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“I’ll see what I can find out and call you right back.” Yugi was a Swedish empath who was Chase’s right-hand man. He was a good man, and while I wasn’t sure just how Chase used his abilities, Yugi was trustworthy.
I knelt by the bodies again. “Shade, can you check on the ghosts again? Are they near us now?”
Shade nodded, stepping back, once again holding out his hands. The shadow creatures emerged from his fingertips and zoomed off into the night.
The next moment, a force slammed into me, knocking me forward to sprawl on the ground. I rolled, coming up on my heels in a crouch, looking around for whoever had shoved me. But there was no one in sight.
Roz shouted as he went flying across the field to land at the base of the portal. He’d been picked up and tossed like a child might toss a pebble across a pond. “Crap! What the fuck?” He was on his feet the next second and was reaching into his duster.
Next, Shade took a hit, but he stayed on his feet. His shadow creatures came swooping back to him and rushed into his body. With a grunt, he shook off the impact and turned to me.
“They’re all around us. I can see them—but I doubt if you can.”
I shook my head. So did Roz.
But Smoky let out a hiss. “I can see their forms.” He let out a long guttural sigh and turned, his nails lengthening into talons as he reached out to swipe at something. A horrid scream cut through the night, and a brilliant flash of light appeared at the area where Smoky had struck.
Roz lit a round, golf ball–sized bomb and threw it on the ground. As it exploded, the glowing sparks outlined our attackers, giving them form. I counted eleven of them.
“What are they? What can I do to them?” Frantic, I stepped back as two of the spirits began to crowd in on me. Three were after Shade, four after Smoky, and two more after Roz.
Smoky bellowed and sliced at the air again. “I don’t know—I have never seen these beings.” Another shriek and the spirit vanished. “I don’t know if I killed it or just made it go away.”
Shade caught his breath and let out a low sound that sounded almost like a howl on the wind. A chill ran down my spine as I watched him. He began to transform, right there, in the middle of the tree-crowded wood. Smoky let out a low growl but backed away as Shade’s form rippled. He began to grow, but unlike Smoky, instead of a majestic white dragon, what appeared was a terrifying, haunting form of a skeletal dragon surrounded by shadow and a violet smoke. He looked almost fossilized.
We’d never seen Shade in his natural form before. I wondered if Delilah even knew what his dragon form was. We’d all assumed he’d look like Smoky, but with black skin instead. Nobody had expected this.
I backed up and ran straight into Rozurial, who steadied me with one hand. “Helluva way to find out what he looks like,” he whispered. “Ten bucks say Delilah’s going to freak.”
As I watched the coiling, serpentine dragon whose wings were as skeletal as his body, I couldn’t help but think otherwise. “She’s never seen him like this, but don’t forget, Kitten’s a Death Maiden. She’s not the gentle tabby she began this journey as. I actually think my sister likes playing in the dark more than she’s willing to admit.”
“Maybe, but I’m not hedging my bets until she’s actually—holy crap. Look at that.” Roz broke off. I’d never seen him so unnerved.>“Maggie—no! You were a bad girl. No playtime tonight for you. You can just take a time out and think about what you did.” Iris caught sight of us and let out a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad you’re home. Tonight has been one disaster after another. But Menolly, you don’t have long before sunrise. You’re cutting things close—” She stopped, looking at our faces. “What happened? I can see something happened while you were over there.”
I was about to tell her to gather everyone in the kitchen when a loud whistle sounded. Smoky immediately set Camille down and she raced for the kitchen, with Trillian on her heels.
“The wards! They’ve gone off.” Her voice echoed from the kitchen, and, giving Iris a helpless shrug, I took off after Delilah and the guys. Iris let out an exasperated sigh in the background.
“I swear, can’t we have one evening in this house where we’re left in peace?” The talon-haltija muttered loudly, and then I heard her say, “Maggie! You stop that—I do not need a bright blue nose, thank you very much!”
As we gathered around the table where the grid of quartz crystals sat, forming the alarm for when our land’s wards were breached, Camille and Morio examined the pattern, sorting through the energy coming off the grid.
“Not Demonkin.” She glanced up at Shade. “Can you tell me if it’s what I think it is?”
He held his hands out to the crystals. A crackle charged the kitchen as a faint bolt of purple lightning jolted from his skin to the smooth crystals. Jerking his head up, he nodded.
“Ghosts. But why would ghosts set off the wards? Spirits walk the world all the time.” He bit one side of his lip.
“These aren’t Casper’s kin. Ghosts won’t set off the wards unless they’re baleful. These aren’t run-of-the-mill spirits—they’re out to hurt us.” She paled. “How are we going to find them? I can ferret out Demonkin energy, but…”
“I’ll be the bird dog.” Shade turned to the door. “Assign posts. Morio, you’d better stay here. You can deal with Netherworld creatures better than anybody except me. Who else is coming outside?”
“Me.” I stepped forward. “Camille, you stay with Morio. Trillian, you stay with Camille and Morio to protect the household. Iris, I know you’re pregnant, but get your spells prepared, just in case. Hanna, I want you to take Marion, Douglas, and Bruce in the parlor and stay there. Keep the door to the living room open, and take Maggie with you. Delilah, you come with us…Smoky, Vanzir, Roz, you’re also with us.”
And so we split off.
Delilah had Lysanthra, her dagger. Roz had his arsenal, and Vanzir was armed as well. Shade, Smoky, and I all were weapons in our own right. We headed out the kitchen door to the backyard.
The rain had started—a light drizzle, and mist drifted along the ground. Wind ruffled through the tops of the trees, setting up a ghostly susurration that whispered through the yard.
