The FH-CSI stood on Thatcher Avenue, in the Belles-Faire district of Seattle. The building was at least four stories high, with three of them underground. There were rumors of yet another level below the surface, but no one had ever confirmed it. Combining a medic unit for Supes, an arsenal and a jail, a morgue and archives, as well as the headquarters for the investigations unit, it was an all-in-one building. Chase had been in charge of the FH-CSI until recently, when he became one of the Keraastar Knights, to our surprise.
As we hurried toward the front doors, they opened and two medics came out with a stretcher, rushing over to us. Smoky carefully laid Shade on the gurney and they took off at a run, rolling him toward the building. I began to follow, but Smoky caught my wrist.
“I need to go back and help at the house. I wish I could stay, but my duties are toward the family. Will you be all right here? Vanzir should be here any minute.”
I wanted to say no, to beg him to stay just to have a familiar face around, but he was right. He needed to go home and help them find Yerghan.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll call you soon as I have news.” As he turned to go, I followed the medics into the building, praying that we weren’t too late.
I SUPPOSE THIS is a good time for introductions.
I’m Delilah D’Artigo. My sisters and I came Earthside some years back. We’re half human, half Fae, and, at first, we worked for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency, which was originally the Y’Elestrial Intelligence Agency—that is, until the portals opened. We were sent over Earthside because our track record wasn’t spectacular. Not only does our half-human side interfere with our abilities, but Camille ended up on the bad side of her boss. Lathe had decided that she owed him a blowjob. When she disagreed, he hit the final nail in our coffin.
Camille was born with magic in her blood. She pledged to the Moon Mother years ago. Over the past few years, she’s been promoted in the Coterie of the Moon Mother, first to priestess, and then to High Priestess of the Earthside division. A few months ago, she ascended to the throne of Dusk and Twilight, joining Titania and Aeval as a Fae Queen out at Talamh Lonrach Oll—the Land of Shining Apples. Now she lives there, with her three husbands, Smoky, Morio, and Trillian. I miss having her at home, but destiny planned otherwise, and we’ve learned the hard way you can’t fight fate.
Menolly, on the other hand, was a jian-tu, an acrobat of extraordinary talent, and she too was a spy for the OIA along with Camille and me. One day, she fell into a nest of vampires, an accident that forever changed her life. Tortured and turned, she was sent home to destroy us, but Camille managed to lock her in the safe room, and after a year in intensive therapy, Menolly returned to her duties.
Now, she’s married to a werepuma. Nerissa is her heart-mate. And they’re both married to Roman, Prince of the Crimson Veil, but that’s more a marriage of convenience and politics. I think he’s in love with Menolly, too, but he promised not to step between her and Nerissa and so far he’s been good to his word. Once they married him, they moved out as well. So now, the house belongs to Shade and me.
And me? I’m Delilah D’Artigo. I’m a two-faced Were, with my cuddly tabby cat side, and my darker Panther side. I’m a Death Maiden, belonging to the Autumn Lord, and my destiny includes bearing his child.
None of us ever thought we were slated for great things when we were young. We thought we’d grow up, find careers, maybe marry.
We lost our mother—who was human—very young. Maria fell off of a horse and broke her neck. Our father foisted most of our care onto Camille’s shoulders, who could barely take care of herself. He was always there in body, stern and unyielding, a proper soldier to the end, but emotionally, he lost his light when Mother died. He, too, became a victim of Shadow Wing’s war. The truth is, our “family” is composed of those we have gathered around us. Because we’ve learned the hard way that if you don’t look out for your own, nobody else will.
THE MEDICS MADE me wait in the reception room while they attended to Shade’s wounds. Fifteen minutes later, Mallen came rushing through. He didn’t bother to stop to talk to me, but rushed on past. His assistant watched him go, then sat down beside me.
“I’m Bethanie. Mallen is focused on helping your fiancé, and he asked me to talk to you for a moment.” She reached out to take my hand. “The wound was severe but that’s not the real danger. Mallen will be out to talk to you in a while, but first he has to diagnose how bad the damage is.”
The doors opened and Vanzir rushed in, looking around. When he saw me, he hurried over to my side. “Mallen wanted me to help?”
“Are you Vanzir?”
Vanzir nodded.
“Please come with me.” Bethanie stood. “The doctor’s waiting for you. Delilah, it’s best if you wait here for now. The procedures aren’t pleasant and we need to be able to give our full focus to Shade.” She gave me a look that said she wouldn’t put up with any defiance, and led Vanzir into the back.
I fussed, pacing the room, wanting to go back anyway. Camille or Menolly probably would charge back there, but then again, they’d also be thrown out on their ear. It wouldn’t do Shade any good if I interrupted their work. I pulled out my phone and texted Camille.
how are things going? did you manage to find yerghan yet? I waited until she pinged me back.
no. he’s vanished. my guards have arrived and they performed a reconnaissance of the land. they haven’t found any other rogue portals except the one aimed toward y’elestrial. but wilbur was right. the remains of the one he found has a residue energy signature pointing toward the sub-realms.
I thought for a moment. Shadow Wing might be a Demon Lord, but he wasn’t a magician or sorcerer. Yerghan the Blade wasn’t a sorcerer either. And if Shadow Wing had been draining his help right and left, how the hell had he managed to open a portal for Yerghan?
how is shade doing?
I stared at her text, not knowing what to answer. Finally, I texted: i don’t know. vanzir is in there with them. i’m scared.
Another pause and then Camille answered.
i know, kitten. i know. nerissa is on her way to sit with you. i wish menolly and i could come, but we’re trying to figure out what the hell to do about the situation. the men are cleaning up the back of the house. i’m afraid we’re going to need to build a new kitchen and back porch.
that’s the last thing i’m worried about, I texted back.
An hour later, just as I was about ready to go stomping back demanding answers, Mallen came into the waiting area and motioned for me to follow him.
“We stitched up the wound. He lost a lot of blood but given he’s part shadow dragon, he’ll survive. But I’m afraid that he was, indeed, attacked by a soul-stealer blade. And unfortunately, Willow, our psitech, hasn’t been able to locate the direction in which his soul was sent. He’s in a deep coma, and we can’t bring him out of it until we retrieve his soul. And we can’t retrieve his soul until we know where it is.”
He led me back into a private room. Shade was lying on the bed, still as death, hooked up to several machines. I glanced at the monitors, not sure what all the graphs and charts meant. He was wearing no shirt, and had a wide bandage wrapped around his midriff. His arms were stretched out by his sides, and his eyes were closed. He looked to be in a deep sleep, and I wanted to run over and shake him, to wake him up.
The hospital room looked sparse, in that sterile way that all hospital rooms have. I noticed that there was no window, and the room felt warmer than usual.
“Can I hold his hand?” I looked at Mallen, unsure of what to do.
“It won’t hurt him. You’ll notice we raised the temperature in the room. I want his muscles to stay warm and not freeze up. I also chose this room because there isn’t an outside entrance. Given his attacker is still on the loose, I figured I’d make it harder for whoever it was to reach him.” Mallen gave me a sympathetic look, and I wanted to hug him.
I was on the edge of brea
king down. I had held it together during the attack, and while waiting out in the reception area, but seeing Shade laying there, so still, and knowing that his soul wasn’t in his body was about to break me.
At that moment, Vanzir entered the room. He quietly came over, putting his hands on my shoulders. “There’s one other thing Mallen says we can try,” he said. “But you have to give the okay for it.”
Mallen motioned for the nurse to leave the room. He closed the door behind her.
“Vanzir is correct. He’s a dream-chaser demon, which means he can forcibly enter Shade’s mind. He might be able to locate him, or at least get some idea of where he is.”
“I thought you could only siphon off energy,” I said, wiping my eyes.
Vanzir shook his head. “I can travel through a number of realms, remember? I was able to find Camille when Hyto captured her. While I wasn’t on the physical realm, I was able to travel to her out on the astral.”
I caught my breath, suddenly remembering. That had been a horrible time, a terrifying time. Smoky’s father had kidnapped Camille and tortured her. Vanzir had been able to locate her, and had helped lead the rescue. I had forgotten that he had found her via the astral realm.
“That’s right. I remember now. But can you do this the same way? Can you find Shade?”
He thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t think I can go about this exactly the same way, but I can use my abilities to enter Shade’s mind, where I can try to locate a trace signature to follow. But I must have your permission before I do that. It’s an extremely invasive procedure, and while I promise not to siphon any energy off of him, just the act of it could disrupt whatever is going on. I can’t promise what the results will be. I can’t even promise that it won’t hurt him in some manner.”
“Let me think. I need to think about this for a moment.” I turned, walking out of the room. I needed to get away from the machinery and the smell of disinfectant and the silent hum that all hospitals had. The fact that this was a medic unit for Supes didn’t change that.
I told the nurse at the reception desk that I’d be outside for a moment, in case Mallen needed me. As I headed out into the dark of night, I saw that the clouds had socked in. It was still relatively warm—in the low sixties—and a spatter of rain began to pelt down.
I turned my face up to the sky, looking for any signs of the moon, but she was in hiding, and the entire sky seemed faintly illuminated. I seldom prayed, although I was dedicated to the goddess Bast. I was no priestess, but merely a simple devotee. She had always been with me in my heart, and when I thought about it, I realize that my mother had introduced me to her early on. By the time Mother died, I had been added to the temple rolls as one of the members.
“Tell me what I should do,” I whispered, not really expecting an answer. Where Camille was finely attuned to the Moon Mother and her ways, pledged heart and soul to the goddess, and where Menolly worshipped no gods, I was somewhere in the middle. I loved Bast, but I didn’t expect anything from her. And I didn’t feel that she expected much out of me, except to be the best I could.
If I let Vanzir enter Shade’s mind, there was a chance it could hurt him. I understood this on a logical level. But my heart—my heart cried out, Go! Find him! If there was a chance that Vanzir could bring his soul back, surely it was worth the risk? The psitech hadn’t been able to do anything. And then, as I turned to go back inside, I had a sudden flash—it was as though the image blasted itself into my brain.
Venus the Moon Child. He was a shaman, he had been the shaman for the Rainier Puma Pride until he became one of the Keraastar Knights. Venus was a crafty old shaman, and even though he was now one of the Keraastar Knights, surely he could figure out where Shade’s soul was. I pulled out my phone, calling Camille.
“Camille, I need Venus at the hospital,” I blurted out the moment she came on the line. “We have to have a shaman to find Shade, and the psitech can’t do it. Mallen thought that perhaps Vanzir could manage it, but my gut tells me it wouldn’t be safe. But Venus—Venus knows how to perform these sorts of rituals.”
“I’m not sure how carrying the spirit seal will have affected his abilities, but I’m more than willing to call him in on this. Come to think of it, he had the spirit seal inside his leg all along. So it must have been working on him even back then. I’ll call you back as soon as I talk to him.”
I paced, ignoring the rain that now skittered down around me. For once, I realized that Bast had answered, and I could feel her around me, trilling, almost like the feel of the soft purr that ran through me when I was in my tabby form. I would have to make some sort of offering to show my gratitude.
A moment later, Camille returned my call. “Venus is on his way to the FH-CSI. He’ll be there as soon as he can. Keep us informed. We’re doing research on Yerghan right now, trying to figure out where he might be hiding.”
Relieved, and feeling like we might actually get some answers, I headed back inside. Mallen and Vanzir were waiting for me in Shade’s room.
“I had an epiphany. I’ve called for Venus the Moon Child. I’m not sure if you know who he is,” I said, turning to Mallen, “but he’s the former shaman of the Rainier Puma Pride. He’s one of Camille’s Keraastar Knights now, but if anybody can figure out where Shade is, I’ll bet you he’ll be able to.”
“That’s brilliant,” Vanzir said. “He’d stand a much better chance of finding Shade’s soul than I would. I’ll wait around till he gets here.”
I shook my head. “No, you go home. Then, if you would, bring my Jeep here. I’ll need a way home as soon as we know what we’re dealing with.”
Vanzir raised his eyebrows. “You trust me driving your Jeep?”
I gave him a faint laugh. “No, but life is a risk, now, isn’t it?” I handed him my keys. “Just please, don’t get any tickets.”
Not only was Vanzir a dream-chaser demon, he was also a bit of a speed demon on the road. We kept warning him to rein it in, not only for the sake of his wallet, but for the sake of anybody else who might get in his way. He was doing better, but he still hadn’t broken all of his bad habits. At times I regretted that we allowed him to drive, but once the genie was out of the bottle, it was impossible to put it back in.
Vanzir took off, and I turned back to Mallen.
“How often have you dealt with a case like this? Hell, I didn’t even know that there were swords that could do this. We’ve dealt with a ghost trapped inside of a sword, but that’s not quite the same thing.”
“No, and usually those vessels are magically forged and cursed. An actual soul-stealer blade is also forged with magic, but it’s not cursed. I don’t know the exact process for making them, and they’re seldom encountered now, thank the gods, but I do know that during the forging process, the ground bones of certain astral creatures are added to the metal, creating the force inside the sword that severs the soul from the body. It doesn’t surprise me that Yerghan the Blade carries this kind of sword. Look at his name.”
“Look at what he did,” I said. “I remember my history lessons. His army was terrifying, and with Telazhar by his side, they threatened to turn Otherworld into a wasteland.”
“I remember my history lessons, too,” Mallen said. “I was born after the Scorching Wars, but not that long after. When I was growing up, Elqaneve was very insular. In fact, all of Kelvashan’s borders were closed to strangers. The Elfin race were isolationists.”
I stared at the elf, realizing just how old he had to be. He looked barely old enough to drive, and I had always thought of him as around our own age. I knew that he was far older than that, logically, but I just hadn’t made the connection.
“What was it like back then?”
“Terrifying. I was born about a century after Telazhar and Yerghan the Blade were sent to the Sub-Realms. The Southern Wastes had originally been a paradise. Lush woodlands, swamps, even jungles. I never saw them, because I was born after the des
truction, but my parents had visited and they used to tell me stories about how magical the land had been. But the destructive magic that Telazhar and his sorcerers had rained down throughout the entire area turned it into the wasteland that it is now. Their hellfire infused the very sands with rogue magic. To this day, that’s a dangerous area through which to travel.”
That much I knew. Traveling through the Southern Wastes was hazardous at best. Great sandstorms would rise up to sweep along the desert floor. Anyone caught within the gusting winds was likely to be afflicted by a magical hailstorm with any number of diseases or dangerous magic, including death spells.
“When did Elqaneve open its borders again?” At least the discussion was taking my mind off Shade.
“About two hundred years after that. Until then, the only ones allowed through our borders were a few dignitaries from Y’Elestrial and a few of the seers from Aladril. I remember the first time I was allowed to travel outside of our lands. I spent twenty years on a road trip, visiting every city that I could. It wasn’t safe to go down south beyond Ceredream, since the magic in the sands was still too rife and there were too many rogue sorcerers still around. But I visited everyplace that I could. I ended up spending five years in Dahnsburg. Then I returned home to begin my training as a healer.”
It occurred to me that there were so many people who had touched our lives that we knew so little about. I had no clue that Mallen had done any of this, or that he had grown up so close to the actual Scorching Wars. It made me want to sit down with everybody whom I had any acquaintance with, and ask them about their past.
“I’m part Fae, but I’ve only been alive for sixty-some years. Sometimes I feel so young compared to so many of the people I meet. Even Nerissa, Menolly’s wife, is a lot older than we are. One day, I’d like to travel around Earthside, to see some of the places my mother went. She spent time in Madrid during World War II. That’s where she met my father when he was on a secret mission over here, before the portals officially opened.”