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“I should have asked before, but it never occurred to me that they’d have such a complicated social system.” I sipped the steaming brew. The fragrance and delicate blush of the Sweet Blossom plant immediately went to work, calming me down. “I guess my mind has been on the demons, not dragon etiquette.”
Iris snorted. “Trust me, girl, you haven’t heard the tip of it, yet. When I lived in the Northlands, I learned more about dragons than I ever wanted to, especially white dragons. They’re thick as thieves there, and it pays to know just who you might run up against. Now silvers—like Smoky’s mother—have a sense of honor and generally keep their promises. They’re not as dangerous—at least not until you do something to piss them off. Come to think of it, even though they don’t live in the Northlands, the golden wings and the greenbacks are like that, too. But whites—and the indigos and reds—happen to be another matter.”
“So not all dragons live in the Northlands,” Delilah said, pulling the basket of fruit over to her and pawing through it. Iris was on a health kick, trying to curb my sister’s frantic junk food habit, but it wasn’t going to take. Sure enough, Delilah wrinkled her nose and shoved it away. “I guess we’re out of cookies?”
Iris let out a long sigh. “I’ll make some later. Girl . . . oh, never mind. But to answer your question, no—redbacks and golden wings live in the Southlands, and the indigos and greenbacks—well, I’m not sure where they harken from. Black dragons exist mainly on the astral.”
“And white dragons are dangerous,” I said, grinning at Delilah’s dejected look as she gave the fruit basket another once-over and shook her head.
“White dragons are the most volatile, that’s for sure, and the most grasping,” Iris continued. “That’s why I took my time to assess Smoky’s demeanor when I first met him. Mixed bloods can favor either—or both—parents, just like the Fae. But Smoky has proved himself time and again. His mother’s blood shines through, even if he has a roguish way and tends to be self-centered.”
“He told me that he’d found a way for me to have his child,” I blurted out.
Morio and Delilah stared at me like I was crazy.
Iris swallowed her tea, set down the cup, and folded her arms. “I so need to hear more about this.”
I could tell they were all waiting for me to continue, but having burst out my little secret, I had no idea what else to say. For one thing, I was clueless as to what I was planning to do about the matter.
Just as the silence was getting a bit thick, the door burst open and Vanzir rushed in, followed by Roz. They both looked like they hadn’t slept in days.
“Yo, dudes, where have you been?” I jumped up, eager to change the subject. Right now the whole Smoky-dragon-father-fiancée-children conversation was starting to give me a headache, and the demon twins provided a handy excuse to exit the subject, stage left.
“Where else? Looking for clues to Stacia’s whereabouts.” Vanzir dropped onto the sofa next to Delilah and leaned back, his legs spread wide. Why did all guys have to act like their nuts were the size of tennis balls?
But he was cute, in a David-Bowie-as-Jareth-the-Goblin-King sort of way. His hair was short and spiky, bleached so blonde it was jarring, and he wore leather pants tight enough to show off every curve of his goodies. I blinked. Maybe he did need to sit with his legs that far apart. Whatever woman—or man—Vanzir set his sights on, was going to be a very happy camper, all right.
Roz was wearing his duster cum armory. The flasher from hell, I thought, as he slid off the heavy coat and hung it carefully over the back of a chair. Considering the firepower—both magical and technological—he had in there, I was grateful he took pains not to make anything go boom by accident.
He sprawled out in the chair next to mine, jeans black as night, mesh tank showing off nicely defined abs. Oh yeah, leave it to an incubus to find the perfect bad-boy look. He noticed me staring and slowly winked, then glanced around nervously. “Where’s Smoky?”
I grinned. “Why, afraid he’s going to beat the crap out of you again?”
Roz growled, but I wasn’t going to let him live down his claim to fame. A few months before, Smoky had made Roz his whipping boy and the incubus spent two weeks with bruises that covered his body. But most of all, he’d nursed a wounded ego and learned a severe lesson in restraining his wandering hands. At least around me.
“You’re setting me up, aren’t you?” He gave me one of those pleading basset-hound looks and I relented.
“Don’t sweat it. Smoky was called away for a while.” As quickly as I’d smiled, I sobered. “His father came to get him. Apparently there’s some unfinished business Smoky ran out on. His father is a freak of nature and not to be trusted. Smoky had no choice. He had to go. He’ll be back as soon as he can.”
“The lizard has parents? Parents who can make him behave?” Roz shuddered. “I wouldn’t want to end up on their shit list.”
“I already am,” I muttered. “So, what news on the Bonecrusher?”
“Not much more than we had before. The information we had was correct. She can shift into human shape, meaning she could pass for a very tall, muscled FBH woman. She’s obviously passing right now, keeping out of sight and we can’t seem to get a lead on her.”
I had the feeling when we actually ferreted her out, we were going to be facing her natural form. And her natural form was truly creepshow fodder. Tales from the Crypt scary. Otherworld scary. When she was in natural form, her torso and head were female—very human, but her body was that of a twenty-foot-long anaconda, with all the crushing power of the giant snake.
Vanzir accepted a cuppa from Iris. He balanced the saucer on one knee and took a slow sip from the steaming tea. “Carter has feelers out everywhere. He seems to think we’re getting closer, but so far she’s managed to elude us. She’s either got one hell of a safe house going, or some innate ability to cloak against anybody scrying for her. And none of the scouts has been able to ferret her out.”
I bit my lip. “Not good. And nothing on the half-demon wizard who gated her in?”
“Again, a dead end. All the demons who’ve come over are accounted for—at least the ones who run in the network. Somewhere out there is a half-demon who managed to sneak Earthside and set this all up. Carter’s got scouts on that trail, too.”
Frustrated, I set down my cup. “We have to know where she is and what she’s up to. If she’s allowed to run around loose too long, we’re going to see a body count rack up.”
“Do you think she might have something to do with the ley line energy that’s been shifting?” Iris asked, sitting next to Roz, who gave her a long, slow wink. The incubus had tried getting every one of us women in bed. He’d only succeeded with Menolly at this point.
“I think it’s a possibility.” Morio paced over to the window, staring out. “Stacia Bonecrusher is a lamia, which means she’s more powerful than Karvanak was. And we know what a chore it was to bring him down. We almost lost Chase and Zach to that skirmish.”
