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“Thursday? I went to a meeting for the…” She paused as someone wheeled Halcon’s body past us. “Oh. Him…”
I jumped up. “I need to search his body before you take it—”
“No worries. I have it.” Menolly came strolling up from behind. She patted the pocket of her jean jacket. “First thing I did when I took him down was strip it off his weasel-necked body.”
“Why do you think that Shadow Wing didn’t tell Gulakah to confiscate the spirit seal from Halcon?” It seemed to me that he’d want his demon general to have it.
“I think Shadow Wing might have been worried about Gulakah growing too powerful. He was, after all, a god. And Gulakah was using Shadow Wing for his own agenda, so he probably was playing along for a while.” She shrugged. “We’ll never know for sure, but…”
“You’re probably right. So, anything else on Halcon’s body we should know about?”
“No. Nothing else of value, but I’m sure when we search this mansion, we’re going to be finding all sorts of useful information and items. Halcon Davis was the one storing the money. Gulakah didn’t care about cash.”
I nodded, thinking of how many people Halcon had had time to fleece. If he’d found the spirit seal around the date he disappeared, he’d had well over a hundred fifty years to con people out of their savings and goods.
“I dread going through here. It’s going to take a long time.”
“I’m asking Roman if I can set a group of vamps to do it—Erin can watch over them. They’ll behave and not filch anything if Roman commands it.” She gave me the once-over. “You okay? You seem strangely quiet.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Syringa. Delilah was talking to her now. Looping my arm through Menolly’s, I walked her away from where the others could hear and quietly told her about what had happened in the Netherworld, after I’d slammed into Gulakah with the Greater Asa Mordente spell.
She let out a low whistle. “The realm of the dead can’t be easy to hang out in, not for someone with as much life in them as you have.”
“That’s just it…it wasn’t easy, but it was…intoxicating. If what Morio said is right, and I’m to evolve into one of the Moon Mother’s sorceresses, as well as her Dark Moon High Priestess…can I handle the power? Can I handle the responsibility? The thought of it frightens me. What if I lose myself?” My head throbbing, I looked for a chair.
Menolly bit her lip. “I doubt it. Not you. But all I can tell you is this…there’s no going back. None of us can go back to the way things were. We have to go forward. Who knows what the future will bring. Maybe Shadow Wing will win, but for now, he’s lost another battle, and we have another spirit seal, and that’s what they call, I believe, having a good day.”
Weary, aching through my entire body, and not sure what was going to happen next, I smiled and nodded. “Let’s go home and find out how Roz is doing. I can’t handle cleanup tonight. Let the others do it.”
“That’s my girl.” Menolly leaned up and kissed my cheek. “You may be my big sister, but sometimes, it’s okay to lean on others. I know you learned that lesson, but just…make sure you remember it.”
We turned toward the stairs and, with Delilah joining us, headed on up to our cars. The night was dark, the sky misty, and we were standing on the eve of Beltane.
Chapter 19
Beltane. I woke up early, along with Morio. Trenyth had made the journey over to our house when we’d called him up on the Whispering Mirror to take possession of the spirit seal, so it was safely back in Elqaneve, though how safe the Elfin City was, with the impending war, remained to be seen.
Morio and I headed out to Talamh Lonrach Oll after breakfast. Delilah was pouting because she had to stay home—but since she’d be transforming as the moon grew full later today, there was no way she could go with us.
And Aeval had specified that Morio and I would be undergoing some sort of ritual, so the others decided to stay home with Delilah. We’d hold our own celebration on the weekend. Even though Smoky and Trillian seemed a little miffed that they hadn’t been invited, they’d agreed and just gave me long kisses as I headed out the door.
As we drove out, I tried to sort out what had happened. I gave Chase a call. “So, what did they find, as of this morning?”
He let out a long sigh. “A lot of broken people. They weren’t the most stable to begin with, and being bewitched by the spirit seal made things a lot worse. I’ve asked Lindsey Cartridge if she and her group can help. Nerissa and Sharah will figure out the best way to counsel these women. It was mostly women, by the way, and before you ask, yes, some were assaulted. Most likely by the Tregarts.”
“Oh great gods, I hope none of them get pregnant. We don’t need any half-demon children running around the city.”
“That’s a possibility? I’ll mention it to Sharah and Mallen. They’re doing all the examinations.” Chase paused. “We’re also on a mad search to see if we can find any more spirit demon eggs—there are so many places where they could have been hidden, and it doesn’t seem logical that Gulakah would only bring over two. For all we know, there may be spirit demons loose in Seattle right now.”
“On that depressing thought, what did the vamps find in the mansion? I know a swarm of them were on the way over when we left.”
“The list of assets is remarkable. Halcon Davis was a multimillionaire. We’re going to have to figure out what to do with all that wealth. I’m thinking of dividing it up among the OIA, the Supe Community Council, and the Seattle Vampire Nexus, including a substantial grant for Vampires Anonymous.” He took a drink of something, then let out a short breath.
“Speaking of which…Syringa? Your Fae lord’s wife? She’s not doing very well. Physically, she’s fine, but when she realized what had happened, it…well, let’s just say she’s checked out. The body is here, but the spirit has fled, Sharah said. We’re going to have to have a soul-catcher find her.”
“You know about soul-catchers?” I had never heard Chase use that term. It rather surprised me.
“I do now, thanks to Sharah and Mallen. Anyway, I’ve got to go. We’ve still got a buttload of stuff to process, and I think it’s going to take several weeks to work our way through the mansion and the paperwork. But at least Gulakah’s dead…Thank you, by the way. What you and Morio did…”
