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“How did you stop them?” Iris lowered herself into the rocking chair as Hanna brought out Maggie and handed her to me.
I took the little gargoyle in my arms, burying my face in her fur. Maggie was solace for us on days when everything seemed to overwhelm, but she couldn’t solve our problems. I kissed her softly on the head.
“If it weren’t for the Supe Community Militia, we wouldn’t have been able to contain them. But I hate to have to call them out—Weres are strong, but the spirit demons are stronger, at least once they’ve had a chance to feed. They’re only affected by silver weapons, so we had to go in hand-to-hand.” I tickled Maggie under the chin and she giggled, grabbing my finger and licking it.
Shamas leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “There might be other ways to deal with them, but if there are, it would take a demon far more powerful. Or…well…someone like Gulakah.”
Delilah snorted. “Gulakah? Yeah, he’s likely to help. We have to find a way to get to him.”
I handed Maggie back to Hanna. “There’s no other way. I’m going to infiltrate the Aleksais Psychic Network tomorrow night. I’ll find a way to get to Gulakah.” I turned to Trillian. “I didn’t have a chance to ask, were you able to get hold of one of the talismans of disguise?” Please, please, say yes. I couldn’t take one more piece of bad news.
Trillian gave me a tired smile. “I managed to hook up with one of my old buddies who has deep connections with the Svartalfheim sorcerers’ guilds. Yes, we have a talisman. And it will work until you break the spell or until you’re attacked. Which better not happen or I’m coming in there and ripping the heads off every person in sight.”
“And I’ll be there to help.” Smoky shook his head. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t bargain with the shyster.”>“I think we’ll be okay here. They seem to be making inroads now that we have your men helping us.” And it was true—the swarm of spirit demons was thinning out. In fact, I was able to count the number left from here, and it looked like only twelve remained. I had no clue how many we’d killed, but it had to be nearly seventy-five, if not more.
After a moment, I cocked my head and glanced back at Frank. “Dude, you said Chase called you?”
“Right. Johnson told me that Smoky said you guys needed fighters who didn’t use magic and who could land a good punch with silver blades. That’s all he knew. So I set the phone tree in motion and we called in all available men who could get here on the fly.” Frank let out a slow breath. “That dragon husband of yours knows how to wield a sword, that’s for sure.” He was staring at Smoky, who—for the first time, I noticed—was carrying a long silver sword. A wickedly nasty long silver sword with one serrated edge and one flat.
“Cripes, I had no idea he owned that.” I blinked. “I wonder if it was his grandfather’s?” Smoky’s grandfather had bequeathed him a great many treasures, and I wondered what else might be hiding, tucked away in Smoky’s treasure trove. But the sword was magnificent. It gleamed, even in the dim light of the storm clouds, and every time it hit against one of the demons, a pale blue glow would flash.
As the men continued mopping up the last of the demons, Delilah came trudging over, looking weary and covered with mud and welts.
“What happened to you?”
“The spirit demons tried to latch onto me, but I guess this is what happens when you don’t have much innate magical power. They left rows of bite marks because they couldn’t damage me on a psychic level. I guess the powers of a Death Maiden aren’t tasty enough for them.”
“Yeah, either that or…perhaps they can’t handle your energy because it’s connected to the Autumn Lord? Maybe that’s an avenue we should explore.”
“You might be right.” She nodded at Frank, an easy shake of the head, and dropped to the grass while we waited. I joined her, resting my head on her shoulder. “You okay?”
“I think so. I got hit a couple of times, and believe me—it’s jarring to have those things trying to suck out my energy.”
“Was it like when Vanzir…” Her voice trailed off and she arched her eyebrows.
I shrugged. Vanzir had tried to feed on me once, though to be fair, it wasn’t really his fault. We’d been under pressure, he’d been using his powers, and I was radiating so much magic that he’d been unable to control himself. I’d ended up fucking him to stop him from invading my mind, and that had led to another can of worms.
“A little…only with Vanzir, I knew he wasn’t doing it deliberately. These things are out to hurt—they’re out to destroy. And though the end result is the same, there’s definitely a different feel to it. I’d never liken Vanzir to the spirit demons.” I plucked a blade of grass and chewed on it.
“You might not want to admit it, but I guarantee you, any other dream-chaser demon wouldn’t show the restraint he does, and I have no doubt that they would be out to feed on you. Deliberately.” She shaded her eyes, trying to see what was going on. “Almost done, it looks like.”
“Maybe so, but Vanzir’s not just any other demon. He’s been a huge help to us, and he didn’t have to stick around once the soul binder vanished.”
She sighed, pushing herself to her feet and dusting the back of her jeans. “Listen, I know Vanzir’s not like the rest of his kind, but you can’t deny he’s dangerous. Never, ever forget that.” She reached down, offering me a hand, and pulled me to my feet.
“I know that. I never forget the strengths of my enemies. Or my friends.” Vaguely annoyed, but too tired to do anything about it, I jumped as another crash of thunder echoed through the area and the clouds opened. A sheet of rain so thick you could barely see between the droplets came gushing down, a real deluge.
After a moment, another crack of lightning split the sky, and thunder rumbled through just behind it. The rain turned to hail and we were inundated with pea-sized ice pellets. I yelled as they sliced against my skin, the sting bad enough to make me wince. Frank glanced around, then grabbed my hand and pulled me beneath a nearby cedar. He motioned for me to crouch beneath the lower branches. Delilah followed, and we covered our heads with our hands as the hail went on and on.
Frank stood straight, face front into the hail, guarding me. I wanted to tug on his jeans, make him hide under the boughs with us, but I knew he wouldn’t budge. It was a matter of pride for him. Smoky had entrusted him with my care, and even though Delilah was here now, he felt like he had to honor that promise. If I tried to persuade him to protect himself from the weather, he’d take it as a personal insult.
Unable to see what was going on across the street from here, we knelt beneath the cedar, breathing the fresh, crisp scent, as I sent up a whispered prayer to the Moon Mother. Please, let them find all of the spirit demons. Please don’t let any of them escape. Please, let our friends be okay.
Another minute or two and the hail let up, fat raindrops replacing the shower of ice. Delilah crawled out from beneath the tree, and then I stumbled out. Frank helped me up. As we stood there, the others made their way back across the street. Rozurial looked exhausted. Vanzir had fallen in the mud several times. Shade and Morio looked tired but no worse for wear. And Smoky, of course, was pristine and clean, as always. But none of them were smiling.
Behind them, the Weres followed, some limping or leaning on their buddies, but most looked okay. I anxiously waited as Smoky walked up to us, Jonas by his side.
“How did we fare?” I almost didn’t want to know—if we’d lost any of our Supe Community friends, it would be too much. We’d already lost all of the witches who had formed the human shield against us.
