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"Then she's not with Dredge?" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. If he didn't have her, she might not have been put through the wringer yet. On the other hand, that meant we still had to find her.
Camille broke in. "Dredge will keep for a few hours, but Erin might not. Especially if Wisteria's pissed. Look what she did to Delilah, to Roz… think what she could do to an FBH, Menolly. And you know how she feels about humans."
I stared at her. "You're right. Erin's in a nest of newborns, along with a wacked out floraed who has a bone to pick with humanity. Yeah, we have to go after her first. Roz, show us where you found them. Their nest has to be nearby."
He shrugged back into his duster. "Not a problem. Who's going besides you and me?"
"Delilah, Camille, Chase, and Morio." I glanced around. "Shamas, stay with Iris."
"I'll make sure he behaves," Iris said. "He can help Anna-Linda and me make cookies." And with that, she hustled our cousin out of the room before he had a chance to say a word.
I motioned to the door. "Let's roll." I wasn't sure how he'd gotten out to our house, but Roz hadn't come by car. "Roz, you come with me."
Delilah rode with Chase, of course, and Morio and Camille headed out in her Lexus. One thing for sure, I thought. We'd need a vacation by the time this was all over, because the playground we were headed for sure wasn't on the Travel Channel's top-ten list of destinations to see before we died.
CHAPTER 17
On the drive there, Roz unbuckled the belt of his duster and opened it, checking out his supplies. The clatter of metal was enough to tell me he was well armed. "Spikes, check. Nunchakus, check. Blow gun and darts, check. Micro Uzi, check. Daggers, check—"
"Slow down there, tiger. Did you say Uzi?" I glanced at him and sure enough, he was holding up what looked like a miniature machine gun. What the hell was an incubus doing with an automatic weapon? A nasty automatic weapon? "Where the hell did you get that?"
"I've got my sources," he said, grinning. "But this won't do us any good against vamps." He tucked it away in a shoulder holster and held up an assortment of spikes. "No, these, these babies are what we need tonight. By the way, I've also got silver chain and a few binding talismans… Let's see, what else…" He pulled his bag onto his lap and poked through it while I tried to keep my eyes on the road.
"You've got a regular arsenal there, cowboy. I'd still like to know why Queen Asteria sent you to us," I said.
"Yeah, well, I'd like to know a lot of things, too," he countered. "But she did, so just accept my help."
"Does she know you're packing all that crap?"
"Yeah, so don't sweat it." After zipping up the bag, he pulled his belt off, letting the duster hang open for easy access to his weapons.
I glanced at his skintight black leather pants, the mesh muscle shirt straining over finely honed pecs, and the glistening skin hiding beneath the clothing. His stomach glittered with a fine sheen through the mesh netting. Something flipped inside me, like a light switch, and I yanked my gaze back to the road. Enough of that.
He met my gaze with an insolent smirk. "Like what you see?"
"I'll ignore that. We're out to save Erin. Nothing else."
"Whatever you say." He shrugged obligingly. "But you do realize your friend might be…"
"Dead? Or worse? I know. Camille and Delilah do, too, but we can't just write her off. If there's any chance to rescue her, we have to try." I took a left on Aurora and headed south.>"How are you doing?" I sat down next to him. "Have my sisters filled you in on what life's like over here?"
"I spent all morning watching tee-vee," he said, elongating the es. "I never quite realized how alien humans are. I had no idea how big of a schism has evolved over the millennia. I still thought they rode in buggies and fought with swords."
"Like we do at home?" I said, grinning. "Face it, we developed magic, they developed technology."
Shamas laughed. "Point taken. But how have you managed it? How did you adapt to the differences? I don't know if I can handle walking among the head blind all the time."
I stared at him, well aware that both Delilah and Camille had paused at his comment. It didn't bother me so much but I knew that any time one of the Fae—family or stranger—made a disparaging comment about FBHs it hit home for my sisters with a nasty smack.
Standing up, I leaned over and gave him a quick but sharp slap on the cheek. "Shamas, darling, you better remember one thing. Our mother was human. Full-blooded human. And that makes the three of us half-human. Walking among the head blind is no more difficult than walking among pompous asses who rely on their magic instead of their brains. Understand?" I gave him a little hiss to punctuate the veiled threat.
Blinking, he glanced at my sisters, then back at me. "I'm sorry." He ducked his head. "I had no idea how that was going to sound. I guess I'm a little frightened. I know my way around Otherworld, but I don't dare show my face back there anytime soon. But here… I don't know how to survive. I didn't mean anything by it."
"Well, plenty of our relatives stood behind their insults," Delilah muttered. "At least here we don't have to put up with it—this is our home." She squinted at him, and I could see the glimmer in her aura foretelling a change.
"Kitten, calm down. We don't have time for you to shift." I glared at Shamas. "Don't upset her like that. She's very sensitive to family criticism."
"It's all right, sweetie," Chase said, resting his hand on Delilah's knee.
