She arched her eyebrows and gave me a quick grin. If Smoky had his way, she"d be secreted away in that barrow of his, safe from all unwelcome visitors-and other suitors. Sometimes the Stones were right, though, and we couldn"t get what we wanted. So Smoky had settled for joining our exploits, even though he had little interest in anything other than whatever he happened to fancy at the time. Dragons made great mercenaries, if you paid them enough. Apparently Camille"s hand in marriage had been enough to ensure his help.

"c.r.a.p," I said. "I suppose we have to wipe them out. Are they under guard or being left to their own devices?"

He nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. They have a guardian. I"m not sure what it is-could be a ghost or a wight. Whatever the case, their guardian is both powerful and from somewhere other than the Subterranean Realms."

"Oh great." I stabbed another piece of pancake. "That sounds just delightful-" The phone rang, putting a stop to my rant. I jumped up and grabbed it. "h.e.l.lo?"

"I"d like to speak to Chase Johnson." I didn"t recognize the voice, but it was clearly a woman and unsettlingly smooth and s.e.xy.

I stared at the receiver for a moment, then asked, "Sharah?" even though I knew full well it wasn"t her.

"My name is Erika. I"m looking for Chase Johnson and was told he might be at this number." Again, the husky, breathy voice that reeked of s.e.x and designer wear and cognac.

Wait a minute-Erika? Hadn"t that been the name Chase had muttered during his sleep, before I put the fang on him? Hadn"t that been the name Chase had muttered during his sleep, before I put the fang on him? What the . . . ? What the . . . ?

I paused for a second, debating on what to say. "I"m sorry, Chase isn"t available. He"s probably at work. May I take a message?"

She laughed, and her laughter conjured up images of sultry summer nights. "No, I know where his office is. Thank you, anyway." There was a sudden catch in her voice, and she added, "I take it this is Delilah? Chase"s friend friend?"

I held my breath and counted to three. "Girlfriend. This is Chase"s girlfriend girlfriend. And you are?"

For the first time since she"d spoken, Erika"s voice took on an edge as she said, "I"m Chase"s ex. We used to be engaged. Oh well, thanks anyway. I"ll catch up to him in a bit."

And then the line went dead.

I stared at the phone blankly before slowly replacing the receiver. Chase had never told me he"d been engaged. He"d never told me about any serious relationships in his past. I shouldn"t be jealous. I was half-Fae, my father"s blood almost guaranteed me freedom from jealousy. But there it was, simmering in the pit of my stomach. A little worm that wanted to find this Erika, whoever she was, and claw her eyes out. And why the h.e.l.l had Chase been dreaming about her? Had he seen her already and not bothered to tell me? Or was it some weird coincidence that made fate seem like a first-cla.s.s b.i.t.c.h?

Whatever the case, I couldn"t worry about it now. We had a nest of venidemons to go after before I could give in to the green-eyed monster that was really really bedeviling me. bedeviling me.

CHAPTER 3.

"Iris, is Henry taking over the shop today?" Camille asked as we geared up for battle, which basically meant arming ourselves with anything we thought might come in handy.

Henry was an FBH whom Camille had hired to help out at the Indigo Crescent-her bookshop-during times when neither she nor Iris could get there.

As part of our OIA cover stories, we"d been a.s.signed jobs when we first arrived Earthside. Camille ostensibly owned the Indigo Crescent, a bookshop. I ran a low-budget PI business, D"Artigo Investigations. And Menolly had clocked in at the Wayfarer Bar & Grill as a bartender on the night shift.

Now, Camille really did did own the Indigo Crescent, my PI business was spotty at best, and Menolly had taken over as owner of the bar. If the HR department at the OIA ever returned to its former bureaucratic glory and turned their attention back Earthside, they were going to be in for a bit of a shocker. own the Indigo Crescent, my PI business was spotty at best, and Menolly had taken over as owner of the bar. If the HR department at the OIA ever returned to its former bureaucratic glory and turned their attention back Earthside, they were going to be in for a bit of a shocker.

The Talon-haltija nodded. "Yes. And I asked him to stay all day. Since your wards were broken by the bloatworgle, I"ve decided to do a little research on my own and find out what I can. I know there are natural repellents to bloatworgles and their kin, but it"s been so long since I had to protect the Kuusis" land that I can"t remember what they were. Bruce and I are meeting for lunch. So I thought that I"d run over to the Alysin te Varden Lending Library before our date and find out what I can. I"ll take Maggie with me."

One of the newest Fae-oriented establishments in Seattle, the Alysin te Varden Lending Library was named for an elf who"d been killed down in Portland, Oregon. A group of Freedom"s Angels gang-raped her, beat her senseless, and left her to die. And die she did. Our cousin Shamas had managed to help catch the culprits. The DNA evidence proved them guilty, but the men mysteriously turned up dead in jail before they could stand trial.

The library was a joint enterprise between three OW Fae, who hearkened from the Southern Wastes in Otherworld, three members of the newly risen Courts of Fae: one Seelie, one Unseelie, and one of the newest Court, one of the dusk Fae. In addition, two members of the Rainier Puma Pride and two members of the Elliott Bay Orca Pod had joined the effort.

The Elliott Bay Orcas were the newest band of Weres to come out of the supernatural closet. They were killer whale Weres, and with the rise of the Supe community project I was spearheading, they had not only made themselves known but had taken the reins on a restoration project to clean up Puget Sound.

The King County government could no longer look the other way when it came to polluting the bays and inlets, not now that everybody knew sentient creatures lived there. Of course, there had been an influx of membership to the Guardian Watchdogs and Freedom"s Angels groups from uber-right-wing anticonservationists, but that was only to be expected. For every swing of the pendulum, there was an equal and opposite reaction.

Together, the Fae and the Supes had created a lending library of books related to their races, most of which had lain dormant in hidden alcoves for hundreds-sometimes thousands-of years. The volumes had been reprinted and were being distributed. While the Freedom"s Angels held book burnings, the lending library idea was catching on in major cities around the nation.

"That"s a good idea," Morio said. "While you"re there, see if you can dig up any information on wights and specters. If this thing guarding the venidemons proves to be a greater spirit and we can"t deal with it, then we might need the information." He slid into a lightweight quilted jacket and tightened his ponytail.

Camille was wearing an outfit that was downright modest. My guess was that she didn"t want to give any unnecessary encouragement to the venidemons. She"d changed into a pair of black tights, a knee-length black rayon skirt, a turtleneck sweater, and a stunning red patent leather belt. She was wearing lace-up granny boots to cover her lower legs. Smoky joined her, in his usual white jeans, pale blue shirt, and ankle-length white trench. Somehow, he never managed to get dirty, no matter how mucky the fight or how b.l.o.o.d.y the job.

I was dressed in heavy jeans, a pair of motorcycle boots, a long-sleeved knit tank, and my leather jacket. Roz was in his usual black duster and jeans, and Vanzir slid a heavy denim jacket over his jeans and T-shirt. We were outfitted for battle and ready to go.

"Where"s the nest, and how many are we facing?" I asked, grabbing my backpack and keys.

Vanzir shook his head. "I don"t know how many. I couldn"t get an accurate count. At least fifteen, though. The nest is in an abandoned house down near Boeing. It"s set back on a couple acres of land, and it looks like it"s been up for sale for a long time."

I sighed. "I don"t like this, not at all. We"re heading into a dangerous situation without any real idea of how many opponents we"re facing, what their capabilities are, and who"s leading them."

Camille smirked. "You mean, it"s business as usual."

"Funny woman . . . funny woman! Okay, come on, let"s go get this over with." I sheathed my long silver knife in my leg holster. "Iris, you taking a cab to the library, or what?" Iris was too short to drive, and we hadn"t had the time to order a new car retrofitted for her specific height needs. It was on our to-do list, though.

She shook her head. "Siobhan"s picking me up. She"s bringing us a bucket of clams, and I"m giving her some spring lettuce and baby carrots."

Siobhan Morgan was one of our friends. She was a selkie-a wereseal-who pa.s.sed in human society. Still firmly in the closet, she was a good ally if we needed someone to dig up info not normally given to Supes or Fae. She was also very happily pregnant, and because she"d managed to conceive, her boyfriend, Mitch-also a selkie-had been allowed by the Pod elders to ask her to marry him. They were scheduled for a July wedding, and their baby was due in November.

"Okay. Just keep your eyes open when you"re outside. And keep an eye on Siobhan, too. The wards are still down; anything could wander onto the land."

Camille sighed. "I"ll recharge them when we come home," she said. "But until we can figure out a way for somebody besides Morio or me to tell if they"ve been damaged or negated, it doesn"t really do a lot of good. If the bloatworgle managed to break them, then he"s either got a lot of power, or he had help. Otherwise, he couldn"t get through."

"My guess is the latter," Morio said. "Those wards were strong."

"Well, I guess we can"t put it off any longer. You bringing the unicorn horn?" I asked. Camille had been gifted with a rare magical item and had been doing her best to learn to wield it.

"Yes." Camille nodded. "But I don"t want to use it unless I have to. Given that I can only charge it up under the new moon, I don"t want to drain its powers unless these critters are more than we can handle."

"I guess this is it, then. Vanzir, you and Roz come with me. Smoky and Morio will go with Camille. You got a map for them?"

Vanzir handed Camille a Google map, and she, in turn, handed it to Morio, who always took care of the details like directions. We headed out to the cars. I waved as Camille and the boys climbed in her Lexus, then I swung up into my Jeep. Roz rode shotgun; Vanzir sat in the back.

Belles-Faire was on the northern outskirts of Seattle. When traffic was light, we made good time into the heart of the city. When it was heavy, we could be stuck in gridlock for hours. Luckily, at this time of the morning, rush hour was almost over.

I swung over onto I-5. The freeway would be the quickest way to reach south Seattle, past Georgetown-a graveyard of railroad tracks and boxcars-into the Industrial District. Built over the mudflats that once lay beneath Elliott Bay and over covered landfill, the area was p.r.o.ne to liquefaction, and during earthquakes, the buildings were easily damaged.

As we headed down the road, I glanced toward the west. Storm clouds were moving in. We were heavily into the spring rains, and Mandy Tor, the loopy meteorologist on K-Talk, was predicting a heavy drenching for the area by early afternoon. I trusted Camille"s and Iris"s take on the weather more than Mandy"s, but both of them concurred: We"d be soaked through before afternoon tea.

"Vanzir, tell me again," I said, steering my way between two huge semis, one hauling diesel, the other hauling gasoline. Yeah, that would be a nasty combination in a wreck. Big boom. Big bonfire. "What did you say about the venidemons? What are their weaknesses?"

Vanzir had filled us in before we left the house, but I"d still been fuming over the call from Erika and had only half listened. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the back of Morio"s seat. "Venidemons are extremely dangerous, but they do have one major weakness. They"re p.r.o.ne to ice and snow damage. If it gets too cold-say subfreezing-they can"t fly. Makes "em sluggish. They die if it falls below minus ten."

"I take it that"s . . . what"s it called . . . Fahrenheit?" I quickly switched lanes to skirt around a slow-moving RV. Camille was right behind me, her Lexus mirroring us like a steel-gray shadow.

"Right."

"Perfect! Smoky"s heritage is directly from the Northlands. His father was a white dragon, his mother a silver, giving him a dangerous mix of ice, snow, and electrical attacks. At least we have him on our side," I said.

"We should have brought Iris," Roz added. "She"s proficient with ice and snow magic."

d.a.m.n it, why hadn"t I thought of that? Or why hadn"t Camille? We were so used to leaving Iris in charge of the house that sometimes we forgot how handy she could be in a fight. "Why didn"t you say something back at the house, dork?"

The incubus winked at me in the rearview mirror. "Because n.o.body asked." He laughed when I sputtered indignantly. "Don"t get your panties in a wad. I didn"t say anything because what she"s doing is valuable, too-and we do do have the dragon with us. We don"t have a lot of manpower to go around, lately, not with Trillian missing, and we have to make the best use of who"s available and what resources we have handy." have the dragon with us. We don"t have a lot of manpower to go around, lately, not with Trillian missing, and we have to make the best use of who"s available and what resources we have handy."

I winced. He was right. We had more help than when we"d begun our fight against the demons, but more issues kept cropping up to dilute our firepower. Shamas, our cousin, couldn"t fight with us because Chase desperately needed him on the FH-CSI team. Some of the Weres who"d been showing interest in joining us had, instead, thrown their lot in with the Supe Community Council, which had its own concerns.

As for the vampires, they were focused on working with Wade and Vampires Anonymous to take over control of the Seattle area and put an end to any feeding frenzies that might rise up. A couple of the bloodsucker clubs were fighting back, Dominick"s and the Fangtabula in particular, and Menolly had warned us that tensions were building toward an eventual showdown.

I couldn"t blame them entirely. After all, we still hadn"t told many of the Supes and vamps about the demons yet. It just wasn"t news we could spread around indiscriminately. If the FBH population got wind of the demon threat, panic would rage through the streets, and then we"d have ma.s.sive chaos to cope with. Which would lead to the military interfering when there really wasn"t a lot they could do. At least not with their armaments as they were.

Even nukes weren"t always effective against some of the demon hordes. But we"d play h.e.l.l trying to convince the government to lay down their automatic weapons and pick up silver swords.

I managed to cross three lanes of moderately heavy traffic in time to veer onto our exit as we headed into the heart of industrial Seattle.

The city here was less than pristine. The buildings were as gray as the sky, stark concrete and metal, with parking lots that held a thousand cars. Train tracks ran everywhere like a crazy jigsaw puzzle. If we followed the road we were on long enough, we"d wind up curving north again, toward the lower ports of Seattle. But before we got that far, we needed to turn south onto Lucile. From there, we"d wend our way through the narrow streets until we came to Finley Avenue SW.

The Industrial District looked a lot different during the day than it did at night. During the daylight, all the concrete and metal was just depressing. At night, the area was downright spooky. It didn"t help any that the district had become home to a number of the Supe clubs, including the infamous Fangtabula, one of the most popular vampire clubs in the Pacific Northwest.

Roz jabbed his finger toward the building, which had been painted with bold black-and-white stripes and was as solid as a bomb shelter. "Menolly sure doesn"t like that club."

"She"s right not to. The owner"s trouble." I shook my head. "Terrance isn"t an old-school vamp-he doesn"t get into the whole black-cape-goth-boy thing-but neither is he a good candidate for the newest member of Vampires Anonymous."

"Why?" The incubus blinked as we pa.s.sed by the nightclub. There were no signs of life, nor would there be until after dark.

"Terrance likes to live on the edge. Menolly told me that she has a bad feeling about him-that she can easily see him becoming another Dredge, give or take a thousand years. Rumors are the club caters to blood wh.o.r.es, but there"s no evidence to prove it. There"s nothing we can do to close them down. If he walks on the wrong side of the law, he"s been covering his tracks d.a.m.ned good."

"What makes you think there"s anything shady going on?" Roz asked.

I bit my lip. We"d been keeping an eye on the Fangtabula for over a month now. "Tales have trickled out about some questionable parties involving underage FBH girls. Whispers of rape and blood feasts, but n.o.body ever seems to remember the details, and there"s nothing Chase can do to check them out without official complaints. The vamps would smell undercover cops a mile away, and they"d make sure everything was under wraps. So Menolly and the VA group keep their ear to the rumor mill, hoping for something we can pounce on."

I swung onto Finley Avenue. Camille turned right behind me. Vanzir leaned forward again. "Three blocks down, to the left. Pink house with brown trim, weathered paint, two-story. The venidemons are in the bas.e.m.e.nt, along with their ghostly sentinel."

The house could have been any weathered house in a rundown neighborhood, but as I pulled up to the curb on the other side of the street, the hairs on the back of my neck began to rise. Even if I hadn"t known about the venidemons, my body would have told me that something inherently evil lurked here. As I sat there, staring at the flakes of pink that were peeling from the siding, I had the distinct impression we were being watched by something behind the windows that were covered with heavy gray drapes.

Camille pulled in behind my Jeep as I opened my door and swung to the ground. Followed by Roz and Vanzir, I headed back to her car. Camille and the boys emerged from the Lexus to meet us.

She motioned to the house. "Bad. It"s bad. I"ve never encountered a venidemon, but I didn"t think they were as nasty as the vibes I"m getting."

Vanzir shook his head. "They aren"t. I mean, they"re bad, and they can be deadly, but this . . . this is bigger. Maybe it"s coming from the spirit, but don"t count on it. I think we"d better be prepared for the worst."

"The worst would be Shadow Wing, and this isn"t anywhere near what his power would feel like," Camille said.

"Well, that"s one thing in our favor." Roz leaned against the car. "But I smell trouble ahead."

Camille nodded. "You and me both."

Smoky and Morio glanced at her. "Battle order?"

Camille motioned to me. "You fight better than I do, but I"ll need s.p.a.ce to cast spells. Same with Morio, so he and I should stay on the same side."

I nodded. "I"ll take the left, along with Roz. Morio and you take the right. Vanzir, you and Smoky follow. Both of you are fast and can speed past us if you have to."

"Sounds good," Roz said, opening his duster to examine the a.r.s.enal he routinely carried like some psychotic peddler. I had no idea how he ever made it past a metal detector. He ruffled through the inner pockets of his walking armory and held up a couple of white orbs that looked suspiciously like golf b.a.l.l.s. "These are ice bombs. They"ll send a bone-chilling wave of frost in front of us. Once we get in with the venidemons, I"ll toss one. It should give us a little edge; the spell lasts for at least sixty seconds, and it will take them a while to regroup."

"It"s cold and drizzly. I can try for a spell of freezing rain. Morio?" Camille closed her eyes and began to prep for invoking the moon magic.

Morio shook his head. "I"ll send a wave of confusion through them. That should add some chaos to the party."

"I guess we"re ready." I glanced at Smoky and Vanzir. "I"m using my silver dagger as usual. Roz has his pick of weapons. Smoky, I"ve seen you fight; I don"t even need to ask. Although if you have something in the icicle range, that would be good. Vanzir, I take it you"ll be hands-on?"

He nodded. "I can use minor fire spells, but they"d just lap it up like candy."

There was nothing more to say. "We"re ready, then. Shall we?" They waited, so I swung in front, together with Camille, and we headed across the street. "I guess the front door is as good as any entrance," I muttered.

Camille snorted. "Just so long as we don"t have to ring the bell and play Avon lady. I"m not giving my makeup secrets to a bunch of blowflies from h.e.l.l."

"What about Tupperware?" I let out a snort of nervous laugh. We were in the yard now, cautiously approaching the house. "I have the feeling we"re being watched," I muttered.

"I know we are," she countered. "And you can bet they"re ready for us, so I suggest we just get our b.u.t.ts in there and clean them out."

As we came to the porch, I glanced at the men. "Good to go, boys?" Everyone nodded. "Then let"s play exterminator."

Camille was right: They knew we were coming, and we knew knew they knew, so there was absolutely no use p.u.s.s.yfooting around. they knew, so there was absolutely no use p.u.s.s.yfooting around.

I raced up the stairs, spinning as I came to the door. My motorcycle boots were good and heavy, with thick soles and steel-clad heels. Letting out a war cry, I rammed my foot against the door, grinning as the wood around the lock splintered. A flurry of dust came rushing out as the door slammed open. Woohoo! My kickboxing lessons at the gym were paying off in a big way.

I leapt into the room and darted the beam of my flashlight around, my nostrils flaring. Something smelled nauseating. Camille dashed in on the other side, leaving room for the men to enter. All of a sudden, light flooded the room as another crash ripped through the air. Camille had grabbed one of the curtains and yanked it hard, tearing down the rod and all so that the entire room was filled with the overcast shimmer from outside.

Well, that would take care of any vampires who might wander into the living room, that was for certain. And possibly any light-sensitive specters, too. The room was large, with scuffed hardwood floors. Motel art hung crooked on the wall, and the paint was chipped in several places. Two archways, one on either side of the back wall, led out of the room.

A broken-down sofa sat in one corner, along with a table filled with so many filthy take-out boxes that I almost lost my breakfast. They smelled putrid, and there were maggots crawling on some of them, but in the back of my mind I knew that they weren"t what was causing the horrid stench. A very nasty thought crept into my mind, one I didn"t want to explore, but it wouldn"t go away.

Camille and the boys glanced around the room. "Nothing here," she said. "Let"s spread out." She motioned to Smoky and Morio. "We"ll take the right arch. Delilah, you guys take the left."

Roz and Vanzir slid in behind me as we headed toward the left archway. I mirrored Camille"s actions, flattening myself to the wall next to the entrance. As I edged my head around the corner, I saw a long hallway. Empty. There were several doors on either side.

Camille did the same, then pulled back and shook her head. "Kitchen," she mouthed. Given that all of us had exceptional hearing, it was as if she was talking at a normal volume. Unfortunately, chances were our opponents also had acute senses. "Looks empty. There"s one door, which probably leads out to the porch."

"I don"t want to split up," I said, motioning to her. "Come on, we"re doing this together." I was leery of traps.