“What’s the panther’s fang?”

Hi’ran gave me a soft smile. “Panteris phir. An herb endemic to the forest there. You will bring it home with you and plant it in your garden. Tend to it, nurture it, and once a month, under the new moon, make a cup of tea from it and drink it. This will aid you in controlling your shifts into panther form as the herb builds up in your system.” He backed away. “Do this before the next new moon. And remember, Delilah. You are bound to me. You are the first of my living emissaries.”

With that, he vanished, and I found myself standing among the others. They were in the midst of fighting the venidemons, and suddenly Camille, who had been relegated to standing beside the door, shouted, “She’s back to herself!”

I was about to say something when a buzzing echoed on my right. I swung around to find myself facing a full-grown venidemon. It was hovering near my face, and I saw its abdomen curve under, its stinger ready to jab as it aimed for my chest.

Holy crap—maybe Hi’ran had eliminated the shade, but apparently he trusted we could take care of the venidemons ourselves. Time to rumble.

I snatched up my dagger and, with a loud shout, brought it down, cleaving into the rapidly approaching tail end of the venidemon. The damned sucker was tough. I couldn’t slice clean through, but the gash sent the blowfly hurtling toward the floor. It let out a piercing shriek, and I stabbed it, like a kid pinning butterflies to a display table. One down, but a glance around showed me there were plenty more for the counting. I whirled just in time to take on another.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the others left a trail of muck and guts as they fought their way through the demons’ nests.

Smoky was making tracks through a nest of larvae, swiping with his talons at the wriggling maggots. As he sliced through them, they wailed, keening so loudly I wondered if they could be heard up on the street.

The second venidemon darted back and forth, trying to get the jump on me. Irritated, I tossed my dagger from hand to hand.

“Come on, sucker, come and get me!”

Apparently, venidemons didn’t take much to goad, because it changed tactics and made a beeline straight for my side. Instinct won out, and rather than swing with my dagger, my right foot shot into the air, meeting the big bug in the face. It bounced back, but I could tell it wasn’t hurt—merely stunned. I lunged for it with my dagger and met the creature square in the midsection. It went down like a fly facing a can of Raid.

“Delilah, give me a hand!”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Morio fighting off two full-size venidemons struggling to get past him to Camille. She was trying to draw down energy; by now I could tell the look on her face when she was invoking the Moon Mother. But it looked like her pain was preventing her from focusing.

“Incoming on your left,” I shouted over the roar of the fight and the shrieks as the blowflies and their larvae bit the dust one by one. I took on the venidemon aiming for his left side, and he turned his attention to the one on the right. We finished them off in good time.

“How many more can there be?” Camille asked, giving up on the spell. She looked miserable, and I wished to hell she’d just back out of the room and play it safe outside.

I motioned toward the rest of the room. “Still too many.”

Vanzir was battling it out with a nest of the half-grown bugs. They fell left and right as he waded in, eyes blazing, striking double-handed with a pair of serrated steel daggers that he’d unsheathed from his boots. He smashed the smallest of the venidemons under his heels, grinding them to a pulp.

Roz was fighting a trio of full-grown bugs that were trying to guard a nest of larvae. While he was holding them at bay, it was obvious we were on the losing end of the battle.

I raced over to Smoky. He’d just finished off the last of the larvae in the nest he’d been fighting. “We have to do something. There are still too many—”

He gave one quick look around the room and nodded. “Get everybody out of here. I’ll take care of it. But you have to head upstairs immediately and get out of the house. Do you understand me?” As I nodded and started toward Roz, he grabbed me by the wrist. “And you damned well make sure your sister is safe. Hear me?”

I stared up into those glacial eyes and froze. Camille was as good as bought and sold. I could see it in his face. Smoky owned her. And while I had no doubt he loved my sister, there was also little doubt that anyone he didn’t approve of would go down screaming if they hurt her.

“Let go of me, Smoky. You know I’ll protect her, you idiot.” I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. I couldn’t let him cow me down. Camille wouldn’t put up with it, and Menolly sure didn’t. I wasn’t about to, either.

He let go. “Of course I know that. Now move. I’ll put a stop to this mess.”

I raced over to Roz and grabbed his arm. “Come on.” He didn’t question me, just turned and followed, dodging to avoid the venidemons now swarming toward us. Vanzir saw me run past and with a quick look at Smoky, joined us. Morio was already guiding Camille down the hall toward the stairs. As we passed the room with the portal, I glanced in and saw glowing eyes peering from out of the swirling vortex, but we didn’t have time to stop. Whatever Smoky had planned was going to be good, I thought. Good and probably explosive, considering who he was. Or what, rather.

We weren’t disappointed. We’d just reached the top of the stairs when the floor began to roll in waves under our feet. The house shook like we were on Earthquake Alley. We were, actually—the whole area was geologically unstable, and there were volcanoes aplenty around to prove it—but I knew this wasn’t an actual temblor. A dragon quake, yes.

“Head for the door,” Morio yelled over the sound of the freight train that was our deliciously gorgeous dragon hunk.

As he swept Camille into his arms—she was stumbling now, the pain and the quake threw her off balance—I wondered just how far Smoky was going to go. It felt like he was ready to pull the rafters down.

Roz and Vanzir brought up the rear, making sure we were all on the front lawn. Roz pushed Vanzir toward us, then raced back up to the front door. “I’m going back to help him.”

“Don’t be a fool! You’ll be crushed.” I shook my head, pointing to the spot beside me. “Get out of there now, Roz!”

“Quit worrying about me. Look after your sister.” He vanished back inside. I was about ready to follow him when Camille grabbed my arm. For someone about ready to faint, she was pretty damned strong.

“Leave them. They both can escape easy enough.” She moaned, holding the wrist of her hurt hand. I sat beside her. The ground was still trembling, but from where we sat, the waves were weaker. Whatever Smoky was doing was muffled by the dirt.

I unwrapped the makeshift bandage Roz had applied. The wound was festering, despite the salve he put on it. “You’re infected. We have to get you home. In fact, I’ve got half a mind to run you over to the FH-CSI medical lab. The elves can probably cure this faster than Iris.”

I peered closer at the wound. Yep, right to the bone, and it looked nasty. Thank the gods this hadn’t been inflicted by the venidemons, or she’d have a nasty batch of eggs in there by now.

“I think I’ll take you up on that,” she said, wincing as I replaced the bandage.

“What did you mean—they can both escape easy enough? What do you know that I don’t?” I peered at her. She blushed. Yeah, she was holding out on me. “Tell me, or I’ll tell Smoky that you kissed Roz.” I was joking, but she paled.

“Oh Great Mother, don’t do that! Smoky would kill him! And then he’d . . . well . . . never mind.”

She backtracked so fast I knew something was up, but she didn’t look afraid. More like embarrassed? Camille didn’t embarrass easily, which meant Smoky had found a way to corral her—not an easy task. I decided to let it go.

Finally she sighed. “Don’t say a word. This news could be used against them, and we may need it as a secret tactic someday. Smoky travels through the Ionyc Sea. That’s how he gets around so fast. And Roz apparently knows how Smoky gets around and does the same. He tried to encourage Smoky to take us all in through the iron door that way.”

“The Ionyc Sea? That’s what that was all about? I had no idea. Kind of scary . . . wait a minute! Oh Great Mother, has Smoky taken you through the Ionyc current?” The thought of traveling through the astral worlds like that terrified me. The energy was so volatile, like riding through a patch riddled with land mines.

The Ionyc Sea wasn’t exactly on the astral, but it held the astral, etheric, and several other planes of existence together, yet created a buffer zone so they’d never merge. If the differing energy fields clashed, it could cause a major explosion on the scale of creating a black hole, or—if enough of the energy collided—a black-hole universe. Think differing forms of antimatter and matter coming into contact . . . so not good, according to Captain Kirk as well as the elementalist wizards we’d grown up listening to.

The Ionyc Sea was harsh, and few creatures could traverse it. Some, especially those who wielded the forces of ice and snow, could create barriers around themselves and swim through it, stepping outside of time.

She nodded. “It’s not so bad. Rather strange, actually. He was very careful, though. Nothing to worry about.”

“And Rozurial can travel through the Ionyc Sea, too? That makes sense in a weird way.” I frowned, wondering what else our wonder boys had up their sleeves.

“Yeah, though I have no idea how he manages it,” she added, leaning against my shoulder. I put my arm around her and held her tight. “He’s a demon—an incubus. I don’t know enough about the Ionyc Sea to know what gives him the strength to forge—”

She was cut off by a sudden roar as the house imploded on itself. As we watched, the walls and roof came crashing down, tumbling into a chasm as the ground around it opened up. I leapt up and pulled Camille to her feet. Along with Vanzir and Morio, we made tracks across the street to where our cars were, staring at the gaping hole that was covered with dust. A moment later, fire erupted and blazed into the sky. The gas mains must have burst, or at least sprung a leak.

“Smoky!” Camille cried out, but I held her back when she would have gone running toward the fire.

“I’m right here. Don’t worry yourself,” Smoky said, stepping out from behind the car. He hadn’t been there a moment before, and neither had Roz, but now the incubus joined the dragon. Smoky opened his arms, and I gently pushed Camille into his embrace. He folded her inside his coat—clean and tidy as always—and kissed her head softly. “You were worried about me?” he whispered.

She nodded and blubbered something I couldn’t make out. As I turned away to watch what was left of the house burn, Roz sidled up beside me.

“I wish somebody would worry about me like that,” he said, a grin on his face.

“Try again, you liar. You know you aren’t cut out for a steady girlfriend.” But I flashed him a return smile. “What about the portal?”

“We put a temporary seal on it. Aimed the gas pipe directly at it and lit the fuse. The Netherworlds are cold—icy cold. The fire from the gas acted to . . . well . . . almost cauterize it. It won’t hold, but for now, it’s shut.” He glanced over at Smoky. “The big doofus isn’t so bad, once you get to know him,” he added.

I thwacked him on the nose. “Yeah, just don’t try to pick up his wife, and you’ll be safe.” With one last look around—the sound of sirens was growing louder—I motioned to the cars. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here. We’re heading to the FH-CSI. I want them to check out Camille’s hand. Everybody’s going, so nobody run off anywhere.”

As we drove away, it occurred to me that we still didn’t know who was responsible for opening the gate for the venidemons, but thanks to our little altercation, I now had a new task, one that I didn’t dare ignore: go to Otherworld and find myself a Panteris phir plant. Joy of joys. I wasn’t a gardener at heart, but maybe Iris could help me keep it alive.

I glanced in the rearview mirror, making sure that Morio, who was driving now, was keeping up with us. A flash—brief as quicksilver—and I was staring at the Autumn Lord, then the mirror showed only road and Camille’s Lexus again.

Hi’ran might not be a demanding master yet. But my master he was, whether or not I wanted it that way. I’d damned well better get used to it. Avatars of Death generally didn’t take no for an answer. But Hi’ran . . . the memory of his fingers on my lips stayed with me, and I could still taste the mist that had tied my tongue. Once again, the thought of sliding into his arms crept through the back of my mind, but I pushed it away. Didn’t I already have enough trouble on my plate without inviting Death to play footsie?

CHAPTER 7

By the time we pulled into the parking lot at the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigations offices, I’d shaken off my daydreams about the Autumn Lord and was focused on getting help for Camille. We headed toward the building. Halfway there, Camille collapsed. I knelt down, pressing the back of my palm against her forehead.

“She’s got a fever. Get her inside!”

Smoky swept her up and with long strides headed into the building. I was right on his heels, along with Morio. Vanzir chose to wait in the car, along with Roz. We raced through the front entrance where Yugi—a Swedish empath recently promoted to lieutenant—caught sight of us. One look at Camille, and he waved us through.

The morgue was in the basement, three stories belowground, but the healing facilities were on the main floor. As we rounded the corner into the medical wing, the receptionist caught sight of us. She was a youngish woman who looked fully human, but somewhere a few generations back, one of her ancestors had been an Earthside Fae. She punched a button and called for Sharah over the intercom. Sharah came running out of the break room.