“I think we’ll be okay here. They seem to be making inroads now that we have your men helping us.” And it was true—the swarm of spirit demons was thinning out. In fact, I was able to count the number left from here, and it looked like only twelve remained. I had no clue how many we’d killed, but it had to be nearly seventy-five, if not more.

After a moment, I cocked my head and glanced back at Frank. “Dude, you said Chase called you?”

“Right. Johnson told me that Smoky said you guys needed fighters who didn’t use magic and who could land a good punch with silver blades. That’s all he knew. So I set the phone tree in motion and we called in all available men who could get here on the fly.” Frank let out a slow breath. “That dragon husband of yours knows how to wield a sword, that’s for sure.” He was staring at Smoky, who—for the first time, I noticed—was carrying a long silver sword. A wickedly nasty long silver sword with one serrated edge and one flat.

“Cripes, I had no idea he owned that.” I blinked. “I wonder if it was his grandfather’s?” Smoky’s grandfather had bequeathed him a great many treasures, and I wondered what else might be hiding, tucked away in Smoky’s treasure trove. But the sword was magnificent. It gleamed, even in the dim light of the storm clouds, and every time it hit against one of the demons, a pale blue glow would flash.

As the men continued mopping up the last of the demons, Delilah came trudging over, looking weary and covered with mud and welts.

“What happened to you?”

“The spirit demons tried to latch onto me, but I guess this is what happens when you don’t have much innate magical power. They left rows of bite marks because they couldn’t damage me on a psychic level. I guess the powers of a Death Maiden aren’t tasty enough for them.”

“Yeah, either that or…perhaps they can’t handle your energy because it’s connected to the Autumn Lord? Maybe that’s an avenue we should explore.”

“You might be right.” She nodded at Frank, an easy shake of the head, and dropped to the grass while we waited. I joined her, resting my head on her shoulder. “You okay?”

“I think so. I got hit a couple of times, and believe me—it’s jarring to have those things trying to suck out my energy.”

“Was it like when Vanzir…” Her voice trailed off and she arched her eyebrows.

I shrugged. Vanzir had tried to feed on me once, though to be fair, it wasn’t really his fault. We’d been under pressure, he’d been using his powers, and I was radiating so much magic that he’d been unable to control himself. I’d ended up fucking him to stop him from invading my mind, and that had led to another can of worms.

“A little…only with Vanzir, I knew he wasn’t doing it deliberately. These things are out to hurt—they’re out to destroy. And though the end result is the same, there’s definitely a different feel to it. I’d never liken Vanzir to the spirit demons.” I plucked a blade of grass and chewed on it.

“You might not want to admit it, but I guarantee you, any other dream-chaser demon wouldn’t show the restraint he does, and I have no doubt that they would be out to feed on you. Deliberately.” She shaded her eyes, trying to see what was going on. “Almost done, it looks like.”

“Maybe so, but Vanzir’s not just any other demon. He’s been a huge help to us, and he didn’t have to stick around once the soul binder vanished.”

She sighed, pushing herself to her feet and dusting the back of her jeans. “Listen, I know Vanzir’s not like the rest of his kind, but you can’t deny he’s dangerous. Never, ever forget that.” She reached down, offering me a hand, and pulled me to my feet.

“I know that. I never forget the strengths of my enemies. Or my friends.” Vaguely annoyed, but too tired to do anything about it, I jumped as another crash of thunder echoed through the area and the clouds opened. A sheet of rain so thick you could barely see between the droplets came gushing down, a real deluge.

After a moment, another crack of lightning split the sky, and thunder rumbled through just behind it. The rain turned to hail and we were inundated with pea-sized ice pellets. I yelled as they sliced against my skin, the sting bad enough to make me wince. Frank glanced around, then grabbed my hand and pulled me beneath a nearby cedar. He motioned for me to crouch beneath the lower branches. Delilah followed, and we covered our heads with our hands as the hail went on and on.

Frank stood straight, face front into the hail, guarding me. I wanted to tug on his jeans, make him hide under the boughs with us, but I knew he wouldn’t budge. It was a matter of pride for him. Smoky had entrusted him with my care, and even though Delilah was here now, he felt like he had to honor that promise. If I tried to persuade him to protect himself from the weather, he’d take it as a personal insult.

Unable to see what was going on across the street from here, we knelt beneath the cedar, breathing the fresh, crisp scent, as I sent up a whispered prayer to the Moon Mother. Please, let them find all of the spirit demons. Please don’t let any of them escape. Please, let our friends be okay.

Another minute or two and the hail let up, fat raindrops replacing the shower of ice. Delilah crawled out from beneath the tree, and then I stumbled out. Frank helped me up. As we stood there, the others made their way back across the street. Rozurial looked exhausted. Vanzir had fallen in the mud several times. Shade and Morio looked tired but no worse for wear. And Smoky, of course, was pristine and clean, as always. But none of them were smiling.

Behind them, the Weres followed, some limping or leaning on their buddies, but most looked okay. I anxiously waited as Smoky walked up to us, Jonas by his side.

“How did we fare?” I almost didn’t want to know—if we’d lost any of our Supe Community friends, it would be too much. We’d already lost all of the witches who had formed the human shield against us.

“Several men down, but alive. Chase is sending help. The spirit demons are all gone. And the witches…” Smoky stopped. He let out a long sigh, then lifted my chin, his fingers gentle on my skin. He gazed down at me, his frosty eyes a swirl of snow and mist. “They’re all dead. But you knew that, my love.”

“Yes, I knew that.” I leaned against him, resting my head on his chest as I slipped my arms around him. He smelled musky, and yet fresh, like newly fallen snow. I knew that scent—I knew it so well, I dreamed of it. Each of my men, I loved in a different way, but none of them any less than the others.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, rocking me gently back and forth. “I know it hurts you to lose people who aren’t directly involved in the battle. I do understand, even though I’m a dragon. War is a horrible thing, and good people die, and children, too. It is the way of the world. If war were simple, we’d never strive for peace.”

“We don’t seem to be doing a very good job in finding peace.” I wanted to cry. How were we going to tell Lindsey that a group of her friends were dead, their life energy fed to a horde of ravenous spirit demons?

“All we can do is our best.” Smoky found my lips, his tongue slipping deep into my mouth, probing gently as he kissed me. Long strands of his hair reached up to caress my shoulders and curl around my back, pulling me even closer to him. As the kiss went on, I melted into his arms, wanting him, needing him. Sex was one of my greatest stress relievers, and right now, I was stressed to the max. I moaned gently as he cupped my butt with one hand and lifted me up to meet his height.

“I need you, my wife. Morio and Trillian and I will take you away from this carnage, if only for a while.”

I held tight to him, breathless, wanting the moment to never end.

Smoky whispered in my ear. “I could take you away now—you and your family. All of us. I could fly us to the Dragon Reaches. You would be safe there—and your sisters, and Maggie. Iris, Bruce…everyone. Mother would welcome you. She has developed quite the fondness for you.”

It was so tempting. Leave this war, run off and live life at the top of the world. But there was no way my conscience would allow for that, and I knew that Delilah and Menolly felt the same way. We were stuck in the trenches, for good or evil. This was where we belonged right now. So many people depended on us, and we would not shirk our duties.

“I truly am fond of your mother, too, but no. We can’t do that and you know it.” I kissed his forehead and placed my hand against his chest. “In your heart, you know it. Even though you are a dragon, you care about these people.”

I seldom broached that subject. Smoky, like all dragons, was touchy about his emotions. He didn’t like my pointing out that he actually gave a damn about the humans, or about Earthside. Whether it was from not wanting to appear vulnerable, or whether he just didn’t like to talk about his feelings, I didn’t know. But regardless of his protests, I knew I was right. He wouldn’t take care of my family and friends the way he did if he hated humans or the Fae.

He wouldn’t stay with us, put up with all the ribbing and the joking and the tight quarters of our house. He wouldn’t be here, fighting to help us against the demons, if he didn’t care. And right now, I needed to hear him say it. Needed to hear him validate my choice.

He looked long into my eyes, the smile gone from his face. “My love…yes, we need to stay here.” And then he set me down. “Come, we have work to do. Let’s go talk to Chase. It’s easier for us to go to him, while he’s on crutches.”

Without another word, he turned and motioned to Delilah and the others. We started down the street, leaving Keo and Yugi to cope with the cleanup. They were directing the Supe Militia in sorting out the aftermath and preparing the dead bodies to be transported to the FH-CSI morgue. Fourteen FBH witches and four Fae had died, thanks to the Aleksais Psychic Network. And we had to figure out what to tell eighteen families about their loved ones.

By the time we reached home and had all washed up, it was nearing four P.M. Chase had decided against contacting any family members for a little while. They weren’t expecting their loved ones to come home immediately, so we had a little while in which to figure out what to tell them. I knew it ran against his grain to keep information like this under wraps, but we had to sort out what had happened and make sure it didn’t happen again.

As we slumped at the kitchen table, Iris and Hanna silently brought over a late lunch or early dinner. They quietly set a bowl of salad, a big basket of sliced French bread toasted with Parmesan, a meat platter, and a tray of cookies down for us. Hanna brought over a pitcher filled with iced raspberry tea.

Everyone seemed spent. Delilah was staring at the table, Shade’s arm draped around her shoulders. Rozurial and Vanzir were unaccustomedly silent. Morio and Trillian slumped in chairs next to Smoky and me. Even Shamas was quiet as he took a chair across the table from me.

Iris waited for a moment, then, hands on her hips, said, “Eat.” As we slowly reached for the food, she added, “Tell us what happened. It can’t be good, not with as quiet as you all are.”

I caught her gaze. “It isn’t. We lost eighteen people today—four Fae and fourteen FBH pagans who had been sucked in by the Aleksais Psychic Network. They, along with a host of zombies, were used to feed a hatchling nest of spirit demons.”

“Not good.” Iris frowned. “Do you think that’s the only egg around?”

I hadn’t even thought of that possibility, but it wouldn’t have been long before the question came up. My head began to pound and I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to work out the knots.

“I doubt it. And if it wasn’t the only one, and Gulakah has more of those stashed away, when they hatch, the spirit demons will go through anyone and everyone who even has a limited psychic or magical ability. They could devastate the world if enough of them got loose.”

“How did you stop them?” Iris lowered herself into the rocking chair as Hanna brought out Maggie and handed her to me.

I took the little gargoyle in my arms, burying my face in her fur. Maggie was solace for us on days when everything seemed to overwhelm, but she couldn’t solve our problems. I kissed her softly on the head.

“If it weren’t for the Supe Community Militia, we wouldn’t have been able to contain them. But I hate to have to call them out—Weres are strong, but the spirit demons are stronger, at least once they’ve had a chance to feed. They’re only affected by silver weapons, so we had to go in hand-to-hand.” I tickled Maggie under the chin and she giggled, grabbing my finger and licking it.

Shamas leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “There might be other ways to deal with them, but if there are, it would take a demon far more powerful. Or…well…someone like Gulakah.”

Delilah snorted. “Gulakah? Yeah, he’s likely to help. We have to find a way to get to him.”

I handed Maggie back to Hanna. “There’s no other way. I’m going to infiltrate the Aleksais Psychic Network tomorrow night. I’ll find a way to get to Gulakah.” I turned to Trillian. “I didn’t have a chance to ask, were you able to get hold of one of the talismans of disguise?” Please, please, say yes. I couldn’t take one more piece of bad news.

Trillian gave me a tired smile. “I managed to hook up with one of my old buddies who has deep connections with the Svartalfheim sorcerers’ guilds. Yes, we have a talisman. And it will work until you break the spell or until you’re attacked. Which better not happen or I’m coming in there and ripping the heads off every person in sight.”

“And I’ll be there to help.” Smoky shook his head. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t bargain with the shyster.”