The air smelled of salt and woodsmoke, cedar and moss as we headed out to the car. Delilah called shotgun, so Morio climbed in the back. I tossed the bag of ritual items into the trunk and slid into the driver's seat. As we pulled out of the driveway, Iris waved to us from the front steps. Her fair face, and the hope in her smile, reminded me once again why we did what we did. Why we stayed here and fought.

"So, you really think Nerissa has a chance of winning the council seat?" I glanced at Delilah.

"I think we've got the odds on our side," she said. My sister was on the recently elected Supe Community Council and had vigorously been campaigning for Nerissa over the past few months. "If people aren't scared off by Taggart Jones. Andy Gambit has been pushing him as the front runner in the Seattle Tattler Seattle Tattler, and all he is, is a mouthpiece for the Freedom's Angels. We've been trying to find the evidence that ties them together but haven't been able to, though we know it's there somewhere. Jones is pushing an agenda to strip away all the rights in King County that the Fae and the Supes have won."

"Andy Gambit has his head up his a.s.s, or he would if I had my way," I mumbled. Gambit was a yellow journalist with a grudge against anybody who wasn't one of the "earthborn"-a loose faction of wacko groups who were all militantly bigoted hate mongers. I'd been on the receiving end of his barbs more than once.

"We should encourage Menolly to have a word with him." Delilah giggled. "Of course, he'd just turn around and use it to fuel the flames."

"And flames like that we do not need," I said. "No, we need a more devious plan to undermine Gambit and his xenophobic pack of cronies. We'll have to think about it for a while."

The thought of actually toppling Gambit from his position as G.o.d of yellow journalism tickled me fuchsia. Maybe we could lure him into a compromising position and publish the pictures. Spread the love, so to speak.

Shaking away the thought until a more appropriate time, I said over my shoulder, "So, Morio, what's the plan once we get to Harold's?"

He leaned forward, eyes gleaming in the rearview mirror. "Scour the earth with the salt and your Tygerian well water, then exorcise the h.e.l.l out of it. I've got the litany to free the dead memorized."

I glanced at him through the mirror. Over the months, I'd come to realize that the youkai actually enjoyed the escalating turmoil. He wasn't one for words, but I could smell him. Not exactly aroused, but a hint of excitement lingered in his scent. He l.u.s.ted for the chase, especially when it involved magic. What scared me a little was I was beginning to notice the same reaction in myself.

Delilah must have caught his scent, too, because she glanced back at him. "Where did you first learn death magic?"

Morio remained silent for a moment. When he spoke, his words were terse. "I learned it while growing up." He lapsed back into silence and I sidled a look at Delilah, who shrugged and went back to gazing out the window.

As the pavement pa.s.sed beneath our wheels, fat drops of rain began to splatter down and then the skies opened up and a bone-drenching downpour pounded the road. I slowed, careful to avoid hydroplaning so we didn't go sailing into any other cars. Driving in Seattle was crazy enough, but the rain created hazards I'd never thought of back in OW.

Of course, back home I'd never ridden in a car, either, or had to learn to drive anything more complicated than a cart. Riding horses came second nature to me. And horses and carts didn't usually go fast enough to skid on the roadways there. We didn't do concrete back in Otherworld. Though cobblestones presented their own problems when wet.

"Wouldn't you know it? We're going to get soaked to the skin." I frowned, wondering if I should try a little weather magic, but a flash of the deluge I might create if my magic backfired nixed any further thought in that direction.

Delilah snorted. "So what? In the past months, we've been covered with demon blood, viro-mortis slime, venidemon guts, mud, sludge, and who knows what else? What's a little rain?"

"Don't forget pixie dust." I grinned at her. "And I'm sure we'll be nose deep in oozing green ichor before we're done with the job. I'm just glad I found a talented dry cleaner."

I turned left onto the street leading to the ruins of Harold's house. The morning had taken on a gloomy presence and the last place I wanted to be was here, but if Morio was right and the goshanti devil usually didn't come out during the day, we'd better use the daylight while we had it.

I pulled next to the curb behind a prowl car. The uniformed figures of Lethe and Finias, two OW Fae who had been a.s.signed Earthside to help out with the FH-CSI-the Faerie Human Crime Scene Investigation team-were standing guard. As we climbed out of the car, Finias strolled over to greet us.

"You're here to clear the land?" he said, his eyes the most arresting shade of green I'd ever seen. He wasn't particularly tall, but his golden hair glimmered like Delilah's, falling to his shoulders, and the scruff of beard that lightly shaded his jaw made him look rugged. Yet he reminded me of one of the golden boys. An Apollo in training.

I nodded. "Mind if we head in?"

"Be my guest. I'm tired of sitting stakeout on a deserted lot. But be careful. I can sense the devil. She's asleep, but she's hungry." His eyes flashed to gold, then back to green, and he placed a soft hand on my arm. "She's stronger than she looks," he added.

Morio edged in next to me and just as softly removed Finias's hand from my arm. "Thank you for the warning. We'll be cautious." He hoisted the bag of ritual gear over one shoulder and his own bag over the other. "Let's get moving," he said, glancing at the blackening sky. "I don't like the looks of this storm."

Delilah fell in behind me and we followed Morio toward the lot. During the night the place had been spooky, but it wasn't much better during the day. The land held a desolate air, and while we could see everything more clearly-including the dead body that still lay behind the rhododendron-there was a dank atmosphere that made me feel claustrophobic.

I tugged on the collar of my capelet, slipping my finger beneath the material to loosen it a bit. The air was close, and every time I took a breath it felt like I was inhaling a lungful of vapor. When we came to the body, I knelt beside it, not touching anything, just looking.

The man had been out jogging. At least it looked that way, judging by the sweats and sneakers he was wearing. A pedometer was attached to his belt, and I noticed a thin flashlight poking out of the pocket of his sweatshirt. He was short but muscular, and looked like he'd been in good shape. Rigor mortis had taken hold of the body, the chill of the night sustaining it. He was stiff as a board, with a look of terror on his face. I wanted to close his eyes, but knew better than to disturb the evidence even though I knew-and Chase would know-that the goshanti devil had caused the poor man's death.

"I wonder who he was," Delilah said, squatting beside me.

"Someone out for a little exercise," I said. "Maybe somebody's father, or husband, or lover. Chase will find out. At least the weather has kept away the worst of the insects."

There were ants, yes, but not many, and a few beetles and flies swarming around the body, but the chill and the damp had fended off the worst of the bugs. From what I could tell, no animals had crossed through the lot. A thought occurred to me and I stood up and hurried to Morio's side. He was setting out the gear on the trunk of a fallen fir tree.

"Do the goshanti devils suck out the life force from animals, too? It seems awfully quiet here today. Nothing-no cats or dogs or racc.o.o.ns-seem to have disturbed the body."

He frowned as he fit a white candle into a tall silver candlestick. "I honestly don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me. Here, can you create a ring of salt around us, about ten feet in diameter?"

I nodded, accepting the bag of kosher salt. Kosher salt was purer than iodized, and we used it exclusively in our magic unless we needed sea salt. For cooking, too, I thought with a grin, remembering Iris's insistence on certain brands when we went shopping.

"What can I do?" Delilah asked, glancing around. She frowned at the weeping willow. "I do not like that tree. It has a nasty feel to it."

"I think that's where the goshanti has made her home," Morio said, but then stopped as Delilah knelt by the roots and began sifting through the leaf detritus at the base of the trunk. "What are you looking for?"

"I just have a feeling," she said, clawing away the moldy leaves and twigs and mushrooms that had grown up thick around the tree. "I smell something . . ."

Curious, I sat the salt down and joined her, kneeling to one side as she clawed at the dirt with Lysanthra, her long silver dagger. I had my own matching dagger with me but since I'd be using mine for magic today, I didn't want to get it dirty. Delilah's dagger had a soul and had contacted her. Mine-well, if my dagger was sentient in any way, it sure hadn't shown any interest in striking up a conversation with me.

After a moment, Morio joined us, using a stick to pry at the dirt. I sighed, not wanting to be a shirker, so setting my capelet aside where it wouldn't get caught by the flying dirt, I grasped at the soil with my fingers, digging out clods and pungent toadstools and weeds that were wilting from the moisture.

We dug in silence for a couple of minutes and then Delilah held up her hand. Morio and I pulled back as she began to sc.r.a.pe away a final layer from something that was about the size of a shoe box, buried seven or eight inches deep. After a moment, she sat back on her heels and we peeked in the hole.

A box-a metal strongbox by the look of it-was at the bottom of the hole. On the top were runes painted in a brilliant lemon yellow.

I glanced over at Morio. "I recognize the runes. They're warding symbols, and one looks like it might be a hex symbol."

"A curse," Morio said softly. "But for which-opening the box or disturbing the land?"

"It would only make sense that they warded the land." I leaned over the box and held my fingers a few inches above the runes. "They're powerful but erratic. The uncle-what was his name? Whatever it was, Harold's uncle was a necromancer, albeit a lousy one. I'll bet you he put this together."

"The question is . . . Camille, don't touch it! It might be dangerous." Morio motioned for me to move my hand. I quickly obeyed. He was more adept at Earthside magic than I was. "As I was saying, the question is, will the thing backfire on us if we remove it? Is the curse valid or just as screwed up as the Demon Gate he opened?"

Delilah scrunched her lip, biting the edge of it. I wondered how she avoided puncturing herself at times, given her non-retractable fangs. They weren't as long as a vampire's, but they were there and they'd caused plenty of damage to Chase's private parts during a few ill-chosen b.l.o.w. .j.o.b attempts. We'd all all heard about the upshot of that activity. heard about the upshot of that activity.

"Do you recognize the curse? What's the worst that can happen?" She wiped her hands on her jeans and stood. Six foot one, she was lean and muscled, but sometimes I wondered just where she stored her common sense.

"To answer your questions: No, and we could die. And not necessarily in that order," I said. Then, a brilliant thought struck me. "I know! Let's make Rodney drag it out. Then, whatever happens will happen to him him."

Morio gave me a crazy look but laughed, his lips curling into a devilish grin. "I knew that little b.a.s.t.a.r.d had to be good for something. And if it blows up in his face, then we don't have to come up with an excuse so we can give him back to Grandmother Coyote." He rummaged through his bag and pulled out the wooden box in which our skeletal jacka.s.s made his home.

Delilah stared at the box. "Who the h.e.l.l is Rodney?"

Oops. This was going to be fun. I hadn't gotten around to telling Delilah and Menolly about our bony-b.u.t.ted compatriot. Not yet.

I knew they'd want to meet him. And if that that happened, there was no doubt in my mind that Delilah would end up in puddy-tat form and Menolly would end up crushing Rodney into bonemeal. Then we'd have to pay some enormously nasty debt to Grandmother Coyote for breaking her toy. The scenario was all too real in my mind and I just didn't even want to go there. happened, there was no doubt in my mind that Delilah would end up in puddy-tat form and Menolly would end up crushing Rodney into bonemeal. Then we'd have to pay some enormously nasty debt to Grandmother Coyote for breaking her toy. The scenario was all too real in my mind and I just didn't even want to go there.

I sighed. "Rodney is a gift. Actually, he's an albatross. Grandmother Coyote gave him to Morio. He's rude, he's crude, he's lewd, and we're stuck with him. Just ignore him if he starts in badgering you, okay?"

Her cat instinct took over and Delilah perked up her ears, looking more curious than was good for her. "Let me see."

Morio cleared his throat. "Remember, we warned you. Don't start whining if he gives you the finger." He opened the box and whispered a low incantation over the miniature skeleton. Within seconds, Rodney sat up, looking around. I shivered. The fire in his eye sockets gave me the creeps. Everything Everything about him gave me the creeps. about him gave me the creeps.

Rodney fastened his gaze on Delilah and let out a long whistle. "Hot d.a.m.n! Another broad! Well, f.u.c.k me with a swizzle stick. You're a scorcher, bay-bee bay-bee. Anytime you need a b.o.n.e.r, just call on me. I may be small but I can travel to places no man can reach. At least not with his entire body-"

"What did you say?" Delilah gaped at him, a bright flush running up her neck to spread across her face.

"I told you," I muttered. "Just ignore him or he'll get worse."

"I've got a thing for the schwing-" And Rodney was off, humming and dancing a rather twisted version of the "Time Warp," his focus being the pelvic thrust, of course. Which was just so so wrong. I felt like we'd been forced into some nightmare vaudeville of the d.a.m.ned. wrong. I felt like we'd been forced into some nightmare vaudeville of the d.a.m.ned.

"Enough!" Morio glared at him as I resisted the urge to backhand the little creep right into the hole we'd just dug.

"Why the h.e.l.l do you keep him around?" Delilah sniffed, looking away. I saw a faint shimmer in her aura, which could mean only one thing.

"Curb it, Delilah. You need to stick with us and not go-"

But I was too late. The next minute a lively golden tabby stood in her place and before either Morio or I could stop her, she gathered herself and leapt, knocking Rodney out of Morio's hand as she threw him off balance.

Rodney hit the dirt running. Apparently the creep had enough sense to know when he'd pushed it too far. Delilah was hot on his heels, her tail swishing from side to side, with a suspiciously happy look on her face.

Uh-huh, I thought. Her transformation wasn't really an accident. She'd never 'fess up if I pressed her on it, though. I knew her well enough for that. Accidental Accidental shapeshifting had become an easy excuse over the years. When she wanted to get out of doing housework, when she wanted a nap and we were busy, when she wanted somebody to give her a good rubdown . . . oh yeah, my sister wasn't above using her faulty powers for her own gain. shapeshifting had become an easy excuse over the years. When she wanted to get out of doing housework, when she wanted a nap and we were busy, when she wanted somebody to give her a good rubdown . . . oh yeah, my sister wasn't above using her faulty powers for her own gain.

"Delilah! You come back here! Don't you-oh cripes, stop her!"

Delilah had managed to leap over Rodney's head and land on the other side, and now she swatted him a good one with a big old furry paw. Rodney went flying into a pile of dirt.

He leapt up and motioned to her with one bony finger. "Come on, baby, come on-you just try it again, you G.o.d-d.a.m.ned fleabag."

Morio was closer to her than I. He took one quick leap and stood towering over the pair. His eyes flashed with flecks of topaz and he suddenly started to grow, morphing into his fox demon shape.

I caught my breath. Even when he was in full demon form, he was hot as h.e.l.l. At least in my my eyes. At eight feet tall when he was fully transformed, Morio was huge-in eyes. At eight feet tall when he was fully transformed, Morio was huge-in all all ways. I knew ways. I knew that that from a very personal and pleasurable vantage point. As his face began to lengthen, his muzzle appeared and his long black nails grew into long black claws. from a very personal and pleasurable vantage point. As his face began to lengthen, his muzzle appeared and his long black nails grew into long black claws.

Before he'd finished shifting, he leaned over the squabbling pair and let out a low growl. "Stop now or I'll eat you both."

Delilah and Rodney froze in their tracks and stared up at him. Delilah slowly backed away, hissing with her tail fluffed up, but she made no move to run or fight back. Rodney glared at Morio, hands on his pelvis, looking put out. Morio waited till Delilah had moved out of range, then scooped up the skeleton. Within another moment, he'd shifted back.

I stared at all three of them, shaking my head. "Good G.o.ds, we might as well slap signs on our backs that read KICK ME. Delilah, turn your fluffy b.u.t.t back into your normal form. Rodney . . . you're just a stupid a.s.s."

"I'd like to make close personal friends with your your stupid a.s.s-" he started to say but stopped when Morio began to squeeze. stupid a.s.s-" he started to say but stopped when Morio began to squeeze.

"Talk to my wife like that once more and I'll break you in two. I no longer give a rat's a.s.s that you're a gift from Grandmother Coyote." His voice was dangerously low and I knew that he'd reached his breaking point. It took a lot to push Morio into a corner but the moment he got there, he lost it and all h.e.l.l broke loose. In a way, he was more dangerous than Smoky because Morio was more unpredictable.

Rodney squeaked and shut up. Delilah chose that moment to shift back to herself. I gave her a withering look. She scuffed the ground and muttered, "Sorry," and looked the other way.

"Can we puh-leeze puh-leeze get on with this?" I wanted to launch into a diatribe but it was useless. "Rodney, get your bony b.u.t.t in that hole and drag out the box." get on with this?" I wanted to launch into a diatribe but it was useless. "Rodney, get your bony b.u.t.t in that hole and drag out the box."

Morio set him down on the ground and, as the skeleton flashed me the finger and headed for the hole, the three of us began to back up.

Rodney noticed our retreat. "Where you b.i.t.c.hes going? Why-" He stopped, peered in the hole, and groaned. "You can't be serious? You want me to drag a cursed box out of the ground? I get it! You think I'm expendable! Let the bony guy get it. If anybody's going to fry, it's me, is it? Well, I tell you b.i.t.c.hes, I'm not-"

Morio's voice ran a timbre lower than scary. "You are are expendable. At any time, whenever I choose." expendable. At any time, whenever I choose."

Rodney shut up. It was only for a moment, but right then I knew that, beneath the surface, he was terrified of Morio.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're the big bad youkai and I'm just your pip-squeak love b.i.t.c.h. Fine, leave it to me. But if you blow me up, I'm quitting!" Still muttering, he climbed down in the hole and after a couple of minutes, he huffed and puffed his way out, dragging the box behind him. We all took a simultaneous step back.

"What now, boss?" Rodney edged away from the box as he glanced up at Morio. Even without skin and flesh to cover his skull, I could see the worry on his face. Or what would have been his face.

Morio crossed his arms. "Open it."

"But-but-" Rodney was serious now. "It's cursed. I could be killed."

"You can't die because you aren't alive. You're a golem who happens to have some sentience attached to you. I guarantee you, I am far more dangerous than anything attached to that box. Open it. Open it." Morio took one step forward.

Rodney let out a shriek and raced back to the box. As the skeleton flipped open the lid and jumped back, I covered my eyes and waited for a moment, then peeked from behind my hands when there was no immediate flash or explosion.

"Nothing happened." Rodney sounded confused.

"Faulty hex," I said, edging my way forward again.

"What's inside the box?" Delilah asked, coming out from behind the tree where she'd been hiding.

"A couple of crystals and a pouch. That's all. You want I should open this thing? It's pretty full." He held up a black felt pouch.

"Do it," Morio said.

I decided to let my suddenly bada.s.s lover handle this. That way, if Rodney got smashed to smithereens, he'd be the one answering to Grandmother Coyote, not me. And seeing that they were related in a weird kind of extended family way, she might be nicer to him if he screwed up.

Rodney opened the pouch. Nothing happened again. He slowly upended the contents into the box and I heard the clink of metal on metal.

"Well, well, well," the skeleton said. "Lookie what we have here!" He held up a necklace.

I edged forward another step and peeked in the box. A scattering of jewelry littered the tray. But there were other things in the pouch, as well. Not so happy things. Bones, to be precise, intermingled with the rings and pendants and earrings. Finger bones. Knuckle bones. Despair radiated off them in concentric waves, rippling out of the box, hitting me in the gut and making me queasy.

"These belong to women. To the women who disappeared here. Holy f.u.c.king h.e.l.l," I whispered. "Harold and his pervs were keeping souvenirs from their kills."

Morio and Delilah joined me and we stared into the box, at the macabre treasure that lay scattered before us.

"No wonder a goshanti formed here," Morio said, squatting to poke through the items. "The quartz spikes amplified the energy surrounding the trinkets and bones, rather than protecting them from discovery. Once again, Dante's h.e.l.lions f.u.c.ked up. I'll bet you anything the rune for hexing is actually a rune to ground the energy and keep it right here. We aren't going to be able to cleanse the goshanti devil from this lot until we disperse the items and put these bones to rest."

I nodded. Harold's group had managed to summon a goshanti. Could they have other surprises that might account for the increase in spirit activity from the Netherworld that we'd been seeing? And if so, how the h.e.l.l were we going to figure out all of the damage they'd caused?

Shaking off the speculation, I looked back at the box, a wave of sadness rushing through me. "Let's start by sorting out the bones. We can purify and bury them."

Rodney reached down and started separating the bones to one side. For once, he remained quiet.