normally?” Delilah was jotting down notes. Roxy decided it was time to make a new best friend, jumping off Camille’s lap to pad over to Kitten, who gingerly picked up the cat and gave her a quick kiss on the head, then handed her back to Camille.
Carter held up his hand. “I can tell you the exact date. Let me get my planner.” As he crossed to the desk, Camille flashed me a warning look.
“Blue dragons are connected to the water on an elemental level. They’re moody and highly sensitive,” she mouthed. “We might be in for trouble.”
I nodded. I didn’t know much about the dragon world, but Smoky, one of Camille’s three husbands, was half-white dragon and half-silver dragon, and she had rapidly been learning about the hierarchy and culture. Then again, if Shimmer didn’t have access to all of her powers, we weren’t necessarily outclassed.
A moment later, Carter returned. “Here we go. Six days ago, we went out for dinner. Everything was fine, and in fact, Shimmer told me that she had never met anybody like me and she felt safe around me. We had a wonderful day, and when she took off for w
ork that evening—she works nights because Alex is a vampire—she suggested a picnic this weekend. I remember that, because I laughed at her and told her the weather would be crappy and she said she didn’t care. She loves the rain.”
That didn’t sound like a woman ready to break up with the guy she was seeing. “What about the next time you talked to her?”
“The next day she dropped by after work, before going home to bed. She seemed distant, and she said—and I quote—‘Alex is a fucking prick. He should just walk into the sun and get it over with.’ I asked her what had happened, and she said, ‘Nothing, except he’s a first-class asshole, and the sooner I get out of this hellhole you call Seattle, the better.’ I invited her to stay for a while, to relax—I figured she’d had a bad time at work—but she brushed me off and left.”
He closed the planner. “The next day she called and made an excuse to break our date. I asked her if everything was okay and she told me to mind my own business. Two days ago, I showed up at her apartment and she wouldn’t let me in. She told me to leave her alone.”
We stared at him. The look on his face told us he was feeling pretty bad.
“That’s quite the change in attitude, and you’re right—very abrupt. I’m not sure what we can do, but . . . we can go talk to Alex, see if he knows anything.”
Delilah grinned. “Let’s mosey over there. If Shimmer’s there, we can get a gauge on what’s going on with her.”
Carter stood, a grateful look on his face. “Thank you, girls. If she truly just wants out of the relationship, fine. But I have to admit, I’m worried about her. Even with her limited powers at this point, a blue dragon is a formidable foe, and if she’s developed a chip on her shoulder, then she could be dangerous. And if the white dragon family is after her, she might be in danger. I don’t want to contact the Wing Liege because if this is just a mood swing, I don’t want to get her in trouble.”
“Understandable. She’s already landed herself in enough hot water as it is. Stealing from a white dragon family? Stupid to the max. I can’t imagine what possessed her to even try that.” Camille shook her head. “Let’s head out. Delilah, do you know where Fly By Night is located?”