“Anything else we need to know?” Chase asked.

“Yeah.” I grinned. “This is your lucky day, Chase. While we’re tossing problems into the ring, we just came from Harold Young’s house. For starters, two of the boys are into gang rape via Z-fen. And second, I suspect Harold and his cronies of killing Sabele. He’s a fucking lunatic, and he’s dangerous. I recognize the predator nature, and he’s got it big-time.”

“He’s also tied in with the Demonkin, somehow. I’m not sure what the connection is, but his energy reeks of it.” Camille frowned.

“Yeah. And considering the sleazy way he put the make on Camille—”

“What did you say?” Smoky slowly swiveled his head my way, and all I could see was angry dragon, not the man who sat calmly in the chair.

I struggled to keep from laughing as Roz shrank away.

Arching an eyebrow, I said, “Don’t get your wings in a flurry. Morio took care of almost killing him. He would have finished the job, but I managed to intervene first. But that’s not my main point. Yes, Harold got too touchy-feely with Camille, but last night I heard his buddies Larry and Duane discussing spiking some chick’s drink with Z-fen and screwing her. They were far too proud of the act.”

“Shit. Shit. Shit,” Chase said. “Z-fen. That crap’s everywhere. Cheap to make and so addictive that after a couple of doses, you’re a fucking junkie. Why don’t we just spike the water supply with it and hand over control to the pushers?”

“Yeah, well, the pimps use it to control their stables. We already know that.” I sighed. “I guess we need to find out what connection Dante’s Hellions have with the demons.”

“Dante’s Hellions?” Chase frowned. “Just how much have I missed out on?”

We brought him up to speed.

I jotted down a few notes for him. “The group is scary, and what’s even worse is that they’re smart. I get the feeling there’s a minimum IQ level applicants have to meet to be offered membership.”

“I’d hate to see what their hazing rituals are like,” Camille said, shivering.

Smoky spoke up. “So we have three main focuses. One: Find and kill the Karsetii. Two: Figure out what’s really going on with Harold and his crew—”

“And see if they had anything to do with Sabele’s disappearance,” I interjected.

“Right. And three: Start digging up information on Stacia.”

I nodded. “That about sums it up. But don’t forget that we also have to find and recover the fifth spirit seal. With a new general in town, we can’t let down our guard for a moment. Karvanak was bad, but I have an uneasy feeling that the lamia is going to be far worse.”

As I glanced at Vanzir, I found him studying my face. He didn’t look away. “Is there anything else you can tell us about her?” I asked.

He blinked. “As I said, I couldn’t dig up anything more. But the fact that her record is so cloaked doesn’t bode well. Karvanak was bad, but he was also a hedonist. Who knows what this bitch is like?” His gaze lingered on my face.

I gave him a brief nod. “Okay, since we’re here, we might as well begin with the Karsetii. If there are three victims still under attack and they’re all here, maybe we can manage to trace the demon shadows attached to them back to the hive mother.”

“Sounds good,” Camille said, standing up. Morio and Smoky followed suit, as did Roz and Vanzir. “Roz, Smoky, we’ll need you to take us over to the astral. Chase, you better stick around here on this one.”

“Yeah,” Chase said quietly. “I wouldn’t have the faintest idea what to do once I was over there. I’ll help Sharah keep an eye on the victims still under siege.” He paused. “Good luck, guys. Go get the sucker. Delilah is depending on us, you know.”

“We know.” I headed for the door, a wave of foreboding sweeping over me. This was going to be one bitch of a fight, and how we would trace the hive mother down through the astral was still a question that I, at least, didn’t have the answer to. “Believe me, we know.”

CHAPTER 18

Once again, we filed into the medical wing of the building. We’d seen far too many bodies in the past few days, far too many victims. I just wanted to find the Karsetii and vaporize it. For twelve years now, I’d lived in a world of blood and death. When we came Earthside, I found myself hoping we’d be assigned to some rinky-dink post without any stress. Now I was realizing that the carnage had only just begun. The tide against us was swelling, the demons were knocking, and we couldn’t bar the door much longer.

The victims, including Tiggs, the surviving officer, were all in one large room. Tiggs, an elf from Elqaneve, was deep in a coma and fading fast. The others were all Fae. Five victims still alive at this point. I’d lost track of how many dead.

I walked softly between the tables, thinking of their imminent deaths, of their life energy being siphoned off. Their souls would join the ancestors, but they shouldn’t be dying yet. It wasn’t their time. It wasn’t their choice or a death forged out of honor.

I turned to the others. “Let’s get the hell over there and kick the fuck out of this monster. We’ll figure out how to deal with the demon when we’re there.”

Smoky nodded and stood back, holding out his arms. Camille and I gravitated toward him. Roz and Vanzir clasped hands. We looked at Chase and Sharah, who were staring gravely at us.

“If we don’t come back . . . hell. If we don’t come back for some reason, get your ass down to the bar and tell Tavah to send Delilah home to Otherworld immediately. Tell her what’s going on. I guess that’s it,” I said.

He blinked. “You’ll come back. The demon can’t kill you all.”

Camille sighed. “Look around you, Chase. The victims—they’re all Fae—well, Fae and an elf. Face it. We’re a blue-light special to the Karsetii. Smorgasbord on a stick. But with a little luck, this whole conversation is moot. At least we know what we’re up against. Morio, stay here to protect them. We can’t all take a chance on going.”

Morio looked like he wanted to protest, but with a nod from Smoky, he accepted the charge and went over to stand by Sharah and Chase.

In the shelter of Smoky’s arm, Camille reached across his stomach and took my hand as I slid into the nook on his other side. Camille took a deep breath and closed her eyes. I followed suit—the eyes, not the breath—as Smoky wrapped us in his voluminous trench. Within seconds we were shifting, traveling, and I could feel the icy chill that came with crossing layers of reality.

As we stepped onto the astral, Smoky opened his arms, and Camille and I spread out, her to the left, me to the right. Vanzir and Rozurial appeared a few yards away to the right. Roz left his gun in the holster this time, but he opened his duster and pulled out a scroll.

I frowned. “What’s that?”

“Trace spell. If nothing else, we can put a trace on it and follow it back to the hive mother.” He was about to say something else when Vanzir pointed off to our left. Three forms were there: the Karsetii clones. Two were feeding off two victims each, the third was feasting on three, including Tiggs.

“Greedy suckers, aren’t they?” I watched them for a moment. “They haven’t noticed us yet. They must be intent on draining energy. I think Roz should cast the trace first. That way if they get away before we can land any blows, then at least we can follow them. And rather than try to kill them, let’s just scare them off. It’ll be easier to follow them that way than if they vaporize and reappear back at their central source.”

“Good idea,” Camille said, gesturing to Roz. “Go on.”

He spoke in low tones in what sounded like Greek. After a moment, a small flash briefly flared and then died out. He squinted, staring at the demons. “I think it took.”

Camille nodded. “Yes, I can see it in their auras. Now, how do we chase them home without getting ourselves killed?”

“Your handy-dandy light flare, how else?” I grinned at her. “Eventually you’re going to cast that thing so many times you’ll glow like the sun.”

“Oh yeah, that would be lovely,” she said. “Okay, get behind somebody and shelter yourself. I brought the horn, so I’ll give them one hell of a blast.” She thrust her hand in a side pocket that she’d had specially made in her skirt and pulled out the horn of the Black Beast. The crystal spire gleamed, sparkling with the gold and silver threads that wove ribbons through the polished spike. “Oh yeah, babe, get ready to rumble.”

It occurred to me that my sister was starting to enjoy these battles a little more than was good for her, but hey—what could I say? I liked a good bloodletting myself. In fact, as I watched the others prepare, it occurred to me that no matter what happened, we’d never go back to our prior lives. We could never again be who we were before landing here, Earthside. If we won peace, would there be a place for us? Or would we have to retreat, to find other battles in other places where we were needed?

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I looked up at Smoky, who opened his trench wide. “Step inside,” he said with a lecherous grin. I stepped back, but he merely laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m not making advances. Get inside my coat, and I’ll protect you from the light.”

Camille snorted. “Get thee hence, wench. My husband is offering protection. I advise you take it.”

“Hence wench? You making a bad SCA video for You-Tube?”

“Don’t knock the Society for Creative Anachronism. They have great clothes.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “Just do it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I stared up at the overgrown lizard and shook my head. But slide into the protection of Smoky’s immaculate white trench coat, I did. He enclosed me in his arms, and I stood there, muffled from the world, my nostrils filled with the scent of his musk.

He really was a heady piece of ass, but he was also pompous and given to bouts of jealousy that I would never put up with. Camille bore it with a smile, and he indulged her more than he’d ever indulge anybody else. I decided not to bite him for the “Don’t flatter yourself ” comment.

“Yo, you freak-assed squids! Get your butts over here and put up a good fight.”

As I stood there in the dark shadow of his protection, I heard Camille and winced. Why did she have to grab their attention? Why couldn’t she just let loose and be done with it? There was a sudden flurry of movement—I could sense it even within the confines of Smoky’s trench coat—and then a loud crash, like thunder.

A brilliant flash that almost blinded me, even through the heavy white material, and a howling gust of wind whipped by. Without thinking, I buried my head in Smoky’s chest and felt him wrap his arms around me as he grunted with satisfaction.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered, and I realized he was talking about Camille. The light flared and then died, and he opened his coat. I stepped away and flashed him a half-assed smile. He gave me a quick nod, then turned his attention to Camille. “Are you all right, love?”

She laughed, her hair streaming in the astral wind that the flare of light had produced. “Oh, I’m better than all right,” she said, and I realized she was high on the adrenaline rush of the magic that had lashed through her from the horn. “Roz, is the trace working?”

He closed his eyes and held out his hands. “It’s working.” With a sudden rush, he motioned for us. “We’ve got to book. They’re on their way home, and we don’t want to lose them.” With a rush he was off, running like the wind.

Smoky and Vanzir were hot on his heels. Camille grabbed my hand, and we, too, were racing through the mists. Running on the astral was a whole new ball game. We were all fast in the physical world, but here, we sailed.

Camille quickly caught up to and passed Smoky and Vanzir, letting go of me so I could keep pace with them as she poured on the speed, matching Rozurial step for step. My jaw dropped as the ground passed beneath my feet. How the hell was she running so fast?

Of course! The Hunt! Camille was used to racing through the skies with the Moon Mother every month. She knew how to traverse the realm, even if she couldn’t haul her ass over to it by herself. Under the full Moon, her goddess yanked her out onto the astral.

As the pair disappeared into the distance, Smoky grimaced. “We have to keep up. We can’t let them get there alone, without backup.”

“I can manage their speed, but you two might have trouble,” Vanzir said.

“Not if I’m flying,” Smoky said, and without warning, he shifted into his dragon self. As he unfolded into the gigantic beast he really was, I careened to the right to avoid being smacked around by his wings.

Without missing a beat, Smoky said, “Hop on.” His milky white body undulated like a snake in the astral breeze.

I swallowed a brief flash of fear. He was huge. It was easy to forget just how intimidating he could be in his natural form.

“Come on, love,” Vanzir said with a snort, grabbing me as he leapt onto Smoky’s back. He yanked me aboard, in front of him, and wrapped his arms around my waist.

Smoky let out a low chuckle as his wings caught the updraft of the breeze, and we were suddenly aloft, soaring faster than I could imagine going. I’d never ridden on the back of a dragon. Hell, I’d never been in an airplane, either. Smoky could outfly my Jaguar any day.

As I stared down at the swirling mist that covered the astral plane, it struck me as absurd. Here I was, a vampire, riding on the back of my brother-in-law, a dragon, with a demon holding onto my waist, in pursuit of some whacked-out squid who slurped up people’s life energy. I broke out laughing, but then the laughter died away as I remembered Delilah, locked up in the panic room to protect her, and the growing body count from the Karsetii.