“My sire…” Catching myself, I realized that I’d acted without thinking. And then I remembered the same look on Erin’s face when I came into the room.

“Crap.”

Roman laughed. “Different, isn’t it? But it will fade to a distant thunder, my dear, especially since I didn’t sire you the usual way. It will dissipate faster than you think, though probably not as quickly as you’d desire.” He paused, then added, “But the bond between you and Morio is now broken.”

I gazed at him, feeling something stir in my heart. Not love, but a sense of devotion. Something I’d never felt for Dredge.

I glanced at the clock. “Roman, I have to go…”

He nodded. “I know. We’re done. There shouldn’t be any other aftereffects that I can think of.” Taking my hand, he helped me to my feet. “I wish you a good evening. And I’m sorry about your friend, Andrees. I have a couple of my men looking into this.”

As I headed out of the room, my mind was racing. The evening had been one huge unexpected whirlwind, but really, walking out of the mansion, nothing had visibly changed. But inside…oh, yes. The bond with Morio was broken. But what kind of a bond had I taken on instead?

By the time I got home, it was going on eleven P.M. Everybody was in the kitchen, waiting for Smoky and Shade to return from checking out the caves.

Camille, Delilah, and Iris were playing a rare game of quarsong—an Otherworld board game. Trillian and Roz were playing chess. Nerissa rifled through a flower catalog, looking at bridal arrangements, with Hanna peeking over her shoulder. Vanzir was playing his Sony PSP. Morio pored over maps of the Snoqualmie area. Bruce was tickling Maggie on the floor. And they all looked up as I came in.

Morio did a double take, shaking his head as he stared at me. “What happened to you?”

Camille stared at me. “I can feel it, too. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine…actually better than fine,” I said. “Go on with what you were doing.” I’d tell them about what happened later. Right now, I needed to process my thoughts.

Downtime in our world was rare. We needed to make the most of it. I joined Bruce on the floor. He was playing horsey with Maggie, who was hanging on to his back as he lumbered across the floor, neighing every few steps. I laughed and pretended to be a monster trying to stop them. Bruce valiantly turned into a knight in denim armor, saving the fair Lady Maggie, who giggled and danced around happily, if a bit clumsily, her wings knocking against the cupboard doors.

Camille tossed the dice and counted out her moves, then drew a card. “Five…six…seven. Tangleweed catches you in the marsh. Lose a turn. Hell.” She shrugged. “I’ll refill the cookie plate while you take your turns.”

As she stood, plate in hand, Morio pushed back the maps and sauntered over to help her. He glanced back at me, looking confused, but then he turned and wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. She leaned against him briefly, and for a moment, I felt a slight twinge, but it faded and I realized that, while he was cute, he really didn’t appeal to me. Which meant the ritual had worked.

With a silent thanks to Roman, I went back to Bruce and Maggie. She held her arms up and I lifted her, resting her against my chest.

Bruce stretched, then headed over to the table to watch the quarsong game. Camille returned to the table in time for her next turn, and Morio joined her. She picked up the dice as I carried Maggie over to the rocking chair and sat down, holding her to my shoulder, crooning a lullaby.

Trillian had just checkmated Roz, and Vanzir was winning whatever he was playing—that much was obvious by his shouts of “Die, sucker! Eat it!” when Smoky and Shade shimmered in from the Ionyc Seas.

As we all turned, the quiet peace broken by our anticipation, I gently laid the now-sleeping gargoyle into Hanna’s arms and she carried her off to bed.

Smoky glanced at Shade. “We found it. We found the cave where they’re gating in bhouts.”

“Which one is it? The one near Snoqualmie or the one up near your barrow?” I tensed, hoping it was the former—nearer and easier to get to.

“Near Snoqualmie. There’s a large Demon Gate set up in there. But we can’t destroy it—none of us can. The magic is so powerful it nearly knocked me for a loop. And there are creatures there, guarding it—ones I’ve never before seen. They’re demons, but again, their energy is also connected to the Netherworld.”

“What do they look like?” Vanzir pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil.

“They were spindly, long-limbed, gray-skinned. Their heads were almost heart shaped, with large, luminous eyes and an almost insectlike torso. And they had round mouths with sharp little teeth in a circle, lining the entire mouth.” Shade gazed over at Delilah, and he looked nerve-racked. “I’m a dragon—well, half-dragon—and I have to tell you, the energy they were giving off scared the crap out of me.

Vanzir stared at the sketch he’d drawn from Shade’s description. “Are you sure about this? Are you absolutely sure? Did they look something like this?”

Shade looked at the drawing and nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good likeness. Do you know what they are?”

“Yeah.” Vanzir stared at the drawing. He shifted uncomfortably and then crumpled the paper and tossed it in the garbage. “They’re degas. They originated in the Netherworlds but were sent to the Sub-Realms when they became too difficult to handle. They’re wild and unpredictable. Even Shadow Wing wouldn’t allow them in the armies because he couldn’t control them. They’re like savage animals and will tear anything to pieces that gets in their way.”

“Then how are they being used by Gulakah?” If they were so dangerous, how was he able to control them? I wasn’t up on my Netherworlds lore.

“Remember, he is the Lord of Ghosts. He can control beings that otherwise are uncontrollable. He probably summoned them and put them under a geas. They have to serve him until he—or someone as powerful as he is—breaks the spell. Which means we’ll have to fight them.” Vanzir rubbed his chin, thinking. “I’m trying to remember what their vulnerabilities are. In the Sub-Realms, we had to learn how to avoid them because they frequented the wastelands and the slum areas of the cities there.”

Cities. I hadn’t thought about the Subterranean Realms having cities. I cocked my head. “Um…didn’t think about cities there.”

Vanzir grinned at me and winked. “Yeah, and we have inns and stores and ice cream there, too. Well, not so much the ice cream. There are four main cities that I’ve been in. Shadow Wing’s city—at least his while he rules—is named Quenisten. It’s beautiful, in a dark way—with gleaming towers of dark marble, and bronze domes rising over his palace.”

Somehow, the thought that Shadow Wing was organized enough to have a palace, let alone live in a city, didn’t make me feel any better. But it did seem like a fact we’d overlooked and really should make notes on.

“We’ll discuss this fascinating topic a little later. For now, think hard. The degas…what are their vulnerabilities?”

“Let me remember…okay, they aren’t affected by heat or cold much—the Netherworld is cold, and the Sub-Realms can be pretty hot. Neither extreme affects them. But, if I remember right, they’re sensitive to water. And they don’t like loud sounds much. They have extremely sensitive hearing. High-pitched noises can disable them.” He stood, stretched, and headed over to the refrigerator.

The phone rang and I picked it up while the others began to discuss ways we could disrupt them. It was Mallen.

“I talked to Charlotine. She’s agreed to help you but on one condition.”

Great. Just what we needed. A vampire sorceress who was about to slap us with a request for a blood payment, no doubt. “What does she want?”

“She wants an audience with Roman.” His tone told me everything I wanted to know.

Charlotine was looking to move up in the world over here, Earthside. And she saw me as the way to do so, even though she despised me. She couldn’t get an audience with Roman by herself, so she’d wiggle her way in there through riding on my skirt’s hem. The thought of hanging around a vampire who thought I should be toasted was disconcerting, especially since she was older and, most likely, stronger, than I.

But wait, a voice inside whispered. Now you have Roman’s blood in your line—perhaps not to the extent that Dredge’s is, but Roman is your sire and he won’t stand for any mistreatment of you.

“Fine. Tell her she’s got it. But on my terms, and when she goes out with us, she fucking takes her orders from me and my sisters. If she so much as moves to attack any of us, she’s stick-a-fork-in-me staked. Got it?” I was out of patience and out of options.

Mallen paused, then let out a long sigh. “Yes, I read you loud and clear. I’ll have a talk with her. She’s not free tonight. Will tomorrow night work?”

“That’s fine. Tell her to show up here by six forty-five P.M. And tell her to bring her bag of magic tricks. We need her to destroy a Demon Gate. A nasty-assed fucking huge one.” Before Mallen could say another word, I signed off.

As I turned to the others, I saw that they’d been listening to me. I’d been so deep in my thoughts I hadn’t noticed. I explained my reasoning. “Charlotine’s the only sorceress that we know who’s powerful enough to bring it down. And she’ll help us. I was just laying out conditions.”

“So tomorrow night, we move?” Vanzir asked.

“Tomorrow night we move. There may be bhouts there. They won’t be able to mess with Charlotine, since she’s a vampire, but that means Morio and Camille have to stay here. And I think we should leave Roz, Trillian, Delilah, and Chase at home. Which leaves Smoky, Shade, and Vanzir—you’re with me.” I had no clue what I’d do if Roman refused to give Charlotine an audience, but I was pretty sure I could persuade him to do so.

“We can go through the Ionyc Seas. Less chance of being noticed that way.” Smoky rummaged through the refrigerator. “Any thing left for a snack?”

Hanna quickly motioned him aside and pulled out bread and ham to make him a sandwich. “Let me do this.”

“As you will. Thank you.” Smoky was always careful to be polite around her. He looked so much like his father that Hanna still had moments where she cringed when he got irritable.

“What about tonight, then?” Camille yawned as she folded up the board game and put it away. She looked tired. Everybody looked tired. Even I felt weary. The ritual hadn’t been all that easy on me, and I still hadn’t told them what had gone down.

“I have something to tell you all.”

“Oh fuck, what now?” Delilah slumped in her chair, looking so forlorn I started to laugh.

“No, it’s not bad. At least I don’t think so. But it is going to affect me, and so you’d better know what’s going down.” And so I told them about the ritual and Roman, and breaking the bond with Morio, and the fact that Roman was now essentially my sire. When I was finished, the room was silent.

“Well, don’t all talk at once.” I let out a snort. “Nothing’s really that different.”

“Oh, really?” Camille turned. “You’ve bound yourself to him, you know? You were free of Dredge, and now you take on a sire that you didn’t have to.” She looked angry, but I could hear the edge of fear beneath her words.

“I had to do it—for your sake, for Morio’s sake, and for mine.” I turned to Morio. “Truthfully, tell me, do you feel pulled to me now?”

He shrugged. “No, and the difference was apparent the minute you walked in. It’s a relief, actually. There was this pressure…I couldn’t be around you and not keep noticing you. You were a distraction.”

Camille lowered her eyes. “You know that I understood.”

“He does, and so did I, but eventually things would come to a head. Morio, Roman said that having vampire blood injected into you like that will bring out your feral nature more. You’ve probably already experienced that.”

“Yes, I have, but it’s not so bad that I can’t control it.”

“Well, then…I did the right thing. And meeting Blood Wyne and finding out the origin of the vampires was interesting, to say the least. And informative.” Roman’s mother still freaked me out, but I had a feeling she and I would be interacting more as the years wore on.

“There’s nothing to be done about it now,” Smoky said. “She’s made the choice and been through the ritual and there’s no going back. But Menolly, next time, you might think about informing us before you decide to do something so drastic.”

Iris wouldn’t speak to me—she looked mad as hell, and I had the feeling that, as I had with contacting Ivana Krask, I’d royally pissed her off. She silently helped Hanna finish up the dishes and said her good nights, and she and Bruce went out to their trailer. The guys had worked up an alarm system so that if anything bothered them, we’d hear it loud and clear. Hanna began putting away the last of the dishes and making our evening tea.

I turned to the others. “Maybe you should turn in early. Get sleep. You’ll need rest tomorrow night.” I leaned against the counter.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Delilah gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and then she and Shade took off upstairs, taking their tea with them. Camille and her men sprawled out around the table but stared quietly at their cups.