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"Don't look at me," Chase said. "I can't even twitch my nose."
Delilah snorted. "Yeah, but you've got other saving graces." She gave him a delicious grin, and I let out a soft laugh. Demons or not, it was good to see her happy.
"Well, none of my spells are good for clear sight, so that pretty much leaves Iris, Morio, and to some degree, Smoky. Iris and Morio, we need to make sure we only split into two groups, and that one of you is with one, the other with the second." I stared at the paper. "I guess our first task is set. Find the cave and retrieve the spirit seal. I'm exhausted—we all look tired—but we've run on less sleep before. Let's head out there now. Menolly can come with us that way."
Morio spoke up. "Want to bet some Freedom's Angel member found out the demons aren't human and burned the shop? He wouldn't have to know they were demon, maybe thought they were a Supe."
Chase tapped the table with his pen. "You have a good point there, Morio. I've decided that I'm coming with you tonight, then I'll pull a double shift at work. I've got a cot there I can catch a few hours of sleep on. I'm running two departments now." He sighed and stuffed his notebook into his pocket and stretched, yawning.
"Okay, baby," Delilah said, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a long kiss. "But be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you, and we're facing some pretty potent enemies."
The phone rang again. I snagged up the receiver, hoping it was just a telemarketer for once. But no such luck. It was Nurse Richards.
"Ms. Welter? I'm afraid I have some bad news, and since Benjamin's parents aren't in the country and didn't leave contact information, I thought I would call you." She sounded frantic.
Hell. What now? "What's wrong? Is Benjamin all right?"
"That's the problem. We don't know. He seems to have… disappeared."
I stared at the phone. "Disappeared? What the hell do you mean? Where did he go?" Even as the words escaped my mouth, I realized how stupid they sounded.
"We have no idea. We're searching the grounds for a third time. Tonight, two men and a woman showed up, asking about him. They weren't family, they said as much, and they insisted on speaking to him. I called the doctor, and he denied their request. They left, but they were in a foul mood when we turned them away."
The demons and the djinn. Had to be! On… Morgaine, Mordred, and Arturo.
"You did right," I said. "They were probably media folk, looking for ways to expose our family problems. So what happened to Benjamin?"
She cleared her throat, and I could hear the wheels turning. She was probably terrified the Welters would sue.
"When we went to give Benjamin his nightly medication, he wasn't in his room. We scoured the residence hall, and we've been searching the grounds, but no luck. Right now, we're hoping he just found a quiet place to sleep in one of the empty rooms. But I wanted to tell you. You asked me to call if anything unusual happened."
Thank gods for Fae glamour. I thanked her and said we'd be out as soon as possible, then hung up. "We have to find that cave. Benjamin is missing, and I think the demons were there, looking for him."
"Crap," Menolly said. "Come on. Iris, you stay here with Maggie. Lock the doors and go hide in my lair. You know the secret exit, in case anything should happen."
Iris nodded, pale and looking worried out of her mind. She hurried to gather up Maggie as we readied ourselves. I tucked my silver dagger and sheath onto my belt, then made sure the unicorn horn was firmly in the inner pocket of the cloak Eriskel had given me. In a nod to speed, I switched from stilettos to granny boots with thick heels.
Delilah, in thick jeans and a V-neck sweater, shrugged into a leather jacket and fastened her silver short sword to her leg holster. Menolly slid a blue denim jacket over her black turtleneck and traded her heels for a pair of Doc Martens Eye Zip Boots. As soon as Morio made sure he had his bag with his skull familiar, we headed out the front door.>"What about Smoky? He takes care of Georgio. Could this Benjamin live out there with them?" Menolly sipped at her blood wine. She was staring at the chicken with open lust, and I realized that she must be craving what she'd had to leave behind.
"I don't think Smoky would go for that," I said as Chase's cell phone rang.
"I'll be right back," Chase said, stepping into the hall to take the call.
"Even if Smoky agreed, Benjamin's family would eventually track him down. They have money. Even though they tucked him away in a nice quiet padded cell, they'd use every means they had to trace him. I know people like that. No, if Ben's to get out of there, he's going to have to go somewhere they can't follow him."
Morio caught my attention and stared at me. "We know of one place they can't trace him."
"You're talking about Otherworld?" I put down my fork, suddenly full. The thought of turning Benjamin loose in OW was frightening. He'd end up dead in no time. There was no way in hell that he was prepared to take on an entirely new world. He couldn't even cope with the one he was already part of.
"I think—" I stopped as Chase returned, a strained look on his face. "What happened? More Cryptos run amok?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Though it's hard to tell for sure. I just got a call that the rug shop—the one you were checking out because of the demons? It's burned down, along with the building next to it. The cops think it's arson. Know anybody who might be out firebombing a demon's hangout?"
Delilah slowly pushed her chair back. "You don't think it was one of us, do you? Chase, how could you? We'd never endanger innocent lives that way!"
Chase sputtered and held up his hand. "Did I say I thought you guys did it? The fire marshal is down there, talking to Mr. Karvanak. He apparently passes himself off as a pretty tame human. What crosses my mind is this: if this demon is as tricky as you say he is, won't he mention that you guys don't like him? He knows you aren't going to go blabbing about Shadow Wing's attempts to take over Earth, so he's safe from you outing him."
Holy hell. The thought that he might use FBHs to interfere with us hadn't even occurred to me. "We all have excuses. I was out at the Mountain Aspen Retreat with Morio, and they can vouch for that—"
