Shade nodded to him, taking a seat and motioning for me to sit near him. "Have you told them, my dear?"

"Yeah, I thought it best not to leave you for a last-minute surprise." I laughed. "Of course I told them."

"Already she starts," Shade said. He turned to Iris. "Milady, did you suffer any damage traveling through the astral?"

Roz held out a chair for Iris, and she settled herself into it. "No, I'm fine. And thank you again for saving my life."

"How about you tel us what went down?" I gave her the once-over. She didn't look hurt. Shook up? Yes. But Iris was a lot tougher than she looked.

She picked up her wand, making sure it was al right, fingering the crystal reverently. "I was tending Maggie in the kitchen, when I heard a noise out front.

I had a real y bad feeling, so I ran Maggie to her playpen in Menol y's lair and then came back to see what was going on. I went outside and saw the Tregarts. I raced back into the house to get my wand and cal you when I heard them coming through the front door, so I dropped out of my bedroom window--and let me tel you, that's a long drop for someone like me--and raced into the woods."

She sucked in deep breath, wincing. "I thought I was a goner. One of those beasts saw me. He fol owed me into the woods, and I got myself off the trail.

He fol owed me and was using his fiery breath, but I hit him a good one with frost shards from my wand, and it stopped him. I started to run again but tripped and lost hold of my wand. By that point, he was coming at me again, and I left the wand and ran through the woods. I could hear him as I backtracked, trying to reach the path so I could move faster."

I could see it--Iris, racing through the undergrowth, trying to scramble over the tree trunks that were nearly as tal as she was, with a fire-breathing demon on her tail. The thought made me shiver. We'd lost friends. We could lose her, too.

"I'm so sorry--we should never have left you alone." Rage flooded over me. "Stacia can't have another one of our friends. She kil ed Henry, and it stops there. I promise, we'l make sure we leave you with a guard from now on. And we'l reinforce the house against the demons." A snarl rose up, and I wanted nothing more than to shift back into panther form and go rip up the nearest enemy--which happened to be Kim.

Shade reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked into his eyes and lost myself in the molten chocolate. His touch was like warm sugar on a cool autumn night.

Taking a deep breath, I shook off the desire to destroy and exhaled in a long, slow stream. "What happened after that?"

Iris bit her lip, drawing blood. "I made it to the path, and as I raced out of the wood, I ran smack into Shade here. I knew who he was immediately--you described him very wel ." She flushed, giving him a shy smile. "And he whisked me up and over to the realm of shadow. Anyway, Master Shade here, he saved my butt, and I wil forever be grateful to him."

"My pleasure, Mistress Ar'jant d'tel." At her sharp look, he smiled gently. "Make no mistake, I see the cloak you wore--and you stil wear in your aura. You cannot wield such power and expect to hide it from Dragonfolk, nor deny you own it. Can she, Master Smoky?"

Smoky let out a harrumph and cleared his throat. "I refrained from bringing it up because I believe it involves some painful memories, but yes. There is truth in what you say. I lived in the Northlands. You are steeped in the energy of the ice and snow, Iris, and anybody who's lived in the high ranges can sense it."

Just then, Vanzir came in, fol owed by Menol y. We al stopped, waiting.

"I know where Stacia is hiding." He motioned toward Menol y, who tossed a steno pad on the table. "We can get her, if we go now. We can take her down, because she won't be expecting this. She has no clue Kim's been outted. There's not a single cord connecting the two psychical y. I also know her weakness--Kim observed it, though Stacia seems to have no clue that anybody else knows."

"Why . . . why did my foster daughter do this?" Carter started to stand, then fel back in his chair, his voice cracking.

This was tearing him up. I could see it, and it made me want to go over and wrap my arms around him and whisper that everything would be okay.

Which it wouldn't, but the desire was stil there.

"Kim wants to be powerful. She hates her human half, and she hates her mother for abandoning her. Stacia's a strong role model, if you like uberbitches. Kim wanted to explore her demon heritage, and you never gave her permission for that. You raised her to be human. She despises what she perceives as her vulnerabilities." Menol y was reading off the steno pad. She looked up and shrugged. "I just took down what Vanzir told me."

Carter hung his head. "I was trying to raise her to be civilized. I would have eventual y taken her to meet her grandfather and asked that he help her."

"Does she know who you are?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No . . . I had not yet told her. I didn't want . . . I didn't want her to grow up thinking she could have everything she wanted just by asking merely because she's the foster daughter of a half-Titan. I couldn't give her back her speech, but there are so many things I would have given her over time."

"I'm afraid it's too late." Vanzir let out a long sigh--whether of impatience or frustration, I wasn't sure.

"What do you mean?"

"Kim couldn't handle having me probe her mind. She went into a deep coma--so deep I couldn't reach her. When I disconnected . . . she died."

Carter let out a cry and pushed away from the table. For a moment I thought he was going to attack Vanzir, but he just limped past him, heading toward the living room. We could hear him sobbing.

"He real y did love her." I glanced at the hal way. "Someone should go comfort him, but I'm not sure who would do best."

"Let me," Camil e said. "I did this for you when Mother died. I'm used to it." She headed down the hal , and we could hear her voice, slightly muffled, settle into a soothing cadence.

Smoky frowned but said nothing.

Tril ian shook his head. "Damn it . . . she shouldn't have to do that. She's suffering enough right now, with her father disowning her. Speaking of which, I'd like to kil that fucking self-righteous bastard. I don't care what you"--he glanced at Menol y--"or you"--and then at me--"think about that. I won't touch him because Sephreh is your father, and Camil e wouldn't forgive me, but the man makes me want to kick his ass from here to Dahnsburg."

"Camil e gives help as a matter of course," I said. "I think it's part of who she is. And when she hurts, it makes her feel better to help someone else. A displaced way of soothing her own worries. We can talk about Father later, though. Right now, we need to plan out a strike on Stacia. Vanzir, do you real y think it's possible?"

He thought for a moment, then nodded. "It won't be easy, that I can tel you--but I guarantee you, if we go in ful y armed and with every person we can, we have a chance of taking her down."

"Then let's do it." I pul ed over the steno pad and got out my laptop. "Tel us everything you know--and everything that we need to know. And don't leave anything out. When we walk out of her safe house, I want her head on a stick and her body sliced to ribbons. Leave no one standing."

CHAPTER 22

After Carter left, carrying Kim's body with him, we swung into action, printing out maps and raiding our arsenal as we gathered anything and everything we could take with us that might have an effect on the Bonecrusher.

Vanzir came through the door, leading Amber by the hand. Chase was right on his heels. "I cal ed him," he said before I could ask why Chase was fol owing him. "After I realized what Kim had done. I figured we'd be going for Stacia, and Amber would need to be protected."

Amber looked shaken. "Al the dead bodies out there . . ."

"Demons. Raiding the house. Trust me, if they catch you, they'l strip that pendant off your neck and kil you. Or worse--and yes, there are worse things than being kil ed. Trust me." Menol y frowned. "Chase, can you take her down to my bar and stash her in the safe room? You know where it is. I'l give you the key. Nobody can get at her there."

Camil e frowned. "Take Maggie, too. We're going to need Iris." She turned to Chase. "We're headed out to raid Stacia--we found the Bonecrusher."

Chase blinked. "Of course I'l take them. You think it wil be safe for me to take her, though? I don't have the firepower you do."

"I can solve this," Smoky said. "I'l take you both through the Ionyc Sea. It wil take moments, and it shouldn't hurt your baby."

Chase picked up Maggie, cuddling her to his shoulder as Smoky wrapped his arms around the detective and Amber. Before Amber could say a word, they vanished. A few moments later, Smoky reappeared.

"They're safe. Chase wil wait there for your cal ."

"That takes care of that," Camil e said. "Let's get a move on. Get everything ready that might be useful."

According to the information from Kim's mind, Stacia was staying on the Eastside again--she apparently preferred it to Seattle's more crowded streets.

Only this time instead of being near Marymoor Park, she had holed up in a house on the outskirts of Redmond, on three acres.

Roz picked up the magical stun gun from the table. "Is there a way we can recharge this without having to go down to the Energy Exchange? Camil e?

Can you do it?" He turned it over, stopping when he came to a panel on the bottom. As he flipped it open, we saw some sort of wiring, along with a mixture of various powders. "Holy crap--this isn't an Earthside weapon. Not total y. Whoever made this had to be from OW."

Camil e took it, looking closely. "Correct. These compounds aren't found Earthside. That means somebody's come over here and set up shop sel ing a hybrid--the material this gun is made of definitely comes from over here. Who the hel would do that?"

"We don't have time to find out now, but we'd better mark that down on our ever growing to-do list." I regarded it quietly, then said, "Wel , can you?"

"Can I what?" She gave me a quizzical look.

"Can you recharge it?" The stun gun was a powerful weapon and just might help us take down the Bonecrusher.

"I . . . I don't know. Maybe. Maybe if I take it to Wilbur's, he can help me. Morio, come with? I don't trust his wandering hands."

"Right behind you."

As Camil e headed out with Morio, I turned to see Iris, freshly dressed in a pair of jeans and boots that came up to her knees. She'd put on a long-sleeve shirt and heavy leather gloves.

She grinned. "Snakes have a harder time getting through denim and leather. I'm no fool."

Smoky stepped to the side, discussing something in low tones with Shade. I eyed them suspiciously, but we didn't have time for me to eavesdrop. We'd just finished gathering our gear when Camil e and Morio returned.

"Freshly charged, though it might not be quite as powerful a jolt as the ones the Koyanni threw at us." She handed the gun to Roz, who happily stowed it on his belt. "By the way, we're stil going to have to deal with them after this is done. But if we can take down Stacia, we can take down just about anything."

I slid my arm around her waist. "If we can take down Stacia, then we'l have another wedding reception for you guys--a family one only. And we'l drink ourselves sil y on Riel sring brandy and forget about Shadow Wing . . . even if for just a day."

As we headed out the door to our cars, I steeled my shoulders. I was lean, mean, and had a new hairdo I was quickly growing fond of. And--my gaze flickered to Shade--a new boyfriend who already felt like one of the gang. We were off to defeat Stacia; good times like this didn't come often enough.

The drive over to the Eastside didn't take long; there wasn't much traffic on the 520 floating bridge, and we sped along, late under the overcast sky, dodging raindrops and the occasional shower of hail pel ets. We'd taken three cars--this time Shade and Iris were riding shotgun with me, while Roz and Vanzir caught a ride with Menol y, and Camil e and her men took her Lexus. We were armed to the hilt, and I felt a stirring--always, now, before a battle, my blood began to rise and I felt anxious and eager.

We're warriors now, I thought. Unwil ingly thrust into a war we didn't choose, but one that would risk the world if we let it happen. We were about to face our biggest foe yet, and I wasn't sure how we'd come through. But we were growing stronger and more cunning. We'd learned a few tricks along the way, and we were more ruthless, more wil ing to cross lines that had stal ed us at first. We had to be. The stakes were greater; our enemies were too wil ing to use our friends against us.

As we swung right onto Leary Way, heading toward the Redmond Town Center, I glanced over at Shade, who seemed entirely unperturbed about sitting in the Jeep. "Have you ever been in a car before?"

"Several times." He flashed me a warm, easy smile. "Relax, I've been Earthside quite a bit. I am familiar with the customs. Perhaps more so than your brother-in-law, who's been over here longer. I'm more wil ing to integrate myself when necessary." He paused. "Lady Iris told me what you're facing. I knew about the demons already, but she fil ed me in on the lamia."

One less thing for me to do. "Iris said . . ." I glanced at her through the rearview mirror, and she nodded. "Iris said you're half shadow dragon?"

He nodded. "Aye. Yes. Half black dragon--which is the same thing as a shadow dragon--and half-Stradolan."