“We have a problem down at the station. There’s some new movement going on, and while we don’t think it’s going to be as dangerous as the Brotherhood of the Earthborn, we’re not quite sure what it is.”
“Not another hate group?” Delilah slumped, looking glum. “I would have thought with Andy Gambit dead, we might be free from some of that.”
“No, not that. We’re not sure just what it is, though. In the past three days we’ve gotten reports of both teens and adults running off from their families to join this…cult.” Shamas flourished his napkin and laid it on his lap as the rest of us gathered around the table.
I took my usual place, hovering up above them with my thermos of chili-cheese-flavored blood, to leave space at the table for everyone who could actually eat real food.
Delilah passed around the biscuits. “Is there a name for this movement?”
Shamas pulled out a notebook and flipped it open. “Not that I know of. But there’s every indication it involves several ghost hunting groups, a few of the FBH covens, and even some of the Fae organizations that have sprung up are vaguely connected to this. We haven’t been able to dig up much info yet, but Chase is concerned enough to ask that we look into it.”
“We as in…?” Smoky piled his plate high with biscuits, sliced ham, sweet potatoes, salad, and everything else that was on the table.
“You guessed it.” Shamas accepted the bottle of wine and filled his glass, then handed it on to Vanzir. “We as in—us, meaning all of you. I have to investigate it while I’m off duty. Chase can’t do anything officially because there’s no sign that anybody is truly missing. But at least four reports of family members withdrawing their life savings to give to the organization and breaking all ties have come in during the past few days.”
Once we were all settled and the food had been passed around, we began the discussion. Everybody had been filled in on our trip back to Otherworld, and we all knew what had gone down last night with the ghosts. I took notes to free the others up for eating.
Morio started. “I stopped in to talk to Carter. While he’s not an expert on ghosts, he was able to verify what we feared. Gulakah has made his headquarters somewhere here in Seattle, and we don’t know where.”
The silence was deafening, the only sounds those of people chewing and sipping their wine and milk.
I jotted everything down on my steno pad, along with Shamas’s news and the facts we’d learned about Telazhar being in Otherworld. Things were going from grim to grimace worthy. After a moment, I cleared my throat.
“We knew he would be. So let’s just check that off as a verified expectation and move on. So, we have the Lord of Ghosts living in our backyard and we now have to deal with his freak show agenda. We can talk about that in a while. What next?”
“I did some digging into the delightful world of freaky-assed ghosts,” Camille said. “I still can’t figure out what we were facing last night, but I did find out more about doppelgangers. While they have trouble speaking actual words, other than a laugh or a scream, they don’t need a sorcerer or necromancer to summon them up. Their ability to mimic is innate. However…the charm thing? Not so much in their league. Therefore, it’s likely that the one last night was under control of someone.”
“Sorcerers?” I jotted the information down.
“Actually, no.” She consulted her notes. “You know, the screwy thing is that most people don’t realize that doppelgangers are part of the Netherworld. They’re not spirits per se, but they are creatures that—when they journey to the physical realm—need to take the form of a person here. They often just mimic whoever they were last in contact with until the next meal comes along.”
“What happens if they don’t feed?”
“They’ll fade back to the Netherworld after a while. So when they’re summoned here, it will usually be by a necromancer. But when they’re charmed, they appear to their targets as the object of their desire. In other words, if I’d been out there last night, I would have probably seen the creature as Smoky or Trillian or Morio.”
Trillian coughed. “Yeah, that makes me feel better.”
“Could Telazhar have empowered it? But he’s over in Otherworld.” Vanzir stabbed another biscuit with his fork and bit into it.
“Think about it,” I said. “Gulakah was originally from the Netherworld, until he got kicked out. I think the Lord of Ghosts might just be into necromancy in a big way.”
“Fuck…just when you thought it couldn’t get worse…” Rozurial still looked a little pale, but mostly he seemed back to his usual self.
I’d let go of the guilt over last night, and now I just wanted to find the cocksucker who was responsible for charming me into that little episode.
“Yeah. And I have a feeling we’re only probing the surface right now—” The sound of the front door opening put all of us on guard, but then Nerissa’s voice rang out through the hall.
“Honey, I’m home!”
I hit the ground running as Nerissa burst into the kitchen, her tawny mane coiling down her shoulders. She looked tired, and was still in her business suit. My love was striking, statuesque, and her Amazon-like stature exuded a pheromone that drove me nuts.
She dropped her briefcase and held out her arms. I raced over and she caught me up, her soft, lush lips meeting mine. As I melted into her kiss, melted into her love and her passion, for a moment the world was okay, and all the ghosts were driven away.
Chapter 7
“I’m so glad you’re safe!” My fears vanished as the warm smell of sugar vanilla filled my senses. I loved how Nerissa smelled—and when I was around her, I did my best to wrap myself in her fragrance because it made me feel loved and at home. Nerissa was still dressed in her suit from the conference—a tweed skirt that stopped three inches above her knees, and a tailored jacket over a baby blue button-down shirt. She had on three-inch spikes, which brought her up to Delilah’s height, making her a foot taller than I was.
I floated up to stare at her eye level, then slowly reached out and kissed her nose. “We have problems. Did Iris tell you what went down?”
Nerissa nodded, sliding her big leather hobo purse to the ground. She shrugged out of her jacket and draped it over an empty chair, then kicked off her heels. “You mean about the ghosts and the doppelganger? Yes.”
“Has anybody strange been hanging around you lately? We’re feeling watched.”
Nerissa stared at me for a moment, then looked around the room at the mob scene that was our kitchen. She snorted. “Um…you mean anybody stranger than normal?”
“Dork.” I tapped her nose. “Yes.”
Nerissa dropped into the chair, leaning her head back. “I was at a conference with two hundred people. There were bound to be oddballs there, but nobody sticks out in my mind. Give me a few minutes to relax and maybe something will come to mind.”
I leaned down and placed another kiss on her lips, then nuzzled her cheek. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, I didn’t stop for anything on the way home. Bellingham is a long drive from here on an empty stomach.” She let out a long sigh and leaned forward, eyeing the table. “Plate, please?”
Hanna handed her a bowl and Nerissa filled it with chili and sprinkled cheese on top, then piled three biscuits on the border. She slid into the empty chair next to Delilah and tucked her napkin in her shirt collar. Nerissa had expensive tastes and she was wearing a designer silk shirt—there was no way she was going to chance spilling anything greasy on it.
As she began to shovel the food in her mouth—my girl liked to eat—I glanced at the clock. “There’s a Vampires Anonymous meeting tonight. I have to go. Honey, I know you’re tired, but Roman wants…he asked if you’d come with me.”
Nerissa tore her gaze away from her food to stare at me for a moment, but I kept my mouth shut and gave her a short shake of the head. I didn’t want to discuss Roman’s obsession with watching the two of us in front of everybody. I’d fill her in before we left, in private.
I looked around at the others. “Delilah, Camille…would you and Morio and Smoky come with us? Last night I met Roman on the Dream-Time and he said he’d ask around about Andrees. With any luck, he might have some information for us tonight.”
Nerissa groaned. “I hoped we could just stay home.” I winced as she added, “But since you have to go, of course I’ll come with you. Let me take a quick shower first, after I eat, and change into something more comfortable.”
“Don’t show too much skin,” I muttered.
She snorted. “Right, go to a VA meeting decked out for clubbing? I don’t think so.” And then, before I could say anything, she plunged back into her food.
After a moment, she stopped. “You know, the convention had a lot of people there but I did notice something, now that I think about it. There was one man—the first day I was there, every time I turned around, he seemed to be staring at me, but I didn’t think anything of it. Guys do that to me. But when I think about it, he was at every meeting I had that day. I can’t remember much about him except that he seemed nondescript. He wore glasses, had short hair, average height. About my age. If anything, he made me think of a librarian, but I was so busy focusing on the speakers that I didn’t really pay much attention.”
“Did he ever speak to you?” Morio leaned in. “Did he touch you? Touch anything you were carrying?”
Nerissa spooned another bite of chili into her mouth and tapped her biscuit on the side of her plate as she thought. “You know, now that I think about it, he did. There was one point later in the day, where I got into the elevator and he crowded in, too. It was full—there must have been ten people in there—and he scooted next to me and then, he lurched a little and caught himself on my shoulder. He apologized, and I didn’t think anything of it, except that I was glad he hadn’t grabbed my butt.”
“Ten to one, he’s spying on us and was scoping you out.” Morio glanced over at Shade. “They’ll be gathering as much info on us as we are on them. They being Gulakah’s forces.”
“I think you’re right,” Shade said. He turned to Nerissa. “You say you only saw him the first day of the conference?”
“Yes. I guess I thought he was only there one day. Like I said, I would never have noticed him if he hadn’t been around me so much. In fact, I thought it was odd that he didn’t introduce himself.” She polished off her food and Hanna carried the bowl to the counter.
“He probably wanted to make sure you weren’t meeting with other allies there. After the first day, he probably figured out it was just a conference, and not some clandestine plot.” Shade leaned forward, resting on his elbows as he folded his hands together.
“You’re probably right. Why do you think he was watching me?”
“Because you’re aligned with us. You’re Menolly’s fiancée.” Shade paused. “But he had to know enough about you and Nerissa to know she’d be at the conference.”
I frowned. “Good observation. Who knew you were attending?”
She shrugged. “A lot of people. Everybody at the FH-CSI. You guys all knew. And a number of my friends. And of course, the conference organizers and anybody who had access to the attendee list.”
“Hard to trace through, then.” I was about to suggest Camille try scrying when the doorbell rang. Since everybody else was busy eating, I answered it. Lindsey Cartridge stood on the porch. By the looks of her flat tummy, she’d had her baby.
“Lindsey—we haven’t seen you in several months. Come on in.”
Lindsey was the director of the Green Goddess Women’s Shelter for battered women, and she was also the high priestess of an FBH pagan coven of witches. While the magic of full-blooded humans differed greatly from magic like my sister and Morio used, it was still be a powerful force, and Lindsey was an advanced practitioner.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt your meal,” she said as I led her into the kitchen. In the brightness of the overhead lighting, she looked tired. In fact, I’d never seen her looking so worn out.
“No problem.” Camille jumped up. “Here, sit down.” She motioned to the rocking chair. “Are you all right? I heard you had your baby—how’s everything going?”
Lindsey smiled and gratefully sank into the chair. “Everything at home is fine. Little Feddrika is growing like a weed. She’s almost two months old now and is healthy and happy.”
“Little Feddrika?” I grinned at her, making sure my fangs were reined in. I didn’t like intimidating friends.
“Yes.” Lindsey ducked her head, a silly grin on her face. “I sincerely hope that Feddrah-Dahns doesn’t mind, but we kind of named our daughter after him since he provided the charm that helped me get pregnant.”
The fact that she’d named her daughter after a unicorn prince made me laugh. It just seemed so par for the course in our life. I clapped her lightly on the shoulder. “I don’t think he’d mind. Do you, Camille?”
Camille had the same grin on her face. “No, Feddrah-Dahns would be pleased, and we’ll tell him next time we see him. But what brings you here on such a rainy night? I get the impression this isn’t a social call.”
I had the same feeling, and a quiet sense of dread began to slip over me.
Lindsey hung her head. I could hear her pulse racing, and the scent of fear rose off her like a wisp of smoke. The smell of fear was a turn-on to a vampire, and it spurred on the hunger. But this time, it did nothing for me. Lindsey wasn’t afraid of us. No, there was something else provoking her fight-or-flight response.