We hit the end of the street and headed through a drive that was bounded on both sides by large iron gates. But the gates had been pulled off their posts and hung loose, a sad statement to what had once been a magnificent mansion.

Across the circular driveway, the rubble remained from Abby and Fritz’s house. A demon had been trapped in the house, as well as several nasty ghosts. I nervously glanced from side to side, wondering where the hell spawn had disappeared to. The house had burned to the ground, leaving the cracked foundation and basement open to the elements. The front porch had burned, too, and there was no sign of the vortex that had formed beneath the rotting timbers.

“There it is,” Keo said, pointing directly to where the porch and vortex had been.

Chase’s something weird was a good description, all right. Whatever it was, weird definitely fit the description. Standing about ten feet tall, it was a vaguely circular shape—although it wasn’t a perfect circle. And it was easy to see why he thought it might be organic—alive.

The thing was a pale gray, almost silver in color. The mass was smooth, almost shiny. But it didn’t look extremely hard. Rather, it seemed almost amorphous—smooth, with no protrusions or limbs or anything of that nature. As we stood, staring at it, it shuddered, and as we watched, it seemed to grow a few inches.

“The Blob,” Delilah whispered.

“You watch too much TV,” I answered back, although the same thought had run through my head. But it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t soft and oozing.

“Fine, but I’m going to call it that, because we don’t have a fucking clue what it is, do we?” She took a step into the driveway and the blob—for lack of a better term—shuddered again, and again, grew.

“Okay, this thing is getting bigger as we watch. And I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Whatever it is, it can’t be good—oh fuck, look.” Morio pointed across the lot. I shaded my eyes and followed his direction.

There, shuffling across the grass from the back of the lot, were a host of zombies. But they didn’t seem focused on us. Instead, they were headed directly for the gray . . thing.

Shade jolted forward. “I have a hunch that it would be a very bad thing to let the walking dead touch whatever that is. Keo, stay here.” He headed across the drive. The rest of us, except for the werewolf, followed. We’d gotten no more than four feet when a group of people emerged from behind a group of large rhododendron bushes to the left.

I stopped. “Who the fuck are they?”

“I don’t know, but looks like a mix of humans and Fae and maybe a couple of others in there that I can’t identify.” Delilah stopped beside me as they formed a living shield in front of the creature and the zombies.

“Are you crazy?” I yelled at them. “Zombies—those are zombies and they will kill you!”

But the line of about twenty people—give or take a few—joined hands and stretched out, forming a half circle around the thing. Mostly women, they said nothing, just smiled with vacant gazes, and held tight. A hum began to rise from the group, and at first I thought they were embarking on some bizarre form of sing-along, but then I realized they were raising energy, and they were directing it at us.

“Fuck, they’re casting a group spell. Hit the dirt!” I dropped, not able to see who else made it to the ground. Seconds later, a wave of energy came racing our way, crackling with static. I heard a scream—it sounded like Delilah, and then the air exploded into flames, which burst brightly over my head, then faded into vapor.

Stunned by both the sound and the force of the magic, I pushed myself up. A glance told me Delilah had gotten caught—she looked singed and burned along one shoulder and her right cheek. But she was up and moving.

Within seconds, we were all on our feet and facing our opponents, and I suddenly knew just who the hell they were, and why we couldn’t fight them.

Chapter 11

“Don’t attack!” I frantically waved the others back. “Retreat. Get out of their line of fire.” I raced behind the nearest cedar, hoping to hell everybody was behind me. I leaned against the tree, shaking. The others were right on my heels. As soon as I was sure they were out of danger, too, I motioned for Shade to watch our backs.

“Are you hurt?” I asked Delilah as Keo took a look at her burns.

“Yeah, they sting, but the burns are superficial. What’s going on? Why did you tell us to get out of there?” Delilah was digging her blade into the tree.

“Because those people are some of the witches from the Aleksais Psychic Network. I recognize a few from seeing them in Mystic Charms. We can’t attack them—they’re under a spell, or brainwashed, or something like that.”

A thought occurred to me, and I darted a quick look back around the tree trunk, hoping to see Faerman’s wife, but she was nowhere among the group as far I could see. Couldn’t have it easy for once, could we?

I leaned against the tree. “So what do we do? We can’t attack them, even if they attack us.”

“I agree.” Delilah frowned. “Is there a way to break whatever spell they’re under? To free them from whatever is controlling them?”

“No, because we have no clue of how they’re being influenced. It might be a spell, but it also might be simple brainwashing techniques. Or maybe…some sort of psychic leech connected to them? We really have no way of knowing without capturing one of them to find out. And considering they seem to be wielding magic beyond what most FBH pagans and witches can work, we’d be in danger if we tried.” I bit my lip.

Morio crossed his arms. “Well, we can’t just stay here the rest of the day. What about that gray orb? Any clue as to what it is?”

Shade stepped to the side. “I’ll see what I can find out.” But after a moment, he let out an exasperated noise. “Not enough shadow for me to work in, damn it. I was going to shadow-walk over there, but for once the sun is out and there aren’t enough areas in the shade for me to manage it.”

“Let me take a look on the astral.” Vanzir vanished before we could say anything. I hoped to hell he could find something. It sucked to be stumped like this. If we could just take the witches down, we’d have no problem, but we were the good guys. And good guys didn’t take out innocent pawns.

A moment later, Vanzir reappeared. He looked shaken. “Okay, so look over there and tell me what you see now.”

I glanced back around the tree trunk. The zombies had reached the line of witches but instead of attacking them, they were walking toward the gray mass and…and what the hell? They were disappearing into it. As each zombie walked into the blob, there was a spark of light and it vanished. The human shield was standing there, staring across the drive, waiting for us to return.

More confused than ever, I stepped back. “Um…guys, take a look. I have no clue as to what’s going on. Is the thing an illusion?”

Vanzir shook his head. “That orb is no illusion. And on the astral plane? It’s very much alive and growing. Be right back.” Once again, he vanished. We waited until he reappeared. There was nothing else we could do.

“Okay, here’s the thing. Every time a zombie walks into that creature? It eats it and absorbs the energy. My guess is that—whatever that thing is—it’s eating dinner. I just hope whoever’s holding its leash isn’t going to drop those witches into the mix.” Vanzir looked a little queasy.

“Can you get to it from the astral?” I looked at him. I knew that Vanzir’s powers had returned, albeit somewhat twisted. And the Triple Threat had something to do with it.

He gave me a long look. With his Jareth-via-David-Bowie’s spiky haircut and gaunt face, and the kaleidoscope of colors that whirled in his eyes, Vanzir gave off a haunting, edgy presence. The dream-chaser demon and I had a convoluted history and an odd bond that neither of us had asked for.

“I might be able to. In fact, we all might want to approach it from the astral, considering that we don’t have many other options.” He glanced around. “Roz can take you over to the astral but only one at a time. I can hop over there but can’t take anybody. Shade?”

Shade let out a sigh. “It’s better if I don’t carry living beings with me, unless they are connected to the Netherworld in a strong way, but…we can give it a go. I warn you, though, it will have an effect on whoever I take with me.”

Morio shrugged. “I’m youkai…I doubt it will bother me too much. Take me, while Roz takes Camille and then Delilah. Vanzir, you wait here with Delilah till Rozurial comes back for Delilah. With Camille and me over there, at least we can work our magic together if need be.”

With a shrug, Shade agreed. “If you’re willing to chance it, I’ll take you.”

“Whatever we’re going to do, let’s get moving. We can’t wait around here much longer. Keo, go back to Chase—tell him to keep his men back. Tell him what we’re doing and that we’ll return as soon as we can. If he doesn’t hear from us in an hour, let Smoky know what’s going on.”

The werewolf nodded and took off, running back down the street. Once he looked to be safely away, I moved over to Roz, who arched his eyebrows in a joking leer. I grinned back at him, then leaned in. He opened his arms and I pressed against his chest, which was extremely lumpy thanks to the multitude of weapons he had hidden under there.

“Dude, you are the most uncomfortable hug I’ve had in ages.” I wrapped my arms around him, and he enfolded me in his embrace.

“Try it when I’m naked,” he whispered, but before I could smack him, we shifted into the Ionyc Seas, and the familiar sleepiness began to claim me. I closed my eyes, secure in Rozurial’s arms, as the heavy drag of interdimensional traveling began to wear on me.

A moment—or a lifetime—later, we set down and I opened my eyes. A misty plain spread out before us, where I could see vague shapes representing the physical bodies of the trees and structures and people back on the physical. The tree behind which we were hiding was glowing wildly—its spirit was vibrant and tuned into magic.

I stepped to the side and peered around the “trunk” to see what Vanzir had been talking about. Sure enough, behind the astral bodies of the people forming the human shield, I saw a brilliant, shimmering circular being—only the colors were chaotic and wild, and it felt bloated and squishy from here. Dark forms—glowing so faintly that I knew they had to be the zombies—were making their way to the thing, and every time one of them stepped into the creature, a spark flared and the blob grew stronger.

“Fuck. What the hell is that? It’s brighter than a hooker in sequins.” I cocked my head. There was something…something that was on the outskirts of my thoughts, but I couldn’t pull it into focus yet. “It reminds me of something.”

Just then, Shade appeared with Morio, and Roz vanished to get Delilah.

Morio looked vaguely queasy, and as Shade let him go, he turned to the side and vomited. Shade produced a bottle of water from the inner pocket of his calf-length duster and handed it to him.

“I thought that was going to hit you. Drink. It will help.”

Morio wiped his lips on his sleeve, then poured a shot of water into his mouth, rinsing and spitting before taking another drink to settle his stomach.

“Fucking A…you really travel in some squirrely places, dude.” Morio shook his head. “Let me clear my thoughts.”

“I warned you. Even though you work with death magic, the ebb and flow of the Netherworld forces are harsh on those who don’t spring from its energy. I’m pretty sure Camille found that out when she was in Gulakah’s mind.” Shade glanced over at me, a faint look of pity washing across his face.

I gave him a little shrug. “It was bad, that’s for sure. But I’ve been through worse.”

“That you have, Mistress Camille. That you have.” Shade inclined his head, giving me a small salute.

Just then, Roz returned with Delilah, and Vanzir followed. We got our bearings and began to make plans.

“Here’s the thing: Most of the human shield won’t be able to fight us here. I know they have stronger powers than most FBH pagans, and there are some Fae with them; however, they don’t appear to have an awareness that we’re here. And even if they knew, I don’t think there’s much they could do about it.”

Vanzir shrugged. “So, we can skirt around them and attack the creature from the back. The zombies won’t be able to affect us, either, so we just might manage to trace the energy signature of whoever raised them, while we’re at it.”

I whirled around. “Do you think we could trace the signature from here?”

He pursed his lips, considering. “Maybe. Depends on who cast the spell and how adept they are at hiding their whereabouts.”

Delilah peeked around the trunk, then darted back. “Do we have any clue what the hell that thing is?”

“I recognize something about it, but for the life of me I can’t quite bring it to mind.” I strained to find the words for what it resembled.

“Looks like a silver squishy orange,” Delilah said, grimacing.

And then, it hit me. “Not an orange! An egg. Reminds me of a giant fish egg or something like that. You don’t think…that couldn’t be…” A sudden rush of fear hit me. If that thing was actually the egg of some creature and it was sucking up zombies right and left, what the fuck could it be? “Shade, that’s not a dragon egg, is it?”

Shade let out a strangled “Ugh” and gave me a look that said he thought I was crazy. “Dragon egg? No, not dragon. However…you may have a point. That might just be an egg. The questions are: What’s inside, and when is it going to hatch?”