“It’s me,” I said.
“Oh Felix,” she said, sighing into the phone. “You’re alive.”
“It’s good to hear your voice,” I said. “What of Lace?”
“She’s here, Felix.”
I blew out the breath I’d been holding and placed the SUV into drive. “Joe?” I asked, looking up at the moon in its growing fullness. It was twenty-four hours before the full moon and I was seventeen driving hours away.
“Federal transfer was filed,” she said. “He’ll be moved tomorrow. Squirrel is barely holding the pack together. I’m scared, Felix, they’re going to do something bad if he’s taken. Where have you been?”
“Long story,” I said. A disembodied British voice instructed me to turn right onto the gravel county road.
“Are you driving?” she asked. “Where are you?”
“Virginia,” I said. “Look, I know you have a million questions and you deserve answers to all of them. But right now, I need you to clear out of my house. I don’t think it’s safe.”
“Your house was burned, Felix,” she said. “Maggie barely got out alive. Clarita and I are at Barrios House with Lace.”
“Damn,” I said. “Where’s Maggie now? Is she safe?”
“She won’t come out of raven form, Felix. She’s sitting in a tree across from the house. I think she’s guarding us. What are you into, Felix? Is this still about Rosen’s murder?”
“Rosen, Thanda Williston, Missy Fitzhugh and Fagin,” I said. “It’s all tied together.”
“Missy?” Gabriella grabbed at the name.
“What did you know about Missy’s mother?” I asked.
“She was never on the scene. Robbie and Missy were raised by the dad,” she said and then covered the phone to have a muffled conversation.
“Lace really wants to talk to you. Okay?”
“Felix?” Lace asked warily. “I saw you disappear. I thought you were dead.”
“I’m glad you got out, Lace. I’m sorry. If I’d known that’s what we were getting into, I wouldn’t have taken you,” I said.
“Did Missy make it out?” Lace asked.
“She did, but she’s still in trouble,” I said. “More than I want to talk about on a phone, though.”
“Understood. I found your keys. You must have dropped them,” she said.
“You did?” I asked. She was talking in code and her message was delivered. I’d lost my cell phone and my wallet to the dragon, but my key ring had made it through with me to Kaelstan just fine. I played along. “Thanks for picking them up. Lace. I’m sure you know this, but it’s best you keep a low profile. Right?”
“Story of my life,” she said and handed the phone back to Gabriella.
“When will you be back?” Gabriella asked.
“GPS says we’ll be in by four this afternoon if we drive straight through. How bad is the house?”
“Bad,” Gabriella said. “Fire took everything.”
“Lab?” I asked.
“The stairs leading down to it are filled with water from the fire trucks,” she said.
“Shit. What about Gester?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t seen him. Come home, Felix. We need you.”
“I love you, Gabriella. I’m on my way.”
“You sound distressed, Master,” Flick said as I put the phone down beside me.
“Felix,” I corrected, distracted by all I’d learned. I was thrilled Lace had made it out and that she’d recovered the Key. But Joe was about to be taken into Federal custody where he’d never be heard from again and someone had burned down my house. The loss of my spell books was catastrophic and it would only be made worse if Gester had been set free. I found I wasn’t nearly as upset about the loss of the gothic old mansion as I might have expected. The three-story monstrosity was better suited to a batty old recluse from a Scooby Doo cartoon than it was to my purposes. That said, a place to live was worth something.
I felt a warm hand slide onto my knee. I turned and saw Flick’s face in the glow of the GPS navigator in the SUV’s dash. He was staring at me.
“You don’t act like I would expect demon-kind to act, Flick.”
“Not all that live in Kaelstan are as the Ghrelin and greater demons,” he said. “We are guarded in our care for each other, as it is a weakness that can be exploited, but we care all the same. What troubles you? I would have thought you would be happy to return home.”
I reached over and playfully tugged on one of his horns. “I am. We’ll need to get you a hat or something, though. You still back there, Naminee?”
“I am,” she replied.
“I bet you didn’t think you’d be escorting a demon around tonight, did you?”
“You speak truth.”
“Any chance you’ll want to share driving? I want to drive straight through.”
“The demon will need to be restrained.”
“When daylight breaks, we’re going to need a way to cover his head or we’ll get an awful lot of attention at the toll plazas.”
“We will purchase appropriate attire when we stop for refueling,” she said.
The trip, while long, was uneventful. Naminee was guarded, but professional, and she even waved goodbye as she turned around in the muddied circular drive that stood in front of the ruined Tenebrius Manerium. The fire had spread to the garage and both my dad’s classic 1972 Chevy Suburban and my deceased brother’s Indian motorcycle stood as burned-out hulks. Ironically, my own classic - by age only - Ford pickup stood unblemished in the wooded lot to the north, its bed partially loaded with firewood.
“Someone approaches,” Flick warned and stepped behind me. I turned. Gabriella’s gray sedan had turned down the drive.
“That’s Gabriella and Lace,” I said.
Flick’s hand tentatively reached out and I wrapped my hand around his.
“What if they don’t like me?” he whispered as Gabriella and Lace stepped from the car and regarded us. While I’d told Gabriella of Flick’s presence once we’d gotten on a long stretch of highway, I hadn’t explained that he was demon-kind. I had, however, emphasized that he’d been tortured by his previous master. In hindsight, it was a little manipulative of me to tap into Gabriella’s protective instincts, especially since she knew very well what torture a Ghrelin was capable of.
“You poor child.” Gabriella rushed across the distance between us and pulled Flick from behind my back and into a hug. The smell of sandalwood accompanied her. “Oh.” She pulled back as the impact of Flick’s heritage became evident. She looked up at me questioningly.
“Peutering,” I said, raising my shoulders. “He’s worried you won’t like him.”
“Are you a demon?” Gabriella placed her hand beneath his chin so his yellow cat eyes met her own.
“I am demon-kind,” he said. “We are not allowed to refer to ourselves as demons as we have no power beyond what our masters allow.”
“Who is your master?” Gabriella asked.
Flick looked up at me uncomfortably. “Felix Slade is my master.”
Gabriella gave me a withering look. “What?”
“Oh no. It is not bad,” he said, shifting to female form. “Felix Slade is kind and rescued me from Master Neferante.”
I winced.
“You’re a woman?” Gabriella asked, her voice rising.
Flick ducked behind my back, placing distance between herself and Gabriella.
“Flick, don’t hide. Gabriella won’t hurt you. She is just surprised you are able to shift your form.” I pulled Flick around and removed the stocking hat that I’d purchased at a gas station, revealing horns and bumpy skull. I’d always been a rip-the-bandage-off-quickly type and we had more important items to get to.
“Flick shifts to female form when he gets nervous,” I said. “She does not consider herself to be male or female.”
“It’s a lot to take in,” Gabriella said, calming visibly. She turned and wrapped her arms around me. “I�
��m glad you’re safe. I was so worried.”
I lifted her and buried my face into her neck as I closed my eyes. And for a few moments, everything was okay.
“What’s going on with Joe?” I asked when I finally set her down.
“Feds picked him up an hour ago,” she said.
“Anderson?” I asked.
Dana Anderson was an FBI agent we’d worked with before. She was part of a small group within the agency that tried to protect the world from rogue, supernatural elements.
“She was there,” Gabriella said. “His pack is ready to go ballistic. Squirrel is barely holding them together. It’s a bad situation.”
I opened my phone and punched in Dana’s number. While I didn’t trust the agency to do the right thing by supernaturals, I felt Anderson was a quality person.
“Who is this?” Anderson’s voice asked after the third ring.
“Slade,” I replied. “You’re taking an innocent man.”
“He’s not a man,” she replied. “And he’s a danger to everyone he’s around, you know that.”
“Let him go, Dana,” I said. “He won’t hurt anyone. He’s been managing his condition.”
“He’ll change in six hours,” she said. “We can’t take that risk.”
“Are you willing to lock up every supernatural?”
“It’s not about what I want,” she said. “When a lycan enters the system, it’s up to us to deal with it. You know that.”
“I’ll trade Gester for Joe,” I said.
“You have the demon?”
“Can you hold him?” I asked.
“Let me make a call,” she said and hung up.
“What are you doing, Felix?” Gabriella asked. “You can’t give the FBI access to a demon. He’ll escape.”
“Good chance,” I said. “But I’m not going to let them stuff Joe into a dark hole. Can you negotiate something that gets him clear of the charges?”
“I’d need to get the DA involved. Immunity would do it,” she said. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
“I have no desire to hold a demon in my basement. It almost killed me once,” I said.
“Your arm,” Gabriella said, grabbing my right hand. “How did you remove the stone?”
“With help from a new friend,” I said. “But that’s a much longer story. Look. I need to tell you something important. It might change how you think of me, but I can’t hold onto it. You’re too important.”
Gabriella dropped my hand. “Tell me, Felix. What have you done?”
I sighed. I knew I needed to stop telling people how they were going to feel before I had a chance to have my say. I could read distrust on Gabriella’s face as she started to close herself off.
“I learned more about who I am, Gabriella,” I said. “I met two very powerful wizards. One saw through me as he helped me with my stone skin. He told me something. It’s… I… I don’t want things to change between us. I’m afraid I’ll lose you.”
“You think I’ll reject you because of who you are?”
“I have demon blood, Gabriella,” I said. “It’s why my mother hid me.”
“You’re saying you’re a demon?” she asked, stepping back.
“Part of me, yes,” I said.
“How is that possible?”
“My mother is in league with the demigoddess, Adajania.” I let the name sink in. It was the same name on the legal firm that had tried to defend Missy Fitzhugh before she’d disappeared from jail.
“This has something to do with Missy?”
“Missy has demon blood too,” I said. “Somehow the Key, Missy, and I are all tied up in this thing. I think it’s why Mom abandoned me when I was little. She was trying to hide me from Adajania.”
“It still doesn’t explain how you have demon blood.”
“This wizard I met was pretty certain, and you’ve seen my aura. Remember the first time the Katty sisters read it? I’m sure that’s what they saw. I think Adajania made Mom lie with a demon.”
“Wait,” Gabriella said. “That’s your ‘news’?” I’d never seen her use air quotes before and it felt like she was doing it derisively as she etched them in the air dramatically.
“You want me to say it?” I asked. “I’m a demon, Gabriella. I have fouled blood.”
“You’re ridiculous,” she said.
“Look at me. Really look. It’s all there.”
“Think about what you’re saying, Felix. Should I attempt to destroy Flick because he is demon-kind?” Gabriella asked, catching Flick’s hand before he could retreat behind me.
“Of course not,” I said. “It’s not your nature.”
“Can you not see how this might apply to someone I love?”
“I had to give you the chance, Gabriella. You had to know.”
“Now I know and we have bigger problems to deal with,” she said. “I find it odd that you’re more concerned about what I think of you than the loss of your home.”
“House hasn’t even made my top five,” I said.
“Dukats says Fagin’s BMW was seen pulling away from your property right before the fire was reported. It was caught on one of your neighbor’s porch cameras.”
“That follows,” I said. “He works for Adajania. I bet he was looking for the Key. I need to find out what happened to Gester.”
“There’s a lot of debris in the way,” she said. “The house collapsed on the stairs.”
The acrid smell of charred debris intensified as we approached. Nearby trees had been scorched and several showed the devastating injury of trunks that had been enveloped by flames. Firefighters must have showed up quickly, as they had kept the fire from jumping to other trees on the heavily wooded property.
Maggie soared to a tree, perched and looked down at us. I waved. While I would very much have liked to know what frightened her so, I would let her work it out in her own time.
“Sorry about your house,” Lace said as we picked our way through the rubble. It hadn’t escaped me that she’d waited for Flick to wander off before getting out of the car.
“Sorry I dragged you into the middle of this," I said. "If I’d known how this was going to turn out, I wouldn’t have taken you to Fagin’s warehouse.”
“Missy needed your help. I know what that feels like.” Surreptitiously, Lace pulled a piece of cloth from her purse and handed it to me. I opened it and recognized the artifact that had been so heavily sought after. I quickly re-wrapped it and stuck it into the ill-fitting coat Naminee had purchased for me.
“I thought Adajania recovered the Key when I dropped it,” I said.
“She was angry when she couldn’t find it. I think she thought you took it with you, but I grabbed it in the chaos,” Lace said. “I can tell you that Fagin was lucky to get out of there alive. She was intensely angry.”
We approached the house, walking through the ash of the recently restored breezeway. “Fagin really did a thorough job of it,” I said.
“Fire department said there could be hot spots,” Gabriella said. “They said no one should be walking around until they declare it safe.”
"How about you and Lace go back to Barrios house and give Squirrel a call? It might help settle the pack down if they think Joe will get out," I said.
“What are you going to do?”
“See what’s happened to Gester.”
“Be careful.”
“Master has already defeated two Ghrelin,” Flick said, rejoining us, her voice full of pride. “The one you refer to as Gester is no match for him.”
“Is this true?” Gabriella asked.
“It's complex. I promise I’ll tell you everything.” I leaned in to kiss her. She didn’t hesitate as she returned my embrace and kissed me passionately. When she let go I felt a little dazed at her attention.
“What?” she asked. “Haven’t you heard? Chicks dig bad boys.”
Chapter 20
Fouled
"Why did you send her away?" Flick asked
as I stepped over the sill plate carefully. The fire had burned extremely hot and very little of the house was recognizable in the waning light of the sun.
"If Gester is loose, I don't want her anywhere near," I said. "He tortured her and I wouldn't forgive myself if it happened again." I leaned down and pulled the mud-room wizard's lock from the ashes. I brushed it off, revealing a beautifully engraved plate that had previously been covered by the wooden door.
"But you defeated Neferante."
"I'm stronger on Kaelstan than I am here," I said. "And the Ghrelin is considerably more powerful on earth. Ironic, right?"
"Such is well known among demons. I would have thought you would also be stronger here," he said, referring to my dual lineage.
"I suppose I could be," I said. "Unlike Neferante and Gester, I haven't had centuries to hone my magic."
"There must be more you can do," he said. "You were very powerful on Kaelstan."
"Here." I'd found the top of the stone stairs, leading down to the basement. The walls had caved into the stairwell from above and it didn't seem likely we'd be able to enter without heavy equipment.
I knelt next to a scorched steel I-beam that lay over the remains of the door.
"What are you looking for?" Flick asked, joining me.
"I wanted to see if we could get down the stairs, but the way is blocked," I said. "There was a door here, with a magical lock like the one I picked up before. We’re not moving this beam without a tractor, though."
"It is no trouble," Flick said. He placed his hands on the I-beam and braced his feet. The beam complained loudly as he pushed it aside.
"How did you do that?" I asked.
"I am demon-kind. My strength is increased in your world," Flick said. "Would you have me clear the stairway?"
Several tons of rubble lay in the stairwell and even with Flick’s strength, it would take forever. "No, there's another way. Hope you don't get claustrophobic."
"I do not."
I led Flick across the ruined family room and into the back yard where the greenhouse still stood. The exterior wall on the back of the house had fallen outward. Several stone blocks had crashed into the greenhouse and my heart sank at the loss of tender plants in this brutal cold. Up until this moment, I'd held it together, temporarily ignoring the loss of my home. The thought of losing my plants, however, was a tough blow. I couldn’t have been more shocked when I pulled open the door and was met with a wave of warm, humid air.
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