“Please, everyone be seated.” Carter waited till we were all sitting down to take his seat. He was truly a gentleman, but from our private conversations, I knew that he was as much into pain as a number of demons were, and he had once warned me that in private, he wore “the ringmaster’s hat,” as he had put it. Which had told me all I needed to know about his proclivities in the bedroom.
Liu-an returned with a cart laden with drinks and sandwiches, cookies and tea. And, as always, a goblet of fine blood for me. I smiled graciously as she handed it to me with a discreet red napkin. As soon as we were all served—even Trytian—Carter began handing out our dossiers. I had a feeling he kept the office supply stores in business. Every time we came he was busy with reams of paper and file folders to no end. He loved his technology, but it was also obvious that he loved the smell of ink and the feel of paper.
“We have a serious problem. But before we get into that, I need to know what the hell went on over in Otherworld. Whatever you did there has had massive ramifications through the demonic community.” Carter adjusted his tablet. “I’m going to record you so I don’t have to take notes.”
We knew better than to counter him, so we started in on describing what had gone down. When we finished, both Trytian and Carter were staring at us, jaws slightly open.
Trytian spoke first. “You actually convinced the Dragonkin to go to war with you?”
Camille stared at him, hard. “Is that so unlikely? They owed me a debt, daemon. They offered me whatever I chose in repayment. I asked for their help.”
Smoky let out another grumble. “Dragonkin may not always be the most congenial, but we do pay our debts without complaint.
Carter cleared his throat. “No wonder the information Trytian brought me seemed extreme, but it makes sense now.” He turned off the recorder. “I will let Trytian tell you himself, and then we will discuss the ramifications.”
Trytian gave Carter a pointed look. “Extreme? Perhaps. Unlikely? Not at all, given Shadow Wing.” He turned toward us, suddenly all business. “My father has spies hidden in the Demon Lord’s network. It seems that yesterday, news filtered down to the Subterranean Realms that Telazhar had been killed, and the Otherworld infiltrations were brought to a grinding halt. The messenger also said that, and I quote, ‘those three Fae whores stole your spirit seal, Liege.’ Needless to say, as soon as Shadow Wing finished grilling him, said messenger was immediately dragged away for torture.”
Down in the Sub-Realms, “please don’t kill the messenger” was more than a cliché.
“No surprise that Shadow Wing knows it was our doing.” Camille set down her tea. “Did he have anything to say about the dragons?”
“Funnily enough, the Demon Lord conveniently ignored the whole dragon angle. Probably because if he didn’t, he’d have to include them in his plans for revenge, and I doubt that even Shadow Wing is stupid enough to charge on the Dragon Reaches. Much easier to focus one’s rage on targets that are accessible and vulnerable.” Trytian shrugged. “According to our source—and he’s reliable, so I believe this—the faux Keraastar Knights he’s been attempting to create? Aren’t working out quite like he hoped. But he’s still plotting something with them.”
I blinked. “Neither aspect of that sentence bodes well.” Trytian gave me a what-do-you-want look. “What can I say? We all know he’s unhinged. The Unraveller is pretty much a basket case at this point. He’s been tearing through his own armies, killing anybody he thinks might be against him. He’s losing it.”
“Any chance he just might manage to do himself in?” I was pretty sure of the answer, but we could only hope.
Carter shook his head, though. “No, Shadow Wing is more likely to—as the humans put it—go postal, rather than take himself out. And this defeat seems to have strengthened that mania. If he were just off-kilter, it might play into our advantage, but he’s also angry beyond the scope of the word. But that’s not the most troublesome piece of news tonight.”
I steeled myself. We’d had more than enough bad news lately. “So what is it? Just hit us with it. I hate dragging out the inevitable.”
Carter shifted, looking uncomfortable. “A Degath Squad was seen gating out of the Subterranean Realms this morning. As of today, there are three very powerful demons running around here in Seattle. Somebody was strong enough to gate them in, but we have no clue who. I’m betting it’s a revenge mission rather than him searching for the last spirit seal. And I’m guessing his targets? The three of you girls.”
Chapter 9
It had all started with a Degath Squad. And after we managed to dispatch that trio of demons, we had fought demon generals till they were coming out our ears. We had even fought a god whom Shadow Wing had managed to impress into his service. But every time, they had been looking for the spirit seals and we had just been in the way.