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“Don’t be a fool! You’ll be crushed.” I shook my head, pointing to the spot beside me. “Get out of there now, Roz!”
“Quit worrying about me. Look after your sister.” He vanished back inside. I was about ready to follow him when Camille grabbed my arm. For someone about ready to faint, she was pretty damned strong.
“Leave them. They both can escape easy enough.” She moaned, holding the wrist of her hurt hand. I sat beside her. The ground was still trembling, but from where we sat, the waves were weaker. Whatever Smoky was doing was muffled by the dirt.
I unwrapped the makeshift bandage Roz had applied. The wound was festering, despite the salve he put on it. “You’re infected. We have to get you home. In fact, I’ve got half a mind to run you over to the FH-CSI medical lab. The elves can probably cure this faster than Iris.”
I peered closer at the wound. Yep, right to the bone, and it looked nasty. Thank the gods this hadn’t been inflicted by the venidemons, or she’d have a nasty batch of eggs in there by now.
“I think I’ll take you up on that,” she said, wincing as I replaced the bandage.
“What did you mean—they can both escape easy enough? What do you know that I don’t?” I peered at her. She blushed. Yeah, she was holding out on me. “Tell me, or I’ll tell Smoky that you kissed Roz.” I was joking, but she paled.
“Oh Great Mother, don’t do that! Smoky would kill him! And then he’d . . . well . . . never mind.”
She backtracked so fast I knew something was up, but she didn’t look afraid. More like embarrassed? Camille didn’t embarrass easily, which meant Smoky had found a way to corral her—not an easy task. I decided to let it go.
Finally she sighed. “Don’t say a word. This news could be used against them, and we may need it as a secret tactic someday. Smoky travels through the Ionyc Sea. That’s how he gets around so fast. And Roz apparently knows how Smoky gets around and does the same. He tried to encourage Smoky to take us all in through the iron door that way.”
“The Ionyc Sea? That’s what that was all about? I had no idea. Kind of scary . . . wait a minute! Oh Great Mother, has Smoky taken you through the Ionyc current?” The thought of traveling through the astral worlds like that terrified me. The energy was so volatile, like riding through a patch riddled with land mines.
The Ionyc Sea wasn’t exactly on the astral, but it held the astral, etheric, and several other planes of existence together, yet created a buffer zone so they’d never merge. If the differing energy fields clashed, it could cause a major explosion on the scale of creating a black hole, or—if enough of the energy collided—a black-hole universe. Think differing forms of antimatter and matter coming into contact . . . so not good, according to Captain Kirk as well as the elementalist wizards we’d grown up listening to.
The Ionyc Sea was harsh, and few creatures could traverse it. Some, especially those who wielded the forces of ice and snow, could create barriers around themselves and swim through it, stepping outside of time.
She nodded. “It’s not so bad. Rather strange, actually. He was very careful, though. Nothing to worry about.”
“And Rozurial can travel through the Ionyc Sea, too? That makes sense in a weird way.” I frowned, wondering what else our wonder boys had up their sleeves.
“Yeah, though I have no idea how he manages it,” she added, leaning against my shoulder. I put my arm around her and held her tight. “He’s a demon—an incubus. I don’t know enough about the Ionyc Sea to know what gives him the strength to forge—”
She was cut off by a sudden roar as the house imploded on itself. As we watched, the walls and roof came crashing down, tumbling into a chasm as the ground around it opened up. I leapt up and pulled Camille to her feet. Along with Vanzir and Morio, we made tracks across the street to where our cars were, staring at the gaping hole that was covered with dust. A moment later, fire erupted and blazed into the sky. The gas mains must have burst, or at least sprung a leak.
“Smoky!” Camille cried out, but I held her back when she would have gone running toward the fire.
“I’m right here. Don’t worry yourself,” Smoky said, stepping out from behind the car. He hadn’t been there a moment before, and neither had Roz, but now the incubus joined the dragon. Smoky opened his arms, and I gently pushed Camille into his embrace. He folded her inside his coat—clean and tidy as always—and kissed her head softly. “You were worried about me?” he whispered.
She nodded and blubbered something I couldn’t make out. As I turned away to watch what was left of the house burn, Roz sidled up beside me.
“I wish somebody would worry about me like that,” he said, a grin on his face.
“Try again, you liar. You know you aren’t cut out for a steady girlfriend.” But I flashed him a return smile. “What about the portal?”
“We put a temporary seal on it. Aimed the gas pipe directly at it and lit the fuse. The Netherworlds are cold—icy cold. The fire from the gas acted to . . . well . . . almost cauterize it. It won’t hold, but for now, it’s shut.” He glanced over at Smoky. “The big doofus isn’t so bad, once you get to know him,” he added.
I thwacked him on the nose. “Yeah, just don’t try to pick up his wife, and you’ll be safe.” With one last look around—the sound of sirens was growing louder—I motioned to the cars. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here. We’re heading to the FH-CSI. I want them to check out Camille’s hand. Everybody’s going, so nobody run off anywhere.”
As we drove away, it occurred to me that we still didn’t know who was responsible for opening the gate for the venidemons, but thanks to our little altercation, I now had a new task, one that I didn’t dare ignore: go to Otherworld and find myself a Panteris phir plant. Joy of joys. I wasn’t a gardener at heart, but maybe Iris could help me keep it alive.
I glanced in the rearview mirror, making sure that Morio, who was driving now, was keeping up with us. A flash—brief as quicksilver—and I was staring at the Autumn Lord, then the mirror showed only road and Camille’s Lexus again.
Hi’ran might not be a demanding master yet. But my master he was, whether or not I wanted it that way. I’d damned well better get used to it. Avatars of Death generally didn’t take no for an answer. But Hi’ran . . . the memory of his fingers on my lips stayed with me, and I could still taste the mist that had tied my tongue. Once again, the thought of sliding into his arms crept through the back of my mind, but I pushed it away. Didn’t I already have enough trouble on my plate without inviting Death to play footsie?
CHAPTER 7
By the time we pulled into the parking lot at the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigations offices, I’d shaken off my daydreams about the Autumn Lord and was focused on getting help for Camille. We headed toward the building. Halfway there, Camille collapsed. I knelt down, pressing the back of my palm against her forehead.
“She’s got a fever. Get her inside!”
