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“Camille and Iris want to let it grow wild for the plant devas, and frankly, I think it makes a nice change compared to the meticulously manicured lawns around here. Beauty bark sucks. I’ve never understood the desire to turn nature into a nice, tidy piece of art. Even back in Otherworld—the City of Seers, for example—they tend to overprune anything that even remotely threatens to get out of hand.”
I parted the scotch broom to let Roz slide through. The cuts and scrapes I got from the various thorns and branches didn’t bother me, but even though Rozurial was an incubus, he could still be injured.
He slipped through the opening, and we made our way between the bushes that crowded together. After a few moments, we stood in front of the oak portal.
“I wonder where it leads,” he said.
“I’d like to know the answer to that myself. But if I go through and there happens to be sunlight on the other side . . . the results wouldn’t be pretty. You want to take a peek for me?” I thought about pushing my hand through. That alone would tell me whether it was safe or not, but before I could try it out, Roz stepped through the portal and vanished.
I waited. One minute. Two minutes. An owl hooted softly in the distance as I stood there tapping one finger against my arm. Three minutes. I was beginning to get a little worried. Suppose Roz had stepped into a trap? Or worse? There were some places in Otherworld that made the Subterranean Realms look like a picnic in the park. Four minutes. Where the fuck was he? Maybe I should just bite the bullet and go through?
Just as I was about to steel myself for a potentially deadly and quick end, Roz came bounding back through the portal.
“Where the hell were you? I was worried you’d gotten yourself knocked off.” I didn’t like admitting how nervous I’d been; it conflicted with my image.
Roz draped one arm over my shoulder, a risky proposition. He knew I wasn’t comfortable being touched, but then again, we’d had a few kiss-and-tell sessions, and I couldn’t just switch on-off depending on my mood.
I steeled myself against his touch. His pulse was warm and heady with sexual energy and blood. The combo could be a lethal one, depending on the vampire in question. But he was an incubus and could afford to take a few chances.
“You were worried about me? How sweet,” he murmured, leaning down to nuzzle my neck.
Shivering, I squirmed, bending my neck sideways so he couldn’t nibble on it. “Stop it,” I whispered. “Not now. We’ve got more important things to talk about than your penis and its whims.”
“You’d love my . . . whims . . . if you’d just give me a chance,” Roz said, his voice as slick as satin sheets. “Come on. You know we’d rock together.”
That was the problem. He was right, and I knew it. But I also knew that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to start up a second relationship. While Roz might be casual with humans and the other Fae he seduced, he had the potential to drag me deep into his world. And I just wasn’t ready to fall into lust with him.
“If you don’t stop, I’m not going to play tongue twister with you anymore.” I pushed him away and crossed my arms, pointedly waiting.
He cleared his throat and gave me an Eh—what can you do? shrug. “All right, all right. I’ll be good. The portal leads to the Windwillow Valley, as far as I can tell. No goblins, no bloody bands waiting there. I had a quick look-see, and I think it opens out near the Wyvern Ocean.”
“That would place it near the northwestern boundaries of the valley, then. Near the Silofel Plains.” I hadn’t been there, but I remembered my geography lessons. “Did you see anybody there? Unicorns, maybe?”
Roz shook his head. “No. No one, which frankly perplexes me. The man who came through, you’re sure he’s trouble? Because not many of the Fae hang out in the Windwillow Valley except for those who live in synch with the Cryptos there. It’s a wild place, unfriendly to most civilized politics, although I hear the King of the Dahns Unicorns keeps a strict court in Dahnsburg.”
“He was wearing the colors of Y’Elestrial,” I said, biting my lip. This didn’t make sense. I was about to head back to the studio and our unexpected visitor when Delilah’s scream cut through the night.
“Holy shit, that’s Delilah. Leave the portal for now!”
We raced back through the patch of broom, shoving it aside and trampling all the young seedlings as we ran. As we burst out into the main yard, we could see Kitten near the trailhead across the lawn. She was grappling with something, and it looked suspiciously like an inky squid.
“Crap—it’s one of those demons. That’s what set off the wards! Come on, we have to get her away from it. The damn thing’s hovering between the astral and the physical. We can’t fight it right now.”
I dashed across the yard, Roz matching my strides. He leapt ahead of me and suddenly vanished from sight. I skidded to a stop, looking around wildly. Where the hell had he gone now? But Delilah’s cries startled me out of my bewilderment.
The creature had hold of her with its tentacles, and one was making its way toward her head. Crap! That couldn’t be good. I raced in, trying to land a kick, but—as in the Avalon Club—I found myself bouncing off an invisible force field, and I went flying back.
As I leapt up again, I noticed something going on near Delilah’s head. The creature’s tentacle that was headed toward her skull was fighting with something I couldn’t see. Roz! It had to be Roz!
Desperate to help, I tried to figure out what I could do. Then it occurred to me: I couldn’t touch it, but I could get hold of my sister. I leapt into the fray, diving behind Delilah. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled. The demon struggled to hang on, but I had the advantage of being fully on the physical, and I managed to wrest Delilah from its tentacles. They gave way with a loud sucking sound.
Delilah was bleeding a little. I tossed her over my shoulder and raced away from the creature.
“Menolly, get behind the bush and close your eyes!”
Camille’s voice rang out across the yard. I didn’t ask why; I just did what she said. As we landed behind a thick bracken fern that was at least three feet high, I pressed myself to the ground next to Kitten and closed my eyes.
A loud crack sounded, like thunder, and I could feel my back singe as a wave of light rolled over me. I held perfectly still as it passed over us and dissipated.
