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“Smoky’s much more powerful than I am,” Roz said. “I can’t erect enough of a barrier to carry all of you during the transfer. But I can go find him. He’s out at his barrow.” Without so much as a blink, he vanished onto the Ionyc Sea.
Camille motioned to me. “Bring blankets. We have to keep her warm. Brandy or port, too—anything to keep her strength going. Hell, hell, hell. We have to find out what the fuck those things are and how to fight them.”
Yssak hurried over to my side. “How may I assist? Tell me.”
Frantic, I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Stay with Camille while I go get the blankets and booze.”
He nodded—one curt bob of the head—and took up guard duty while I raced out of the shed, galloping back toward the house. Times like this, I didn’t mind being a vampire. My increased speed meant I could summon help a lot faster than either of my sisters.
I burst into the house to find Iris standing watch with Maggie, keeping her eye on the door. She was armed with her wand. Iris might be short, but she sure as hell could wreak a buttload of damage with that silver and crystal contraption.
I was relieved to find Vanzir there, too.
He frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Those fucking demons—one has hold of Delilah’s silver cord. It’s the same one that attacked her earlier. The beast must have traced her through the astral or something, because she’s losing energy. Iris, get me a warm blanket and some brandy or port.” I turned back to Vanzir. “We have to find out what they are and how to kill them, or we’re going to be in a world of hurt.”
Vanzir laid a gentle hand on my arm, startling me. He seldom touched any of us. I stopped, staring at him.
“I know what they are,” he said. “That’s where I went—to do some research.”
I paused. “Go on.”
“It comes from an ancient race of demons found mainly Earthside, on the astral plane. Summoned thousands of years ago by the great sorcerers of a culture that predated Sumer, they’re known as the Karsetii.” Vanzir looked pale. When a demon pales—especially one who has seen and done what Vanzir has—you know you’re in trouble.
“You don’t look so hot.” I glanced over at Iris, who had just returned with the blanket and a bottle of brandy. She handed them to me. “Stay with Maggie, Iris. We’ll be back in a few minutes.” Motioning to Vanzir, I headed toward the back door. I could run faster alone, though. “Meet me at the studio. Pronto.” And then, I was off.
Roz hadn’t returned yet by the time I reached the studio, so I helped Camille arrange the blanket over Delilah and fed her some brandy. She didn’t want it—she was conscious but seemed woozy—but we made her drink it.
“I wish her twin could help. She’s on the spirit plane,” Camille said.
“Yeah, but the spirit plane isn’t the same as the astral. Arial might not be able to cross over to the astral that easily.” The name still sounded strange on my tongue. We’d only recently discovered that Delilah had a twin who died at birth. Apparently her twin had been a wereleopard and was watching over her. The emergence of Delilah’s panther form might be connected to Arial, or maybe not. We weren’t clear on the whole situation yet, and Father only begrudgingly talked about it. Even then, he told us as little as he could get away with.
Vanzir showed up just as Kitten finally let me give her a shot of the amber liquor. He took one look at her and pressed his lips together.
Camille quickly introduced him to Yssak. “Vanzir works with us now.”
Yssak nodded. “So I have heard.” Turning to Vanzir, he said, “You’re a brave creature to undergo the Ritual of Subjugation.”
“Whatever,” Vanzir mumbled. “I was just telling Menolly that I found out what the demons are.”
Camille caught her breath. “Thank the gods. Finally, some good news. What are they? How do we kill them? Do you think they’re aligned with Shadow Wing?”
“You may not think it such good news when I tell you what I know. They’re Karsetii, a race of demons spawned in the astral planes. They get most of their sustenance from people.”
“You aren’t talking about spirit demons, are you?” Camille asked.
I glanced at her. “Good thinking. Spirit demons are very, very bad. But they can be hit from the physical plane if we use silver.”
Vanzir shook his head. “No, though they’re similar in nature. But Karsetii are worse than spirit demons. They’re also known as demons from the deep, and until now, no one’s spotted one since well over two thousand years ago.” He let out a long sigh.
Holy shit. Then the creature was probably pretty damned hungry. “Two thousand years? Then it must be Shadow Wing’s doing—”
“Not so fast,” he said. “Unlike typical spirit demons, the Karsetii don’t live in the Subterranean Realms. I’ve never heard of them over there. Carter, one of my friends, is an expert on demonology. He’s a demon himself and he confines his interests to the study of the Demonkin. I went to him. He’s convinced it can’t be Shadow Wing summoning them, because the Karsetii refuse to obey any other demons.”
Vanzir knelt beside Delilah and felt her pulse. “I can sense the creature attached to her. It’s feeding off her. We have to keep her alive until we figure out how to destroy this thing.”
“So the demon isn’t part of a Degath Squad?” I almost wished it was. We could take down the Hell Scouts, though they were getting harder to handle each time.
