"Yes. Didn't you know?" She looked shocked for a moment, then waved at someone behind me and beamed. "Carlos! Do I not look muy bonita chica in this? Yes? I knew you would like it. That is Carlos," she said, turning back to me. "He enjoys much my look Innocent Eyes."

"As do we all, Tiffany, but if you don't mind, can you tell me where you heard the rumor that I was offing Guardians who turned me down?"

"Offing?"

"Killing. Murdering."

"Offing," she said, testing the word carefully. "It is good to learn new things. You will tell me more words I do not.know, and I, in turn, will teach you how to be an ice princess, and if you study hard, I will teach you Shy Eyes."

Rene pulled up halfway down the drive behind a line of vehicles, giving a little toot on the horn. I waved to let him know I saw him. "I'll teach you as much slang as you like, but first, please, who told you about me summoning bad spirits?"

Her head tipped to the side as she considered me. "You have sad eyes. You should smile more and share it with peoples. It will make you happier."

I counted to ten, I really did, but I wasn't any less frustrated by the time I got there. I spoke through clenched teeth, enunciating each word carefully. "Who ... told ... you ... I... was ... killing ... Guardians?"

"That woman with the silent husband."

"Silent. . . you mean Hank the oracle?"

She nodded.

Marvabelle. I should have known. For some reason, she'd had it in for me since the day Moa's body was discovered.

Rene demanded on the ride out to the vet clinic to be told what it was we had been discussing so seriously, and after receiving a detailed summary of Tiffany's virgin duties the previous evening, I told him the latest of what had happened with Monish, Nora, and the dragons.

"There is much to think over, no?" he asked as he pulled into the clinic parking lot. "But one thing is obvious—you must do all you can to make the incubus attacks stop."

"I wish I could," I said a little forlornly. "I wish I knew what it was that I am supposedly doing that's bringing them up. I just don't see how I can possibly be responsible."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence, and Maybe it is what you call fate?"

"Fate," I snorted disgustedly, having had my fill of that idea. "What has fate to do with anything?"

"You are here," he said, getting out of the taxi as Tiffany and I slid out of the backseat. His eyes were serious, his face grim,

"You're saying I'm causing these attacks just because I'm here?" I asked, getting more indignant by the moment. First people accuse me of attacking the Guardians, and now Rene was implying I was the Otherworld equivalent of Typhoid Mary? "You're saying it's something like that thing with Paolo—because he says it, it becomes true, thus because I'm here, the incubi are attacking?"

"No," he answered slowly, his voice gentle. "I am thinking that perhaps you are here because you are the only one who can stop what is happening."

My indignation melted away at what he was saying. "Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

"I thought you hadn't." he said, turning and giving me a gentle push toward the vet clinic. "Now let us retrieve Jim, and then we will discuss the situation more, yes?"

"Yes. And thank you, Rene, for being so patient with me. I didn't mean to snap at you, but it's been a hell of a last few days."

"You are tired," he said smoothly, walking with us to the clinic's reception area. "And also, you are not French. Allowances must be made."

Jim received a clean bill of health from the vet, a man who lectured me, via Tiffany, about the follies of leaving my dog alone to eat poisonous plants. He held up a bit of greenstuff extracted from the deer food that Rene had scooped up at the feeding station, explaining that it was Chinese yew, a tree that deer loved but that was deadly poisonous to dogs.

I bore his lecture with all due humility, knowing there was no way I could explain the true situation. By the time I had thanked the man profusely for saving Jim's life and paid the hefty bill, I was more than a little anxious to get Jim out of there. The demon had never been one to hold its tongue for long, and I had not had the wits about me when we brought it in the day before to whisper a command of silence in its furry little ear. Since no one looked freaked, I assumed that thus far Jim hadn't said a word, but I knew it was pushing my luck to expect that it could hold out much longer.

And I really didn't want to have to explain why my dog not only randomly ate deer food but also swore like a sailor and was prone to risque" jokes. There was only so much a girl could deal with at any one time.

Chapter 22

I was right. The second the door to the vet clinic closed, Jim burst into garrulous, if a bit uncontrolled, speech. "Fires of Abaddon, Aisling, could you have left me there any longer? What an awful place! It was a nightmare! It was horrible! They stuck tubes in my front Legs and kept shoving thermometers where the sun don't shine, and worst of all, they wouldn't feed me anything but some sort of horrible watery gruel! Isn't that animal cruelty? Isn't that against some sort of international prisoner law? Is the Geneva convention no longer honored? Just look at the spot they stuck the IV in—does it look infected to you?"

I got on my knees right there in the middle of the parking lot and hugged Jim, burying my face in its thick black fur, so happy to see the demon hale and hearty that my eyes went watery. "Dammit, Jim, I'm a Guardian, not a doctor. It's good to see you up and about. We'd thought we'd lost you there for a little bit."

"You know I can't die." Jim's voice was a bit gruff, but I knew it was happy to see us, too, because it gave my neck a surreptitious slurp.

"Yes, but I also know how much you like this furry form." I gave its ears a rub, smiling when it groaned with pleasure and leaned into my hand. "We have a new rule, demon—no eating food that I don't give you, OK?"

Jim shook, a cloud of black hair falling to the ground. "You'll get no argument from me there. Now, how about a proper breakfast? Something with lots of meat."

I gave the demon one last pat, then escorted it to the car, where Tiffany and Rene were waiting for us. "The vet said only light food for the next day, just to make sure your tummy doesn't get upset. So no meat, but maybe we can find you some plain toast or something light like that. Rene—the wildlife farm."