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Carter? He never left his basement apartment, as far as I could tel . Frowning, I grabbed Iris's wand and headed back to the house at a dead run. Vanzir drove into the yard as I looked up. Amber was stil with him, safe and sound. I motioned to him.
"Take her into the parlor and make sure she's comfortable, then join us."
He nodded. "Wil do."
Smoky and the guys had piled al the bodies to one side, and I skirted my way around them, then darted up the stairs and into the living room. Wilbur was just leaving, muttering about reruns on Nick at Nite, and how Martin was waiting for him.
Sure enough, Carter was sitting in the living room, his horns gleaming under the glow of the lamps. His foster daughter Kim sat next to him, but I noticed she was wearing some sort of chain around her waist and similar ones around her wrists.
Carter nodded for me to sit. We were al here--al except Iris--and I was frustrated, wanting to find her. Now.
"I hate to interrupt, but considering what your sisters have told me," he said, nodding to me, "it's imperative that I do."
"What is it?" I looked over at Kim, who sat unmoving, eyes cast down at the floor. A red mark on her cheek told me she'd been slapped and slapped hard.
"Remember how you were thinking there might be a leak in information? Someone feeding your moves to the Bonecrusher so she'd stay one step ahead of you?" His lips were tight, and I suddenly understood the chains around Kim.
"Oh, not you, Kim." I looked at her, but she wouldn't meet my eyes. I glanced over at Camil e and Menol y. Both looked ready to kil . "Is this true?"
"It's true," Carter said. "I found her copying my notes, and she also had a tape--she's been recording our conversations and taking them back to her new mistress. My foster daughter has put you into grave danger. There's no way I can ever atone for her actions, but I can help you now."
"But why? How? I thought Kim was . . ."
"She doesn't have to speak to relay information. She's highly intel igent, can read and write with ease . . . she's mute, not mental y deficient. And apparently her mother's blood is stronger than her father's, because she's chosen to walk the path of the Demonkin rather than find her own balance within society."
Carter glared at her, and she shrank back, wincing. "I should kil you here, now, without another word. You ungrateful turncoat. You traitorous bitch. I treat you like my own daughter, and this is how you repay me."
The look in Carter's eyes made my stomach knot. He was furious, and I was afraid he'd make good on his threat. "We need to know what she told them. We need to know what she knows about them. Don't hurt her. Yet." I glanced at her, and she met my eyes then, contemptuous and sul en. "We can't trust her to give us the proper information, so what do we do? And she can't talk . . ."
Vanzir stood up. "You know I can get in her mind. Knock her out, and I'l go in and find out what she knows. I can dig through her defenses, and she won't be able to stop me."
A dream chaser demon, Vanzir could do exactly what he said. He could feed on her life force, too, if he wanted. I looked at Menol y and Camil e. They nodded. We had no choice--we had to know what Kim had told Stacia. She'd probably listened in on every conversation we'd had with Carter and every bit of information he'd cal ed us about.
"Do it. You can find out why she's chosen to align herself with them, too." I stood up and walked over to Kim, who flinched away. "Menol y, can you mesmerize her like you can an FBH?"
"I'm more than wil ing to try." She strode over to where Kim was sitting and yanked her to her feet, baring her fangs. "Don't resist, or I wil do it the bloody way. Got it?"
The girl nodded, now looking petrified more than angry. Menol y leaned close and whispered something in her ear, grazing Kim's neck with her fangs, slowly slicing through the flesh to bite deep and hard. Kim gave a silent gasp, and a look of bliss washed across her face as Menol y lapped at the blood trickling out of the puncture.
After a moment, my sister pul ed back. Kim was in a stupor, and Menol y said, "Sleep. Sleep until you are commanded to wake. Do not resist--open your mind, and slumber." Her voice was so hypnotic it made me want to sleep, but I shook my head and caught Kim as her knees buckled. We laid her out on the sofa.
"Do you need privacy?" I asked Vanzir.
"It would probably help. I'l let you know when I'm done. It shouldn't be too long." He flushed, and I remembered how much he loved to feed and how he did his best to avoid it. Life force was addictive, and Vanzir was a demon who didn't real y like himself or what he did.
As we escorted Carter into the kitchen, Menol y opted to stay and guard Vanzir, just in case anything went awry.
I placed Iris's wand on the table. It looked forlorn, and I winced, hanging my head. "I can't stand that she's in danger. I can't stand that they may have her."
"I can't believe that Kim is a traitor." Camil e leaned over and pul ed Iris's wand to her. "I hope we're wrong. I hope Iris is just hiding someplace where she can't hear us. Carter, how did Kim fool you?"
He blushed, staring at his hands on the table. "Again, my apologies. I thought Kim was happy. I thought . . ." With a shrug, the demon leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I came home today and found Kim listening to a tape. She didn't expect me til later, and she had al sorts of documents lined up on the desk--private, confidential documents. Not only about you but about other members of the Demon Underground here . . . the demons who al hope Shadow Wing wil fail. When she saw me, she tried to hide everything, but despite my brace, I'm quick, and I'm powerful. I stayed her, and once I looked through the reports, it was obvious she was spying on my clients and me. I wasn't sure who for first, but then . . . then I found this in her purse."
He tossed a necklace on the table. A gold snake. "That's the symbol of Stacia's troops--the golden serpent. Only her most trusted confidants wear them, her spies and cronies. I recognized it from al the research I've done on her. Kim's been a spy for her since . . . wel . . . I don't know how long. But long enough to muck things up for you."
"We talked about the ley line that ran through Harold Young's house into the graveyard in front of her--after you bought the land. Stacia must know we're the ones who broke her spel ." I moaned, rubbing my head. "You tel us every time you've got a new sighting, but by the time we get there, she's gone.
Kim's been warning her."
