A red eyebrow shot up. "As you can see all of my companions are just fine." She rested a hand on the large one's massive head. "Who is this Stacey you speak of?"
"A felycan. Blonde, British, and snarky. She lives—or lived—in some abandoned warehouses near my house."
Kassallandra looked at the oversized hound for a moment. He gazed fondly back at her, his great tail wagging, and urine-colored eyes bright with puppy love. After a moment, she shook her head. "Malkesh says they did no such thing. But he did detect the scent of other hounds near your house some time ago." Her perfect lip curled into a snarl. "Someone else is interfering. Another of House Slade, no doubt, who wishes to prevent Daevadius from redeeming his standing."
I considered this disturbing nugget of information as doubt and distrust—not to mention old blood—left a sour taste in my mouth. I couldn't be sure she was lying. And why would she? Had another spawn already discovered where we lived even before the ruckus yesterday morning?
"That still doesn't excuse their behavior. They could have killed someone, rampaging through town like Godzilla."
Her irises went from vivid red to arctic frost. "Who do you think you are to challenge my decisions?"
"You need to get off your high horse, Kassallandra. If what you say is true and there's another spawn out there trying to wreck your plans and kill my friends, we have enemies in common. Just think, we could become best frenemies."
She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "We do not call ourselves spawn, you ignorant Castratae. It is a derogatory term. We are Daemos." She sniffed. "Common enemies or not, why would I ally myself with an abomination?"
I almost laughed, the anger evaporating and turning into outright disbelief at the haughty nerve of this woman. "Abomination? Ouch. Someone's manners are still stuck in third grade."
"You are an abomination, child. Formed from the loins of a cowardly traitor and a human."
I grinned. "Vallaena didn't have an issue talking to me. I guess the women of House Slade are made of stronger stuff."
Kassallandra pursed her rosebud lips, the color in her eyes fading to a muted blue. "If Anae Vallaena found you worthy to speak with, then I shall make an allowance as well."
I already knew women were crazy, but good lord! Spawn women had enough crazy to make other women look sane.
The sound of people yelling and crashing through underbrush caught my ears. The hellhounds' ears were already angled that way, their bright yellow eyes alert. We didn't have long before the police showed up. If they'd had questions before, I couldn't imagine what they'd ask upon seeing my unscathed body after playing demolition derby with a ten-ton garbage truck.
Malkesh whined and looked toward a tree about a hundred feet away.
"Elyssa Borathen, show yourself," Kassallandra exclaimed.
Elyssa slid into view, quiet as a ninja. "Let him go," she said, her voice tight with apprehension.
I wondered how long she'd been hiding there. A chill ran down my back. She would slice my nanner off if she'd seen the kiss Nightliss had given me.
"I am not holding him against his will," Kassallandra replied.
"Oh really?" I said. "So your lapdogs are just sitting around, waiting to be petted?"
Kassallandra arched an imperious eyebrow. "The police are nearing. I suggest we retreat to a better place for discussion."
"Discussion?" I said, the pitch of my voice jumping up an octave. "I don't call it 'discussion' when you're going all grade school on me with the name calling. Haven't you ever heard you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar?"
Her eyes narrowed, though the corner of her mouth lifted ever so slightly. Probably not quite a smile, but close enough.
I glanced in the direction of the voices. "Better make up your mind fast, Kassallandra, 'cause I'm not going anywhere with someone who's being ugly to me."
She took in a deep breath. "Fine. I—I apologize for my harsh words."
I cupped a hand to my ear. "Wait a minute, what was that? I didn't quite hear."
She pressed her lips into thin lines, took a deep breath and said, "I apologize for calling you an abomination." Malkesh pressed his great head to her side and whined. Man, apologizing had to really hurt for a stuck-up snit like her.
"You promise to be nice?"
"Really now, the police are—"
I raised my voice. "Kassallandra. Do you promise to be nice, or should I go away and leave you all by your lonesome?"
She bared her pearly whites and grunted in a most unladylike way before saying, "Yes. I will endeavor to be nice."
I grinned and took a step toward her. Malkesh snarled so I took a hasty step back. "See now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
"May we go now?" she said, looking through the dense pine trees toward the sound of encroaching people.
I glanced at the gray-suited remains of the golems, dissolving into gray sludge and soaking into the ground. I wondered if the stuff was biodegradable. "Yeah, let's go." I motioned at Kassallandra. "Lead the way." I took one last look at the chaotic scene: the slime-filled gray suits, the overturned garbage truck, and the torn earth. I almost felt sorry for the detectives who had to figure this mess out.
Kassallandra motioned us to follow. "My car is back this way."
"I'm not blindly hopping into your car," I said. "If you want to talk, we'll meet somewhere else. Somewhere very public."
"You have no reason to trust me, but I give you my word I will do nothing to harm you, and you can leave whenever you wish."
"I don't know you, Kassallandra. How do I know your word is worth anything?"
Her irises darkened to a deep red and her gaze focused into a glare. It seemed to cost her something to hold her tongue as a war burned behind her eyes. I wondered if she was counting to ten or about to order Malkesh to bite my leg. Her glare faded and softened, and a single, soft word emerged from her lovely lips: "Please."
There was something powerful about that word, especially coming from her. This was not a woman who said "please" often, if at all. My ability to read women wasn't that great, but it had only taken me a minute to classify Kassallandra as a world-class diva who expected everyone to bow to her whims. After everything I'd been through over the past few days, I wasn't about to kneel to anyone, much less her.
I glanced at Elyssa and could tell she was thinking the same thing, from the thoughtful look in her eyes.
"Your word," I said.
Kassallandra nodded. "You have it."
Elyssa nodded. "She's being honest."
"Fine." I motioned onward. "Lead the way."
Malkesh growled. The other hounds' ears swiveled ahead, their noses testing the air. Kassallandra looked at Malkesh and her eyes grew wide. "More golems ahead and to the sides, closing in fast."
I looked back. "We'll have to chance it with the police then." The prospect didn't excite me. A new scenario, however, filled me with dread. What if the gray men attacked the police?
"No. There is a better way." She pulled something from her pocket, simultaneously motioning Malkesh toward a flat spot of pine-covered forest floor. The dog raced forward and pawed the pine needles and leaves away until only bare earth remained in a ten-foot radius.
"What is that?" I asked, as she placed what looked like a curved black earring onto the bare ground.
The redhead motioned us into the large circle, pressed a thumb to the edge, and whispered a few words. I heard the hum as the circle closed and felt the magic as it pressed upon us in its tight confinement.
"You can do magic?" I asked.
"Almost anyone can do simple magic," she said.
The voices of pursuers grew louder. I angled my head and tried to pinpoint their distance. I heard the rustling of pine straw and bushes from countless other directions as golems raced toward our position. I couldn't see them yet, but they were in a hurry. Malkesh, ears already perked and angled toward the sounds, looked at me with yellow eyes seeming to search my own.
Not far, said a deep voice in my head.
I jumped back. "Who the hell said that?" I looked at the hound but it was staring off into the distance toward the distant noise of rustling bushes and trampled leaves.
"Said what?" asked Elyssa.
"Uh, someone said something in my head."
Kassallandra glared at the massive hound and then back to me, her fiery eyes filled with confusion. "They are close, but I am ready." She shouted a single word and pointed at the arch. It sprang upward and outward until it was nearly the width of the circle and a few feet taller than me.
"Is that an Obsidian Arch?" I asked.
She nodded. "It is very much like one."
The center of the arch crackled and hummed, flickering between black, white, and cloudy gray.
"Isn't this dangerous?" Elyssa asked as the humming grew louder. "What about the cracks in reality forming around this thing before the gateway is open? We could end up in the Gloom."
"Safety is not my top priority at the moment," Kassallandra said. She pointed up a nearby rise as a figure raced over it and came for us.
My eyes stretched wide as a small army of golems burst over the hill and sprinted toward us.
"I would usually take my time with such a dangerous endeavor, but we have no time," Kassallandra said, raising her voice over the throbbing hum from the arch.
The center of the arch flickered and the grayness clarified, showing rocky granite walls beyond.
"Where is that?" I asked.
"Thunder Rock."
I stiffened. "Why the hell are we going there?"
"We have no choice. We must go, now!"
I looked into Elyssa's wide eyes. "Maybe we can outrun those things."
Elyssa shook her head. Glanced up the hill. "No, she's right." Her black hair whipped in the wind coming from the arch. "We don't have a choice."