Tregarts were humanlike demons who were incredibly strong and brutish. They often paired with other lower-level demons as the brawn—in this case, the bloatworgles, demons who could breathe fire. We had fought both types far more than we cared to remember. Chase had nearly lost his life to them. Only the Nectar of Life had saved him, extending his life to well over a thousand years if he wasn’t murdered or didn’t meet with an accident before then.
“Demons at Stonehenge? But are they coming from the Sub-Realms? Or were they sent from Otherworld? And if so, how did they get over into Otherworld to begin with? The vortex at Stonehenge hasn’t been opened in hundreds of years.” Camille frowned. “You’re right, this is a serious problem.”
“Yes, and possibly worse than you think. The papers caught wind of it. London—all of the U.K.—is buzzing with rumors. And thanks to the Internet, that news has reached our shores. You can’t do anything anymore without it being instantly broadcast worldwide.” Chase looked a little green around the gills. “If the governments find out about this and actually give it credibility?”
“That would be bad. Very bad.” I shuddered to think about what could all too easily happen.
The governments of the world liked their nuclear bombs. What they did not realize—because they didn’t know about the demons yet—was that uranium and radioactivity only made Demonkin stronger. If the president got it into his head to go on the attack, chances were he was going to plunge us into a dark hole so deep that you’d have to look up to see bottom.
“Bad doesn’t begin to encompass the danger.” Chase shifted in his chair. “I’ve got a call in to a few of the guys I know. They’re higher up in the Department of Defense. In fact, I worked directly with them when we were creating the FH-CSI. I’ll try to explain it to them. How they’ll take it, I can’t even begin to guess. But I’ll do my best to make them understand that we absolutely have to keep this under wraps, that we cannot let the politicians take control of this situation, and above all—no nukes.”
He let out a long sigh. “The day we feared was coming has arrived, girls. The world is about to find out that the demons exist. Given the hate groups that sprang up against you, I dread to think what’s going to happen.”
I closed my eyes, envisioning the potential for disaster. Human supremacist groups were already on the rampage. And we all knew they wouldn’t differentiate between the demons and any other Supe. This was just the extra fuel they needed to blow their campaigns sky high, turning the sparks of a wildfire into a massive conflagration.
“What can we do?” Delilah’s voice was hushed, almost reverently afraid.
“Stop Telazhar. That’s the only way. Take him down, wipe him out, drink his blood. I don’t care what method you choose, but he has to be destroyed. Then we worry about Shadow Wing.” And with that, Chase stood. “I need to get back to the office. I’ve been working eighteen-hour days the past few weeks.” He turned to Iris. “Thank you for watching Astrid while I’m there. I haven’t heard from Sharah in a few weeks. Sometimes I feel like taking my daughter and heading over to Otherworld to be with her mother, and leaving all of this behind.”
Iris nodded, her eyes wet with tears. “I understand. Bruce was talking about heading back to Ireland, but as I told him—it doesn’t matter where we go. Shadow Wing is determined to burn everything to the ground and it won’t matter what country we’re in. Or even what world. We’re all in danger until he’s destroyed.”
With that, we saw Chase to the door.
Camille turned to us as we returned to the living room. “I’ll head out to Talamh Lonrach Oll tonight. I’m tired, but I think we should ask Merlin to go to the U.K. He might be able to quash the mess over there.”
Delilah nodded, her expression fading from worried to dark and beautiful. She had changed a lot since her last round of training with the Death Maidens. Now she routinely saw ghosts and spirits, but they couldn’t touch her unless she chose to allow it. And she was transforming even still.
“I’ll talk to the Supe Community Council.” She stretched, yawning. “We have the militia here, but it’s time to call up reinforcements everywhere.”
I let out a long sigh. “I’ve got time before sunrise to go talk to Roman. We can marshal the vampires. It’s time we all pulled together and walked into the fires of war united.”
And with that, we were off, doing what needed to be done even as the clock seemed to tick away all too fast.
Chapter 2