Harvest Song Read online

  Hercules gave him a shrug. He had barely noticed the men. But now he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “My first thought was a demon of some sort. But there aren’t any demons around here, are there?”

  I was sitting next to Trytian, and I felt him tense up. I gave him a quick look, but he was staring at the ceiling.

  “Well,” I said, “you never know. But you’re probably right. It’s probably a spirit of some sort. Would you like us to take a look for you?” This seemed the perfect opportunity to avoid any questions as to why we were over there prowling around.

  He looked all excited again. “You’d do that? I figured you guys must have a really busy schedule.”

  I wanted to mutter that he didn’t know just how busy our schedule was, but decided I didn’t need to muddy the waters. “I think we could do that. We have a little free time.” I glanced around at the others, and they quickly nodded.

  “That would be great. I like to keep this neighborhood safe if possible. I have a good clientele, and frankly,” he leaned closer and lowered his voice, “some of these guys don’t have homes. They come in here for a drink, and then go back to wherever they’re staying—an alley, underneath the bridge. I like to keep a watch out for them. I give them a free meal when I know they’re on the skids, too.”

  My feelings for Hercules had shifted in the past few minutes. At first I thought he was a blustery idiot, but now I decided that he really did care about people. After all, if I managed to meet Jerry Springer at the show, I’d probably be about as fangirl as they came. I resolved to try not to embarrass myself, or Shade.

  “That’s a good thing,” Smoky said. “If we’d all look out for our neighbors, life would be a lot nicer. How much do we owe you for the drinks? We’ll get a move on and check things out now, while we have the chance.” He paused, then added, “We’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about this to anybody, though. Sometimes they can get a little…”

  “Jealous? Oh, don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody that you’re doing a favor for me. Then everybody would be after you. I understand,” Hercules said, standing up and pushing back his chair. “The drinks are on me. Please, come back anytime. I’m here most evenings except for Tuesdays.”

  As he backed away, we slid out of the booth and headed for the door. Nerissa paused beside Hercules, leaned up on her tiptoes, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

  “For luck, for your bar. Thank you.” And before he could answer, we were out the door and across the street.

  THE ABANDONED BUILDING was covered in aluminum siding, and even the roof looked to be aluminum. When it rained, it had to sound like thunder on the inside, I thought. We skirted the front door, heading around back. Even though Hercules knew what we were doing, we didn’t want to attract any other unwanted attention.

  “Well, he didn’t say he saw a large group of people coming in and out, which gives me hope.” Menolly glanced up at the building. “Maybe Yerghan hasn’t had time to gather new followers. It wouldn’t be nearly as easy over here as it would be in Otherworld, either.”

  “That’s for certain. Just the sight of him would frighten away a lot of people.” I bit my lip for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase what I wanted to say. “I know we want to catch him alive, to question him. But I’m just gonna say this right now. If he comes at me with that sword, I’m going to do whatever I can to kill him. I never want to be sent back into the Land of Wandering Souls. That experience was more than I needed for one lifetime.”

  “Trust me, if it looks like he’s going to hit anybody with that sword, we’ll do whatever we can to take him down. We won’t put anybody in danger just to trap him.” Smoky glanced over at Trytian. “Right, Trytian?”

  The daemon gave a shrug. “Whatever you say. I’m just saying that it would do us a lot of good if we could probe him for information.”

  As we headed toward the back door, I glanced over at the hangar bay. A lot of these old buildings had large storage doors that opened up so that they could be used for loading and unloading. While I figured that no airplane parts had ever been stored here, I couldn’t help but wonder what they had used the warehouse for. I had never heard of the airline before, and it didn’t surprise me that they had gone out of business.

  “I have a question, and I don’t really want to bring it up, but I figure somebody should.” Nerissa motioned for us to pause as we approached the stairs going up to the door. “If Shadow Wing has a geas attached to Yerghan, does that mean that Shadow Wing can see through his eyes? Will he know that we’re attacking? And if we managed to capture him, and question him, will Shadow Wing know what we’re asking? Won’t that give away our hand?”

  “Damn it, I didn’t think about that.” Trytian flashed her a nasty look.

  “Don’t blame me for your lack of foresight,” Nerissa tossed back. “I just figured that somebody ought to ask the question.”

  I let out a long sigh. “Well, does that change matters? Or we could hustle him into the safe room at the Wayfarer and question him there. There’s no way Shadow Wing could see through his eyes then, could he?”

  Menolly gave me a nod. “That’s a good idea. If we catch him, we can blindfold him and stick earplugs in his ears. That way Shadow Wing won’t be able to see through his eyes, or hear anything going on. We just keep our own mouths shut until we get there, and then Trytian and whoever else wants to question him can go inside. Even demons can’t get out of that room.”

  “That’s a good plan,” I said. “So we take him down with as little chatter as possible, slap a blindfold on him, and hustle him down to the Wayfarer pronto. At least Shadow Wing can’t gate in to help him.”

  “No, but can Shadow Wing gate him back to the Sub-Realms? There’s another question we haven’t considered,” Menolly said. “He won’t be able to if Yerghan’s in the safe room, but until we get there…”

  “Hell. I hadn’t thought about that.” It occurred to me that we did our best thinking after the fact. It would have helped if we had come up with all these questions while we were making plans back at the Barrow, but apparently our minds didn’t work that way. “There’s no way to know. We have to go on hope and a prayer.”

  “All right, we wing it. And hopefully not Shadow Wing it.” Morio grinned as we all groaned.

  “Oh, so very clever,” Menolly said. “After the war, we can start our own improv group.”

  The concrete walkway in front of the hangar was about six feet wide. I saw paint markings on the concrete and they confused me until I realized that they were guidelines for trucks as they backed up to the bay to unload.

  The hangar doors themselves were barricaded, and it looked like they hadn’t been touched since they had first been barred. But when we looked at the other door, the wooden slats had been pried off and tossed to the side.

  I eyed the doorknob, wondering whether just to open it and barge through, or have Morio check it for any traps. Morio decided for me. He motioned for me to get out of the way, then handed me a flashlight and had me hold it so that the beam illuminated the lock while he inspected it. A moment later, he shook his head.

  “Looks clear to me. No traps, at least. I wonder if the door is locked.”

  “Only one way to find out,” I said as I reached for the knob.

  Chapter 12

  AS I OPENED the door, a breath of stale air rushed out. There was a hush that seemed to come with it, as with all abandoned buildings left to fester on their own. But I couldn’t feel any ghosts inside. Not from here.

  We entered into one large, open room. From where we stood, I could see the hangar bay doors to our right. Toward the back of the room, a spiral staircase led to the second level. On the other side of the room, a door against the right wall had the words stairs stenciled on it, and probably led to the basement. Another door, flush against the opposite wall, most likely led to the front of the building. The room was lit with a series of fluorescent lights t
hat hung from the ceiling, bare-bulbed and flickering with age. Dilapidated pallets were scattered around the room, which was about as large as a good-size high school gymnasium.

  There was no sign of movement, except for a stray rat that I spotted across the room. I restrained myself from chasing after it, which was my natural inclination. Roz shut the door quietly behind us and we gathered near the wall, trying to figure out what to do next. I had half expected Yerghan the Blade to be waiting for us, but he wasn’t, which meant we had to decide our next step.

  I glanced over at Shade. “Up or down?” I asked softly.

  He cocked his head, listening, as did Menolly. After a moment, Shade shook his head but Menolly pointed up toward the ceiling.

  “You hear something?” Shade whispered.

  She nodded. “Scuffling, and it’s not mice.” A hard look entered her eyes, and her fangs descended. Her predator was awake, which meant she sensed something.

  I straightened my shoulders, slowly withdrawing my blade. I could feel it now, the sense that we weren’t alone in the building. Yerghan the Blade had spent thousands of years growing into his power, and life in the Sub-Realms had to have groomed him. He was evil when he was sent there to begin with, but I couldn’t imagine what he was like now, or how ruthless he had become.

  “If we go up that spiral staircase, we’ll be sitting ducks, and he’ll be able to pick us off one at a time. Is there another way in? Through the roof, perhaps?” While the room we were in was at least fifteen feet high, it didn’t show us the state of the roof, given there was an upstairs.

  Shade motioned for us to head back out the door. Once we were standing out on the hangar bay, he leaned against the door to keep it shut.

  “Delilah’s right, If we go upstairs, he’ll have a clean shot at us, one at a time. And we have no clue whether he has any distance weapons.” He glanced over at Smoky. “You can’t go through the Ionyc Seas, can you?”

  Smoky shook his head. “I have no clue where I’m going, so it wouldn’t be safe.”

  Now would be the perfect time, I thought, for Shade to have his Stradolan powers back. They would allow him to go through as a shadow, filtering up the staircase without really being seen. But I wasn’t about to say anything, because I didn’t want to trigger off his insecurities again. And it would do no good, anyway. If Vanzir had been able to come with us, he could probably travel through on the astral realm. As it was, we had to make up our minds soon. We couldn’t just sit out here until Yerghan decided to go get himself a hamburger.

  “Is there any way to head up to the roof?” I asked.

  “Yes, and I will be the one to do it.” Menolly stepped to the side. “I can fly up there and take a look around. Meanwhile, I suggest that at least two of you go around front to make certain that our burly soldier doesn’t decide to take off through the front door.” And with that, she turned into a bat, and began to fly toward the roof.

  Smoky motioned to Trytian. “Come on, we’ll watch the front.”

  Trytian looked as though that was the last thing he wanted to do, given Smoky had threatened him numerous times about harassing Camille, but he followed the dragon without saying a word. The rest of us kept an eye on the back.

  About ten minutes later, Menolly returned, quickly shifting back into herself. She had gotten really good with transforming into her bat shape, and with flying, thanks to Roman’s coaching.

  She shook her head, her eyes gleaming. “There’s no way you’re getting through the roof. I looked everywhere there and couldn’t find any holes or trapdoors or anything of the sort. Whoever runs this building is going to have solid protection from the rain, I’ll tell you that.”

  “Then I guess it’s the staircase.” I pulled out my phone and texted Smoky, telling him and Trytian to come back around to the alley.

  we’re headed in, I texted.

  we’ll come in the front door so that he doesn’t have the chance to escape at all.

  I pocketed my phone and pulled up my dagger. “Smoky and Trytian will meet us in there just in case Yerghan decides to head out in the next couple of minutes.” And with that, I yanked open the door and headed in. “It occurs to me if we make enough noise he’ll come down.”

  “It’s a calculated risk, but go ahead.” Shade looked around, then picked up a broken piece of a wooden pallet and slammed it against the metal staircase. The reverberation echoed through the room. We heard a cursing from upstairs, and spread out around the staircase just as Smoky and Trytian joined us from the front.

  Menolly quickly turned back into a bat, and I wondered what she was doing. But as she flew toward the spiral staircase, I realized that she was getting into position, a surprise of sorts.

  “What the hell is that racket down there? You’d better have my dinner, you scumbag.” The man’s voice bellowed through the room as footsteps echoed from the metal staircase. A few seconds later, we saw Yerghan there, pausing halfway down the staircase, his jaw hanging open.

  Within a blink, Menolly turned back into herself, leaping directly down on the staircase where she blocked Yerghan from heading back up the steps.

  “Oh, we have your dinner, all right,” Menolly said, giving him a massive shove so that he fell over the edge of the railing, hitting on the floor in front of us. She leapt over the side, landing beside him, in a crouch.

  Yerghan rolled to his feet, surprisingly unhurt. But then again, a couple thousand years in the Sub-Realms had to have toughened him up.

  I glanced at his side. No sword, but he did have at least one dagger that I could see. But instead of reaching for his blade, he reached inside his coat, and before we could do anything, he threw something on the ground in front of us.

  “I suggest you take a moment to think about what you’re doing.” Even as he spoke, I knew something was wrong.

  As the smoke billowed out from whatever charm he had used, I tried to move but found myself frozen. It was like playing statues as a child. I tried to speak and found I couldn’t move my mouth either. Terrified, I wondered if my lungs were working, but then I felt myself draw a very slow, shallow breath of air. I was at least getting enough oxygen to keep from suffocating.

  I tried to look around, but I couldn’t even move my eyes from side to side. From what little I could see, nobody else was moving, either. Except Trytian.

  Trytian closed in on Yerghan. They were directly in front of me, so I could see them. The daemon had a long blade out, a gleaming, wicked-sharp blade that looked to be made of obsidian, glassy and shining with a black sheen.

  “You’re not getting away that easy,” Trytian said, cautiously approaching the warrior.

  “Don’t bet on it,” Yerghan said. He pulled out his dagger, and looked straight at me.

  Panicking, I realized that if he managed to reach my side—or Menolly’s—he could finish two-thirds of his task right here. And there was nothing we could do. I couldn’t see Menolly, so I couldn’t tell whether she had been affected by the paralysis spell as well.

  Trytian must have noticed Yerghan’s focus, because he darted to the side, standing in front of me, between me and the brute.

  “You have to go through me first,” he said, swinging with his blade. The obsidian landed against Yerghan’s arm, slicing deep. I could almost hear the sound of flesh rending.

  Yerghan let out a loud curse as blood began to spill from his arm, spurting out so fast that it looked like Trytian had cut into a major artery. The gash looked deep and ugly.

  Yerghan growled and once again reached in his pocket. This time, I wasn’t able to see what he withdrew, but he slapped it against the bloody gash and instantly, the wound stopped bleeding. It didn’t heal, from what I could tell, but the blood flow had stopped.

  Meanwhile, Trytian darted in, slashing at him again. This time his sword met Yerghan’s leather armor, cleaving through it, and sending another fountain of blood spraying out of Yerghan’s side.

  I felt my
nose itch, and wriggled it, suddenly aware that I was starting to pull out of the paralysis. I tried to move my fingers, but they weren’t free yet. However, the next moment, Menolly darted past my line of vision, slamming herself against Yerghan and knocking him down. He managed to throw her off, and she went sailing across the floor, a look of astonishment in her eyes.

  At that moment, Smoky broke free, but there was a sound behind us, and Smoky turned, his eyes growing wide. I could move my arms now, and then my head, so I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see several demons enter the room.

  Holy crap. Yerghan had managed call for backup somehow.

  As Trytian took on Yerghan again, Menolly went racing past toward the demons, followed by Smoky. I was finally able to move, and I followed them, Lysanthra out and ready, as the demons descended on us. They were the same type we had met at the house, so I knew just how tough they were.

  By then, everyone was free of the paralysis. Shade was helping Trytian, while Nerissa, Trillian, and Morio joined Smoky and Menolly and me.

  As we engaged, Nerissa and I took on one of the demons, while Trillian, Morio, and Smoky each took on another, and the sounds of combat filled the room. Nerissa and I looked at each other and nodded, thinking the same thing. We both sheathed our weapons and shifted form, she into her puma self and me into Panther. We were much more effective in combat this way, and we both leapt on the demon, knocking him down with our weight.

  As she stood on his chest, her claws digging deep into his stomach, I pounced on his head, holding him down with one paw, as with the other I began slashing through his throat. I grabbed hold of one of his horns, shaking my head this way and that, using my strength to try to break his neck. Nerissa held him fast, digging in deep, while I lunged for his throat, bit deep, and then began to hack away.

  The sound of rending flesh filled my ears and the smell of blood rose thickly as his skull broke away from his spine and the edges of his skin began to rip from his shoulders. And then I was standing there, the demon’s head hanging from my mouth. Disgusted, I shook my head again, letting go of the head, sending it rolling across the floor.