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Thank the gods, I thought. We needed a break. We’d been slogging through mud a yard deep. “I’m so tired I could spit, but let’s head down there. We’ll sleep afterward.”
Smoky gave me a quizzical look but I shook my head. Any nookie was going to have to wait. At this stage in the game, the idea of just crashing into bed was whoopee enough for me.
Seattle was a brilliant sight during the night hours, filled with towering buildings and bright lights, but unless you were near the Opera House or some of the clubs, not much happened on the streets except for down in the Industrial District, where the vampire clubs like the Fangtabula or Dominick’s were located.
Carter lived on Broadway, the home of the subculture. But the wide street also played host to the druggies and hookers who plied their wares along the rain-soaked pavement. His apartment was belowground, with a concrete stairwell running down to it. A metal railing topside kept passersby from falling in, and a magical barrier kept the thieves and lowlifes from bothering him. But overall, it wasn’t the most comfortable place to visit on a blustery autumn night.
At least our cars would be safe, though. Carter’s magical boundary extended curbside for three or four spaces along the building he made his home in. Rather than all descend on the demon, Delilah, Chase, Trillian, and Smoky had stayed home. Now, as we headed down toward Carter’s door, Menolly poked me in the ribs and nodded across the street to where two hookers stood, watching us. Except they weren’t hookers. They both had distinct demonic auras.
“Friend or foe?” I whispered.
Menolly shrugged and tapped Vanzir on the shoulder. “You recognize those skanks?”
He squinted at them for a moment, then shook his head as we trudged down to the door. “No. Once we’re inside, I’ll sneak out the back and veer back around through the alley. If they’re still there, I’ll get a better look at them.”
“I’ll come with,” Menolly said. “I’m fast, I’m silent, and I’m deadly.”
“I may not be as fast or as silent, but I’ll bet you anything I’m just as fatal as you, girl.” Vanzir gave her a slow wink.
Menolly let out a little snort. Hmm . . . what was this? Vanzir and Menolly flirting? I wasn’t sure I wanted to ask, though. What fucking a demon was like—not Morio’s kind, but a real Sub Realms badass demon—wasn’t top of my need-to-know list. Especially after seeing Vanzir at work. Those tentacles shooting out of his hands were freaky.
As we knocked, the silence thickened. Then the door swung open. A lovely young woman stood there, holding it wide. Half-Chinese, half-demon, she was Carter’s foster daughter. He’d saved her from life as a slave in the Sub Realms. She was also mute, and served him silently. He took good care of her and they lived a quiet, unassuming life smack in the heart of Seattle.
Carter was also unassuming, if you looked past the horns on his head that curved back, regal and highly polished. His hair was the same color as Menolly’s—brilliant copper, only cut short in a deliberately disheveled shag.
The demon had a limp and wore a brace on his right knee, though he’d never told us how he’d been injured. But Carter had money. He ran an Internet research business as his cover. He kept watch over the demonic activity in Seattle, recording everything he saw or heard. A living well of local supernatural history, he straddled a fine line, doing business with us, doing business with some demons, and trying to keep under Shadow Wing’s radar.
“Come in, come in,” he said, waving us into the living room, then turned to Kim. “My dear, bring us some tea, please. And a good port, and a cheese plate, please?” With a glance at Menolly, he added, “And a goblet of warm blood for the vampyr.”
The girl gave him a gentle bob, almost a curtsy but not quite, and silently slipped out of the room.>Titania shrugged. “I don’t know, but I greatly doubt it. I tend to think blackmail is more likely.”
Menolly slowly nodded from where she hovered near the ceiling. “The lords of Fae who severed the realms during the Great Divide aren’t all dead. But wouldn’t they do anything and everything to keep the worlds separate? They have to know that joining the seals will only rip apart the veils and reunite the realms.”
Aeval smiled. It was a smile that I did not like—cold and ruthless, and thoroughly without compassion. “Remember, they are not talking about joining the seals again—but using them. A whole different scenario, one in which Titania and I are perhaps the targets.”
“Aeval and I made powerful enemies back then,” Titania added. “The armies of the summer and winter joined to fight against the new order. We destroyed many who sought to tear our crowns from our heads. The blood of Fae ran thick for a long time. There are some who walk the paths of Otherworld who are descended from those we slaughtered. They remember, and in their memory they hate us for resisting.”
“So instead of uniting against an enemy that threatens us all, you think the Fae lords have, in their infinite wisdom, decided to start a new war against you and that the Keraastar Knights are somehow involved?” The thought boggled my mind, but my father’s people could be petty. And grudges lasted a long, long time.
“I think it’s a distinct possibility. Look at Lethesanar. She’s the granddaughter of one of the lords who fought against Aeval and myself. Tanaquar may be the picture of reason compared to her sister, but I guarantee you this: She won’t willingly share the spotlight with the Court of the Three Queens.”
Delilah cleared her throat. “I don’t think we’ve ever asked this, but what happens if the portals do fall apart and the realms reunite? There was a great cataclysm during the Great Divide—volcanoes and great earthquakes and tidal waves. Legends are filled with stories of natural disasters, all of which can be traced to the dividing of the worlds . . . but what happens this time?”
Aeval frowned. She tapped one long fingernail on the table for a moment. “To be honest, we don’t know. There may just be a blurring of reality—like potholes or wormholes in the fabric of the universe. Or it could be a worldwide upheaval. I really don’t think anybody knows what will happen.”
“As unnatural as the Great Divide was, we can’t let the realms slam back together.” Menolly slowly lowered herself to the floor. “We have to find the rest of the spirit seals but, before handing them over, decide if Tanaquar and Asteria are onto something. Either way, we have to fix this mess with the portals ripping apart. And on top of that, we have to deal with groups like the Brotherhood of the EarthBorn going off half-cocked.”
Chase spoke up, even though he looked a little queasy at attracting attention to himself. “When the Earthside Fae and Supes stepped out of the closet, there was a honeymoon period, but now the public’s getting a little bit afraid. I thought we were more advanced than this but . . .”
“Did you really?” Menolly asked. She didn’t sound sarcastic. “I’ve seen the lowest of the low—I feed on the bottom feeders of society. You think you’re wiping out bigotry in one area but up it pops again in another.”
Chase sighed. “Yeah, I know. And the thing is, I really don’t believe the majority feels this way. Or at least I’d like to believe they don’t. But with the economic crunch we’re going through, people are starting to whine about special treatment. It’s the civil rights issue all over again. Only instead of blacks or women or gays, this time it’s the Supes and Fae on the short end of the stick.”
“That I can believe,” I said. I’d heard enough grumbling from my customers about food prices and rent and medical expenses. If they thought the Fae were taking their jobs, they’d be pissed out of their minds.
Menolly shook her head. “We’re good entertainment, but in their minds we aren’t the neighbor next door who needs to pay rent. A lot of people think that our powers ensure our survival, and for vampires—they’re not that far off base. But the other Supes—it’s not necessarily a walk in the park. Getting someone who’s afraid he’s going to lose his job at the local grocery store to believe anything else is a Herculean task. So what do we do?”
I pulled out a notebook and began listing our concerns. “First, there’s Shadow Wing. Then we have the whole business with the Keraastar Knights. And add in the potential problems brewing with the FBH community. Where does that leave us?”
