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“I have to get back.” I turned to Greta. “Am I done here?”
She nodded. “Walk softly, Delilah. You are coming to a crossroads. As much as I enjoy your company, I’d rather see you still on the living side of the veil than on my side. Get ready, because the train is rolling down the tracks.”
I sucked in a deep breath, feeling a heavy weight descend on my shoulders. “I know. I can feel it headed my way.” I paused. “Is Arial around?” Even though I wanted to get back to my body so I could wake up and tell the others about the spirit seal, I missed my twin. It had been a while since I’d seen her, at least in a form in which we could talk.
“Arial is off prowling in her leopard form. She likes to go out and run on the spirit realm, around the grounds of Haseofon.” Greta paused, then touched my shoulder lightly. “Your sister is as overjoyed as you are to be able to meet and speak. At some point, she would like to talk to Camille and Menolly. But it would not work for your sister Menolly. To come to Haseofon, either one must come in spirit—and vampires cannot travel out of their bodies in spirit without being yanked out, and then they are only given a time to walk free—or one must journey in the body, and we cannot have a vampire in the halls. It is forbidden.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t seem…”
“Fair? Not all of life is just, or fair, nor understandable. The Master forbids it; therefore we obey. There is no discussion on the issue.”
“And Arial cannot take human form out of Haseofon?” I already knew the answer but asked anyway.
Greta shook her head. “I’m sorry, but no. Now, go back to your body, my dear, and attend to your duties.”
She vanished and I found myself racing back through the streets, back to where I’d started from. As the city skyline began to lighten, I saw a veiled shadow ahead and instinctively dove for it. As I entered the smoke, I fell into my body and sat up with a start, looking around.
Shade was asleep beside me, but he stirred. As I propped myself up against the pillows and headboard, I thought about what I’d just done. Wylie was dead. Verdict: heart attack. But his soul was gone, forever. I’d sent him to the final death, and there would be no return.
A fierce sense of pride sprang up. I’d done my duty without flinching. And Greta had been proud of me. She’d also given me valuable information. Now I knew for sure Van and Jaycee were behind this. The bald man wasn’t Telazhar, that I could tell from watching the sorcerer destroy the village. But he was in possession of a spirit seal, which made him terribly dangerous.
As I climbed out of bed and slipped into a pair of sweatpants and a tank, Shade woke. He blinked, sitting up.
“Is everything okay?”
“No. We need to wake the others. I have information and we need to act on it as soon as possible.” I motioned to the door. “I’m heading downstairs. Get dressed and follow. If you could wake Camille and her men, I’ll see if Menolly’s still up. And someone needs to head out to the studio. This is an all-hands-on-deck meeting.”
Shade slid out from beneath the covers and quietly began to dress as I left the room. I scrambled down the stairs, glancing out the window. Dawn would break in a while, but Menolly would still be up for a couple hours. She wasn’t in the living room or parlor—which meant Nerissa had gone back to her condo for the night instead of staying over—so I opened the bookcase in the kitchen and raced down the stairs to Menolly’s lair.
“Menolly? Are you down here?”
“What’s up, Kitten? Is everything okay?” Menolly was sitting on her bed, in a silk bathrobe, reading a book. I glanced at the title. A History of Vampire Mythology. She closed it, dog-earing one of the corners as I peeked around the partition that separated her sleeping area from the sitting area.
“Yes. No. Just come upstairs, would you? I’ve got some important information on the bombing.”
She set the book on her nightstand and crossed the room to my side, looping her arm through my elbow. “Did they strike again?”
“No, not yet. But with what I know, my guess is they’ll continue on until we catch them. They’re out for vengeance.”
We headed up the stairs and back into the kitchen. Shade was standing there. We’d given up hiding the entrance to Menolly’s lair from family members—everybody had guessed it by now. But we’d insisted on secrecy and had installed a heavy-duty lock on the door, which Smoky had replaced with a reinforced steel one. Now, when Menolly slept, only Camille, I, and Iris could unlock the gate to her world.
Oh, a dragon could bust through it, or maybe a strong demon, but they’d have to find it first, behind the bookcase. But Tregarts and bloatworgles and most other vampires—they couldn’t get through to her.
“Camille and the guys are on the way down. I called Rozurial on his cell phone and woke him up. He, Shamas, and Vanzir will be up here in a few minutes. Did you want Hanna?”
“Hanna is already awake.” Her voice echoed through the kitchen, and we turned to see her standing there. “What’s going on? Is Iris okay?”
“Iris is fine, Hanna. We just have important info to go over. Could you please make a pot of tea, and maybe find something for us to eat?” I turned to the others. “I’m going to wait till everyone is here. And then we have some decisions to make. And a table to find.”
“Table?” Camille, blurry eyed, wandered into the room, followed by Smoky, Morio, and Trillian.
“Yeah…because we’re stuck on the tracks and there’s a train barreling down on us. And Van and Jaycee are right up there at the controls.”
My nerves were jumping. Somehow, I knew that even Van and Jaycee weren’t the ones with the final say on things. The image of the bald-headed man kept flickering through my mind. Bigger, badder forces were at work, and I feared actually finding out just who they were and what they could do.
Chapter 11
Once everyone was gathered around the table, I outlined everything that had happened. I was still high off the catch and felt like I’d had a triple shot of espresso. And I wasn’t a caffeine junkie like Camille.
