by Faith Hunter
And If the Fangheads Kill Them? Jane goes to the café owned by Molly and her sisters, and find Amelia and Regan, the two humans in the bunch, working. Jane warns the two women to watch out for the werewolves who may be attempting to turn witches, and they respond by pulling out a shotgun and two handguns, all loaded with silver. Jane opts to not tell Regan and Amelia about the situation with the rest of the sisters for now. When leaving, Jane gets a call from Rick, asking her to join him at a local restaurant. When she arrives, Jane scents werewolves but can tell they left a while ago. Local law enforcement, whose chief of police is not particularly fond of Jane, joins her and Rick at their table, and Rick tells them they have permission to watch the security footage. Jane recognizes Fire Truck, one of the werewolves she tangled with in New Orleans, and the second one is the other she left for the cops. The chief worries about Rick’s status after having been tortured by the werewolves, but Jane assures him that the Mercy Blade took care of the werewolf taint. Jane tells the police chief to call her if his officers spot the werewolves, and she will call the vamps to come and take care of them. Jane goes back to the hotel and finds a spot on the map that hasn’t been searched yet. Grabbing her go-bag, Jane heads to an area down the mountain from Molly’s to shift. Beast surprises Jane by opening the door of the SUV with her paws, to put away Jane’s blanket and necklace and to get to the meat Jane forgot to leave outside. Beast finds the scent of the wolves, and the site of a recent deer kill. The Beast scents Molly and Angelina.
Molly Can Kill Cow? Beast checks the perimeter of Molly’s house, ensuring that all are safe and snug inside. Satisfied, she once again follows the werewolf scent, going by Molly’s sisters’ houses, all protected by wards, smells the grindy, and Evangelina. Ending up at a big house, which Jane guesses may be the Everhart family home, Beast/Jane sees Evangelina come outside, naked, with a bowl, full of blood that smells odd, and the blood diamond. Jane guesses that the blood is spelled. Beast sneaks into the house while Evangelina is engaged in her ritual, and finds a room upstairs with a dead body in a rug, the pictures from the vamp-witches that Jane had given Evangelina to destroy, a summoning circle with a creature Jane fears is a demon, and a room with two werewolves in cages—the same two who have been on the rampage. The werewolves have cuts that haven’t healed, and Beast also smells Lincoln Shaddock. Beast sneaks away while Evangelina is now sleeping, and Jane says she needs to research demons.
Want to Play? Back at the hotel Jane calls Evan with her new information, and he gruffly tells Jane to stay out of it. Jane then does some research on demons, trying to figure out how everything ties together and what Evangelina may be trying to accomplish. While asleep, Jane has a very nice dream about Rick joining her in her bed. When she wakes up, she discovers she isn’t dreaming. Rick wants to “play,” though he can’t have intercourse because he would pass on the were-taint. After a round of fun, Jane notices the Rick’s cat tattoos are imbued with magic, and he explains how the witch Loriann was forced to use the magic (story told in “Cat Tats”) by an unbalanced vampire. Jane says that may be why he has been unable to shift, and Rick replies that he agrees, and he is worried that if he does, he will be bound into cat form. Later, Kemnebi calls and asks if Jane would like him to go along to the grindy’s lair, which Jane believes she has located. While getting ready for the hunt, Jane sees she has received three messages from Angelina but does not check them, as Evan told her to stay out of the situation. Rick arrives with Kem-cat, and he and Beast (within Jane) do not care for each other but manage to not get into another scuffle. When they arrive at the spot they are looking for, they smell rotten dead meat and old blood.
Get Your Own Damn Shoes: Two miles later the trio find themselves at a cave, inside which they discover the grindy and several babies, and the protective mother gets upset enough that they all back off. Outside, Kem-cat takes off to hunt, and Jane and Rick wait for him to return. When the big cat comes back, he is dragging a bear carcass with him, which he takes into the cave. Jane is surprised at Kem-cat offering the grindy assistance, given that he is so angry with it, but Rick replies that he believes there is some sort of metaphysical connection between the two species. When Kemnebi returns in human form, he says he had no idea the grindy was even female, let alone pregnant. When he tries to order Rick around, Jane tells Kemnebi that Rick is not his slave.
Back at the hotel, Lincoln is once again a no-show. Jane gets a call from Bruiser, who tells her she needs to go and help out at Lincoln’s home, and explains to her how her rash behavior of claiming she is Leo’s Enforcer could be a problem. Adelaide then calls, telling Jane that someone let out the chained scions, who attacked Sarah, a young human woman. Jane opens her door to leave, and Grégoire is there, with Brandon and Brian, and he has a gift from Leo—a replacement for Jane’s silver mesh collar that was destroyed by the werewolves in New Orleans—silver, which Grégoire, like Leo, is able to touch. After an uncomfortable interchange, during which Grégoire demonstrates his power, he also reminds Jane that she has not yet brought him the witch who spelled Lincoln. Jane wonders to herself why Grégoire is not MOC in New Orleans, and how she is going to get out of presenting Evangelina to him.
Things Had Just FUBARed: Jane arrives at Lincoln’s to find Sheriff Grizzard and another officer, Sheriff Scoggins of Madison County, both there to help. Jane gives them both blades to use, and they all go inside. Jane explains that she will not kill any of the young vamps if Sarah is able to be turned and does not die. She wants the vamps immobilized with stakes in their stomachs, also using silver mesh nets to capture them. A flash grenade gets thrown in first to stun them, and then the melee begins. Jane gets badly injured in one leg but plans to shift soon and heal. Adelaide figures out that once scion got away—Thomas, who is unfortunately a Naturaleza, one who believes that vampires have the right to hunt and kill humans. Leo calls almost immediately, which Jane assumes means he has cameras there, and after taunting her over the Enforcer situation, he tells her that she has his permission to execute Thomas, though he is not technically a rogue, an act permitted under the Vampira Carta.
You Are Dead Meat: While driving, Jane calls Reach to ask him to look up everything he can find on Thomas Stevenson, and after she hangs up she gets a call from Angelina from Molly’s phone. The little girl says her parents are sleeping and can’t be woken up, and she and Little Evan both feel bad. Jane says she will get there as quickly as she can. Keeping Angie talking, Jane learns that Molly’s earrings, a gift from Evangelina, are the spelled items causing trouble, and Angie says she knows not to touch them, because her angel told her not to. Jane tells Angie to get Little Evan and wait in the van for her to arrive. After trying to reach Molly’s sisters by phone, she is unable to get through to anyone until she tries the two humans, Amelia and Regan. After she explains briefly what is going on, Regan and Amelia agree to meet Jane at the house. Though she has no powers of her own, Regan believes she can remove the spell, set with blood, by using some of Molly’s blood again to counteract it. While waiting for the spell removal to take effect, Jane holds Angie and tells her that never again will she put off listening to her messages or answering her calls. When they are awake, Evan asks Jane to tell Molly and the other two sisters everything, and Evan confirms that Evangelina is indeed involved with demons.
Bloody, Damaged Jeans and Nefarious Intentions: Molly and Evan ask Jane to take pictures of the demon and the ward, cautioning her to stay well away from it while doing so. Jane agrees to do as they ask, but she shifts first to heal her leg wound. While eating a big post-shift breakfast, Jane gets a call from Bruiser, learning that Evangelina had been banished from the witch/vamp parley talks in New Orleans when Leo learned that she had been working with the werewolves (information gathered from a captive werewolf that no one had bothered to tell Jane about, a plan put in action with the help of Derek).
When arriving at Evangelina’s house, Jane briefly contemplates injuring Evangelina and then taking her to Grégoire, but while she
is considering it, the witch comes outside, gets in her car, and leaves. When she goes up to the house, Jane feels a strong compulsion to enter. Realizing that she is feeling the effects of a spell, Jane goes back to her vehicle to get the scarf with Evangelina’s hair in it, hoping to counteract the spell. This approach works, and Jane makes her way downstairs, where she finds the demon much more clearly materialized, and looking like a bird/human hybrid. The demon has been feeding on the two werewolves (in human form) while they are still alive, now inside the ward too. Jane makes the mistake of talking to the demon, who seems to know an awful lot about her—things she does not remember herself. With Beast’s help, Jane backs away to a safe distance. Before she leaves the room, Jane hears Lincoln’s voice, asking her to tell Leo he is sorry, that when the moon is full Evangelina plans to sacrifice him, bind the demon, and come after Leo. Lincoln does not know why, but has heard the witch say “Shiloh.” Knowing she needs help but not knowing which colleagues she can really trust, Jane heads back to the hotel.
After a call to Aggie One Feather about the demon, who says she will consult with her mother, and perusing her Bible for comfort and inspiration, Jane looks at the files Reach sent her on Evangelina. The witch’s daughter, Shiloh, ran away at age fifteen, to New Orleans, and was last seen being pulled into a car, presumably killed by the witch-vamps. Jane figures that Evangelina holds Leo responsible, and that the missing husband, Marvin, who hasn’t been heard from in years, may be the body in the carpet Beast discovered in the house. Jane sends Evan the information about Shiloh, leaving out her suspicions about Marvin for the time being.
Eat Humans When They Go to the Dark Side: Jane calls Bruiser, and learns that it was him (under a spell, Jane thinks) who suggested that Lincoln’s request for MOC status should be entertained, all part of Evangelina’s plan to kill Leo. Molly calls and asks Jane to meet her and her witch sisters at Evangelina’s house, as she will be out all afternoon teaching a cooking class. The sisters get the spell around the house down and then go downstairs with Jane. The demon has killed the smaller werewolf, and when the sisters try to bind it, the demon breaks the circle in an effort to get out. after making them all leave, Jane shifts into Beast, who uses some of Lincoln’s blood (he is laid out on the floor) to repair the fissure in the circle. Jane wonders how Beast knew what to do to close the circle back up when she herself did not, and why Beast wasn’t pulled into the circle that affects the two-natured. When Beast goes outside, Jane’s identity as a skinwalker gets revealed to the sisters. When they all hear a car, Molly states that Evangelina likely felt the disruption of the garden circle and is coming home early.
If He Moves, You Can Eat Him: Beast watches as Evangelina battles with her sisters who are pulling power and energy from the environment around them. Carmen gets burned and Liz is pinned by a boulder. Beast jumps on Evangelina, taking her down with her jaws on her throat, wanting to kill. Jane stops Beast from killing. Angelina removes the blood diamond from Evangelina’s neck, tells Beast that the witch is now sleeping. Beast and two other sisters remove the stone from Liz, and Beast helps Angelina understand that she can use the blood diamond to help heal Carmen.
Soon Evan arrives, taking Evangelina into the house, and going downstairs with Beast to look at the demon. They find Lincoln chained but outside the circle. Evan saws off the chain, with an admonition not to bite him, and when Lincoln agrees, he shares some information. Though Evangelina wants to use the demon, it has plans for her—wishing to possess a two-natured being that he can control by killing off one of the two parts. Neither weres nor humans meet the demon’s needs, and vamps are as dead to it. So it wants a witch. When Evan says that they need to find a way to bind and banish the demon, Angie, who sneaked downstairs, tells her father that he should ask her angel. Evan takes Angie upstairs to talk and tells Beast to keep an eye on Lincoln.
Sharing the Moon-Call: Beast listens in on the discussion upstairs, when Angie is asked about her angel. She says his name is Hayyel, and that he used to be Jane’s until she became Angie’s godmother. Angie tells her parents how they can bind the demon. Molly and Evan discuss how they will get enough power going, and know they have to use their children also. After sunset when Jane reemerges, Rick and Kemnebi arrive at the house, and when Evan sees Rick’s cat tats glowing, he tells Rick they need to talk later. Aggie One Feather calls. The name of the demon is Kalona Ayeliski, the Raven Mocker, and it is actually a sort of demon/witch/shape-shifter hybrid that can’t be killed. The demon does not like having his name known or spoken aloud. Everyone gathers in the basement, and those not taking part in the ceremony still donate blood to the cause. When Evan gets Jane’s and says the demon’s name, it screams.
Threw Her Over the Railing: As the witches begin chanting, then saying the angel’s name, Lincoln runs out of the room. A big flash of light hits the hedge-of-thorns spell over the circle and a winged being grapples with the demon. Molly throws the blood over the circle, saying the binding words, and suddenly the light disappears. The circle, the angel, the demon, the dead werewolf are all gone. The other werewolf is now a big white wolf, and Kemnebi is in his cat form, yet different, with no spots visible. Rick is almost shifting, only restrained by his tats. It seems all of the two-natured were affected by what happened, except for Jane, who feels empty, and when she calls to Beast, she gets no response. Hearing a door slam, Jane races upstairs to find Evangelina gone, Pickersgill, Lincoln’s second, staked but alive, and the blood diamond gone once again. Pickersgill says Lincoln staked him and went with Evangelina. Molly thinks that Evangelina disrupted the spell before the binding completed. Jane still can’t get an answer from Beast, and mourns her loss.
Jane blames herself for Evangelina once again getting the blood diamond. Deciding she can make use of her time by going after Stevenson, the escaped Naturaleza scion, Jane tracks down some of his properties. She finally decides the most likely place is one difficult to sneak up on, unless doing so by water. Jane calls the paddlers, Dave and Mike, to take her to Stevenson’s house, which Reach had sent a diagram of. Blasting her way through a big window in the front room, realizing she has some Beast-like strength though she still can’t hear her cat, Jane finds Stevenson, upstairs, covered with the pinkish tinge of a spell, with a teenaged girl, whom he casually throws over the side.
I Was So Going to Hell: Jane saves the girl from further injury, and fights with Stevenson, winning in the end, though he does injure her. After checking on the girl, who is not as badly hurt as Jane first feared, she calls Bruiser, telling him what happened, and then she blacks out. When Jane comes to, Dave and Mike are there, and they get her ready for the helicopter that picks her up. Waking in her hotel room, Jane finds Grégoire very intimately healing her wounds. After more sleep, including a Beast memory, Jane wakes and finds Grégoire naked in her bed, just as she is. The elegant vamp assures her that he did not drink from her, she is not his Enforcer, and they did not have sex. Shortly thereafter Jane gets a panicked call from Rick, with Kemnebi’s voice in the background, taunting Rick about not being able to shift. Jane gets use of the helicopter, and Grégoire and the twins drop her off at Rick and Kemnebi’s campsite. Jane shoots Kemnebi in the knee and puts silver cuffs on him, telling him that if he helps Rick, she’ll dig the bullet out of him so he can shift and heal. A few minutes later, Grégoire, the blood twins, and Evan arrive.
Butchery Disguised as Surgery: Evan plays a song on his flute, and Rick begins to relax. The others pull out a picnic basket and eat. Jane removes the bullet from Kemnebi’s knee and takes off his cuffs, but as soon as he shifts she cuffs one of his legs so he can’t leave. Evan says he believes he has found a way, through song, to counteract the spell woven into Rick’s tats, and he will make him a CD to listen to during the full moon. At one point Jane thinks she hears/feels the sound of claws on stone in her mind, but that is the only inkling of Beast she gets. When Rick thanks Evan for helping him, Evan says that Grégoire paid him a year’s salary to do it, and Jane tells t
he vamp she can’t be bought. Jane wonders about Fire Track, the former werewolf, and his new form, wondering if he’ll stay the way he is now.
After some sleep in the hotel, Jane talks to Molly, who says that haven’t been able to track down Evangelina yet. On a whim, Jane decides to leave a message for the escaped witch, telling her that Leo will be there that night, though he won’t be for three days. Unfortunately Jane finds out right after leaving that message that Leo is in fact in Asheville and wants to see her. Jane talks to Adelaide, who confirms that Lincoln is once again with Evangelina. Derek and Jane have a much-needed though brief conversation, where they come to an agreement that Derek does not have to tell Jane what he did in the service, and she doesn’t have to tell him what she is. Leo and Bruiser arrive, and Leo apologizes to her for not completely understanding about Evangelina and her spells when he banished her. Then Jane sees a pinkish light outside and knows that Evangelina has taken the bait and is here for Leo.
The Blood-Diamond: Jane calls for a lockdown in the hotel, but one of the bellboys runs outside to shout at the protestors, and then gets eaten by a big bird inside a black cloud. Evangelina yells to the protesters that the vamps did it, getting the people riled. Jane tries to get Leo and Grégoire to go to their rooms, but the two vampires want to get into the fray, determined to go after Evangelina. Jane, Derek, and the security team run outside, the latter going after the protestors with beanbag rounds and tranquilizers. Jane goes after the demon, calling upon Hayyel. While enveloped by the black mist, Jane feels as though she is alone in a place where she feels the absence of the world. Through her confusion Jane grabs her gun and shoots into the demon, and a golden eagle appears, and both birds are sucked down into the blood on the ground. Jane realizes she needs to keep the demon away from the blood diamond.