I ripped her shirt off her and tossed it to Trillian. “Tear it into strips! Now!” He caught it, using his dagger to start the tears.

“Wha—who are…Where…?” Jaycee shook her head.

Trillian handed me the strips of cloth and I stuffed one of them in Jaycee’s mouth, tying it around her head to form a tight gag. As she began to push against me, Trillian caught her hands together. I wrapped a strip of cloth around them and tied them tight as she struggled. He used another strip to bind her ankles, and I rolled off her. There wasn’t much she could do while bound and gagged.

Van had effectively left the building. The Tregarts and zombies were dead. Telazhar was still out there. But…we had an ace in the hole now. I looked around. It was easy to see where they’d gotten the bodies for the zombies from…I could count the six open graves from here, and there were broken shards of caskets scattered around.

“Ouch.” Camille struggled to stand up. Smoky was examining her side.

“You’re hurt. Can you stand?” He held her elbow as she forced herself to stand straight. “We need to get you to medical help.”

“No. Hanna can handle it. The bolt only grazed me. Let’s get Jaycee someplace where we can question her. The safe room at the Wayfarer. That way she can’t throw any magic around.” She winced but forced herself to start walking back to the cars.

“I’ll take you—” Smoky reached to pick her up but she waved him away.

“Will you and Trillian rebury the bodies? They don’t have any headstones, not really; they didn’t have any family, and then Van and Jaycee came along and dug them up and we have no clue why. We can at least say a prayer for the dead over their graves.”

I turned to Shade. “Can you carry Jaycee to the Jeep and wait for us?”

While he hoisted Jaycee—she was struggling like a fish on a line all the way—and carried her to the car, Smoky and Trillian began gathering the remains of the zombies and Tregarts and replacing them in the graves.

I took Camille’s arm and helped her back across the lawn. “Tell me what happened.”

“What’s to tell? Van’s damned good with the lightning bolts. He shot one at me at the same time I was aiming for him.” She winced again.

“He hit you with a lighting bolt? How did you survive that? He’s freaking powerful!” I stared at her. Had Van somehow tripped up? If so, then maybe we had a chance.

She glared at me. “Don’t get cocky. He misaimed and it went awry. He didn’t touch me.”

Confused, I cocked my head. “Then how did you get hurt?”

“Oh fuck, you’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” She blushed. “My spell backfired and blew up before it left my hands. Somehow I managed to keep my fingers from getting blistered, but the force of the bolt hit my side and scorched me. I kind of…hurt myself.”

I stopped, turning to her. “You toasted yourself?”

She grinned, then. “Yeah. Got butter?”

“No, but we can stop for some on the way.” I laughed and, carefully wrapping my arm around her waist, hurried her to the parking lot.

We headed directly to the Wayfarer, with Trillian driving Camille’s car, while Shade kept an eye on Jaycee in the back of the Jeep. I pulled down the alley and hopped out, opening up the back of the bar. All three of us had copies of the keys to everything we owned.

As I slipped into the back entrance, Shade followed, carrying Jaycee. It just wasn’t a good idea to show up on the main city street during daylight carrying a bound and gagged woman. Chase would understand, but he wouldn’t necessarily be the one getting the call.

We got her down to the basement. Kendra jumped up as we came in. An elf, she was one of the guards watching over the portal. She was on on-call duty and today was covering for the usual guard.

“You need any help?”

“Can you get Martin out of the safe room? We’ll have to find another place to put him—a safe place—for now. Jaycee needs to be kept under lock and key. She’s a sorceress and she’s dangerous.” I unlocked the door to the safe room and opened the door. “Oh, gross. It stinks in here.”

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 room, 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.”