Darkness Raging (Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon #18)
Yasmine Galenorn
Hell is empty and all the devils are here.
—SHAKESPEARE
True love is selfless. It is prepared to sacrifice.
—J. P. VASWANI
Chapter 1
“Any activity so far?” Nerissa hustled through the kitchen door and made for the table, where Camille, Delilah, and I were sitting. We were listlessly toying with whatever we could find to keep our minds occupied. All our phones were on the table, waiting. The minute one of them rang, we’d spring into action—and we knew there would be a call. Until then, Camille was reading, Delilah was working a crossword puzzle, and I was trying to unknot a jumble of thin gold chains that had gotten tangled up when I tossed them in the jewelry box without thinking.
Dropping into the chair next to me, Nerissa used the towel hanging around her neck to wipe the sweat off her brow. She had just returned from her workout with Jason Binds, a mechanic-cum-martial-arts-instructor. He was attempting to turn her into a lean, mean shredding machine. Her face was clear of makeup, her workout top was soaked through with perspiration, and her tawny mane of hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, although a few wisps had escaped to straggle out. But to me, my wife was the most beautiful sight in the world.
“No, but it’s only a matter of time. We haven’t had a quiet night in several weeks.” I pushed the chains aside. I had doused them in oil and was trying to use a straight pin to separate the tangle. I wiped my oily fingers on a napkin and reached for her hand.
Camille and Delilah had been awake since around five P.M. I, of course, rose at sunset, which was—in early May—running closer to eight thirty. I longed for autumn and winter, when the nights were longer and I could rise earlier and stay up longer. Sometimes I thought I should move to Alaska for half the year, when the darkness held sway over the land. My sisters had switched over to a nocturnal schedule because, so far, all of the attacks had come during the night—usually around two or three A.M.
Everything had snowballed so quickly that we gave up waiting around, and now—instead of simply responding to the danger, we had gone on the offensive. At the first sign of dusk, the guys headed out, hunting for any signs of trouble as they scoured the city. My sisters and I waited at home for their call.
If they found a problem before someone reported a skirmish to the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigation Unit, the men called us and we headed out to put out the fire. If the FH-CSI got the call first, they transferred it over to us. Either way, we were front on the line. So far, we had managed to keep this nightmare under wraps, but we were barely holding on. All it would take would be one misstep or overlooked incursion and everything would blow sky high. Once news of what had been going on hit the papers, the ensuing panic would take over from there. We were trying to prevent that panic from happening in the first place.
Earlier, the three of us had pored over a map of the city, trying to figure out if there was some pattern to the attacks. Never mind that we’d already gone over it a dozen times—the activity kept us busy, and right now, busy was good because waiting around like this was getting on all of our nerves.
“I need to shower and change.” Nerissa pushed back her chair and stood.
“Hurry up and I’ll have your dinner waiting.” Iris set a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches on the table in front of Camille and Delilah. She handed them mugs of hot tomato soup. “I’m not cooking anything extravagant because right now, fancy takes too much time. I want to make certain you all get good, solid food into you.”
Nerissa nodded. “I won’t be long. I’m so sweaty from working out, and I need to rinse off, but I’ll be quick. Thank gods there’s been a lull tonight.”
I glanced up at her. “So, how did it go at Jason’s?”
“Good. He says that I’m learning extremely fast.” She shrugged. “I wish I could make more progress, but he seems satisfied so I guess I should take what I can get.” With a glance at the clock, she added, “I’d better get moving. We really don’t have the luxury of just hanging out anymore, I guess.” Sounding sad, she leaned down to meet my lips.
The proximity to her body and her hot breath on my cheek made me ache. I wanted nothing more than to curl up with her in the living room. I wanted to cuddle with her and Maggie while we watched the Demon Twins play video games and listened to Iris and Hanna argue over who made the best pie. Basically, I wanted to just go about my daily routine and forget that all of this was happening. But reality was biting us on the ass, hard and fast and with sharp teeth. As Chase was fond of saying, If wishes were pennies, we’d all be rich.