“Sit, please. Everyone.”

He moved over to his desk—a mammoth oak affair—and returned with a file folder and a sheaf of papers, which he handed to Vanzir, who took one, then passed them on. I glanced at the blank papers when the stack came my way. Carter had made enough for everyone and I took several for the others at home.

“I take it this is password protected?” I asked.

He nodded. “The keyword is rutabaga.”

“Rutabaga?” Menolly cocked her head, glancing at him.

Carter grinned. “Would that be the first word you’d think of when trying to view a demonically sealed document? You want me to change it to open sesame perhaps?”

With a snort, she shook her head. “You’re okay, Carter.”

As I whispered the word, writing appeared on the paper—notes about Stacia Bonecrusher, and a map of directions to her safe house. Her house happened to be an elaborate mansion according to the printout picture, located in one of the wealthier suburbs on the Eastside.

“That figures. She lives over in Redmond, near Marymoor Park. No wonder we couldn’t get a bead on her here in Seattle.”

“Close to Bill Gates,” Morio said.

“No, that’s Mercer Island. But he’s no demon, regardless of what people think.” A smile played over Carter’s lips. “Stacia Bonecrusher lives in a secure compound. From the street, it may look like a swanky gated mansion, but don’t be fooled. The place has top-level security and I’m pretty sure she’s got a number of demons hiding there.”

“Speaking of,” Vanzir said. “There are a couple of skanky streetwalkers we pegged as Demonkin as we headed in here. I should sneak out the back way and see if they’re still there. I don’t think they’re part of the demonic underground here, so there may be a chance they’re working for the Bonecrusher.”

“They are,” Carter said. “I know who you’re talking about. I haven’t done anything about them because I don’t want to raise suspicion. As long as I ignore them, they won’t go into hiding and I’ll know where they’re at.”

I stopped Vanzir as he stood. “Carter has a point. If we tip our hand, we could make everything worse. Leave them alone, but make sure we check our cars for booby traps or bugs—”

“Not necessary,” Carter said. “When they first showed up, I decided I needed a little more protection than the barrier spell I have out there, so I summoned an imp to keep watch. They try to do anything, all hell breaks loose.”

“Great, just what we need. An imp. Let’s get on with this.” As I glanced over the paper, I stopped short. Stacia Bonecrusher was a necromancer, and a powerful one at that. Carter’s notes listed her as training under Telazhar. “Holy hell, this is bad.”

Menolly heard me; she looked up and nodded. “Telazhar must be working for Shadow Wing, then.”

“Not necessarily,” I said. “He swore never to bow to another, but that he’s still alive after all these centuries and that he’s training Demonkin is one big-ass sign to beware and be careful.”

Morio shook his head. “Who is he? I’ve never heard of him.”

I let out a long sigh. “If I remember my history lessons correctly, Telazhar was one of the most feared Fae to ever live. Centuries ago, he was a powerful necromancer. He raised an army and terrorized Otherworld during the magical wars that scorched the Southern Wastes, leaving them barren and rife with rogue magic.”

“How did he get down to the Sub Realms?” Vanzir asked.

Menolly picked up the story. “Telazhar led an army of the dead to lay siege on Aladril. He planned on marching on Y’Elestrial after he’d taken over the City of Seers. But the seers took him by surprise. Y’Elestrial sent help and so did the elves. A powerful Fae warrior led the armies against Telazhar and they drove him back into the desert. Once they cornered him in the depths of the Wastes, Aladril’s seers held him in stasis, and they sent him through a Demon Gate into the Subterranean Realms, then dismantled the spell so it could never open again.”

“Apparently,” I said, “Telazhar is still alive. His powers must be terrible by now.” I sucked in a long breath and stared at the page. “Want to make a bet he’s the one who gated her over here?”

“No, because you’d win,” Menolly said.

I nodded, not wanting to think about the coming battle. “We have to be so careful and so crafty that she doesn’t know we’re coming. We could use some extra help.”

Kim returned with our tea, and as we silently sipped the warm brew from bone china cups, and ate the ripe Camembert spread on seasoned crackers, all I could think about was curling up in my bed and sleeping for weeks. This was such bad news it made me want to retreat back into Otherworld. Maybe I should take Raven Mother up on her offer. A little house in the heart of Thistlewyd Deep, live there with Smoky and Trillian and Morio . . . it didn’t sound so bad.

“What next then? And how do we cloak these notes again?” Morio asked.

“As far as how to cloak the notes,” Carter said, “use the locking word. And that, my friends, is clotted cream. Again, I chose something that won’t immediately come to mind. And as to the dilemma you’re facing, I can’t tell you what to do.”

“We’re going to have to look elsewhere for help. And I know where.” I gazed up at my sister.

She groaned and slapped the side of her head. “Not the Triple Threat?”

“Suck it up. They’ll have to agree—or at least Aeval will. She owes me a favor. But once I call in the marker, I’m going to owe her so big. I have the distinct feeling it’s not going to turn out a quid pro quo situation.”

“So we go out there tomorrow and hit up the Queen of Night to help us track down and destroy a demon general. Great.” Menolly shook her head. “I really don’t want to see the fallout from this one.”

“Neither do I, but it’s our only choice. We need more help. At least we don’t have to track the Bonecrusher anymore, thanks to Carter.” I held up the sheet of paper. “And we have a map.”

“Yeah, we have a map,” Menolly said, her eyes turning bloodred. “Big whoop. Ten to one, it leads straight to our doom.”

Doom or not, we had no other choice. If we didn’t destroy Stacia, she’d mangle the portals trying to rip open a gateway for Shadow Wing’s buddies. And that spelled trouble with a capital T. I stood, feeling as resigned as I was resolved.

“Okay, let’s get a move on. We’ve got a long day facing us tomorrow.”

On our way back to the cars, we didn’t catch sight of the streetwalker demons. Had they run back to the Bonecrusher to tell her we’d been at Carter’s? Either way, she knew we were on the move. She just didn’t know when.

CHAPTER 21

I opened my eyes to Morio sitting beside me on the bed. Squinting in the morning light, I pushed myself up and looked around. I was alone on the king-sized mattress. Last night Morio had slept on the daybed near the window, while Smoky and Trillian flanked me. I’d nixed any wandering hands, though, too exhausted to even think about sex.

“Good morning.” He gave me a quick kiss and, as I slid out from beneath the covers, slipped his arms around me, drawing me close.

“You didn’t get any last night, you’re not getting any this morning.” I gave him a playful thunk on the head.

“I wasn’t looking for any,” he whispered. “What I am looking for is for you to haul your lovely ass downstairs. We’ve got a full day, sleepyhead.”

Not sure whether to be insulted or just annoyed, I glanced at the clock. Nine-thirty? Oh shit, I had overslept by a good two hours. I jumped up and grabbed a towel.

“Let me catch a quick shower.”

“Iris said if you want breakfast, you’ll be there in ten minutes.” He laughed, then headed out the door after giving me a sharp slap on the ass. “I’ll be out in the studio, cleaning and purifying our ritual gear.”

Twenty minutes later, fully dressed and in makeup, I showed up in the kitchen. Good to her word, there was no breakfast on the table, but when Iris saw me coming she opened the fridge and, before I knew it, I was settled in my chair with yogurt, a toasted English muffin, a banana, and a cup of coffee. Not quite the hearty breakfast I was used to, but it would do.

Delilah came running through the back door, breathing heavily. I gave her a quizzical look and she pulled off her Windbreaker and tossed it over the back of a chair. “When Morio said you were taking a shower, I decided to get in a quick run down to Birchwater Pond and back.”

I glanced around the kitchen. “Where’d Smoky and Trillian go? The house seems empty today. And where’s Maggie?”

Iris answered before Delilah could. “Smoky took off for his barrow. He said he had something to do. Trillian went shopping with Roz. Vanzir’s out in the studio, and Shamas is at work. Maggie’s in my room having a time-out.”

“Time-out? What did she do now?” Maggie had reached the stage where she was getting into anything and everything. Sometimes the only way to make her realize there were boundaries was to give her a time-out.

“She bit me,” Delilah said, holding up her index finger. A sturdy white bandage was wrapped around it. “The little dickens snapped at me when I tried to put her back in her playpen after giving her breakfast. She’s got to learn no biting or eventually she could take someone’s finger off.”

“No kidding.” I stared at her finger. “How’s the bite? Any infection, you think?”

“No. It’s clean and Roz spread some of his wonder salve over it. So what’s on the agenda today, as if I didn’t know?” She slipped into a chair and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table. “Iris, what’s with all the fruit lately? The farmer’s market having a run on apples and oranges?”

“It’s good for you. You eat far too much junk food.” Iris turned around from the sink where she was finishing up the dishes. She put her hands on her hips and stared down Delilah’s irritated grunt. “If you want doughnuts all the time, you’re going to have to get them yourself. You’re addicted to sugar and it’s not healthy.”

“I can handle it,” Delilah muttered, but bit into the apple anyway.

I spooned up my yogurt. “I guess today we plan out our strategy. Asking Aeval to help us with Stacia isn’t going to be a lot of fun.” I really didn’t want to go there but we had no choice. We needed help and we needed it soon.

Delilah crossed her arms on the table and rested her chin on them. “Do you really think Father’s sleeping with Tanaquar?”

She sounded so wistful and sad that I put down my spoon. “What’s the matter, Kitten?”

“I just . . . he always said he couldn’t forget Mother . . .”

So that was it. I reached across the table and patted her hand. “He loved Mother more than anything, but he has to move on. I just wish Tanaquar hadn’t gotten her claws on him. I think she’s using him and I doubt if he knows it. I think he wanted to tell me about it while I was there, but chickened out.” As I bit into the English muffin, a burst of buttery goodness melted into my mouth and I closed my eyes, enjoying the flavor.

“I know he has to move on. I want him to. But . . . it just seems . . . he’s sleeping with the Queen. That’s just so wrong and I can’t tell you why I feel that way.” Morosely, she tossed the rest of the apple in the compost bin and rooted through the cupboards until she finally pulled out a bag of generic potato chips. “I knew we had to have something good in here.”

Iris finished putting away the dishes and crossed her arms. “Fine, I give up. I’ll buy the damned junk food next time I’m grocery shopping but when you break out or realize that it’s sapping your energy, don’t come running to me.” The phone rang just then and she picked it up. After a moment, she handed it to me. “Camille, you’d better take it. Henry’s on the line.”

Wiping my hands on my napkin, I took the receiver. “Henry? What’s up?”

“Camille?” Henry sounded shaky. “We’ve got a problem. I’ve called Detective Johnson and he’s on the way. I think you’d better come down to the shop right away.”

“What’s going on?” I frowned. If Henry said there was a problem, there was. He wasn’t prone to exaggeration.

Henry lowered his voice and it sounded like he’d cupped his hand around the receiver. “There are two men and a woman prowling around the shop. I’ve never seen any of them before. Camille, they frighten me. I asked if I could help them and one of the men growled at me.”

Shit! My first thought was that they were from the Freedom’s Angels group or maybe the Brotherhood of the EarthBorn.

“I’ll be down there in twenty minutes, fifteen if traffic is with me. Meanwhile, you hang tough. And get out of there. Don’t worry about anything in the shop—don’t stop to take the money or anything else. And, Henry . . .” I paused, wanting to warn but not knowing what to warn him against. We could have demons down there, or anti-Fae humans running around, or even somebody who had a personal grudge against us.

“What is it, Camille?”

“Henry—”

I didn’t get a chance to finish my thought. A loud explosion of some sort echoed in my ear, and Henry cried out. The line went dead.

“Motherfucking son of a bitch!” I tossed the receiver on the table.