My dagger in one hand, broom in the other, I stood at the top of the steps. I gingerly tapped the first one with the handle of the broom. The light flickered, the bulb old and ready to die. I glanced back at Morio, who followed me.

"Do you have a light spell in case that bulb goes out? I don"t want to go plunging into dark water, so to speak." Truth was, I didn"t want to go down into this bas.e.m.e.nt at all. For one thing, I was worried about Camille. For another, the thought of taking on poisonous creepy-crawlies didn"t interest me at all. Especially not after our run-in with the Hunters Moon Clan a few months ago. And third, well, I was hungry. My stomach rumbled at that moment, as if punctuating my thoughts. I ignored it.

Morio nodded. "I can use my fox fire. But if the light goes, everybody stop where you are. I can"t very well cast a spell while I"m tumbling down the steps."

"Good point." I cleared my throat and glanced over my shoulder. "Well, here goes nothing." I put my foot on the first step. A little squeak, but nothing too terribly untoward. I gathered my breath and tapped the second stair. The third. The fourth. I was about to tap on the fifth when the light suddenly vanished. The bulb had burnt out.

"Everybody stand still." Morio"s voice came out of the darkness.

I felt like I was poised on the edge of a chasm. The stairway into the bas.e.m.e.nt was well over fifteen stairs down, because that"s as far as I could see when the light was still flickering. There might be another door waiting for us, or maybe a hallway or maybe a guard lurking in the depths below. I tried to reach out, to sense danger, but all of my senses were on overload.

Morio shouted and the dark well exploded into light as a green phosph.o.r.escence flickered from a foot-long wooden dowel he was holding. It lit up the pa.s.sage a little better than the dim bulb had, though everything took on an eerie hue. I grimaced, thinking about all the late-night monster movies I"d made Menolly sit through with me. What we were facing was ten times worse, but still, images of nubile young women creeping down into underground tombs without a st.i.tch of protection plagued me.

As I tapped my way down the next ten stairs, I had to duck my head as I pa.s.sed beneath a crosshatch of beams that stretched over the stairwell to form a low overhead. I was the tallest one here except for Smoky-and Morio, in his demonic form. My head almost skimmed the bottom of one of the beams. Roz was two inches shorter than me, and Camille and Vanzir quite a bit shorter than that.

"Heads up," I called back. "Low beam-watch yourself." As I ducked to avoid another, a cobweb dangling from the beam brushed against my shoulders, tickling my neck. As the hanging dust catcher caught me off-guard, I let out a little shriek.

"Holy c.r.a.p. Spiders Spiders. What the h.e.l.l are they doing here? I hate spiders." Truth was, I was on the verge of developing arachnophobia.

"What kind of webs?" Camille said from the back.

"The wrong kind," I said grimly. "Keep your eyes peeled for hobo spiders."

Morio grunted. "This is their kind of hangout, all right. I thought most of the Hunters Moon Clan was dead, though."

We"d fought a powerful clan of werespiders not long back. Though we"d tried to take them all out, no doubt some had escaped, and they weren"t likely to be very happy with us.

"We can"t be too sure about that. Just keep your eyes peeled."

As we descended into the lower region of the bas.e.m.e.nt, more steps came in view and, about eight more feet down, a door at the end of the stairwell. Nestled next to the door was an alcove. I could already smell the stench of rotting meat coming from it. It was of the size and shape to house the h.e.l.lhound, and a thick silver chain told me that the creature had served as a guard dog. The chain was smooth, the links strong and unbroken. Somebody had unleashed him to come after us. Whatever it was hadn"t stuck around to open the door at the top of the stairs. I figured they were probably as scared of their sentinel as we had been.

The door itself looked reinforced. As I neared it, the energy reached out and slapped me in the face. h.e.l.l. The door had some sort of heavy iron alloy in it-too much for our comfort zone.

"c.r.a.p. Iron. I can"t touch it. Camille can"t, either. Morio, what about you?" I paused on the step, not wanting to go any farther until we"d decided what we were going to do about it.

Morio stared at it. "I shouldn"t have any problem with iron. Smoky?"

"I"d like to see the piece of iron that could stop me," said Smoky, his voice low.

I stared at him for a moment. "Pretty sure of yourself, aren"t you?"

He sent a frozen glance my way. "Are you questioning me?"

Backpedal time. "Nope, nope . . . not in the least." Camille"s husband or not, he was still quite capable of smashing little-or big-kitty cats, and I had no desire to put his patience to the test. Unnerved by the entire afternoon, I turned to Roz. "And you?"

"Well, I b.l.o.o.d.y well don"t like iron, but I"m not going to fry from it. At least not now," Roz said. He edged his way past me and bent to study the lock.

I turned to Vanzir, and he shook his head. "Demons like iron. We use it a lot, actually, down in the Subterranean Realms. Iron, lead, uranium . . ."

"What?" Smoky sputtered. "You have uranium down there?"

Vanzir shrugged. "It"s like a drug for some demons. We resonate with the energy, though I don"t miss it all that much. Most of us are immune to its dangers. Some demons are hooked on it, and there are even uranium Elementals that wizards have managed to conjure out from the metal."

I blinked twice. Uranium Elementals? Great, that"s all we needed over Earthside: a bunch of crazed uranium Elementals running around poisoning people. "Lovely . . . just lovely."

Roz suddenly stood up. "I can blow this lock."

"Won"t that bring the house down on us?" This day was just getting better and better.

"Not if I use just the right amount of explosives. I suggest that you turn away, though. There"s bound to be smoke and a little shrapnel. In fact, maybe you"d better retreat up the stairs a little ways." He opened his duster and pulled out two smalls vials, one filled with black powder, another with red. "Myocian powder and alostar compound," he said, noticing my gaze.

I immediately motioned everybody up the stairs. "Go halfway up," I said, pushing against Morio"s back. Myocian powder and its companion, alostar compound, were made by the dwarves in the Nebelvuori Mountains back in Otherworld and had all the perks of gunpowder. When mixed in just the right proportion, it was extremely volatile. A single tap from a pen-sized mallet could set it off.

When I was a little girl, I"d seen a dwarf who lost his leg to a myocian land mine. The goblins had been using them in a crusade against the dwarves. The dwarves had opened up bounty season on goblin skulls, and shortly thereafter, the goblins had withdrawn their efforts to infringe on dwarven lands. The land mines ended up as a tool for mining operations.

"Where in the world did you get that c.r.a.p?" Camille said, wincing as she leaned against Smoky"s shoulder. It was obvious she was in pain, but I knew she"d refuse to leave until we were finished.

"I picked them up in a little mining shop in Terial. They have everything you could hope to purchase to make your spelunking adventures complete." He laughed, shooting a smoldering glance her way. "I like spelunking, if you know what I mean-" Smoky glowered, and Roz lowered his eyes. "Uh . . . never mind."

"That"s better," Smoky said, relaxing a little as he sat down on the step behind him and pulled Camille onto his lap. She winced, then rested her head on his shoulder.

Roz finished shaking a few of the grains of the black powder into the lock, then cautiously added a pinch of the red. He took out a thin, pencil-length rod, and with a shake of the hand, it expanded to four feet long. It was narrow but solid, and as he backed away to the bottom of the stairs, he reached out and delicately aimed toward the keyhole.

"I get it," I said. "I see what you"re doing."

"Yes, well, I strongly advise everybody to turn around. You don"t want to be facing this direction when it blows." He twisted at the waist, turning his face toward the stairs, and we heard the sc.r.a.pe of metal on metal. There was a sudden hush, then a loud explosion, and the stairwell filled with dark, greasy smoke.

Coughing, I turned around. "Eww . . . that"s nasty." The residue from the smoke began to settle on our clothes, leaving an oily silt behind. But the door was unlocked and standing ajar. I glanced back at Smoky. Spotless. As usual. "How the h.e.l.l do you do it?" I asked.

He gave me a puzzled look. "Do what?"

"The coat, the jeans, the shirt . . . you"re never dirty. You never get muddy, dusty, filthy, or, apparently, oily. What the h.e.l.l kind of laundry detergent do you use?" I stared down at my own jeans, which now sported several lovely looking grease spots. "I want some of it."

He just grinned, saying nothing as he helped Camille to her feet, and they started down the stairs. "Why do you suppose n.o.body"s come after us?" he asked, his smile fading. "We"ve made more noise than a band of drunken Vikings on a rape-and-pillage mission."

"And just what was the h.e.l.lhound doing?" I started to ask, but Vanzir shook his head and held up his hand.

"He"s right. And my only answer is that I don"t think there is is anybody here to stop us. I think there"s some sort of revenant or specter protecting the venidemons, watching over them as they hatch. I"m figuring we"re heading into a nursery. Want to make a bet they were counting on the h.e.l.lhound to stop anybody trying to get through?" Vanzir studied the hallway. "There"s demonic energy coursing down the hall like a river gone wild." anybody here to stop us. I think there"s some sort of revenant or specter protecting the venidemons, watching over them as they hatch. I"m figuring we"re heading into a nursery. Want to make a bet they were counting on the h.e.l.lhound to stop anybody trying to get through?" Vanzir studied the hallway. "There"s demonic energy coursing down the hall like a river gone wild."

Camille closed her eyes, then shuddered. "Vanzir"s right. It"s undulating like a wave. There"s demonic energy everywhere down here."

"Then we"d better get a move on. If you"re right," I said, looking at the dream chaser, "then the protector of those venidemons is waiting for us at the end of the road. Along with the venidemons themselves."

"Remember, they"re dangerous even when just hatched. They may not be able to inject their eggs at larval stage, but they can still do a lot of damage," he said. "Whoever has the cold spells ought to go in front with you."

"I don"t want to leave Camille unprotected," Smoky said.

Morio turned to him. "I"ll watch out for her. You"re needed up here." When Smoky hesitated, he added, "I"m her husband, too. You know I"ll protect her with my life."

Camille let out a long sigh. "Get up there with Delilah, you b.u.t.thead. Morio can help me." When Smoky didn"t budge, she added, "I"ll be all right. I"m not stupid enough to put myself in the front lines as wounded as I am, but I"m not in danger of keeling over this second. Yeah, my hand burns like h.e.l.l, but I"m not dying."

He gave a resigned shrug and then traded places with Morio.

"b.u.t.thead?" I mouthed, flashing him a wide grin.

Smoky snorted. "What can I say? You know Camille."

Suddenly, I missed having Chase with us. Missed the usual comfort of our relationship. I bit my lip. Every couple went through hard times; I"d learned that by watching Camille and her lovers. But right now, I envied her easy ways and confidence. I had no idea what I was doing. I tried my best, but being part of a couple was still new to me.

h.e.l.l, I I was still new to me. Since our visit to the Autumn Lord, everything in my world had gone topsy-turvy, and it seemed like the rules changed every time I turned around. One thing was for sure, though. Chase and I were going to have a long talk after this mess with the venidemons was over, and that included him telling me about Erika. was still new to me. Since our visit to the Autumn Lord, everything in my world had gone topsy-turvy, and it seemed like the rules changed every time I turned around. One thing was for sure, though. Chase and I were going to have a long talk after this mess with the venidemons was over, and that included him telling me about Erika.

Shaking off my frustration, I turned to the others. "Are we ready?" Everybody nodded. "Then let"s get a move on."

Vanzir pushed the iron door open, holding it wide. After we all filed through, he slowly eased it shut behind us and caught up to the front.

The corridor through which we crept was dark, but thanks to Morio and his fox fire, we could see to the end where the pa.s.sage turned to the right. I soon realized this wasn"t just a bas.e.m.e.nt. It looked like a network of tunnels and had probably been added long after the main house was built. Which meant that one of Shadow Wing"s scouts probably bought this place and turned it into a hideout for his network of spies to use for . . . well . . . whatever they were up to.

The walls of the pa.s.sage were damp and slick with mildew. While the tunnel itself wasn"t heated, I could sense a heat source emanating from somewhere up ahead. As we neared the end of the pa.s.sage, I motioned for everyone to stop and crept forward to the edge, where I peeked around the corner.

About fifteen feet farther, the tunnel came to an end. Directly at the end was a door, this one iron, too, and that"s where the heat was emanating from. I swung around the corner and led them down the hall.

Vanzir placed his hand on the iron. I winced, but he seemed okay with it. "Behind that door-the venidemons are there."

"Roz, you"re going to have to get us through that door. And when we meet up with the specter or whatever"s guarding them, be on the alert. A run-of-the-mill ghost wouldn"t bother us, so it"s got to be something worse. And with that portal to the Netherworld, you know it"s going to be nasty. The h.e.l.lhound could have come from either the Subterranean Realms or the Netherworld, so . . ."

Roz glanced at Smoky. "There"s one way we can get the jump on them. But I don"t know if Smoky"s willing to do it. I"ll give it a go-but then again, we have no way of knowing what we"d be getting into."

"What do you mean?" I glanced around at the dragon, confused. "What"s he talking about?"

Smoky eyed Roz with a cool stare. "Surely you jest. Without knowing what"s on the other end, we could be dropping them into a lake of molten lava, or a nest of larvae where they"d be immediately attacked."

Camille let out a little gasp. "So that"s how you get around so fast," she said to Roz. "I knew about Smoky but . . . how can you . . ."

Smoky cut her off. "Enough. We"re not attempting it, so let it drop for now." I was about to say something, but he shook his head at me. "Save your questions for later. Rozurial, attend to the door. If you don"t, then I"ll remove the impediment."

Roz gave him a shake of the head. "You"re too full of yourself. Never mind!" He held up his hands when Smoky took a step forward. "I"ll take care of the door. No problem. No worry." He pulled out his vials of myocian powder and alostar compound.

"You"ve been holding out on me," I whispered to Camille. "You care to dish it up later? That is, if you can tear yourself away from Moe and Curly here."

"Sure thing. It just never came up until now." She winced, clutching her hand again. "s.h.i.t, this hurts. I just want to take care of those bugs and get the h.e.l.l out of here."

I glanced at Roz, who was backing up, his extendable rod in hand. "I think you"re about to get your wish. Battle order: Smoky and me, Roz and Vanzir, Morio and Camille."

Just then an explosion rocked the hallway.

"Stand to the side," Smoky ordered, throwing the door wide. By the force in his voice, I knew he meant business. We all jumped to the side as a huge gust of wind came rattling down the hall from behind us, following him into the room. There was a loud screech, and then the smell of ozone filled the air and I saw snowflakes swirling out the door.

I raced in after him. Smoky must have cast some sort of freeze spell, because the minute I entered the room, I saw a layer of snow and frost dusting what looked to be a dozen nests across the floor, all filled with venidemons in various stages of growth. Some were wriggling larvae, like giant tube worms from the ocean"s depths. Others were full-grown blowflies, and I saw that, indeed, they were as big as my head. They all moved sluggishly, though, and I saw a couple try to go airborne, but they couldn"t seem to flutter their wings fast enough to gain any height.

A deep chill ran through my body as if I"d just walked into a freezer. Smoky"s spell must have dropped the temperature to thirty degrees, and it had managed to slow the venidemons. How long it would last, I didn"t know. I suspected we were on borrowed time, but for now, it gave us the advantage.

A glance told me the chamber we were in was large and built of solid steel. It was lit by the glow from a granite slab that rested in the center of the floor. The rock was glowing orange, and I knew without a doubt that if I touched it, I"d burn my hand to a crisp. The slab wasn"t molten, but looked well on its way. The chill had overcome it for now, though, and the heat was sputtering, trying to melt the frost surrounding it.

A shallow pit had been dug next to the granite, and inside the pit was a jumbled mishmash of remains. Remains of what-or rather, who who-I didn"t know, but a tennis shoe rested near a pile of bones that were still covered with all too juicy bits of flesh and muscle still attached. There were other tattered remnants of clothing, and other bones-some cleaned to a high sheen, others still ripe-and I fought back my urge to empty my queasy stomach.

"There goes my appet.i.te," I muttered.

A shift in the light caught my attention, and I turned, dagger raised. The silhouette of a man was headed our way. He was almost invisible, and would be if he turned sideways. In the flickering of Morio"s fox fire, I spied the barest glimmer of a face in the inky depths of the shadow. Skeletal, it was frozen in a steady stare aimed directly at me.

"Great Mother Bast. It"s a revenant!" I whispered a quick prayer to the Mother of all Catkind for protection as I backed up, b.u.mping into Roz, who was standing right behind me.

Smoky let out a long breath. "The cold won"t stop him. He"ll just find the frost a nice change."

Rare ent.i.ties, revenants tended to inhabit the Netherworld and Earthside haunts more than Otherworld ruins, but I knew what they were and what havoc they could wreak. A single touch from one was enough to give an FBH a heart attack. While they didn"t have the same effect on the Fae, they were capable of doing significant damage.

Camille glanced at me, then at the shadow. "What can we do?" she whispered, her voice raspy with fear. She glanced at Morio.

He grabbed her good hand. "Reverente destal a Mordenta." "Reverente destal a Mordenta."

She nodded and placed her feet square, sliding her injured hand inside the pocket of her skirt. I wondered if she was looking for the unicorn horn, but when Morio began a low incantation and she fell in sync with him, I knew they were up to some sort of death magic.

Smoky looked ready to pull her away, and I grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. He swung on me, his eyes narrowing, but I pointed toward the shade. "We need all the help we can get. Do something-anything! I"ve got nothing. I"m no good against these things."

Roz was frantically pawing through his duster. Vanzir pushed his way between the revenant, which was headed my way, and me. "It can"t really hurt me that much," he said over his shoulder. "Stay behind me."

I let out a long breath, hoping that we could dispatch the spirit before the venidemons cleared the frost out of their brains. Fighting both at once would be a disaster.

Smoky glanced at me as I pointed toward the nests. One of the flies had shaken off the snow and was almost aloft. He shook his head. "I can"t use that spell again for a while. Weather magic is taxing, especially in my human form. I"ll attack it if it comes this way."

He was nervous. The thought that something might actually frighten the dragon hadn"t occurred to me before, but one look at his face told me his fear was for us, not himself. And that that made me downright terrified. made me downright terrified.

Just then Vanzir whirled and shoved me back, sending me careening across the room. I blinked. What the f.u.c.k? And then I saw that the revenant had attacked him, trying to reach around to grab hold of me. As he grappled with the shadow, his arms went through it, and the spirit darted around him and once again was heading my way.

Cripes! I steadied myself and looked for a place to run. Why was it so interested in me, anyway? What the h.e.l.l was so special about me? As it bore down, Smoky raced by and took a swipe at it, but his taloned hand just flew through the revenant, too. And then I was facing it-the creature from the Netherworld. As it reached out, I heard Camille scream, and everything began to grow fuzzy. Something was happening to me. The room went caving in as my body contorted, twisting in on itself, folding, melting, re-forming into new bone and muscle and sinew.

And then I found myself on all fours-four big black feet, four silken furred legs-and my breath came thick and frozen in the chilled room.

And he he was standing behind me, his jet hair streaming down his shoulders as a woven garland of burnished maple leaves flamed in a wreath around his head. His eyes were as I remembered them: twin diamonds in a black velvet tapestry. His cape-covered with a kaleidoscope of leaves and flame-fluttered around his black boots. Frost fell from his heels, and the scent of graveyard dust and old books and crackling bonfires embraced me. He tightened his grip on a silver chain that I now realized was attached to a collar. was standing behind me, his jet hair streaming down his shoulders as a woven garland of burnished maple leaves flamed in a wreath around his head. His eyes were as I remembered them: twin diamonds in a black velvet tapestry. His cape-covered with a kaleidoscope of leaves and flame-fluttered around his black boots. Frost fell from his heels, and the scent of graveyard dust and old books and crackling bonfires embraced me. He tightened his grip on a silver chain that I now realized was attached to a collar. My collar My collar.

The Autumn Lord turned to the revenant, who cowered in his presence. "Down, dog," he said, and his voice rocked the room. "My Death Maidens are not for the likes of you."

As the spirit backed away, I glanced up at my master, and he leaned down. "Delilah, my dear one. I have a task for you. And no specter from beyond the grave is going to interfere." With a rough laugh, the Autumn Lord waved his hand, and the shadow vanished in a shriek of twisting color.