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"Attack and subdue!" I shouted, commanding the energy to attack.
The glowing orb stretched out like a luminous blade and slashed at the harpy. She shrieked and took a step back, her gaze fastened on me. Just then, Chase leaned around my right side, and an explosion rang out, startling the hell out of me as he aimed and fired his gun.
"Damn it, you'll ruin my control of the energy—" I said, but it was too late. The ball of moonlight had taken on a mind of its own and it apparently decided that it wanted whatever was in the bag the harpy was holding. It lashed at her, and she dropped the sack on the walkway. Chase's bullet had done no damage whatsoever to the demon.
I pushed him out of the way, trying to regain control of the moonlight but to no avail. I'd lost it, and it would go on doing whatever it wanted to do. And what it wanted to do was to curl around the sack and shield it. The harpy hissed, then apparently decided she'd lost that battle. She turned back to me.
"We need her alive, Chase." I sidestepped the glowing circlet of moonlight, focusing on the harpy, as I once again called out to the Moon Mother. Light raced down my arms into my hands, and I brought them up, pointing at her.
"Attack and subdue!" A beam of quicksilver poured from my hands, taking aim at the harpy, and this time it met her full-force. She soared into the air and hovered over the edge of the guardrails as the ray streamed toward her. I only meant to contain her, but apparently I'd put a little too much oomph behind it, because the light enveloped her, draining the flight from her wings. With a long, echoing shriek, she fell out of the sky and barreled to the ground below.
"Oh hell and bother!" I raced to the safety rail and peered over the side, Chase right behind me. The harpy had landed full-force on the sidewalk and was now one big red splat. The sound of scurrying feet told us that security guards weren't far behind. I turned to Chase. "What should we do? We can't let them find out about the demons."
"I'll talk to them. I'll tell them it was a Faerie who committed suicide," he said. "I'll get the OIA team out here. Go on!"
I grabbed the sack that the harpy had been holding and did the only thing I could think of. Hoping that my magic would work without a glitch this time, I gathered the light in the air around me and cloaked myself. Thank the gods, more than my clothes vanished from sight. Stepping between shadows as silently as I could, I crept toward the stairs, leaving Chase to clean up the mess.>I nodded, making a note to remember her advice. You never knew when you'd need a good hacker, and even if we managed to defeat Bad Ass Luke and his cronies, I had the nasty feeling we were settling in for a long fight. I blew Erin a kiss and hit the sidewalk, running the rest of the way to the shop as a flurry of rain sprinkled around me.
Iris looked extremely glad to see me. "You've got a problem," she said when I popped through the door.
"You think? I'm stuck Earthside with three demons running amok through the city. Of course I've got problems!" I shook the water out of my hair and set my shopping bag behind the counter. At Iris's unimpressed look and the tapping of her fingers on the counter, I sighed. "Okay, so what's gone wrong now? We have termites? The roof leaking? Somebody stealing books again?"
"No termites, no leaks, and no thieves. What is wrong is that the Guardian Watchdogs are going to be picketing the shop next week." She held up a flier. "I found this slapped on the door this morning."
I took the paper and glanced at it. In garish tones of blue and white with black lettering, it was a "cease and desist" flier, ordering us to pack up and return to Otherworld or we'd "face the consequences." Which meant that they'd stand around outside the shop with their signs, chanting insults at the top of their lungs, driving customers inside instead of away.
"They're good for business," I said. "Let them come. If they get nasty, I'll call Chase, and he'll haul their asses away."
Iris grinned. "You want me to set a few trip spells out there for them?"
"Now, now," I said, meeting her gleam for gleam, "that wouldn't be very nice. Tell you what, if they get obnoxious enough, you can have a go at them before I pick up the phone. Nothing harmful, mind you, not unless they try to hurt us, but I'll look the other way if you just happen to drop a clothing optional spell or something of the sort."
With a giggle, she shook her long hair, which fell to her feet and was caught up in a couple of thick ponytails. "You're bad. That's why I like working here," she said. "How's the investigation going? By the looks of that shopping bag, you weren't out chasing demons." She lowered her voice and pointed to one of the shelves, where Henry Jeffries was standing, peering through the various titles. I had a feeling Henry had a little crush on Iris, but he'd never be the first to say it aloud.
"Chase is supposed to meet me here. He had to meet with his boss first. And once again, I mention his name and there he is," I added as he darted through the door, shaking off his umbrella. He didn't look too happy. I sniffed. Spicy beef tacos, all right, along with a good dose of irritation. "Hey, what gives? Your thundercloud is showing."
He grunted. "Save it. I just got a tongue-lashing from Devins. Apparently, the Guardian Watchdogs are at it again, and Devins wants to know why I haven't figured out some way to shut them up. I told him that I'm not PR, but he seems to have the belief that since the Watchdogs formed because of the appearance of you Faeries, issues with them fall under my jurisdiction."
"Ugh. Sounds absolutely delightful. Maybe this will make you feel better. I've got an idea on how to track down the harpy." I held up the feather.
"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this," he said. "But it couldn't be worse than facing down that prick of a boss again. Let's take a trip into hell."
With a warning shake of the head, I said, "Don't even joke about that, Chase. Now, do you want to hear my plan or not?"
He shook his head. "Sure, why not make this a complete freak show of a day?" As I glowered, he started to laugh. "Lead on, my dear Camille. I've never tried fried harpy before."
* * *
CHAPTER 8
"So what's the big plan?" Chase asked.
"I'm going to cast a spell of Finding on this feather. It might work."
"Oh really." Chase raised one eyebrow. "Should I wear a bulletproof vest and whatever else I can think of to protect myself?" His voice clearly indicated he had his doubts.
"Funny man. My magic works part of the time." I pointed to the door. "Come on. I need to get up on the roof of a tall building where I have a good view of the city."
"Part of the time isn't a good track record," he said. "And does it have to be the roof?"
