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The rest of the goblins in the square were scrambling, looking for an exit, and the others easily picked them off in the confusion. Meanwhile, I saw Iris race over to the building and press her hands against the sidewalk in front of it and murmur something. A barrier began to form around the base of the Pioneer Building. It looked like ice, but ice would melt, even in the chill. I hurried over to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Preventing further damage. The barrier won't hold for long, so Chase—call out the city crews to check the status of this building. Meanwhile, we have to prevent any more goblins from coming through the portal down there. We need guards, and we need them now." Iris motioned to Delilah. "What about the Puma Pride? Can they help?"
"I'm on it. I'll get some of the Supes down here—ones who are good in a fight. We can post them on guard duty over the portal until we contact Queen Asteria." She flipped open her cell phone and punched in Zachary's number. Within less than a minute, she had secured his promise to send five of their strongest members down to help until we could secure permanent guards.
"Until they arrive, I'll keep order. I can get through the rubble without a problem," Smoky said, coming up behind me and wrapping an arm around my waist. He leaned down to give me a quick kiss.
"Thank you." I took a deep breath and looked around us. Pioneer Square was littered with goblin bodies. We all looked like refugees from a bloodbath, except for Smoky, whose familiar white trench and jeans were spotless, as usual. Someday I had to ask him how he managed that. I was smudged head to toe with goblin blood, and—I suspected—some of my own. At least two policemen were wounded or dead. Chase was checking on them now.
"Go, please; keep them from breaking through until we can set up permanent guards." I pressed his hand to my cheek, and it felt cool and soothing and strong.
He nodded and within seconds vanished from sight, riding the Ionyc currents. I wasn't worried. Smoky would be okay. If something happened down in the underground, he could just hop back into the slipstream.
Exhausted, feeling like I could drink a gallon of water—the lightning had left me parched—I wearily dropped to sit on the curb. Delilah joined me and took my hand.
"This is too much. We can't fight them all," she said.
"I know. We need help." I was silent for a moment. "Maybe Morgaine's right. If the Courts of Fae are restored, then we can hit them up for aid." I quickly filled her in on what I'd found out on my jaunt out to Smoky's place.
Delilah thought for a long moment, then shook her head. "They won't want to take orders from half-breeds, Camille. I can't see how it will be any different than when we were children in Y'Elestrial. We'll be the outsiders forever, no matter where we are. They'll try to take control of our operations, and they won't know what they're doing. The Queens of Fae care far more for their own prestige than they ever will about humans. How long before you think they'll try to forge a truce with the demons? At least, the Queen of Dark?"
"It won't happen," I said stubbornly. "Earth is the first stop for Shadow Wing, and both Morgaine—and now Titania—know it. They can't betray us without betraying themselves."
But Delilah's uncertainty had set up questions in my own mind. How much could we really trust Titania? And Morgaine? Grandmother Coyote had already warned us that Morgaine's thirst for power was one of her weaknesses. What if Shadow Wing promised her dominion over the Earthside Fae? Would she take the bait, betray both her mother and father races?
Iris wandered over to join us. She looked tired, and her spotless white robe was spattered with flecks of blood. The Talon-haltija had more courage than a good share of full-size Fae I'd met. I gave her a grateful smile.
"We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you." I stared at the street. Without our friends, we'd have been dead long before this. And if it took Smoky to help us put an end to a small group of goblins, then what the hell were we going to do when Shadow Wing sent in more than a few demons at a time?
Delilah shoved herself to her feet and reached for my hand. I gave it to her, allowing her to pull me up. "Okay, let's go find out what happened to Chase's men," she said.
I wanted nothing more than to go home and drop into bed and sleep for a week, but I followed her over to where Chase was supervising as two of the fallen officers were loaded into ambulances. The coroner was there for the third.
"One's hanging on by a thread," he said before we could ask. "I don't know if he'll even make it to the hospital. I thought he was already dead, but he's still clinging to life. The other is seriously wounded, but he should survive and possibly recover fully if everything goes all right. But his vitals are all messed up, and we're not sure what's going on with that."
"The poison!" Delilah shivered. "Chase, chances are both men were poisoned. Get an OIA medic over to the hospital now, and tell them to check for tetsa poison. Your blood tests won't pick it up, but our healers will know what to look for. Tetsa can be applied to blades as well as the darts."
"And while you're at it, have them check that wound of yours for poison." I pointed to the laceration on the side of his face. It had stopped bleeding, but his face was covered with blood. Heads and hands always bled more. Though the wound looked nasty, it wasn't life-threatening, unless it became septic. "I'm afraid you're going to end up with a scar from that one."
He shrugged. "Had to happen sometime, in my line of work."
"It'll just make you all the more rugged," Delilah said, clinging to his arm.
"Oh yeah… as long as you like it, babe," he said. "What about you? Any of you hurt?"
Delilah held out her left arm. The jacket she wore had been sliced, and as I helped her slide out of it, she winced. The goblin's blade had gone through the material of both jacket and shirt, gashing into her arm. The blade had missed any major arteries, but she was going to be damned sore for awhile.
"You'd better get that checked out. We have some immunity to certain poisons, but that doesn't mean you won't be affected. Ah hell, we'd all better go in and have Sharah take a good look at us naked. I'm so numb I can't tell where I was hit and where I wasn't." I wearily headed back toward the car.
Morio wrapped his arm around my waist, and I leaned on his shoulder. "Do you need help? I can carry you," he said. "I'm not too tired."
"Liar." I grinned at him. "You look just as beat as the rest of us. I'm not ready for a walker yet." I glanced back at the bodies. "Who's going to clean up that mess?"
"I called a couple units in. All the bodies will be taken to the FH-CSI morgue. At least we don't have to worry about them rising like vampires." Chase shook his head. "Speaking of, we haven't heard hide nor hair of the rogue vamps that got away a few months ago. I don't like it."
"Don't borrow trouble," Delilah said. "Face what's in front of us first. We'll deal with them when and if they become a problem." But she flashed me a worried look, and I returned it. A rash of killings a couple months back had left several rogue vampires running through the town and, try as they might, Menolly and Wade—the vampire who ran Vampires Anonymous—hadn't been able to track them down.
