Sunrise was clocking in at five forty-five, so I headed out as soon as it seemed we were good for the night, in order to talk to Roman. We’d been lucky—no other calls, though the guys had taken down a few muggers and freaks out to cause trouble. It was three thirty when I climbed in my Mustang. The car still felt odd—I missed my Jag but then again, I missed a lot of things.
As I sped through the silent streets, I thought over the past couple of years. My sisters and I had come Earthside expecting the equivalent of a sabbatical. We weren’t that great at our jobs, and because Camille wouldn’t give a blowjob to her boss, he managed to get us assigned Earthside. We had crossed between the worlds, our main worry being—would we be able to manage life in what was essentially an alien culture? Our mother was human, but our father was full-blooded Fae. And the three of us? Half-breeds, each with an odd mix of powers due to our mixed heritages.
Our mother, Maria D’Artigo, had fallen for Sephreh ob Tanu during the later days of World War II, when she had moved to Spain to go to college. With no roots to tie her to Earthside, she chose love, crossing worlds to be with him. They married, to the chagrin of the Court and Crown, and a few years later, along came the three of us.
First Camille—the oldest. She’s a Moon Witch and Priestess, and far more to come—she’s slated to take over as the Fae Queen of Dusk and Twilight. But her natural powers fritz out when she least expects it, though that happens less now that she’s taken to death magic. It seems she plays well in the dark, which is a good thing given the destiny waiting for her. She’s married to three men: Smoky, a prince among the Dragonkin; Morio, a youkai-kitsune from Japan; and Trillian, a Svartan, one of the Dark and Charming Fae.
Second born were our sisters Delilah and her twin, Arial, but Arial died at birth and we only found out about her a few years ago. Delilah’s natural form is that of a werecat. She’s a beautiful, silken long-haired golden tabby. But when the Autumn Lord—one of the Harvestmen and an Elemental Lord—claimed her as his only living Death Maiden, a second Were form emerged, that of a black panther. Delilah’s come a long way from the na?ve young woman she started out as. She now walks with one foot in the world of ghosts and spirits, and she’s engaged to Shade and is destined to one day bear the child of the Autumn Lord.
And then there’s me. I’m Menolly. And I’m a vampire. I was a jian-tu by trade and birth, which simply means that I’ve got incredible acrobatic abilities, and therefore I made a pretty good spy. But when the Y’Elestrial Intelligence Agency assigned me to spy on a nest of dangerous vampires, my half-human heritage kicked in. I fell—literally—into their midst. Dredge, the biggest, baddest vamp around, caught hold of me. What he did to me still haunts my dreams, but a few years ago I got my revenge and staked him dead. But I will forever walk in the world of the living dead, my soul trapped in an ageless body until either I choose to walk into the sun or someone manages to stake me. I constantly struggle to keep a leash on my inner predator, forever watchful that my nature doesn’t turn into the monster I’m fully capable of being. Nerissa, a werepuma, is my gorgeous Amazon of a wife. And I’m also the official consort to Roman, son of Blood Wyne, Queen of the Vampire Nation.
Together the three of us and our lovers and friends watch over Seattle and the surrounding area. Because when we came Earthside, little did we realize we were walking into a minefield. We stepped one foot over the line and found ourselves at the front of a demonic war.
Shadow Wing, Demon Lord of the Subterranean Realms, has been trying to break through the portals that separate the worlds. He aims to turn both Earthside and Otherworld into his private playgrounds, razing the beauty that exists as he blights everything alive with his fiery hell. Telazhar, an ancient necromancer from Otherworld, has become his right-hand man. The leader of an army of upstarts in Otherworld, they’ve nearly destroyed the Elfin lands and race, razed several other cities, and now . . . and now, Telazhar is setting his sights Earthside.
Camille’s right. It’s time to call in the dragons, and anybody else we can get to help. Because it’s only a matter of time before Shadow Wing breaks through from the Sub-Realms. And between Telazhar’s armies and Shadow Wing’s demons, we haven’t got a prayer of a chance.
*