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Lauren’s eyes grew wide and she said, “There were other cars around us, coming towards us. Did they notice that a whole bunch of people disappeared out of the vehicles?”
“Queenie called in the Concilio for help with managing the humans on the road in other vehicles who saw the vans crashing, or who saw the vehicles before she got them moved, since there was no way to explain how there were no injuries,” Gavin told Lauren, then he looked to Marco and me and added, “Per the Concilio’s orders, all our theaters except one are open, with the shows running. We have human understudies for the supernatural stars in those productions, and I’m told the backup dancers can spread out to fill in holes. The show Lauren and Nick were headed to had to be canceled because the entire cast is supernatural. The various managers for that show spread out to the others.” He looked at Lauren. “I figure six people might be able to fill in for you, at least for a couple of days.”
Lauren paced the room. “I had the idea, while in that cage, that I might have been taken from Midgard to another realm, but the only thing I could be certain of was that it wasn’t Hell, because there was no smell of sulfur.”
Kirsten slapped at her ankle and then scratched it, said, “Finally,” and then grabbed my arm and flashed us out.
She took us to a mountaintop I’ve been to before. The entire top is made of quartz, and Kirsten gains a lot of power just by standing on it, before she consciously draws more in. She says the mountain likes her, and I have to agree because it always powers her up phenomenally.
She sat with the device she uses to contact Xaephan, and I watched over her, to make sure nothing harmed her while she was focused on the Demon Lord.
She spoke out loud, so I could hear her side of the conversation, and that was enough for me to get the gist. He was worried about his son’s life — as he should be — and was willing to tell Kirsten just about anything she wanted to know in order to assure Killian’s continued safety.
When the conversation was over, she told me, “I have some names. Nathan has some other names from Gavin, who looked in Lauren’s head and recognized the vampires she saw. I’m taking us to Mordecai.”
I nodded, knowing she wouldn’t take me out of the realm without a discussion. She grabbed my arm, the world around us faded, and then we were in Italy, in an apartment with a view overlooking one of Rome’s famous fountains.
Apollonius, Ambrose, Ellania, a few other demigoddesses, and Aaron Drake stood beside Mordecai, who told Kirsten, “We need to go to another realm for this. I’m going to swap Cora for Nathan.”
I sighed, but it couldn’t be helped. It takes me a while to set things up so my wolves are okay with me out of the realm, but Nathan has a system in place so his lions are taken care of even if he leaves without warning. The weakest of my wolves depend on the energy of the Pack, and that doesn’t appear to be the case with the lions, so I’m pretty sure it’s an apples and oranges thing, but it’s frustrating when I can’t go with Kirsten to help in other realms.
A few seconds later, I was back in Homewood’s control room. Lauren had been in Nick’s lap, and she stood and asked, “What’s happening?”
“Things get complicated when I leave the realm, but Nathan has a system set up so he can do so at a moment’s notice without it causing a stir. He, Kirsten, Mordecai, Apollonius, and a few others are going after your people.”
“I should be going, too,” Lauren told me, her face as fierce as I’ve ever seen it.
I walked to her and pulled her into a hug. I’ve known her since she was a young teen. Publicly, I’m something of an aunt to her, but we’re much closer than that. “Maybe, but you have to know your mother and Nathan aren’t going to allow it.”
“Mordecai would.”
“Possibly, but I don’t see him arguing with your mom to put you in danger when we just got you back.” I turned to face Gavin while still holding Lauren in my arms. “Mordecai has Xaephan’s son locked in a prison on Olympus. Kirsten told Xaephan if he didn’t tell them where to go to rescue your people, she’d torture his son. He believed her.”
Gavin smirked. “As well he should.”
I grinned. “You’d know that better than most. I don’t believe Xaephan told us everyone involved, and he hedged with non-answers when Kirsten tried to press him to find out for sure. However, we have the names of seven people with significant power who’re in on this.”
“By rights, I should be going,” Gavin said, “but I find myself in the same position as you, where I can’t leave the realm, lest the weakest of my people might not be alive when I return.”
“Aaron is going as well, along with some other heavy hitters — not only Ambrose and Ellania, but some other demigoddesses who’ll enjoy having some ass to kick.”
Ryan walked in, and I narrowed my eyes at him, but before I could issue any threats to the slayer who liked to show he could infiltrate our security, Lauren said, “Ryan, I’m surprised to see you here. Most of those taken were shapeshifters.”
Lauren had a point, because Ryan was only interested in saving humans and other prey from the monsters. He rarely saved the monsters.
“We believe this is the ring who’ve been skinning humans, and it’s no secret I’m hunting them.” He looked at me. “I expected to be notified.”
He also had a point, so I put on my political Alpha hat and told him, “It’s been kind of hectic and, like Lauren said, most of us weren’t thinking of you because it’s supernaturals abducting supernaturals, with only three humans involved.” I sighed and added, “I apologize for the oversight.” Someone really should’ve thought to bring him in, once I considered the fact it was humans and prey animals who were abducted.
Nick stood with Lauren cradled in his left arm, and he offered his right hand to Ryan while saying, “Slayer. What do you know? I feel like we’re in the dark, waiting for word of a battle we can’t be part of. It’s frustrating.”
Ryan met Nick’s gaze and shook his hand. “What’s your stake in this, Rex of the Branson Pride?”
“They had Lauren.”
Ryan looked from Lauren to Nick, and then from Lauren to Gavin, and finally from Gavin to Nick.
“Ah. I see. Well, I’ll just sit with the rest of you and wait for word of the rescue, since I don’t have someone at hand to flash me across realms, and without knowing where they are, going through random portals isn’t likely to get me to them.”
