"Not necessarily. You"d have to be very strong, have reliable allies, and be very careful. Stacia"s one of the strongest generals in the Sub Realms. She"s also a necromancer and I"m pretty sure that Shadow Wing doesn"t realize just how powerful she has become, or he"d have killed her already. She"s a threat." Vanzir jumped up and began to pace. "What if . . . what if Trytian"s father got to her? What if she"s allied herself with the daemons?"

Trytian was the son of a powerful daemon-another race living in the Sub Realms-who had risen against Shadow Wing and was building an army. We"d heard of him before, and we knew that Trytian had been ordered to look for us, hoping to forge some sort of alliance. But we"d refused. Not a good idea to forge deals with any sort of demon, daemon, whatever you wanted to call them.

I caught up his idea. "What if Trytian and his group of rebels decided to go right for the heart of Shadow Wing"s entourage? Suppose that the daemons mean to gather the rest of the spirit seals for themselves and use them to launch an attack on Shadow Wing. Stacia could be shifting the portals to either prevent Shadow Wing from crossing over, or for some reason that would benefit her and her alone."

"This is sounding more and more possible," Iris said. "And not at all out of keeping with Demonkin. They move up the ranks through a.s.sa.s.sination."

"Right," I said. "Her note warned us to either team up or b.u.t.t out and go home. Essentially, play ball or get out of the way. I"ve been trying to figure out why Shadow Wing would want our help ever since I read the note, but it just didn"t click. Now it does. Karvanak gave us a chance to join him, but it was just to lure us into giving him the spirit seal. He meant to kill us anyway. But Stacia . . ."

I bit my lip. "So, what do you think? Is Stacia trying to intimidate us into working with her? We seem to have a knack for finding the spirit seals and she may want to capitalize on that. And demons are notorious for using the power-over route rather than trying a little diplomacy."

Everyone looked at Vanzir. He was the expert on demons around here. He"d lived in the Sub Realms far, far too long. Now, he rapped his fingers on the table. After a moment he nodded.

"I think you"re on to something. But even though it might seem like she"s on our side, don"t be fooled. She"s just another power-hungry demon looking at moving into the top spot. The minute she has no use for you, she"ll kill you." He scratched his head. "Remember sometime back when I told you that Shadow Wing is going over the edge-that he refers to himself as the Unraveller?"

Delilah nodded. "You said you think he means to unmake the worlds."

"Well, it looks to me like his top advisors are beginning to notice and are taking steps to ensure their own survival."

"So the Bonecrusher is focused on self-preservation. I can"t blame her for that, but we can"t work with her." I let out a long sigh and dug into my sandwich. The burst of flavor in my mouth from the roast beef and the mustard cut through my taste buds, making me smile.

Smoky leaned forward, elbows on the table, resting his chin on his hands. "We have to take her out. Even if she is standing against Shadow Wing, it"s not because she loves humankind or the Fae. And meddling with the portals is dangerous, no matter what the reason. No-we have to defeat her without alerting the daemons or Shadow Wing."

"If they"ve guarded against demons but not human or Fae, that means we can sneak in through the back. They may be protected up the wazoo out front, but it sounds like she left a hole, thinking the demons would be her main threat." I picked out an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table and bit into it.

"This isn"t going to be easy," Iris said. "But you can count me in. I want to pay her a little vengeance in Henry"s name."

I smiled at her. "Count all of us in, Iris. Because we"re going to need every last body we can get."

CHAPTER 23.

Fueled by a constant stream of tea, cookies, and sandwiches, by the time Menolly awoke we"d managed to sketch out a brief plan of action. The thought occurred to me more than once that we were potentially destroying one of Shadow Wing"s enemies, but I couldn"t see any way to harness her help. Stacia wouldn"t care about us. And who knew what she had planned once she took over his reign? And then-only if she was successful.

We cleared the guys out of the kitchen shortly before it was time for Menolly to wake up. Only Smoky, among all the men, knew the secret entrance to her lair and he was good for the secret. But I still didn"t want to take a chance. The more people who knew where to find my sister when she slept, the more danger there would be of the information leaking out.

Menolly silently slipped from behind the bookshelf-door against one kitchen wall. She stared at the pile of papers on the table and the maps, then at the jumble of dishes on the counter. She was wearing a pair of skin-tight leather pants, a sky blue turtleneck, and she"d caught her ma.s.s of burnished braids back into a high ponytail, both chic and arresting.

"Okay, what the h.e.l.l is going on? Something"s up." She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of blood, then popped it into the microwave.

"As soon as we brief you, we"re heading out. We"ve got a nasty fight. Delilah"s calling Chase now, asking if he might be able to join us, and Morio"s off asking Wilbur to come with us. I"ve already called Nerissa-she"s on the way."

"Nerissa? What"s going on? She"s not a trained fighter-not in the way we are or Zachary is." Nerissa was Menolly"s girlfriend, a werepuma in the Rainier Puma Pride. While they saw men on the side, they were exclusive in that they didn"t take any other women lovers. I had the feeling they were in this for the long haul, though neither would even consider the thought. But a gut feeling told me they made a wonderful pair.

"No, but she can babysit Maggie for us. She"ll be here in about an hour." I let out a long sigh and waited until Menolly"s blood was warm and she brought it to the table. "Henry"s dead. Stacia blew up my shop this morning and killed him."

"What?" Menolly"s eyes shifted from pale gray to bloodred and her fangs descended. As I told her the rest, she sipped the blood, carefully wiping the corners of her mouth, saying nothing. When I finished, she filled the bottle with soapy water and set it in the sink. She didn"t mention Henry"s death, but she placed her hand on my shoulder and leaned over the back of my chair to give me a rare kiss on the cheek. "What are we waiting for? Let"s get ready to rumble."

Marymoor Park was on the Eastside. The Greater Seattle Metropolitan area is made up not only of Seattle proper, but of numerous suburb cities that flowed into each other, divided by manmade boundaries rather than natural divisions. Many of the bedroom communities had grown large enough to be central metropolitan areas themselves.

The GSM area surrounded several lakes, including Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Lake Sammamish, while Seattle proper was on Elliot Bay and the Puget Sound Inlet, which led out through the Straits of Juan de Fuca to the Pacific Ocean.

The Eastside was east of Lake Washington, connected to Seattle by two floating pontoon bridges, one of which-the 520 Floating Bridge-was one the longest of its kind in the world. Both the I-90 Bridge and the 520 were marvels of engineering in the earthquake-p.r.o.ne area, and the 520 was in desperate need of rebuilding, both to service the increased load of cars that crossed it daily, and to prevent it from going belly up during a major trembler.

We were headed for a city called Redmond, the home of Microsoft. It ab.u.t.ted Bellevue-a city of over one hundred and twenty thousand people-and was a little less urban but still a growing community. The two cities were divided by Bel-Red Road, short-of course-for Bellevue-Redmond Road.

As we headed toward the exit off of the 520, which had been spa.r.s.ely trafficked thanks to the fact that we"d headed out shortly after eight P.M., I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that Chase"s SUV was following Morio"s Subaru. We"d brought two cars, considering that we had eleven people and all our gear to transport. Morio was driving me, Menolly, Trillian, and Smoky. Chase ferried Delilah, Rozurial, Wilbur, Vanzir, and Iris.

We sped along the 520 freeway until we came to the exit, which opened onto Leary Way. Straight ahead and we"d be in Redmond proper. Morio swung a right onto West Sammamish Parkway. Less than five minutes later and we were at the entrance of Marymoor Park. He eased into the left-turn lane at the light, and pulled into the park, followed by Chase.

There was some sort of event going on, and the park was still open though it usually closed at dusk. We eased into the parking lot near Clise Mansion: a community hall that had once been a country estate and now was available for meetings, weddings, and other special occasions.

As we scrambled out of the cars, I looked wistfully at the mansion. "It"s beautiful. It would be so nice to have some sort of party where we didn"t have to worry about all this other c.r.a.p."

Trillian put his hand on my shoulder. "Perhaps for the holidays, we can throw a party here?"

I stared at him, touched. Trillian usually wasn"t so keen on social claptrap, as he put it, but now the look on his face told me he meant it. I kissed him lightly on the nose. "Thank you for that."

We gathered our gear and headed out of the park. The towering firs and cedars were interspersed with maple and birch and hawthorn and alder, and numerous other types of trees and shrubs. The park was over six hundred acres. We were on the west side. A five-minute walk took us back to West Sammamish Parkway, and a few seconds later we were across the street.

Menolly looked around-n.o.body was on the road so she quickly hovered up to the top of the restraining wall and, perching on it, tossed down a light rope. We made light work of climbing up, even Iris, who was a lot stronger than she looked. On the other side of the wall, we found ourselves facing a shallow ravine filled with trees. It was easy enough to scramble down into the cover of foliage.

"Okay, where"s Stacia"s place?" It was dark, and the ground uneven. I was glad I"d traded my stilettos for granny boots. It was also cold and I was equally glad I"d worn a light jacket over my leather bustier and rayon skirt that fell to my calves.

Vanzir gauged the area, then pointed. "Up ahead. It"s new. Looks like it was built in the last year or two. They cleared out another patch of woods for it." He led us under the shelter of leaves that were dripping water from the rain. At least the weather had let up a bit, and we were only facing a drizzle. But the mist was rising from the ground and, before long, it would be rolling through the area.

We silently followed him to the edge of the ravine, clambering up the embankment without much trouble. At the top, we were at the edge of the tree line, staring into the backyard of a large estate.

"You"d think with a joint this expensive, they"d have more land attached to it," Trillian said.

"Around here, land"s a valuable commodity. People tend to put the money into the house rather than the yard," Chase murmured.

But house house was a misnomer. Stacia Bonecrusher really did live in a mansion. Three stories tall, the house sprawled across the lot. Oh, it wasn"t any fancier than a number of the expensive homes in the area, but it must have set the demon back close to a million. How the h.e.l.l had she gotten the money to buy it? Did the demons invest in Wall Street? Whatever her means, Stacia had chosen the b.u.t.t ugliest house on the block, I thought. was a misnomer. Stacia Bonecrusher really did live in a mansion. Three stories tall, the house sprawled across the lot. Oh, it wasn"t any fancier than a number of the expensive homes in the area, but it must have set the demon back close to a million. How the h.e.l.l had she gotten the money to buy it? Did the demons invest in Wall Street? Whatever her means, Stacia had chosen the b.u.t.t ugliest house on the block, I thought.

Mansion it might be, but it looked like one of those slap-together houses, the siding painted a bland beige, with the requisite white-trimmed windows. Like every other new house on the block, just bigger. Much Much bigger. There were two sets of French doors leading out into the backyard, onto stone patios, and as I glanced around the yard, I began to sense the wards Vanzir had told us about. I homed in on one that was about two yards away from me, and motioned to Morio. bigger. There were two sets of French doors leading out into the backyard, onto stone patios, and as I glanced around the yard, I began to sense the wards Vanzir had told us about. I homed in on one that was about two yards away from me, and motioned to Morio.

We slowly crept up on it, followed by Vanzir, keeping low to the ground so the cover of night might hide us from prying eyes. Unless, of course, they could sense the heat of our bodies. With Stacia being a lamia and so connected to snakes, it might just be a possibility. I whispered as much to Morio, but he shook his head.

"Too cold. It"s dropped below fifty degrees. Snakes won"t be out and about in this weather. Most likely they"re brumating. But once we"re inside, we"ll have to be careful. Bet you it"s hot as h.e.l.l in there. Which makes me think," he added. "She"s a lamia, part snake. If we hit her with enough cold magic, it should do extra damage."

Vanzir nodded. "Good thinking."

The ward was made from a ruby-colored crystal, similar to the ones we had at home but they were definitely not Earthside or OW make. Morio and I joined hands and examined the energy. It coiled around the crystal like a snake slithering around its prey. And then I saw the runes magically embedded into the energy.

Apparently Morio spotted them, too. "Vanzir"s right. These are set up to warn when Demonkin come through. They must come and go by the front gate, or they"d be setting off their own wards all the time."

"Unless it"s set to ignore whatever kind of demons she"s surrounding herself with," I said. "Whatever the case, you, Menolly, Roz, and Vanzir can"t cross the wards without chancing to activate them, since you"re all considered some form of demon."

We crept back to the others and reported what we"d found. There was still no one in the backyard, though lights were shining in various windows of the house.

"So we follow our original plan?" We"d turned it around and around during our strategy planning session and couldn"t find any other solution, other than to creep in, leaving those four behind. Once the fight was on, they could charge in as a second wave, given that Stacia would know we were here already.

"Yeah, that"s the only way I can see it," Menolly said. "I just wish I could go in first, but if there"s a chance my being a vampire will set off the alarm, then I"d better wait with the others."

Morio pulled out the small casket Rodney slept in and I groaned. He flashed me a look that said Suck it up Suck it up and opened the box. As Rodney climbed out of the box, Morio hissed, "You will keep your mouth shut or I will tear you apart. I am not kidding. Get it?" and opened the box. As Rodney climbed out of the box, Morio hissed, "You will keep your mouth shut or I will tear you apart. I am not kidding. Get it?"

Rodney glared at him, but nodded.

"You"re going to go in as a scout and you"d better keep quiet when you do because there are some big bad demons in there who would think nothing of squashing you like a bug. Got it?"

Again, the nod.

"When you reach the door, you"ll grow to full size. You"re to take out as many of the demons in there as you can. Fight like h.e.l.l because they"re sure going to. And don"t even think about sneaking out and running away, because I"ll hunt you down and give your bones to the nearest dog. Capiche Capiche?"

Morio began to transform into his full demon self and Rodney stumbled back a couple of steps, nodding.

I nodded. "Okay then. Come on." I motioned to the others. "Spread out and work your way toward the back of the house."

We"d decided to come at it from several angles. That way if one person was spotted, the others might still get the drop on the action. Fanning out, we slowly began edging our way through the yard. There were a.s.sorted shrubs and ferns dotting the lawn, so we had some cover. As I darted behind the nearest huckleberry, it occurred to me that this was getting old hat.

We were good. I couldn"t see the others" progress, which meant that chances were, anybody looking out the window couldn"t see them either. The yard was dark, illuminated only by the light coming from the windows.

I"d nearly reached the house when the set of French doors nearest me opened and a bloatworgle came out, scratching himself as he proceeded to urinate on the gra.s.s next to the patio. I froze, hoping that the thinly trunked birch behind which I was hiding would cover me. Bloatworgles were ugly and dangerous; we"d fought several not long ago. They were among the thousands of grunts in the Sub Realms, almost caricatures of FBHs, with distended bellies and long, drooping arms and unshapely gray skin that drooped in wrinkles. But they could breathe fire and they were unreasonably strong.

The bloatworgle shook his d.i.c.k and scratched his b.a.l.l.s, then looked in my direction. He froze. Oh cripes, he saw me. I knew he could see me. As he opened his mouth, I let out a shout and dove to the side as I called down the lightning. The clouds were so thick that they responded and a ball of blue energy raced down toward the bloatworgle.

Please, please, please, don"t let it backfire, I thought, but just then the energy sputtered and broke up in a shower of sparks, the flaming hot energy hitting everything in sight. I thought, but just then the energy sputtered and broke up in a shower of sparks, the flaming hot energy hitting everything in sight.

"f.u.c.k it!" I dashed in, drawing my dagger, trying to stay out of the way of that mouth of his. Nasty blasts of fire came out of that mouth. Very nasty.

At my shout, the others broke cover and raced in. Smoky caught the bloatworgle by surprise, blindsiding him as he unleashed his claws and flew by in a blur, leaving five deep gashes across the bloatworgle"s belly. The demon snarled and as he turned, blasting fire after Smoky, Delilah caught him from behind. She didn"t do her usual kick-spin, but brought Lysanthra, her dagger, down on the bloatworgle"s back, driving it in to the hilt between his shoulder blades. Smoky rounded for another hit and between the two of them the bloatworgle was so much dead meat. One demon-easy to kill. Many demons-chaos and trouble.

There was a sound from the doors and I looked up to see a half dozen human-looking guards standing there. Bikers on steroids?

"Tregarts," Roz said, rushing in behind me. "Demons."

Morio, Vanzir, and Menolly were on his heels. We spread out, facing the men, who were dressed in thick leather jackets and pants. Knives and chains seemed to be their weapons of choice, though it looked like one was holding a lead pipe. They moved forward, glaring at us. Mr. Lead Pipe tapped the pipe in his hand, a glint in his eye.

"Great, they look like they"re enjoying this," I said, backing up to attempt another spell. Before I could summon the Moon Mother"s power, they were joined by a herd of shuffling flesh-on-the-sneaker. Zombies. Or ghouls. Oh, I hoped it was zombies-easier to kill, not so much in the brains department.

There was a subtle pause as we sized each other up. They were strong. Very strong. We had a fight on our hands. I just hoped to h.e.l.l that Stacia would hold off until we took care of these cretins. I grabbed Morio"s hand.

"Let"s try to dispel some of the zombies," I said. He nodded. We moved off to the side and Morio hurriedly pulled out a quartz crystal-beaded necklace and handed it to me. I draped it over my neck and he did the same with one of obsidian beads. We joined hands and began focusing on the spell that would turn the zombies back into worm food.

Meanwhile, I glanced up in time to see Delilah and Smoky move in on the bikers, and then they were joined by the rest. Iris hung back, shooting a shower of ice fragments at the demons. Demons generally didn"t like the cold unless they hung out in the Netherworld, and considering they were working for the lamia, I doubted that there"d be any cold spots in the house at all.

Wilbur joined Morio and me, and he quickly sprinkled salt into a large pentagram, then drew a circle around it with salt mixed with rosemary. He sat in the center of the five-pointed star and began to incant something low under his breath. I pulled my attention away, trying not to focus on the shouts and screams that were coming from the fight, but on the little squadron of zombies that had noticed us and were heading our way. Great, they were drawn by the necromantic energy. Delightful.

"Concentrate," Morio hissed.

I shook my head. Why couldn"t I focus? Why couldn"t I ground myself? And then, just like that, the attention was there, shoving aside all other thoughts. I sank into the energy, let it engulf me as it dragged us down into the realm of shadow, into the realm of the night. Everything around me took on a faint violet glow and I knew we"d opened the door.

Morio squeezed my hands and we began the chant to release the summoned undead. Like many of our other spells, it played with a counterpoint rhythm. Morio began to open the gate.

"Devo shena, devo sherahni, devo shilak. Devo mordente, devo resparim, devo salesum . . ."

As he repeated the incantation over and over, I began to sing the counterpoint. "Walking death, wandering spirits, whispering souls, hear our command. Return to grave, shroud of death, whispering souls, you shall not stand."

The energy built slowly but steadily, a wreath of violet fire that circled around us. I watched as it circled us, a network of pulses sparking like synapses in the brain. Morio and I kept up the counterpoint and the bubble of energy expanded out. The zombies were almost to the outer border of the circle when the closest gave a shriek as it reached out to pa.s.s through the twinkling lights. Within seconds, it fell to the ground and rotted away like a time lapse photo, the final ooze from the body soaking into the ground.

One down, a half dozen to go. Another zombie shuffled up and through the border and within seconds had turned into mere memory. The others paused. While they were soulless, almost automatons, they had some spark of self-preservation built into the magical code that brought them to life.

As they hesitated, Wilbur let out a grunt and a rolling wave of light crested over the zombies. With a unified shriek, they vanished, incinerated in whatever mother of a spell he"d cast. Morio and I stared at him, our own spell dropping as our concentration broke. What the f.u.c.k had he just done? More important, could we learn to do that?

He winked at us, then turned back to the fight that was going on between the others. The demons were down a man. And . . . oh Great Mother, help us, so were we. Chase was on the ground and he looked unconscious. Wrapped in the magic, I hadn"t even heard the scuffle.

I scanned for Delilah. She was slashing away at one of the Tregart demons, screaming obscenities at the top of her lungs. I leapt forward, racing toward Chase, and dropped at his side. He looked pale, and blood covered the side of his shirt. Morio joined me and I waved him away.

"Go help them. Send me Roz."

Rozurial was by my side in seconds. He frowned when he saw Chase, then pulled out a bottle of something and splashed it over the wound site, through Chase"s shirt. "We need something to bind him with," he said, fumbling in his pocket for a tin of the salve he carried everywhere.

I looked up at Wilbur. "Your shirt. I need your shirt."

Wilbur shrugged and ripped it off, handing it to me. I tore it in tiny strips, trying to ignore the sounds of battle raging around me. We had to save Chase-had to get him medical attention. Roz and I bound the strips around him, after Roz slathered a handful of salve over the wound. I struggled to turn Chase long enough to get the material beneath him so we could tie it tight. He was heavy, and when I moved him, the wound began to bleed again.

"Cripes, what the h.e.l.l are we going to do? We can"t get him to our cars from here." I frantically looked around. "His breathing is so shallow. What are we going to do?"

Roz leapt up and raced over to Smoky, where he was fighting one of the demons. He"d almost finished the guy off and now Roz pushed him my way and took his place. Smoky hurried over.

"What? What do you need? Are you hurt?"

I shook my head. "We have to get Chase to the FH-CSI headquarters. He"s been hurt, and hurt badly. I don"t think Delilah knows yet."

"It"s hard to focus in there. Those brutes are so tough it"s amazing we can take them down at all. Here, I"ll take him through the Ionyc Sea and then return to help you out." Smoky gathered Chase in his arms and-before I could say a word-vanished.

I wanted a moment to regroup but there wasn"t time. There were still . . . oh h.e.l.l, still five of the bikers standing and they were driving everyone back. Delilah looked like she"d been wounded, and I saw blood on Trillian"s cheek, and blood spatters on Vanzir. Iris came rushing up.

"We have to do something," I said to her. "It appears these demons have skin like leather. I don"t know what to do. If we retreat, they"ll just try again!"

She nodded, her lips firmly set together. "I swore to myself I"d never use this again, but . . . we have no choice. I"ll take care of it," she said softly, tears forming in her eyes.

I was about to ask just what she was planning, when she yelled out, "Fall back. Now! Now!"