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I glanced over at Shade. "Tonight, we fight. You aren't a pacifist, I hope."
He reached out and gently covered my hand. "I have slaughtered more enemies that you can imagine in my time. I am far, far older than you think.
Whether he knows it or not, I'm older than your dragon friend Smoky. Stradolan . . . we spend much of our time walking out of time, so to speak. I fought in wars before the Great Divide."
I met his gaze and saw the sands of time fal ing away, revealing an unending flow of centuries. How long had he been alive? And then I realized he wasn't anything verging on Fae. Or human. He was a half-breed, but he was the product of two great forces. How he even came to be perplexed me, but the warmth in his eyes was real, and so were the fingers that stroked my own. As I lost myself in the rich coffee of his eyes, Iris leaned forward and tapped me on the shoulder.
"We should go, Delilah."
"Right." I sucked in a deep breath, shaking myself out of the reverie. Whatever energy Shade was running, I wanted to be part of it. Whatever he was offering, I'd already accepted it.
As I climbed out of the Jeep, then helped Iris jump down, she whispered to me. "I like him. He'l be there for you, Delilah. No matter what happens, this one wil be there for you."
I leaned down and pressed my lips against her cheek. "I know. I'm so comfortable around his energy that I want to curl up by the fire and never move."
She flickered her gaze over to where he stood, observing the house, then back. "He bears your master's energy. If he's not an avatar of the Autumn Lord, he's the next best thing. I wonder how they came to be so linked. And how he knew about me."
"About that . . . what does Ar'jant d'tel mean?"
"Leave it for now. It's part of my story. When we win--not if, but when--and the dust has settled on Stacia's dead body, then I wil tel you."
As the others joined us, I gauged the house. It was surrounded by a high fence, but that was nothing new in the suburbs. We couldn't get in from the back unless we managed to find our way through the thicket of trees that bordered her lot, and there were no roads back there. At least not close enough to give us an uninterrupted view of what was going on.
And last time, when we'd snuck in, we'd ended up almost getting blown to smithereens. We might as wel just go in shooting, for al the good sneaking around had done us. I cleared my throat and mentioned my thoughts to the others.
"I say we attack on two fronts," Menol y said. "I can sneak in. So can Shade. Smoky and Roz can't because they don't know what's beyond the gates, doors. But let Shade and me get a head start, we'l come in through the back to try to keep them from escaping."
"I don't like splitting up," I said. "No. This time, let's just go in blasting. Kil anybody or anything that moves and looks remotely demonic. But our prime target is Stacia. This isn't her training camp, so I doubt if we're going to find humans around to get in the way."
Roz pul ed out the stun gun. "Anybody want to use this? I have enough weapons to keep me happy for now."
Tril ian held out his hand. "My skil s are fairly adept with a sword, but that wil give me a better edge til the charge runs out." He took the weapon, held it out to calculate the aim, and then nodded, hooking it on his belt. "I'm ready."
"Watch out for snakes," Camil e said. "She's bound to have the place like an oven in there, and where there's a lamia and heat, there's bound to be snakes."
"I'l prepare one of my freezing spel s. Smoky should do the same." Iris inhaled deeply, closing her eyes as the magic began to stir. I could see it, rising around her like a vortex. It was as if the past few months had ripped open her abilities, and the Talon-haltija could cast spel s I hadn't had any clue even existed. Smoky took one look at her and fol owed suit. The temperature around us fel a good thirty degrees.
"Our turn." Morio looked at Camil e, and they joined hands. "Dust to dust, death to death, spell to spell, breath to breath . . ."
Their voices rang softly through the air, chiming a note that sent a shiver of fear through me. They were growing more powerful, and their death magic scared the shit out of me. Until recently, I'd been worried. But now, I found something seductive about it.
Vanzir and Roz prepared their weapons--Vanzir had a nasty-looking sword, and Roz pul ed out a handful of his magical bombs that I guessed were freezing from the icy white of their surface.
Shade looked at me and nodded. "I'm ready."
I longed to turn into my panther self but resisted. Once inside, I'd assess whether I could do more damage on two feet or four. With a glance at the others, I straightened my shoulders. We were ready. The die was cast.
"Menol y--go."
She blended into the shadows, running ahead to set off any traps that might be waiting. Except for Smoky--and perhaps Shade--she was the least vulnerable. As she covered the distance from gate to house, nothing actively moved, but Camil e shook her head.
"They have wards, and she just activated them."
I licked my lips. "They know we're coming. Get your asses in there!"
As we plunged forward, Menol y kicked open the door and leapt to the side as a mass of Tregarts spil ed out. The last time this had happened, Stacia had managed to escape while they distracted us. Not this time.
"Menol y, Shade--go left. Smoky, go right."
