AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After a moment, I realized it wasn’t going to happen.
Both relieved and chagrined, I looked around. The urge to shift had died down to a manageable level. Another moment, and I could breathe again. I stood up, swallowing my fear. I forced my shoulders back. I had no choice. I’d deal with whatever aftermath the RÄksasa had left in his wake.
My pulse racing, I flipped open my cell phone and dialed the Indigo Crescent, Camille’s bookstore. As soon as she answered, I said, “Get your butt home now. The demons have been here. And contact Smoky if you can. We might need him.”
Pocketing the phone, I edged my way over to the stairs. I had the ability to move silently—creeping like a cat—and I used it for all I was worth now, gliding up the staircase until I came to Camille’s floor. The doors were all standing open. I checked each room. Everything had been torn apart. There were clothes everywhere in her bedroom. I glanced in her study. Her magical oils had been overturned and spell components destroyed, but there was no sign of the intruders. Thank the gods she carried the unicorn horn with her.
As I made my way up to my own chambers, I listened carefully, trying to pinpoint any noise that stood out. When I reached the third floor, I found the same situation. Everything tossed, some things destroyed, but nobody around.
That just left Menolly’s lair. Praying that she was okay—and that I’d find Iris and Maggie alive—I raced back down the stairs, only to run into Camille and Smoky as they appeared in the living room, Smoky’s arm around Camille’s waist.
“We came through the Ionyc Sea,” she said, looking disoriented. “I left my car at the shop.”
“Thank the gods you’re here,” I said. “I haven’t found Iris or Maggie yet, but I searched both the second and third floors, and there’s no sign of blood, bodies, or the demons. Can you pick up the scent? Karvanak was here.”
She breathed deep, paling as the fragrance of the RÄksasa hit her. “Hell and high water.”
“Let’s check Menolly’s lair.” I slipped past her.
We stopped in front of the bookshelf. Smoky was standing behind us. I glanced at Camille and she shook her head. “He’s bound to find out sometime. Open it.”
So, for the second time since we had come here to live, we revealed the secret entrance to Menolly’s lair. As the shelves swung open, Smoky said nothing but gave a little nod.
I slipped into the dark opening and flipped on the dim light that illuminated the staircase leading down to Menolly’s nest. As we slowly descended, I struggled to pick up the demon’s scent, but there were no telltale fragrances lingering to indicate that he’d found the lair.
“Iris? Iris?” Camille called softly down into the depths of the basement that we’d retrofitted for Menolly. As I set foot on the bottom step, I found myself staring at Iris, her brilliant blue eyes wide with fear and anger. Maggie was tucked behind her, and she held out her wand with the Aqualine crystal on it.
“Stop where you are,” she said, raising the wand.
“It’s us, Iris . . .” I stopped. She was right to worry. RÄksasas were masters of illusion. We could easily be the demon and his cronies, cloaked behind a mirage. “Go ahead. Cast your Dispel Illusion spell, and you’ll know for sure.”
She raised the wand, and I could see her hand was shaking, but she called out in a loud, clear voice. “Piilevä otus, tulee esiin!”
A wash of light splashed over us, and I felt a little odd, but nothing much happened except for a moment I thought I was going to shift into my tabby form. After the flare died away, she lowered her wand, sinking to the ground and gathering Maggie into her arms.
“Thank the gods, thank the gods . . . I thought . . .”
“You thought we were the demons,” I said, running to her. Camille checked on Menolly. When Menolly walked through her dreams, she looked wan and pale, dead as the vampire she was. She neither stirred, nor breathed, nor made a single movement. Sometimes I wondered where she journeyed in her dreams, but she wouldn’t tell us, although I knew she wandered through her memories at times.
I gave Iris a kiss on the forehead and was about to help her up when Smoky gently pushed me away. He gathered Iris and Maggie into his arms and, as if he were carrying two feathers, headed up the stairs. Camille and I followed, securing the bookshelf firmly after we entered the kitchen again. Smoky deposited Iris by the rocking chair and motioned for her to sit.
“Tea,” he said to Camille.
She nodded, searching through the mess of pots and pans that littered the floor. She found the stainless teakettle—dented but still usable—and filled it with water, then set it to heat.
Our teapots were smashed, but I managed to find four intact mugs. The cupboards had been emptied, but I finally located a box of Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger and dropped a tea bag into each of the mugs.
Iris shivered as Camille sat by her side, holding Maggie. “Can you tell us what happened?” my sister asked.
“Shortly after you left, I was washing up breakfast dishes when I heard a crash from the living room. I didn’t call out. First, I knew everybody was gone, and second, it sounded like someone overturning a shelf or something rather than the slam of a door. And then I smelled it. Orange and sugar vanilla and jasmine . . . and I knew that Karvanak was in the house.”
She hung her head. “I was afraid to run out back. He might have had guards outside. So I gathered up Maggie and slipped into Menolly’s lair. As the latch closed, I could hear somebody enter the kitchen. Another moment, and I would have been too late. There was a lot of noise, shouting and crashing. I crouched in the dark and waited. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t have my cell phone, and when I picked up the land line down on Menolly’s nightstand, it was dead.”
I picked up the receiver on the wall phone and listened. “No dial tone. They must have cut the wires outside.”
Camille handed Maggie to Iris and wandered over to what had been the playpen. She removed a large skillet from the mattress pad, then pulled the cushion away from the debris, making sure no broken glass was stuck to it. She set Maggie on the cushion and dropped to the floor beside her.
Iris let out a long sigh as she looked around the room. “How’s the rest of the house?”
