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“Where did you get these?” I pushed them toward the center so everybody could see them.
“I ferreted them out. I decided what the hell. I smell like demon—they aren’t going to notice me as being that out of place. I snuck through the back to the edge of her lot and did a little scouting.”
Vanzir looked so proud I didn’t have the heart to chew him out, which is what I wanted to do. He could have put the whole operation in danger. Instead, I motioned for him to sit down. “Tell us what you found out.”
“Hold on,” a voice said from the front door. Smoky strode in and took his place at the table, giving Trillian a short nod. The two had walked around each other like they were on egg-shells, but so far no fights had broken out.
He looked troubled when I brought him up to speed. “I’d better make sure Estelle and St. George have some sort of protection out there. St. George told me he thought he saw something creeping through the bushes. It was probably a cougar or even a large dog, but we can’t be too careful.”
Estelle Dugan was Georgio Profeta’s caretaker. Georgio, or St. George as he fancied himself, had been trying to fight Smoky for years. He knew Smoky was a dragon and—in his fragile mind—he was the hero out to save the world against Smoky’s fire. But the poor man was slipping further and further from reality, and spending more and more time in fugues. Estelle looked after him and cleaned house, making sure that St. George was comfortable and as happy as he could be. I figured it wouldn’t be long before we heard that St. George had retired permanently from the world. At least mentally.
“That might be a good idea,” Iris said. “Neither one of them are fit to defend themselves and they live way out there alone. You’re not around much, so you should probably either move them into town, or hire them a guard.”
“Give me a few moments,” he said, disappearing into the living room. When he returned, he nodded. “Done. They’ll have their protection.” Just like that. I wanted to ask who he’d called but that could wait until later. When Smoky decided to do something, it got done and there was no wishy-washy mulling over the question.
“So tell us what you found out?” I said again.
Vanzir frowned. “The place is heavily guarded from the front, but they seem to feel that the barrier of the woods and the concrete retaining wall on the other side is enough to protect them. I think they have a hellhound or two running loose out there, but otherwise, I mostly saw a few scattered demons lounging around. I didn’t see Stacia.”
“Hmm . . . not exactly a compound,” I mused.
“No. And there’s another thing I found odd. There were wards around. I checked them out—and before you ask, yes, I was careful—and the wards aren’t set up against Fae or humans. They’re set up against demons. I was lucky I didn’t trip any of them off and that I stayed at the perimeter of her compound.” He leaned back in his chair. “What do you make of that?”
“Do you think she’s afraid of rebel demons coming after her?” Delilah asked.
“No, I don’t. In fact, the wards are specifically set against common types Shadow Wing uses in his Degath Squads, as well as the more sophisticated types like me.”
“An odd turn of events.” I pondered the information for a few minutes. “Do you think it might have something to do with what Grandmother Coyote told us? She said something about dissension in the ranks, and that Stacia’s goal is aimed for something very different than we think.”
“Well,” Iris said. “What have you been thinking her goal is?”
“To prevent us from getting ahold of the seals. She’s working for Shadow Wing—so, wouldn’t that be her primary focus?”
“Not necessarily,” Vanzir said, a triumphant gleam flickering in his eyes. “It’s beginning to make sense now.”
We stared at him. “What?” I asked.
“You say that Stacia’s goal is something different than what we think. That dissension’s going on. Suppose Stacia means to move up the ranks in her own way? Suppose Stacia isn’t happy working for Shadow Wing and wants him out of the way?”
“What? Are you saying Stacia might be two-timing Shadow Wing?” Trillian narrowed his eyes. “Wouldn’t that be suicidal?”
“Not necessarily. You’d have to be very strong, have reliable allies, and be very careful. Stacia’s one of the strongest generals in the Sub Realms. She’s also a necromancer and I’m pretty sure that Shadow Wing doesn’t realize just how powerful she has become, or he’d have killed her already. She’s a threat.” Vanzir jumped up and began to pace. “What if . . . what if Trytian’s father got to her? What if she’s allied herself with the daemons?”
Trytian was the son of a powerful daemon—another race living in the Sub Realms—who had risen against Shadow Wing and was building an army. We’d heard of him before, and we knew that Trytian had been ordered to look for us, hoping to forge some sort of alliance. But we’d refused. Not a good idea to forge deals with any sort of demon, daemon, whatever you wanted to call them.
I caught up his idea. “What if Trytian and his group of rebels decided to go right for the heart of Shadow Wing’s entourage? Suppose that the daemons mean to gather the rest of the spirit seals for themselves and use them to launch an attack on Shadow Wing. Stacia could be shifting the portals to either prevent Shadow Wing from crossing over, or for some reason that would benefit her and her alone.”
“This is sounding more and more possible,” Iris said. “And not at all out of keeping with Demonkin. They move up the ranks through assassination.”
“Right,” I said. “Her note warned us to either team up or butt out and go home. Essentially, play ball or get out of the way. I’ve been trying to figure out why Shadow Wing would want our help ever since I read the note, but it just didn’t click. Now it does. Karvanak gave us a chance to join him, but it was just to lure us into giving him the spirit seal. He meant to kill us anyway. But Stacia . . .”
I bit my lip. “So, what do you think? Is Stacia trying to intimidate us into working with her? We seem to have a knack for finding the spirit seals and she may want to capitalize on that. And demons are notorious for using the power-over route rather than trying a little diplomacy.”
Everyone looked at Vanzir. He was the expert on demons around here. He’d lived in the Sub Realms far, far too long. Now, he rapped his fingers on the table. After a moment he nodded.
“I think you’re on to something. But even though it might seem like she’s on our side, don’t be fooled. She’s just another power-hungry demon looking at moving into the top spot. The minute she has no use for you, she’ll kill you.” He scratched his head. “Remember sometime back when I told you that Shadow Wing is going over the edge—that he refers to himself as the Unraveller?”
Delilah nodded. “You said you think he means to unmake the worlds.”
