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“The Greek gods have never played fair.” Menolly let out a sigh. “I guess the dynamic duo forgot all about Roz and Fraale. As their new natures began to take over, they ended up separating. They couldn’t stay together without traumatizing each other. They’d been monogamous, you see. Like Father and Mother. Rare among two full Fae, but it happens.”
Cripes. “I’ll try to be more sensitive. I noticed the look on Roz’s face when he smelled that scarf.”
“Good.” Menolly gave me a little push. “Let’s go find Chase.”
As I stepped into the kitchen, all conversation stopped. Camille dropped the cookie she was eating and it splashed into her teacup. Iris stopped whatever she was saying midsentence. Smoky coughed and quickly tried to cover a smile, while both Morio and Zach looked horrified. A slow grin spread across Rozurial’s face, and Vanzir just shook his head.
The only one to speak was Maggie, from her playpen, where she called out, delighted, “De-ya-ya!!!”
I scooped her up and nuzzled her, then handed her to a still-silent Iris. “Well, don’t all speak at once. Do I look ready for the Fangtabula?”
Camille sputtered. “Where the hell did you find that getup? You certainly didn’t nab it from my closet.”
“I certainly hope not,” Smoky said.
“Bite me.” I rolled my eyes at the dragon. “I never thought anybody would ever see this. I should have thrown it away.”
“It’s perfect,” Menolly said. “And now, we’d better get moving. The club should start hopping in about ninety minutes, and I want to be there before it gets too crowded. Hopefully, we’ll pick up some information.”
As Zach and Roz grabbed their jackets, I glanced back at the others. “I have my cell phone. Menolly has hers. You guys do what you can here. We’ve got to find Chase, before Karvanak . . .”
The thought of what he’d done to Vanzir, what humiliation he’d put the dream chaser through, kept running through my mind. Chase couldn’t survive that treatment. He wasn’t a demon. And given what had already gone down, if he did survive, would he manage to recover?
“Let’s move,” I said. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
CHAPTER 24
The Fangtabula was down in the Industrial District of south Seattle, not too far from where we’d fought the venidemons. It occurred to me that if the demons did have a foothold with some of the local vamps, then trouble was brewing big-time. And if the demons were taking over houses and setting up nests of their grotesque blowflies, what else were they doing, and where else had they infiltrated?
The fact that there was a portal to the Netherworld in the venidemon house worried me. Had the demons also forged contracts with creatures from the spirit realm? Were they attempting to gather armies on all sides? I mentioned my fears to the others.
“You might be on to something. The demons usually give the Netherworld a wide berth, but with all that’s going on, old grudges and alliances aren’t necessarily holding true. And if Vanzir is right, and Shadow Wing has gone over the edge, then we better be prepared for anything. But why would anybody in the Netherworld want to help him? What could they gain?” Menolly frowned as she maneuvered the streets in Camille’s Lexus. Her Jag would be a tight squeeze, and my Jeep didn’t fit her style. She’d changed into full leathers and was looking quite the mistress indeed.
“There are creatures in the Netherworld that hate the living,” Roz said. “If they’ve taken corporeal form at any time, some of them resent having to give it up and fade back into the shadowed worlds. The demons might have promised them easier access to the physical world if they help.”
“I don’t know about any of that,” Zach said, frowning, “but we’ve had some odd goings-on out at the compound. There’s an unsettled air on the outskirts of our land, and we’ve doubled guard duty at night. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the werespiders were back.”
Shivering, I stared out the window. The werespiders had been a field day, all right. Kyoka and Karvanak might be evenly matched, now that I thought about it. Except Kyoka had been nursing a grudge against the werepumas, where Karvanak had his sights aimed directly on us.
“I doubt it. At least, I hope not,” I mumbled. “We’ve got enough to worry about, but Kyoka isn’t one of them. Maybe some werespider has taken his place, but I destroyed Kyoka and consigned his soul to oblivion.” Flashing back to that night, I shivered. Hi’ran—the Autumn Lord—had given me direct orders, and I’d carried them out. I’d obliterated Kyoka and sent his soul spiraling back into the vast expanse that makes up the energy pool feeding the universe. Whatever essence he’d had was long gone, destroyed in the white fires of creation. There was no way he could still be in existence, but that didn’t mean that the Hunters Moon Clan hadn’t decided to re-form and cause havoc again.
As we sped through the rain-soaked streets, I opened the window a crack to get some fresh air. Spring in the northwest was cool, but the damp chill refreshed me, and I sucked in a deep breath, holding it tight in my lungs then letting it spiral out again. I might not like getting wet, but that didn’t mean I lacked appreciation for the blessings the rains brought with them.
Rozurial was strangely silent, and I noticed there seemed to be some sort of communication going on between him and Menolly. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was as if the two were talking. Whether they’d developed some secret rapport, or whether they’d just come to an understanding, there was a connection between the two. I wondered if they were sleeping together, then brushed the thought aside. Rozurial was many things, but reticent wasn’t one of them. He wouldn’t have been able to keep a secret like that to himself.
“When we get there, what should we do? Will Zach be one of your pets, too, and if so, why isn’t he in a Speedo?” I grinned as he let out a grunt.
“Speedo? You’ve got to be kidding. I’m a boxers man all the way,” he said, though I knew very well that at least some of the time, he went commando.
Menolly coughed. “Zachary in a Speedo leaves less to the imagination than I care to think about. No offense, Zach—you’re handsome enough, but it just doesn’t translate.”
He laughed. “The thought of you eyeing my bare skin with those fangs hanging out doesn’t make me comfortable either, so we’re even. No Speedo unless we’re swimming. In broad daylight.”
She let out a snort. “Good thinking. And yeah, Zach better go in as one of my newest acquisitions, though you’re right; he’s really not dressed for it.” Glancing over her shoulder, she shifted into the left turn lane, then turned onto Giles Boulevard. We were a few blocks away from the Fangtabula.
“Sounds good to me. I take it I walk in a few steps behind you, since you’re my mistress?”
“Both of you, yes. And both of you make sure you never contradict me in public, or speak before I do unless it’s with a request.”
