Delilah thought for a long moment, then shook her head. "They won't want to take orders from half-breeds, Camille. I can't see how it will be any different than when we were children in Y'Elestrial. We'll be the outsiders forever, no matter where we are. They'll try to take control of our operations, and they won't know what they're doing. The Queens of Fae care far more for their own prestige than they ever will about humans. How long before you think they'll try to forge a truce with the demons? At least, the Queen of Dark?"
"It won't happen," I said stubbornly. "Earth is the first stop for Shadow Wing, and both Morgaine—and now Titania—know it. They can't betray us without betraying themselves."
But Delilah's uncertainty had set up questions in my own mind. How much could we really trust Titania? And Morgaine? Grandmother Coyote had already warned us that Morgaine's thirst for power was one of her weaknesses. What if Shadow Wing promised her dominion over the Earthside Fae? Would she take the bait, betray both her mother and father races?
Iris wandered over to join us. She looked tired, and her spotless white robe was spattered with flecks of blood. The Talon-haltija had more courage than a good share of full-size Fae I'd met. I gave her a grateful smile.
"We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you." I stared at the street. Without our friends, we'd have been dead long before this. And if it took Smoky to help us put an end to a small group of goblins, then what the hell were we going to do when Shadow Wing sent in more than a few demons at a time?
Delilah shoved herself to her feet and reached for my hand. I gave it to her, allowing her to pull me up. "Okay, let's go find out what happened to Chase's men," she said.
I wanted nothing more than to go home and drop into bed and sleep for a week, but I followed her over to where Chase was supervising as two of the fallen officers were loaded into ambulances. The coroner was there for the third.
"One's hanging on by a thread," he said before we could ask. "I don't know if he'll even make it to the hospital. I thought he was already dead, but he's still clinging to life. The other is seriously wounded, but he should survive and possibly recover fully if everything goes all right. But his vitals are all messed up, and we're not sure what's going on with that."
"The poison!" Delilah shivered. "Chase, chances are both men were poisoned. Get an OIA medic over to the hospital now, and tell them to check for tetsa poison. Your blood tests won't pick it up, but our healers will know what to look for. Tetsa can be applied to blades as well as the darts."
"And while you're at it, have them check that wound of yours for poison." I pointed to the laceration on the side of his face. It had stopped bleeding, but his face was covered with blood. Heads and hands always bled more. Though the wound looked nasty, it wasn't life-threatening, unless it became septic. "I'm afraid you're going to end up with a scar from that one."
He shrugged. "Had to happen sometime, in my line of work."
"It'll just make you all the more rugged," Delilah said, clinging to his arm.
"Oh yeah… as long as you like it, babe," he said. "What about you? Any of you hurt?"
Delilah held out her left arm. The jacket she wore had been sliced, and as I helped her slide out of it, she winced. The goblin's blade had gone through the material of both jacket and shirt, gashing into her arm. The blade had missed any major arteries, but she was going to be damned sore for awhile.
"You'd better get that checked out. We have some immunity to certain poisons, but that doesn't mean you won't be affected. Ah hell, we'd all better go in and have Sharah take a good look at us naked. I'm so numb I can't tell where I was hit and where I wasn't." I wearily headed back toward the car.
Morio wrapped his arm around my waist, and I leaned on his shoulder. "Do you need help? I can carry you," he said. "I'm not too tired."
"Liar." I grinned at him. "You look just as beat as the rest of us. I'm not ready for a walker yet." I glanced back at the bodies. "Who's going to clean up that mess?"
"I called a couple units in. All the bodies will be taken to the FH-CSI morgue. At least we don't have to worry about them rising like vampires." Chase shook his head. "Speaking of, we haven't heard hide nor hair of the rogue vamps that got away a few months ago. I don't like it."
"Don't borrow trouble," Delilah said. "Face what's in front of us first. We'll deal with them when and if they become a problem." But she flashed me a worried look, and I returned it. A rash of killings a couple months back had left several rogue vampires running through the town and, try as they might, Menolly and Wade—the vampire who ran Vampires Anonymous—hadn't been able to track them down.
We passed a truck containing the Channel 11 News team. Great. They'd manage to get a good shot of the goblin bodies before they were all cleaned up. No matter how hard we tried, it seemed the media were able to get in everyplace we wanted to keep them out of. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate freedom of speech, but responsible journalists seemed a rare breed, and we'd seen the pages of far too many tabloids and exploitation-TV shows over the past year.
I heard Chase swear under his breath.
Iris cleared her throat. "I know you'd like to see things like this stay under wraps, and I understand. But once those first portals were opened, both humans and Fae threw their fates together again. News will travel, and like it or not, the bad side of the Fae will have to be acknowledged, just as the rotten apples of the human world are exposed. Goblins killed a policeman, and they were killed in return. How is that any different than a shoot-out with a gangbanger hyped up on crack who gets mowed down by the cops?"
"I'm just worried this will give the groups like Freedom's Angels more license to go out and commit hate crimes. The only good Fae is a dead one, in their eyes. They're fanatics and bigots—a dangerous combination." Chase paused, leaning against the building next to us. James Street was on a fairly steep grade, like many of Seattle's streets, and I could tell he was out of breath.
As he and Iris continued their debate, I began to notice an odd feeling. It was almost as if someone was watching us. I turned around. On the opposite side of the street was an open-air parking garage. Without thinking, I crossed the street and stood at the entrance, searching the lot for whoever was spying on us.
And there I saw him. Them. Two men and a woman, standing by a red BMW. The woman was exquisite, a vision of flowing long hair, black as the night, with olive skin and almond-shaped eyes as green as liquid emeralds. She was wearing a flowing lemon chiffon gown.
One of the men was tall and lean; he looked almost Fae, with pale blond hair smoothed back in a short shag. His face was craggy and gaunt, but his eyes burned with a strange fire, and I realized I couldn't place their color.
When I looked at the second man, my heart skipped a beat, and it wasn't because he was oh so riveting. Power emanated off him in waves, and I instinctively looked around for a place to hide. This man was trouble with a capital T.
And yet… I couldn't look away. Tall and stocky, he was bald, and his eyes were so dark that I could dive in and never find the bottom. Dressed in a suit that looked expensive and yet old-world, he turned to face me, and a slow smile spread across his face.
The woman said something to him, pressing his arm with her hand, then stood back as he began to walk toward me, the other two following at a distance.
My heart pounding with the alarms that raged through the back of my mind, I tried to move but could only stand frozen. As he slowly approached, the urge to run began to disappear, and I couldn't take my eyes off his face. He glanced around at the rest of the parking lot. Midday, it was full, and people were hurrying by, to and from their cars. They seemed to take no notice of us.
He stopped about three feet from me and casually shook out a cigarette and lit up. The scent of tobacco and cloves made me cough, but below it was another fragrance that set me on edge.
"The name's Karvanak. I know who you are, of course, but why don't you introduce yourself anyway?" An accent filtered through his words. I tried to place it, but the fragrance of his cologne was interfering with my ability to focus.
And then I knew who he was. The bald man smelled of orange and jasmine and sweet vanilla, slightly rancid. I was facing the Raksasa.
Chapter Twenty
Cripes and double cripes.
I tried to shake myself free of the lethargy that had come over me, managing to stumble back a few steps. Was he planning to kill me right here, in broad daylight with at least a dozen witnesses?
"Don't get your panties in a wad," he said. "I'm not going to gut you here. Not yet? he added, curling his lip into an unpleasant smile.
"Stay where you are," I warned him, fingering the horn in my pocket. No way in hell did I have the strength to fight a demon right now—especially a greater demon—so if it came to blows, I'd have to rely heavily on my new little buddy. "What do you want?"
"I can think of several things," he said, running his eyes over me lightly. "I doubt you'd like any of them, but then again, I don't give a fuck what you want, so that wouldn't matter, would it?"
I forced myself to remain calm, taking slow, deep breaths. I couldn't allow him to throw me off my equilibrium, or he'd have the advantage. Hell, he had the advantage as it was.
I had to alert Delilah and the others without putting them in danger.
"Just tell me what you want." I forced myself to stare into his eyes, shielding as best as I could. Raksasas were masters of illusion and charm. If I could remember that, maybe I could resist his traps.
He took a long drag on the cigarette and blew the smoke directly in my face. I coughed, my lungs burning. With a short bark of laughter, he motioned toward the others, and they began to move in our direction.
What now? I could break and run, but demons were like wild animals. If I acted like prey, I'd become his quarry. Just then, I felt someone standing at my back. I glanced over my shoulder to see Morio. He pressed one hand against my lower back, and I could feel his energy seeping into mine, calming me and giving me an anchor.
At that moment, the woman and other man joined us. Karvanak didn't even glance at them.
"Meet Jassamin and Vanzir, my associates." The demon's attention was focused on me, but his eyes flickered toward Morio, and he looked mildly disconcerted. "You have something we want, Ms. D'Artigo. A gem… a very beautiful gem. Or if you don't have it. you know where it is. The sooner you cooperate with us, the better off you'll be. I'm prepared to make it worth your while, should you choose to play it smart and change sides. I guarantee you'll be much happier if we aren't at odds."
"Change sides? Team up with the likes of you? How stupid do you think we are?" I jerked as Morio prodded me in the back with one finger. Calm… I had to remain calm. I took a long, shuddering breath and let it out slowly.
"Talk it over with your family. And friends. We can accomplish this smoothly—in a win-win situation—if you accept our offer. Or we can do it the hard way, if you ignore us. The choice is yours." He glanced across the street, where Chase, Delilah, and Iris were watching us, eyes wide. "You have more than yourself to think about, Ms. D'Artigo. Best to remember that. We'll be in touch."
Without another word, he turned and—followed by the djinn—sauntered back toward his car. Vanzir paused, staring at me with an intensity that made me feel like I was looking into a dizzying void.
"Don't underestimate him," he said softly. "He's serious. You can't win. He'll tear you to shreds."
"Who the hell are you? And why are you on his side?" He traveled with the demon so he couldn't be any good, but I had an odd feeling about the man.
Vanzir looked like he wanted to say more, but then he suddenly broke off eye contact and turned abruptly, sprinting back to Karvanak's side.
Morio grabbed my wrist, and we took off across the street. "We need to get out of here and go have our wounds examined."
I was silent as we crossed the street and climbed in the car. I started the engine. The Raksasa had just threatened every friend we had. When Dredge, Menolly's sire, had arrived in town and targeted our friends a few months ago, I'd been terrified. Collateral damage was such an ugly term. But now I realized that we needed our allies—every one of them.
The demons wouldn't spare anyone when they invaded, regardless of how much distance we put between our friends and us. Even if we did as they asked and helped them, the creatures were born liars and would have no compunction offing us as soon as they had what they wanted.
"That was her, the djinn," Delilah said. "And… was that…"
"Yeah, that was the Raksasa. His name is Karvanak. And his buddy's name is Vanzir. I'm not sure what kind of demon Vanzir is, but there's something weird going on there. Karvanak is trying to blackmail us by threatening our friends if we don't give him what he wants."
"What does he want?" Chase asked.
I sighed. "He seems to think we have—or know the whereabouts of—the third spirit seal. And he wants it. He offered to make it worth our while if we turn sides and join him. Of course, that translates to, I'll kill you later instead of now. We're going to have to be very careful. He's strong. Very strong. I can sense it, and he scares the crap out of me. This is one fight we can't win straight out—he'll eat us alive."