Martin was sitting in a chair, staring at the wall. Ghouls didn’t exactly need a lot of entertainment. I glanced around the room. He’d been fed recently, that much was apparent, and he’d gone to the bathroom, not in the toilet, but on the floor.
“Oh, Martin, aren’t you housebroken?” Cringing, I motioned for Shade to wait outside. “Kendra, can you get me some rubber gloves, a bucket of soapy water, a garbage bag, and some paper towels?”
She nodded, running upstairs. I shut the door, keeping Martin inside till we were ready to move him. As Shade and I sat near the portal, waiting for Kendra, there was a long, low hum, and a crystal on the table lit up. I jumped up. The portal had been activated—I knew because this was the same portal my sisters and I had come through a couple years ago.
Shade made sure Jaycee was comfortable on the sofa and stood beside me. As we waited, I sucked in a deep breath. It was probably nothing. Probably just a visitor from OW.
As a form shimmered into view, I squinted, waiting to see who it was. And then, a leg stepped through, and then another, and we found ourselves facing someone I didn’t think I’d ever see again.
A tawny-haired older man with a ponytail and feral eyes stood there. His eyes lit up when he saw me. It was Venus the Moon Child, the shaman of the Rainier Puma Pride, until he’d been carted off to Otherworld to join the Keraastar Knights under Queen Asteria.
“Venus! What are you doing here? You didn’t bring the spirit seal with you, did you?”
“No, don’t worry about that. I wouldn’t carry it over here.” He smiled sadly. “I’ve come for Zachary. He’s going home with me. For good. He can run free in Otherworld a lot more safely than he can here. And I can watch over him. He contacted me and asked me to come get him.”
I stared at him, reading between the lines. “Is he making the final transformation?” Zach was a Were, and the only time he could run, or walk, was when he was in puma form.
Venus the Moon Child put his hand on my arm. “Yes, my dear. He’s decided that’s what he wants to do. I’m going to help him.”
There were rituals that could permanently shift a Were to his or her natural animal form. My breath quickened and I bit my lip as tears rose to the surface. This was real. Zach was leaving for good. He was going to go back to Otherworld with Venus, and once the ritual was done, he’d be a puma. Forever.
I’d wanted to love Zach because he’d fallen so hard for me, but I couldn’t. I’d been attracted to him and the sex had been great, but it had become apparent to me that while I could love him as a friend, I couldn’t fall in love with him.
During a battle with Karvanak, one of the demon generals we’d fought, Zachary been paralyzed saving Chase’s life. He’d lost everything. His Pride had rejected him because he saved an FBH. He’d lost his job and was living on the grudging charity of the rest of the puma clan.
Venus saw the look on my face, and he pulled me into his arms. “There is no blame. Zach asked me to find you and give you a letter.”
I caught my breath. Zach had rebuffed my friendship. He’d turned me away after he’d been moved to the rehabilitation center. “He wouldn’t talk to me the last three times I tried to see him. He wouldn’t see me.”
“Zachary had to come to terms with the changes in his life.” Venus handed me a letter.
I took it, opening the folded paper. The handwriting was Zach’s.
Dear Delilah:
I asked Venus to talk to you, to give you this letter before he came to take me to my new home. Please, don’t blame yourself for this. I don’t. You thought I was angry at you, and I can understand why. But I needed time alone, without distractions or influences, to decide what was best for me.
And the best thing I can do for me is to live free in Otherworld. It’s not the disability that is holding me hostage, but my own memories, my own fear, and the fact that my family has turned away from me.
The Pride resents me for helping out Chase, for putting myself in danger for someone outside the clan. I do not regret what I did, but their rejection is more than I can handle. I could never live in the city, and I can’t live in a center like this where I’ll never feel truly at home. I’ve always been more comfortable in my puma form. My Were nature longs to be free. To run wild and not feel caged. So, I’ve decided to go with Venus.
I never expected my life to go like this, but destiny has a way of taking us on unexpected journeys. I like to think that even if I hadn’t been hurt, I might have made this same choice. In fact, I think I always knew that I was meant to prowl the mountain ranges, to run high among the rocky crags. I’ll just do it in Otherworld, not in the Cascades.
Please, don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t. Not anymore. I’m looking forward to the next phase of my life. And I wish you—and all your loved ones—the best lives you can have. I pray you are able to win your battle against the demons. And I hope that you, especially, find the love you so dearly deserve. I loved you, Delilah, but now I have to love myself. So I’m letting your memory go, and moving on.
Chapter 19
I stared at the letter in my hand, then looked over at Venus the Moon Child. “Oh, Venus…he’s sure about this?” I didn’t want to think of Zach desperate. Or feeling trapped.
Venus wrapped me in his arms, pulling me close. He patted my back. “Yes, little panther. He is. We’ve talked long and hard. Queen Asteria gave me leave to come back home whenever Zach needed me. I no longer belong to the Pride, either. They’re looking for a new shaman.”
He cupped my chin and gazed into my eyes. “You know, deep in your heart, that he’s not making a rash decision. Zach will have a better life over there with me than he would staying with the Pride.”
I exhaled, slowly. I trusted Venus. He would tell me the truth. He wasn’t one to lie. “Do you need an escort?” I asked, jotting his name down in the book and the purpose of his visit.
He shook his head. “No, I remember my way around. And Zach’s waiting for me. We’ll go back through the portal at Grandmother Coyote’s. I just wanted to deliver his letter first. I was going to leave it here in the bar for you—I didn’t expect you to actually be here.”
I wanted to pour out my troubles to him, to tell him about what we were facing now. Venus the Moon Child seemed to invite confidences, but that wasn’t his job anymore.
“Thank you. I’m glad we had a chance to talk.” I couldn’t just leave things this way. I sought for something else to say, wanting to hold on to Venus. He reminded me of life before it had been totally shot to hell. “Tell Queen Asteria we’re on the track of another spirit seal, would you?”
He nodded. “I shall. I’ll see you…well…sometime in the future, I imagine.” And he headed up the stairs, passing Kendra on the way down.
She gave me a quizzical look, but I shook my head. “I know him. He’s safe.” I accepted the cleaning supplies and—while she babysat Martin and Shade watched Jaycee—I cleaned up the disgusting mess Martin had made of the safe room. That was what we got for keeping a ghoul around. Wilbur’s house had been cluttered and dusty, but it hadn’t smelled bad. I wondered just how he kept it clean around Martin. It seemed like a good question to badger him with once he was out of intensive care.
As I was finishing up, Camille, Trillian, and Smoky showed up. She was walking better. “Where did you guys go?”
“We stopped at Tenzos for some ointment for my burn.”
Tenzos was a new chain store that had sprung up—it was geared toward Supes, containing a variety of common herbal remedies for Weres and Fae alike. Branches had been opening throughout the United States in most of the larger cities.
“Good. You don’t want that getting infected. Let’s get this show on the road. We have to interrogate Jaycee.” I had my doubts about how much the sorceress would talk, but we could always let Menolly loose on her if we needed. Menolly had no compunctions about putting the strong arm on someone when we needed information.
Shade carried Jaycee into the safe roo
m, where we cuffed her to the bedpost. Even if she got loose, she might be able to trash the room but she’d never be able to escape. As I removed the gag from her mouth, she let out what sounded like the words to a magical curse, her eyes gleaming. When nothing happened, she looked confused.
“Not gonna happen, Jaycee. Your magic won’t work in here. Face it, we’ve got you, you’re ours, and you might as well answer some questions.” I straddled a chair, leaning my elbows on the back. “Now, tell us where you guys are holed up this time.”
She let out a choked laugh. “You really think I’m going to talk? What are you, a moron in addition to being one of those stinking Weres?” She wrinkled her nose at me. “I smell cat shit.”
I cocked my head. “You know our sister Menolly’s a vampire. Tonight, she’d be more than happy to come question you, and she’s not always a very nice person.” Intimidation, I could do. Or at least a good semblance.
“You really think I’m going to turn in my partner? You’re stupider than I thought. I’m a Tregart. We know the meaning of loyalty.”
Camille joined me. “Loyalty? You’re so loyal you’d spy on Stacia Bonecrusher for Shadow Wing, wouldn’t you? You were so loyal that you set her up because your boss—Mr. Big and Mighty—thought she was a danger to him.”
At the mention of Shadow Wing, Jaycee blinked. Aha—we were right.
“We know you’re working with Shadow Wing; you might as well tell us the truth.” I stood up and motioned for Camille to stand back.
“If I’m working with Shadow Wing, what makes you think I have any intention of talking to you? I’m not getting out of here alive. I’d be an imbecile to think so. You can do what you like, but I’m not talking.”
Her bluster was real. I could see it in her eyes. She was waiting for us to kill her. Which we’d have to do. We’d never turn her to our side. Even if we did manage to secure her cooperation, we wouldn’t be able to trust that she was telling the truth.
I shoved her back on the bed. “Shade, hold her down while I search her pockets.”
Jaycee struggled, but Shade was too strong for her and I went through all her pockets, searching for anything that might help. I found her wallet and phone, and stepped back.
“No, those are mine—give them back!”
“I don’t think so.” I sat at the table with Camille and we started going through the wallet. “Our demon here has a driver’s license, and her address is printed on it. And it’s not the safe house they used last time.” I jotted down the address.
“Found her smart phone. Let’s see what we have in here…” Camille frowned. “It won’t work.”
“Remember? Most electronics won’t work in this room. Step outside and check it out.” I was still going through the various receipts and cards in Jaycee’s wallet. Camille exited the room.
“Jaycee, I see you spend a lot of time at the Energy Exchange. Care to tell me more about the club?”
“Eat me out, pussycat.” She just glared.
“I’m more into men, thank you. But I’ll pass the invitation on to my sister, the vampire.” My gaze flickered up to meet Jaycee’s, and I saw the barest of flinches. So she was afraid of vampires.
After a couple of minutes of useless insults flying back and forth, Smoky frowned and slipped outside. I wondered where he was going, but the next minute he slammed the door back open.
“Get out here now—we need your help!”
Stuffing Jaycee’s wallet and information in my pocket, I gave her a dark glare and then followed him out of the room, along with Trillian and Shade.
There was a major fight going on near the portal. Three Tregarts were tearing up the place, while Kendra and Camille were doing their best to hold them off. Camille had her dagger out that Shamas had given her, and I saw slashes on one of the demons’ arms. Kendra was trained in martial arts and she was involved in a brawl with the shortest one—she’d just knocked him against one wall with an uppercut to the chin, but it merely stunned him for a second and he was charging at her again.
I unsheathed my dagger and charged in, helping Camille with her opponent. Smoky and Shade divided up on the other two, Smoky aiming for the one Kendra was fighting, while Shade and Trillian took on the third.
I managed to land a blow on the Tregart’s bald head, gashing a long wound on his skull. He groaned, staggering back. Camille rushed in, her dagger aimed at his heart. Her blade bit deep and he stumbled, grunting. But then he shook off the pain and gave a hard shove, throwing her back across the room.
A flash caught my attention, but I didn’t have time to look. I attacked the Tregart, slamming him against the wall, and drew my dagger across his throat as he struggled. A fountain of blood sprayed my face and shirt as the demon slid to the floor.
“No!” Camille’s scream echoed and she took off on the run toward the safe room. I whirled around to see Trillian and Shade following her. Unsure of what was going on, but trusting that it was something we weren’t going to like, I followed them as Smoky finished off his demon, his talons gutting him like a fish.
As I skidded into the safe room, I saw Shade and Camille grappling with another Tregart. Jaycee was lying dead on the bed, her throat cut from ear to ear. Shade caught the demon in a chokehold and, with one quick movement, snapped his neck. Camille knelt by Jaycee, then looked up and shook her head.
“She’s dead. He got to her before we could stop him.”
“Van sent an assassin to kill his own wife? Or partner? Or whatever the hell they are?”
“To keep her from talking, you bet he did.”
“Question is, how the hell did they know about the safe room? That we’d be keeping her here?”
“Oh great gods, I know how they knew!” She paled. “Remember when Trytian sent the daemon to warn me that Hyto was around? We brought him down here. And we let him go afterward. He must have talked about it in front of the Tregarts. And since the Tregarts are working both sides of the fence, they told Van and Jaycee about it. That makes the Wayfarer an effective target. They may not be able to destroy the safe room, but they can destroy this building and put us out of commission. And now the demons know there’s a portal down here, too.”
Holy crap, she was right. I sank down on the nearest chair. “But why haven’t they shown their hand till now, though? I’m surprised they haven’t charged in to destroy the place and take over the portal. They can get to Otherworld through it.”
Smoky frowned, then shook his head. “They may know about it, but they can’t use it to get to the Subterranean Realms. And that is where their focus lies. They want to start ripping portals open to bring a number of demons over Earthside. They don’t want to take a holiday jaunt to Otherworld. Not just yet.”
Shade nodded his agreement. “You’re probably right. Once they have a free-flowing portal between Earthside and the Sub-Realms, then they’ll be looking for a way over to Otherworld. And then, this portal—along with Grandmother Coyote’s portal, and all the others—will be targeted.”
I started to haul Jaycee’s body out of the room. “I’m not leaving her in there for Martin to feast on, regardless of how much we despise her.”
With a queasy look on her face, Camille nodded. “I’m going to go check on Kendra and make sure she’s okay. I suppose…we head back to the FH-CSI to see what’s going on with the protest. Then, we make plans for tonight. All roads are leading to the Energy Exchange.”
“Right…but we’re going in the back way. Through the entrance in Underground Seattle. And if we’re really lucky, maybe we’ll run into some more ghosts down there.” I grimaced.
Camille reached out and knocked on one of the walls. “Don’t jinx us, babe. Don’t jinx us.”
Kendra was fine. I told her to call in extra help, just in case the Tregarts returned. As we headed out toward the door, I asked her to call Peder, the day bouncer—who was a giant—and have him take Jaycee’s body and the dead Tregarts through the portal and dump them in OW, away from the city. r />
Once again, we were on the road. Traffic had picked up, and pedestrians were out in full force despite the wind and the chill. Men and women in three-piece suits hurried toward their jobs in the skyscrapers, shoppers in Prada and Armani scoured the boutiques, students waited for the bus, on their way toward the universities, their backpacks and Starbucks firmly in hand. Cars and Metro accordion buses crowded the streets as we edged our way through the morning bustle. The sky was overcast, but the rain had let up for a little while.
Finally, we were out of downtown Seattle and nearing the FH-CSI headquarters. As we pulled into the parking lot, I could see that the crowd had swelled even further. Andy Gambit’s supporters were backed into one small area of the lot by now, and the crowd protesting against the hate groups was a good four times their size. Someone was handing out papers, and I grabbed one as we headed in the building.
The headline read, Seattleites Refuse to Accept Hate Crimes or Rapists. That was promising. I scanned the story as we pushed through the doors.
Apparently, the city had been looking for a good cause, because the quotes supporting the Supe Community were coming from housewives, students, cops, and businessmen alike. The statistics showed what I’d thought: the Church of the Earthborn Brethren’s membership wasn’t nearly as big as they’d let on, and most of the people polled wanted to see them run out of town on a rail. They were just a terribly vocal minority.
“Hate can only exist where people refuse to speak out against it.” Chase had been quoted, and the picture of him standing next to Sharah spoke volumes.
While Camille, Smoky, and Trillian stayed outside to talk to Tim and Neely and get the lowdown on what was happening, Shade and I pushed through the doors. Yugi waved us over. He had turned on the television that was mounted on the wall. The news was on.
The reporter was new; I’d never seen her before, but she looked bright and perky. I wondered if there was a finishing school for TV news reporters and talk show hosts where they were trained in the fine art of looking like they were on a perpetual high.