Witchling

He smiled, satisfied. "Good. You know how to listen. As I said, I'm a yokai-kitsune. I come from Japan, though I've been to the U.S. several times before. I owe Grandmother Coyote a big favor, and she's calling it in, so here I am. She wants me to help you find the spirit seals. After hearing about what's going on, I am more than happy to be of service. Nobody's going to invade my world and get away with it."



I examined his face. Now that I had a chance to look closer, I could see that his ears were slightly pointed and that his teeth seemed a little sharp for a human. But he wasn't Faerie—not in the sense that my father was.



"You say you're a demon?" I asked.



"In a manner of speaking. Demon, nature spirit, what have you. The terms aren't important. What matters is that I'm not human, even though I take the form for the most part."



"A Were?"



Again, a shake of the head. "No. Demon."



I could see I wasn't going to get much else out of him, so changed the subject. "I thought Grandmother Coyote wouldn't interfere."



"She won't, but she can ask others to step in. Shadow Wing is upsetting the balance, and the Hags of Fate don't like it when the scales are off-kilter." He opened his bag and pulled out the object he'd been holding earlier. As I'd suspected, it was a skull. "This is my familiar. I have to have this in order to change into a human. If I lose it, the next time I change into a fox, I can't change back until it's returned to me. It was given to me at birth. I'm telling you this so you don't get any bright ideas about swiping it for one of your spells."



I blushed. "I'd never think of it," I said, though it occurred to me that I still owed Grandmother Coyote the finger bone of a demon, and here was one, sitting in my living room. But I was a good hostess. I wasn't going to conk this guy over the head and make off with his skull, let alone cut off his finger, especially after she'd asked him to help us fight Shadow Wing. Besides, I was more interested in other body parts.



"So, what did she tell you?"



"Everything I need to know. You're looking for the spirit seals that have been lost. If you don't find them before Shadow Wing does, we're in big trouble. What I don't understand is why the OIA won't step in with a mass attack and take care of this problem."



"Because they can't." The voice from the front door startled us both, and I leapt up, catching my breath. Trillian. Again. And he didn't look happy to see Morio sitting there.



* * *



CHAPTER 10



"Will you stop that? Next time ring the bell!" I glared at him as he wandered in and slid into a chair, his eyes never leaving me after a single glance in Morio's direction.



"Why should I?" he asked. "You know you'll let me in, so why bother with outdated niceties?"



"And that is one of the reasons we're no longer together," I said, exasperated.



"We were together last night, and you had no complaints, I noticed." He turned to Morio. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Trillian. Camille's lover."



"Stop right there! I may have slipped and slept with you again, but I'm not your lover. Not anymore." I sighed. "You're boorish and arrogant. And terribly rude."



"And your point is… ?" he asked, eyeing me with a speculative look. Irritated, I turned away as he continued. "The OIA can't intervene directly because the Queen has her head so far up her ass that she can't see what's going on. And the generals are sitting tight and cozy in their fancy homes with their stashes of opium and their feasts and orgies. Even if they figure out what the hell's happening, the troops aren't equipped to do battle. I hate to tell you this, but that ragtag army couldn't fight their way out of a box. The only hope is subterfuge, because by the time the royals figure out something's wrong, Shadow Wing will have discovered the spirit seals and it will all be too late!"



He leaned back, his gaze flickering around the room.



"Did Father tell you all that?" If that's what my father was saying, we were in real trouble.



"Your father isn't alone in his assessment. There's trouble on the wind for the Queen. Old enemies just don't fade away, even after a thousand years. She needs to remember those she's crossed in the past." After a moment, Trillian looked over at Morio. "So the old hag sent you? A wolf cub to do a man's work? Well, I suppose you're better than nothing."



"Yokai-kitsune, thank you." Morio bristled, and his pupils narrowed. "I know what you are. I've seen your kind in the northern mountains before. Don't push me, Svartan."



Great, a testosterone match. Just what we needed. "Chill out, both of you. Morio, I welcome your help, and my sisters will too. Trillian, back off."



Trillian arched his eyebrows and gave me a slow, sensuous grin. "Do you welcome my help, too? You did last night."



His eyes were gleaming. Uh-oh. I caught my breath, forcing myself to shake my head. The next moment, Trillian had slid in beside me, his fingers running up my arm.



"Stop it!"



"Your feelings are transparent—" he started to say, but before he could get the rest of his words out, Morio's hand latched on to my other wrist, dragging me out of Trillian's grasp.



"Leave her alone. It's obvious the lady doesn't want your attention." Morio pushed me behind him as he glared at Trillian.



"Cub, you've just overstepped your boundaries. You'd better keep your nose out of situations that don't concern you." Trillian was standing, hands on hips, at the ready.



I knew that he carried a long knife in his boot, and I had the feeling he'd upgraded to more modern weaponry since coming Earthside. The last thing I needed was for him to take a potshot at Morio with some purloined handgun.



"Enough!" Thoroughly irritated, I squeezed between them and glared at them until they both backed away. "Take it down a notch, boys. I mean it."



When they were sitting again, albeit grumpy and eyeing each other like hostile dogs, I headed toward the kitchen. "I need to check on Maggie. If either of you starts up again, I'm going to come in here and blast you both. And you know you can't count on the side effects of my spells—you could end up a couple of puffballs, for all I care!"



Trillian's gaze burned into me, and he gave me a sly smile, then returned to staring down Morio. I paused to make sure they were really in truce mode, then slipped into the kitchen.



Maggie was snuggled in her box, curled up asleep on an old blanket. My irritation evaporated as I looked down at the beautiful swirls of orange and black and white downy fur covering her little body. Gargoyles were small when born, and they aged so slowly that it would be years before she grew to adulthood. I knelt beside the box and gently stroked her fur. She snuffled in her sleep.



While I'd wanted a cat—a black one who stayed a cat and didn't turn into a person—felines didn't like being around Menolly. And Delilah would have been jealous and territorial. So Maggie was a perfect compromise. She wouldn't be afraid of vampires unless she'd already been treated badly by one, and she wouldn't threaten Delilah's seniority. The last thing we needed was a litter box dispute. Maggie turned, blinked once, then closed her eyes and fell back asleep.



I made sure there was water in her bowl and then chopped up a few ounces of steak and added some bread and milk. As I set the saucer down next to the box, Maggie's eyes opened, and she peeked over the edge. She let out a little mooph, then yawned as I lifted her over the edge. She lapped up the water and the food.



When she'd finished, I rubbed her belly, then carried her outside and set her on the ground. She dribbled a few pellets and a puddle on the grass near the steps, and I picked her up again and carried her back inside. It would be a long time before her wings were big enough or strong enough to carry her weight, and I didn't want her crawling around by herself outside.



. After I put her back in the box, I poured myself a glass of wine and returned to the living room, hoping that Trillian and Morio had been able to restrain themselves. Apparently, my absence had been too taxing. They'd started talking to fill the silence.



"The Queen will never understand how much danger there really is," Trillian was saying. "She's too caught up in her opium dreams to pay attention. The General Commander is trying to whip things into shape, but he's getting a fight every step of the way. The last meeting of the ruling council was a farce. Men are leaving the Guard in droves because of poor management and lack of organization. And the OIA is divided in its loyalties."



"What's this?" I asked. "How in the world did you find that out?"



"I don't just talk to your father," he said, snorting. "I have my spies. One of the Council members is a good friend of mine. I'm serious, Camille. Don't expect help from the Crown and Court—they've become so corrupt over the years that there isn't a person there who has the authority to change matters. Not yet."



I jerked my head up to stare at him. Not yet? Trillian never said anything without reason, but until I knew what was going on, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I still didn't know Morio well enough to trust that he might not repeat what he heard. And if word got back to the Queen that her competence was being questioned, we were all so much dead meat—or would wish we were. Lethesanar was an expert at persuading her prisoners that they'd be better off dead. A number of them took that route—using whatever method they could find to kill themselves before her next round of amusements.



"So you're saying OIA is on its own?"



Trillian inclined his head. "I'm saying OIA will do what it can to help you, but that may not be for much longer. Don't put your trust in them, and for the sake of the gods, don't count on the Court and Crown to back you up."



Slumping in my chair, I let out a long sigh. My family had never been close enough to the Court to be privy to its inner workings. Mother's presence had been enough to keep my father out of the loop. And as lower-echelon operatives, my sisters and I weren't privy to the relationship between the Court and Crown and the OIA.



I suddenly wished my father was here. He knew something, or he wouldn't have sent Trillian. But I also knew that he would take his own time about telling us what was going down. Father was loyal to his beloved Guard. Whatever was happening must be bad, for him to admit to Trillian that there was need for secrecy.



"What's next?" Morio said as the door opened and Delilah rushed in. She slammed it behind her, then turned to stare at all of us.



"I see we have company," she said, dropping her backpack on a chair.



I stared at her. Something was different, but I couldn't figure out what. Her cheeks were flushed, but since the temperature was dropping, I could chalk that up to being cold. There was something else, though. She was walking differently, and she sounded breathless.



All of a sudden I knew. Chase and Delilah had slept together! Chase, who for months had been spooked by the idea of the werecat, and who had been chasing after my skirts, had fucked my sister. I took her by the elbow.



"Come with me; I want to talk to you."



Trillian groaned. "You're going to leave me alone with wolf boy again?"



"Fox, you imbecile—I'm a yokai-kitsune, not some lycanthrope!" Morio growled and held out his hands. As I watched, his nails lengthened into long claws, and his eyes sparkled.



"Down, boys." I stepped in between them again. "Do I need to hire a babysitter to keep the two of you civil?"



Morio gazed at me for a moment, an insolent look on his face, then he retracted his claws. "No problem, Camille."



Not to be outdone, Trillian jumped on the bandwagon. "We'll be good. Go gossip all you want."



Delilah stared at them both, clearly confused, as I steered her into the kitchen, where we sat down next to Maggie. Delilah petted her for a moment, then sucked in a deep breath. She met my eyes.



"You know, don't you? You can tell?" She ducked her head.



"Of course I can tell. I can smell him on you." And indeed, Chase's cologne lingered on her skin. I braced her by the shoulders. "The only thing that matters to me is that you're happy and safe. He didn't hurt you, did he?"



Her eyes went wide. "Hurt me? No, in fact I accidentally scratched him." She sobered, and I had a sudden flash.



"Oh no, you didn't?" I saw where this was leading and wasn't sure I wanted to go there.



Delilah looked scandalized. "No! At least not during… but afterward, I guess the tension got to me. We were cuddling when I shifted. I scared Chase so bad that he fell out of bed," she said, giggling.



I stifled a laugh. Old Chase got more than he bargained for. Humans always underestimated the power sex held for the Faerie, even a half-breed. More lives in Otherworld had been lost to primal lust than in all the wars combined.



"Are you upset?" Delilah rummaged through the cupboards for a bag of chips and opened them with her teem. "I know he's been after you for a long time. I wasn't sure…"



"You know perfectly well I'm not interested in Chase," I said, grabbing the bag from her and filching a handful.



"I know you are… were… a virgin. Are you okay?" She didn't have to worry about pregnancy or disease—we'd been to the Medicine Mother before we left Otherworld and had our fertility temporarily stopped and been magically enchanted against illness. But her emotional state could be at risk.



She nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I'll keep watch, though. This was my first time and, even though it was with an FBH, I know the risks." About one in ten thousand Sidhe went stark raving mad from their first sexual encounter, usually ending up wandering the world as a crazed seer.

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