Harvest Hunting (36 page)

“Yeah, you could say that.” I didn’t want to dis her husband in front of her—that was the straw that drove some women back into abusive relationships. She had to come to that point herself.

“Rice . . . the whole Zone Red Pack has a hard time coming to grips with the modern era. The women of the Pack are demanding more. Demanding to be treated with respect, demanding our rights. Some . . . a lot . . . of the men can’t handle it. Alpha werewolf males have a tremendous amount of testosterone, and the tendency to bluster is always there. There are so many fights, almost all of the men in our Pack are scarred. You’ve seen my brother’s scars, right?”

Menolly nodded. “I never asked him about them. He just recently told me about the woman—the one he loved.”

“That was a tragic situation. Did he tell you that Marla pissed off the Alpha when she refused him because she was in love with Luke? He basically handed her over to some of the younger alpha males for revenge. She was passed around like a piece of meat, brutally used. Oh hell, I’ll just say it like it really was . . . she was gang-raped, and the Pack leader watched and forced Luke to watch. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to kill the Alpha right there.”

“Luke said she was killed?” I hated bringing up painful memories, but talking about her past seemed to be calming her down. And it would help her to trust us when we had to take the spirit seal from her.

“Yeah, she was. When Luke tried to sneak her out, the Alpha caught them—he’d sent someone to spy on them. The Alpha killed Marla himself, in front of Luke. Then he scarred my brother and excommunicated him. I wanted to go with him, but I wasn’t old enough. Shortly thereafter I was married off to Rice. He offered the most attractive dowry and situation to my father. Rice is bad . . . but it could have been worse.”

“You said you bought a trunk that had the necklace in it. Do you . . . are you attached to the pendant? Why do you think the coyote shifters kidnapped you? Did they tell you?” The time had come. We would be at the FH-CSI building soon, and I didn’t particularly feel like airing the info in public.

She paused. “The truth is . . . I can’t take the damned thing off. It feels like there are voices in my head, and they’re coming from the necklace, but when I go to take it off, they start screaming until I put it back on. I haven’t felt the same since I first started wearing it. From the start, it wouldn’t let me take it off for more than a moment.”

I stared at her, thinking about Queen Asteria. What were we going to do?

Then Rozurial said in a low voice, “The Keraastar Knights. Want to make a bet that . . .” His voice drifted off, but I knew what he was saying. Amber may be making more of a journey than she expected.

“The coyote shifters were after your pendant. Did they try to take it from you?” I couldn’t imagine them caring if she went crazy from voices in her head.

She nodded. “Yes, they did. But the minute they put their hands on it, they got shocked. One of them died. And when they tried to make me take it off, the necklace started humming and scared the hell out of them. Why do they want it? What is it? What’s going on? And who are you?”

Menolly spoke up. “I’m Menolly D’Artigo, your brother’s boss. He asked us to help when you went missing from the hotel. My sisters and I are from Otherworld.”

Amber gasped. “I had a dream about Otherworld, even though I’ve only ever heard of it. I dreamed about a city with cobblestones, and about elves and a circle of people—I have no idea who they were. But there was a werepuma among them, and a young man, and an ancient . . . I guess he was human.”

I let out a long sigh. “Amber, there’s a lot to explain, but you have to trust us. As long as that necklace is around your neck and you stay here, you’re in far greater danger than just from the coyote shifters. There’s a demon general out there looking for the spirit seals. And a demon lord in the Subterranean Realms looking for them.”

She gasped and cringed back in her seat. “I had no idea.”

“My sisters and I—and our friends—are on the forefront of a war even your brother doesn’t know about. We’re trying to stop Shadow Wing and his army from taking over Earth, and eventually—Otherworld. And that pendant you wear around your neck is an ancient artifact that will make his quest a whole lot easier if he gets hold of you.”

 

 

Amber was silent the rest of the way to the FH-CSI building. We let her be—she’d been hit by far too much to take in over the past few days, and she needed a little while to just rest after her captivity.

At least now we knew why the coyote shifters hadn’t killed her. On one hand, the fact that the spirit seal had bonded itself to her had saved her life. On the other hand, I had the queasy feeling there was nothing we could do except hustle her over to the Elfin Queen, whether Amber wanted to go or not. We couldn’t let her run around with one of the seals around her neck.

“So, do we go back and take down the rest of the Koyanni?” Roz leaned back against the seat and folded his arms.

“I’d like to put them out of commission. I’d also like to find out where that little gem of a weapon came from and see if we can do anything about getting them banned. That’s fucking dangerous to any Supe out there, and I have the nasty feeling it would kill an FBH.”

“Ten to one, our answers are going to be found at the Energy Exchange.” Menolly leaned forward and peeked over my shoulder. “And that’s Camille’s department if it’s a magical club.”

“Maybe, but she’s been beat up a lot the past few days from the Wolf Briar.” My cell phone jangled, and I flipped it on, adjusting the Blue Tooth in my ear. I hated the damned thing, but it was the law, and it made sense. “Delilah here. Speak to me.”

“Delilah, get your ass back home now. We’ve got trouble.” Iris’s voice sounded muffled.

“What’s wrong?” I punched the button to put her on speaker.

“Something broke through the wards, and by the way the alarm is sounding, it’s big and bad. This isn’t any ghoul or zombie meandering through the woods. I put Maggie in Menolly’s lair, and I’ve called Wilbur. He’s on his way over.” Her voice was trembling. Iris was powerful—far more powerful than we’d originally thought—but she also was a single house sprite alone in the house.

“Crap! We’re on our way. You get down in Menolly’s lair, too—”

“No time, I hear them breaking in. I’m heading outside—Maggie should be safe where she is. But hurry.”

The line went dead. I looked at Amber. “I hope you aren’t hurting too much, because we’re making a detour. Roz—call Camille and tell them to get a move on toward home.”

And then, flooring the gas, I made a U-turn and headed toward Belles-Faire. We were about fifteen minutes away, thanks to it being late at night with little traffic. I planned to make it in ten at the most.

 

 

As we came racing up the driveway, I was terrified what we’d find. The house on fire? Maggie and Iris in the ashes? A horde of Demonkin? Or was it somebody else—had the shifters figured out where we lived and that we’d taken down their operations?

Roz had called Camille, and Morio’s SUV was right behind us. Then he’d placed a call to Chase, asking him to send Shamas home. We wanted every hand on deck. Chase had promised to come with him.

I turned off the motor. It was obvious we were here, so no use being sneaky. But for a moment—just a moment—we sat, surveying the house. Roz said, “I’ll go in through the Ionyc Sea—they won’t be expecting that. I told Camille to have Smoky do the same. We can come in from the top floor and surprise whoever it is that way.”

“Good idea.” I closed my eyes, reaching for my inner light, reaching to push past the fear so I could be effective. “I need to get out of the car and shift into my panther form. The rest of you—head in. Amber, damn it, we don’t dare let you near there—and we can’t leave you alone. Vanzir, you have to protect her. With your life. We can’t let that spirit seal fall into the wrong hands. So . . . I guess, Menolly—you go in with Camille, Morio, and Trillian.”

Speaking of, the three of them were passing by the Jeep. Menolly silently joined them as I turned to look at Amber. “Whatever you do, don’t get caught. Run like hell if you have to, but don’t let anybody take that necklace. In fact, Vanzir—can you drive?”

He grinned. “I can probably manage it. I don’t promise how well.”

“This is no laughing matter. Drive her to Grandmother Coyote’s portal and hide with her there. If we don’t come along within an hour or so, take her over to Queen Asteria.”

“Queen who? Portal? You mean send me to Otherworld?” Amber was beginning to look a little panicked.

“Better than let the demons get hold of you,” Vanzir said. “I know. Trust me.” He slipped behind the wheel, and I showed him how to start the ignition and which were the brake and gas pedals.

“Just try not to get in an accident, okay? You know the way to get there?”

“Yeah,” he said, then softly reached up to cup my chin. “You’re getting braver, pussycat. And harder. Like a good soldier must be.” And with that, he put the Jeep in reverse and—sputtering in a fit of stop-starts, backed away out of the driveway.

I watched as he went, then inhaled a sharp breath and shifted into panther form. The world looked different as I transformed, and I felt my inner predator rise to the top. Oh, I loved this form, loved prowling the night in panther shape.

Taking a deep breath, I wondered how to summon Arial, and then I knew. Apparently Greta had left me with a residual memory to reach out to Haseofon. Because the next thing I knew, I was walking into the halls in panther form. The others looked at me, but apparently they recognized me even in my Were shape, because they just waved. I glanced around until I found Arial. She was sitting on a pillow, reading a book. I bounded over and nuzzled her.

I need your help.
The thought was clear, and she nodded.

“As always. I’m here to help you.” She dropped the book and stood, shaking out her sable hair, and then she stepped back and shimmered. I watched transfixed. I’d seen Nerissa change before, and I knew what it was like
to transform
, but watching my sister was another matter altogether. Within seconds, a golden leopard stood there, her spots the color of her hair.

I turned and bounded out of Haseofon, Arial on my heels. We raced through the mist and landed right where I’d been standing, in front of the house. I turned to Arial, who gazed up at the house in her ghostly presence.

I’ll meet you shortly.
She vanished again, quicksilver as a shadow in the night. I gazed after her, wondering what it would have been like if she’d lived. There would have been four of us—and maybe things would be different. Who knew what turns our lives may have taken? But that was conjecture. We were who we were, and at least we knew she was happy and we could contact her. And right now, Iris was in danger, and we had enemies on every side.

I padded through the grass, trying to catch a whiff of our enemies. A sudden cry from the back of the house sliced through the night, and I broke into a run, racing around the corner. Camille and Morio were weaving some sort of spell against—oh crap, a bloatworgle. Hadn’t we fought enough of these over the past few months?

It opened its mouth and sent a searing flame their way, and they broke apart, dodging left and right, disrupting the spell they’d been conjuring. Morio scrambled for his bag and pulled out a tiny coffin, about thirteen inches in length. Fuck. Rodney, the misogynistic bone golem he’d been given by Grandmother Coyote. But we needed all the help we could get, I thought.

Camille leapt to her feet and sent a blast of lightning toward the bloatworgle. It let out a shriek as the strike hit its distended belly, and its arms, too long for its body, flailed. But it did not fall. The buggers were dangerous because they were so hard to kill—and because of that mouthful of fire they had going for them.

I circled around, using the brush and weeds for cover, and then leapt on it from behind, my paws encircling its neck. I raked a paw full of claws across the demon’s throat as Morio set Rodney loose to grow to full height. At the same time, the youkai-kitsune began to grow to full height. He could do far more damage in his full demonic form than he could in human form.

He lunged forward and raked at the bloatworgle’s belly with long, black nails. I pulled back on the demon’s neck as he did so, and the creature lost his footing, sliding to the ground on his back. Morio leapt on him, finishing the job as I looked around, trying to pick up Iris’s scent.

Another noise startled me, and I turned to see Arial’s ghostly shape racing toward me. I touched her nose.

I’ll do what I can on the astral.
She turned and vanished.

I shifted into my two-legged form so fast it hurt. Even as I let out a yowl, I was standing there in front of Camille and Morio and the dead bloatworgle.

“Tregarts in the house, and snakes. Fighting Menolly, Smoky, and Roz. Come on!”

We raced to the back porch. I took the steps two at a time and slammed open the back door, Camille and Morio hot on my heels. We burst into the kitchen, where the place had been trashed. Not stopping to ascertain how much damage there was, we raced on. By the time we made it to the foyer, the fight had spilled out onto the front porch. A group of biker look-alikes with chains and swords were holding their own.