Shadow Rising (Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon #12)

I studied him for a moment. Shadow Wing already knew who we were. Gulakah knew us. There was no more hiding, no more skulking in shadows.

“I’m Menolly, and this is my sister Camille. That’s Shade over there.” I pointed to Shade, then flashed the bartender a glimpse of my fangs. When in doubt, intimidate.

He stared at me, and I could hear the pulse of his blood, the quick intake of breath. He was afraid, all right.

“Welcome to the Galaxy. Too bad it’s not more active in here. I bet you girls could liven things up.” He paused. “Do you want…we have bottled blood. Finest cow, pig, and…” Again, the pause. “Human, if you like.”

Fuck me hard. It was against the law to serve human blood in bars unless you had voluntary bloodwhores right on the premises. Even then, it wasn’t encouraged. I looked around, and he must have known what I was searching for.

“Bloodwhores stay in the back. We don’t have many—don’t get many vamps, but some of them prefer the blood of those who work magic.” And his eyes took on a starry glaze.

I glanced at Camille, who seemed a million miles away, then glanced back at the bartender. “And you? Why are you here? Do you work magic?” I knew the answer already, but decided to ask anyway.

He shrugged and again, the hungry-jackal look returned. “Me? No, haven’t got the gift. But I like being around the energy. I’ve got a thing for witches.” And he again turned to Camille, his eyes practically jumping out of his head.

Just like the Faerie Maids, who were groupies looking for sex with the Fae, there were guys who went all horn-toad for women who had power, and witches were their first choice. This guy would always be an outsider, but like a moth, he desperately craved to touch the flame.

“Yeah, well I’d put the tongue back in the mouth, if I were you. She’s got three husbands and they’re all strong enough to tear you to pieces.” Shade leaned in. “Pay the lady some respect and quit talking to her boobs.”

Camille jerked, as if she’d just noticed what was going on. “Um…I feel funny,” she whispered to me.

“What’s going on—”

Shade suddenly jumped to his feet, dragging Camille to hers. “Come on. We should get going.”

Camille looked confused but didn’t argue.

“What’s going on?” I felt agitated, like ants were crawling over me. “Camille? Camille? What’s happening?”

Camille started to waver, her eyes fluttering. Unsure as to what was wrong, I followed Shade’s lead and grabbed Camille’s other arm. We hurried her out of the club, pushing through the throng.

The minute we were out of the club, he tossed her over his shoulder and took off running up the street. I followed, easily keeping pace.

“What the fuck happened?”

“The bhouts have gained a stronghold in that place, and I sensed one trying to latch onto Camille. I don’t know if we got her out in time, but we couldn’t stay there or it would be feeding on her, like that one caught hold of Chase.” He sat her down after we reached the intersection of Broadmore and Wales, and she leaned against the brick wall of the apartment building. We were only a couple blocks to the left from Carter’s.

“Let’s go. Carter lives up ahead. Can you carry her, or do you want me to?” It only seemed polite to offer him a choice whether he wanted to lug my sister that far, or whether I ended up doing so.

“I can go…I think…” Camille still looked confused, but she seemed to be snapping out of it. But when she took a step forward, her knees buckled and she started to fall. Shade swept her up in his arms and we took off at a jog. We were a block from the Galaxy when Camille urged him to put her down.

“I think I’m better. I’m still a little shaky, but I don’t feel so light-headed.” She stood, unsteadily, for a moment, then was able to walk with us supporting her. It took us less than five more minutes to reach Carter’s apartment, all uphill. The Seattle streets were notorious for their grades, and walking in the city beat any treadmill for exercise.

Morio’s SUV was parked outside. We navigated down the stairs and knocked on Carter’s door. He answered almost immediately.

As we stumbled in, Morio, Delilah, and Chase were sitting in the living room, looking over some photographs and documents. Camille paused, leaning against the back of the sofa.

Carter seemed to notice something amiss because he hurried to the bar, where he poured her a brandy and pressed it into her hands. She gratefully took a sip and lowered herself to the seat beside Morio.

“What’s wrong?” Morio looked her up and down, then craned his neck around to look at us. “What happened to her?”

“A bhout got to her at the club.” Shade sat opposite. “I need to double-check to make sure it’s not still attached to her. I couldn’t do that out in the street, but we left the club as soon as we knew something was wrong. Camille, if you’ll permit me…sit back and close your eyes.”

She shivered. “Leeches—the damned things remind me of leeches. Fucking parasites. I’m cold. Carter, do you have a throw I could wrap around my shoulders? Even my jacket doesn’t help.”

“Certainly.” He brought her a light throw that was hanging over a rocking chair. It had pictures of cats on it, along with plenty of cat hair, and she smiled as she wrapped it around her shoulders.

One of his cats—I could never remember which one was which—came up and jumped in her lap, kneading gently against Camille’s chiffon skirt, but my sister didn’t shoo her away or try to stop her. She just gently scratched behind her ears, and the cream-colored fuzzball curled up in her lap and began to snooze.

“I have a request, too, if you don’t mind. I need shadow in which to do my best work. Can we turn off all but a dim light?” Shade slipped out of his duster and stretched, flexing his fingers.

Carter acquiesced, then retook his seat, watching with fascination as Shade lowered himself into trance. A pale haze of smoke began to rise around him, obscuring him from easy sight, and then he vanished into the fog, and it settled around Camille. The cat leaped off her lap and padded over to Chase, who gave her a long eye and grudgingly let her climb up on his nice black suit. Oh yeah, a lovely trail of cat hairs was going to follow.

As Shade engulfed Camille in his moving shadow, he swirled around her and then seemed to vanish into her body. Morio didn’t look all that happy, but I tapped him on the arm and shook my head, and he relaxed. We waited, silent, Delilah leaning forward, a worried look on her face.

“I feel…so strange…” Camille said, her eyes still closed. “I can feel Shade working—moving through my energy field— but it’s like there’s more than him there. I can’t explain it.”

A few moments later, the smoke issued out from her mouth and she let out a deep sigh, as if she’d been holding her breath. The shadow drifted back over to where Shade had been sitting and re-formed into a cloud, from which he emerged, shimmering back into view, his eyes crackling with purple fire, a grave look on his face.

“Thankfully, the bhout wasn’t able to fully attach to you, but it did siphon off some of your energy. You’ll be particularly susceptible to them now, so you’re going to have to work on some protection magic and wards to carry with you.”

“Was it in the club? Or just hanging out in the astral?” I asked.

“I think a group of them are focusing on the club. They found a ready feeding source, although that won’t last too long. Not at the rate they’re draining the clientele there.”

“Do you think the bartender is in on it?” I hadn’t liked him, he was a seedy little thing, but I didn’t want to blame him for something that wasn’t his fault.

Shade shook his head. “No, he doesn’t have anything to do with it, in my opinion. I think he was as mystified as we were about why the customers are so lethargic. And, probably a bit disappointed, considering he’s an energy whore.” Shade turned to Carter. “I only know so much about these creatures. Do you have any information on them, since they’re of both the spirit and demonic realms?”

Carter frowned. “I’ll have to look in the archives. Meanwhile, Morio, why don’t you fill them in on what I told you. I’ll consult my files and be back in a few moments.” He excused himself and retreated to his desk.

Before Morio launched into what Carter had been telling them, he took Camille’s hands and held them tightly. “I should never have let you go in there. We should have thought about what might happen.”

She shook her head. “We didn’t know. We can’t hesitate every time there might be danger involved. You know that. Don’t you start acting like Smoky!” She looked ready to scold him but then dropped back in her seat. “I’m too tired to argue, so don’t even start on me.”

He looked like he wanted to say something, and a lock of his hair escaped his ponytail and trailed down the side of his face, stirring something inside me. I wanted to lick his face and sink…Whoa, Menolly, back it up pronto.

This was neither the time nor the place for these thoughts. In fact, there was no time or place that would be right for them. Enough was enough. There had to be a way to break the bond that had formed between us.

A thought struck me. “I’m so stupid,” I blurted out.

Everyone looked at me, confused.

Flustered, I shook my head. “Never mind, just something I was thinking about.” Talking about how I wanted to fuck my sister’s husband wasn’t going to add much to the conversation except tension. But it had suddenly occurred to me to ask Roman what to do. If anybody knew how to break a vampire-blood bond, he would. Why hadn’t I thought of that in the first place?

Morio held my gaze. His nostrils flared slightly, but then he turned back to Camille, making sure she was tucked under the throw and that her brandy was refilled. When he was satisfied she was okay, he looked over at Delilah and Chase, and they nodded.

“Menolly, why don’t you and Shade move over next to Camille so you can all look at these pictures together?”

We did, flanking her sides.

Morio took what had been Carter’s chair. “Okay, here’s what Carter found out for us.” He motioned for Delilah to hand us the sheaf of photographs. “Reports have filtered up from Portland, Oregon, of bhout activity, but they thought they were just ghosts. They didn’t realize that the spirits were demonic.”

“We didn’t either, at first,” I said, glancing at the first photograph. It was taken with a special camera, and it had actually captured one of the wispy jellyfish-like creatures on film. The spirit was latching onto the aura of a woman sitting in a recliner with her eyes closed. “That’s one of those things I saw on the Dream-Time. That must be its natural shape. But who took this? How did they get a picture of it, if the bhouts aren’t corporeal?”

“One of the paranormal investigators down there used a special film he developed to see if he could figure out why she was languishing. And languish seems to be the word.” Delilah handed me another piece of paper. It seemed to be some form that had been filled out, and when I glanced over it, I saw that it was a from the Oregon Psychic League, a paranormal investigatory outfit.

As I scanned the contents, it became clear that, at least down in Portland, the psychic community was better organized than up here in Seattle. They’d recognized the problem sooner than we had and had formed a task force to investigate.

“So she’s a test subject who reported lack of energy, inability to concentrate, and a drop in her psychic energy that didn’t seem normal?” I pointed to one of the fields. “Here it says she runs one of the bigger covens down there.”

“Yes, and apparently the entire coven has been affected. When they heard this from several groups, they wondered if something was systematically draining their energy. Hence the tests. That photograph is one of the results. The other pictures are of ghosts and apparitions. Apparently, hauntings have picked up there, too.” Morio glanced over to the desk, where Carter waved for him to continue. “Carter checked with a few other major cities on the West Coast and nothing there, yet. So if this is spreading, it’s only reached down the coast so far.”

“Is there anything else?” We had too many pieces of the puzzle that weren’t quite fitting yet.

“Yes, I’ve found more,” Carter said, returning to us.

He held another folder of papers in his hand and motioned for Morio to stay seated. Instead, he pulled the rocking chair over and sat in it.

“I found more information on bhouts. I also just received a fax from one of my operatives in the Demonica Vacana society. I’d contacted him about Gulakah. But I also asked him about the bhouts, to see if he knew anything about how they’re controlled and how to stop them.”

“What did you find? Anything we can use?” Camille sat forward, still looking wrung out. “If this is what it feels like to just be grazed by one, I’d hate to know what the FBH pagans and witches are dealing with.”

“They’ll feel it in a different way than you, since the magical abilities of Fae and humans vary widely.” Carter frowned, glancing at the clock. “It’s one in the morning. Do you want to go over this now?”

I nodded. “I have a good five hours left till the sun calls me down. I’d like to hear what you found out instead of waiting until tomorrow evening.”

He held up his hand. “Very well, but give me a moment.” And he disappeared through the curtains that cordoned off the rest of his apartment.