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"Queen who? Portal? You mean send me to Otherworld?" Amber was beginning to look a little panicked.
"Better than let the demons get hold of you," Vanzir said. "I know. Trust me." He slipped behind the wheel, and I showed him how to start the ignition and which were the brake and gas pedals.
"Just try not to get in an accident, okay? You know the way to get there?"
"Yeah," he said, then softly reached up to cup my chin. "You're getting braver, pussycat. And harder. Like a good soldier must be." And with that, he put the Jeep in reverse and--sputtering in a fit of stop-starts, backed away out of the driveway.
I watched as he went, then inhaled a sharp breath and shifted into panther form. The world looked different as I transformed, and I felt my inner predator rise to the top. Oh, I loved this form, loved prowling the night in panther shape.
Taking a deep breath, I wondered how to summon Arial, and then I knew. Apparently Greta had left me with a residual memory to reach out to Haseofon.
Because the next thing I knew, I was walking into the hal s in panther form. The others looked at me, but apparently they recognized me even in my Were shape, because they just waved. I glanced around until I found Arial. She was sitting on a pil ow, reading a book. I bounded over and nuzzled her.
I need your help. The thought was clear, and she nodded.
"As always. I'm here to help you." She dropped the book and stood, shaking out her sable hair, and then she stepped back and shimmered. I watched transfixed. I'd seen Nerissa change before, and I knew what it was like to transform, but watching my sister was another matter altogether. Within seconds, a golden leopard stood there, her spots the color of her hair.
What's wrong?
Somebody's invaded our house--possibly the demons. I need you to go in on the astral and see what you can find out.
Lead me.
I turned and bounded out of Haseofon, Arial on my heels. We raced through the mist and landed right where I'd been standing, in front of the house. I turned to Arial, who gazed up at the house in her ghostly presence.
Can you go in--find out what's going on? I'm going to creep around back.
I'll meet you shortly. She vanished again, quicksilver as a shadow in the night. I gazed after her, wondering what it would have been like if she'd lived.
There would have been four of us--and maybe things would be different. Who knew what turns our lives may have taken? But that was conjecture. We were who we were, and at least we knew she was happy and we could contact her. And right now, Iris was in danger, and we had enemies on every side.
I padded through the grass, trying to catch a whiff of our enemies. A sudden cry from the back of the house sliced through the night, and I broke into a run, racing around the corner. Camil e and Morio were weaving some sort of spel against--oh crap, a bloatworgle. Hadn't we fought enough of these over the past few months?
It opened its mouth and sent a searing flame their way, and they broke apart, dodging left and right, disrupting the spel they'd been conjuring. Morio scrambled for his bag and pul ed out a tiny coffin, about thirteen inches in length. Fuck. Rodney, the misogynistic bone golem he'd been given by Grandmother Coyote. But we needed al the help we could get, I thought.
Camil e leapt to her feet and sent a blast of lightning toward the bloatworgle. It let out a shriek as the strike hit its distended bel y, and its arms, too long for its body, flailed. But it did not fal . The buggers were dangerous because they were so hard to kil --and because of that mouthful of fire they had going for them.
I circled around, using the brush and weeds for cover, and then leapt on it from behind, my paws encircling its neck. I raked a paw ful of claws across the demon's throat as Morio set Rodney loose to grow to ful height. At the same time, the youkai-kitsune began to grow to ful height. He could do far more damage in his ful demonic form than he could in human form.
He lunged forward and raked at the bloatworgle's bel y with long, black nails. I pul ed back on the demon's neck as he did so, and the creature lost his footing, sliding to the ground on his back. Morio leapt on him, finishing the job as I looked around, trying to pick up Iris's scent.
Another noise startled me, and I turned to see Arial's ghostly shape racing toward me. I touched her nose.
What did you see?
There, in the house, snakes and a group of men tearing the place apart. And Menolly, and your friends the dragon and the incubus are fighting them. They need help.
Tregarts! Snakes . . . Damn--Stacia Bonecrusher's crew. We need all the help we can get.
I'll do what I can on the astral. She turned and vanished.
I shifted into my two-legged form so fast it hurt. Even as I let out a yowl, I was standing there in front of Camil e and Morio and the dead bloatworgle.
"Tregarts in the house, and snakes. Fighting Menol y, Smoky, and Roz. Come on!"
We raced to the back porch. I took the steps two at a time and slammed open the back door, Camil e and Morio hot on my heels. We burst into the kitchen, where the place had been trashed. Not stopping to ascertain how much damage there was, we raced on. By the time we made it to the foyer, the kitchen, where the place had been trashed. Not stopping to ascertain how much damage there was, we raced on. By the time we made it to the foyer, the fight had spil ed out onto the front porch. A group of biker look-alikes with chains and swords were holding their own.
Menol y was engaging two of them at the end of the porch, and one of them was holding a wooden stake behind his back.
