Wolf den, I thought to Jane. I growled. Dropped head, showing teeth. Room was dark, dim light spilling in from behind. Wolves did not attack. I looked back, to see caged thing hitting ward, black lightning sparking. Looked again into room filled with wolf smell. I was smart hunter; would not enter place of darkness. Saw white place on wall, switch for light, and raised up. Lifted switch with paw pad. Light filled room, faster than sunrise. Room was full of big cages, stacked along wall. Like cages in place for doctor of dog.
Only if the dogs are big as ponies, Jane thought.
Only two cages were full. Werewolves. I hacked with laughter. Werewolves in cages. Good. Catch wolves. Cage them. Kill them. I gathered for leap.
No, Jane thought. No killing. Well, not yet.
I hissed. Want to kill wolves. Wolves were in human form. Big hairy male, the one Jane called Fire Truck, and smaller male—Weasel. Sleeping.
Naked again. What is it about Evangelina and nudity.
Smell blood. Wolf blood. Padded close, to see cuts on wolves’ bodies, gaping open, not healed. I stretched out neck, nose to cage, opened mouth. Sniffed/tasted. Smell of poison.
Not poison. Something else. I sniffed again. The cuts won’t heal because she used silver to make them. And the wolves didn’t fight back when she did. They let her. Oh crap. She slipped them a Mickey. Evangelina was the woman with the umbrella at the Cajun restaurant. She tracked them and took them down somehow and brought them here.
Smell vampire blood too. Smell Lincoln Shaddock.
Jane was silent, unable to speak, thinking too fast for Beast to follow.
Spell in witch circle is to summon two-natured, moon-called, I thought. Tried to summon us when we got close. But we are Beast. Better than Jane or big-cat alone. Better than wolves, better than Lincoln vampire. Tilted head. Thought for a moment, thought like Jane. Thinking like Jane hurt. Lincoln Shaddock was dead and undead, two-natured but not two-natured. We are two-natured, but not two-natured. Shook head as if flea nipped at ear. Magic was confusing.
She’s had Shaddock in her bed and basement, wolves in cages, a body in a rug. Jane made blowing sound again, frustrated. You’re right. Perhaps a summoning affected him. Vamps are dead and undead. With the whole being-alive-at-night thing, maybe they’re moon-called too. Weres are two-natured and full-moon-called. Why summon either?
Jane went quiet. Unless she expected Leo to be here. Rick said it was scuttlebutt, and maybe she had heard the rumors. Maybe getting Leo here, where she would be at the center of her power and he was cut off from his clans, was her intention all along.
Thoughts for daytime. We spend too long in Evangelina den, wolf den. Must go. I turned, walked to door and pawed switch off. Wolf den with cages went dark. I walked into room with witch circle, leaving door open. No lever handle to pull it shut. Felt pull of spell on floor. Jane put hand on my mind, held off summoning.
Thing-in-the-circle stared at us. I could sense its . . .
Bewilderment, Jane thought. It can’t understand why we aren’t being drawn inside with it.
I moved around wall, back to stairs, and up. Summoning spell weakened. Was gone when we reached top of stairs. I pushed Jane away. Beast is alpha. Closed door behind us. Went to window. Evangelina was still in circle, body covered in blood. She was lying on side. Sleeping. I opened door and slipped through. Raced off of porch and leaped across brush, to land, silent, on rock and pebble path. Looked over shoulder to see Evangelina, bloody, asleep. Another leap took us deep into shadows under low tree. We turned again to look at witch, sleeping, covered in blood. Hacked softly. Stupid kit mistake.
Let’s shift, call Adelaide’s driver service, and get back to the hotel. I have a lot of research to do. On demons.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Want to Play?
Back at the hotel, I picked up my cell and made a few calls, the first to Evan—and he actually answered even though he had to see my number on the readout. I described the scene at Evil Evie’s and he said, “I need to think about this. You will not interfere, do you understand? Break the spell at the wrong point and you could kill Molly.”
“Sure. Whatever.” I hung up, ticked off, though I knew he could handle the demon situation better than I could any day.
I left a message for the sheriff that the wolves were currently caged and no danger to the public. I deliberately didn’t leave any details, and figured that would irritate him—I enjoyed baiting cops. I punched END with a little grin, turned on the gas logs and the laptop, curled on the bed, and went Internet hopping.
There were a gazillion sites about demons on the Internet, most stupid, but maybe a half gazillion that could offer something to me. I refined my search, adding in beak, wings, moon-called, werewolves, and started a list on a pad. There were demons of all kinds: Christian, pagan, Jewish, tribal, ancient, fictional, mythical, modern, European, American tribal Indian, Eastern, Middle Eastern, Asian. I began a list, trying to ignore the weird feeling that a predator was standing across the room with its eyes on my neck. Just nerves, but still. Demons were scary.
When I had a page full of demon names, I closed the laptop and leaned back on the bed, pillows piled behind me. This wasn’t working. There were too many possibilities. The gas fireplace cast both heat and flickering shadows, warming the room enough for me, even wearing only boy-shorts and a thin tank top. I should be desperate for sleep, but I was too wired to close my eyes, and the sunlight that poured around the edges of the blackout blinds assured me I should be up and around, not exhausted and depleted. All I could see was the demon in the circle as I/we walked away from it.
I wasn’t used to sitting on my hands, doing nothing, but charging in to Evil Evie’s basement and attacking the thing in the circle would likely cause more harm than good, and maybe release a demon to wreak havoc on Earth. I could call the cops, but that would just endanger humans. I could call Leo. And if he came and killed Evangelina, any hope of future parley between vamps and witches was ended for this generation because the witches would hold all vamps accountable for the death. It would be the next generation before younger witches would be willing to try again. In all honesty, that didn’t bother me. But if Leo interfered, and the spell went kaboom, it might hurt Mol. Or, I could go to the café and tell the sisters but that was going to be a problem no matter how I might phrase it. “Hi, girls. Your crazy-as-a-bat sister—the one screwing a vamp—has kidnapped two werewolves, stored them in cages in the basement, drained their blood, and summoned a demon. Oh, and she’s sleeping outside buck naked, covered in spelled blood, and has a dead man rolled up in a carpet in her house.” Yeah. Like that was gonna work. Not.
Worse—Evangelina had stolen Shaddock’s blood as well. What did the mixture of were and vamp blood do to a spell cast by a water witch who had a demon in a magical cage? As usual, I was in the dark and flying by the seat of my pants. I dialed Molly and was shunted directly to voice mail. I hung up without leaving a message.