A strange look washed across both Smoky and Shade’s faces, and Camille’s too. They said nothing, but Smoky passed Shimmer the bread and Shade made sure her soup bowl was full, and Camille reached out to touch the dragon’s arm.
“Welcome to Seattle,” my sister said. “I know it’s going to be a strange adjustment, but feel free to call us if you want to talk, or go out shopping, or even . . . just . . . go to a movie.”
Shimmer ducked her head, and the smile that stole across her face was warm and inviting. Her eyes glistened—she was truly an exotic and striking woman. She let out a faint laugh. “Who thought that I’d have to travel across worlds to meet people I could actually call friends?”
As she began to chat with the others, Alex walked away from the table, staring out the window. I joined him.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“The blood was incredible—you’re lucky to have the friendship of a youkai who can do that. But . . .” His voice trailed off.
“What is it?”
“The storm’s just begun. Julian is dangerous, Menolly—not just for me, but he’s against everybody. He’s angry, and we botched his plans. He’s going to look up who you are. He’ll do his research, and he’s damned good at it. Please, you and your family—be careful. He won’t stop unless somebody puts an end to him. He was a powerful sorcerer.”
“I feared as much.” My fangs slowly descended as I thought of the sorcerer. He had already proven himself deadly and without conscience.
Alex glanced back at Shimmer. “I’ll keep a close eye on her, make sure he doesn’t go after her again, but chances are he won’t. Julian’s smart enough not to try the same thing twice. Especially if the first time failed. But if nothing else, I’m glad we all met. Friends are hard to find. When you do meet like-minded folks, you do what you can to keep them in your life. Especially when you’re a vampire.”
As we stared out into the night, the storm continued, unabated. The winds were howling, the rain thrashing the ground. And somewhere out there, a vampire named Julian waited with revenge on his mind, and anger in his heart. Biding his time. Yes, it was only a matter of time.
Epilogue
Fly By Night Magical Investigations Agency
As we stumbled our way back into the office, I was embarrassed and I had no clue what to say. I’d botched things up so badly that I didn’t know if they could be mended. Threatening to stake my boss? Even if I had been under a charm, I had no doubt I’d be on my way back to the Dragon Reaches tomorrow, where I’d probably end up dead.
As Ralph yawned, I glanced at the clock. It was nearly five. Alex would have to be getting home soon before dawn broke.
Bette glanced over at us. “You chickens have a rough night?” The cigarette hung heavy off her lip. I hated those things, and one of these days, I was going to steal her stash and give her a hookah or something. At least it would be more sightly.
Alex snorted. “Rough night? More like a brief vacation to hell.”
“Ah, business as usual, then? Okay, children, I’m closing up shop and heading home. I’ve got a date waiting for me and he’s called twice to find out when I’ll be there. Don’t forget to set the security code when you leave.” She hoisted herself out of the chair, the pleather of her pants making a squeaking sound as she stood. A moment later and she had stuffed herself into a skintight leather jacket and teetered toward the door on her four-inch platforms. Bette was quite the broad, all right. She knew she had it going on and wasn’t afraid of what people said about her.
Ralph waved, then headed for his office. “I need to run some updates before I crash. I might sleep on the cot if it takes long enough.” He had a daybed in his chamber of electronic horrors, where he slept when he was too tired from coding.
Alex locked the door after Bette left, then motioned to me. “Shimmer, please come into my office. We need to talk.”
This was it. I followed him into the Menagerie, as I called the mini-museum of heads and trophies. As soon as he closed the door, I dropped into one of the chairs. Exhausted, I felt like I’d just come up for air after a really nasty case of smoke-choke. Dragons didn’t get colds, but sometimes, we got hold of bad rocks, and that made our fiery breath turn into a raging cough and fuzzy head. Of course, I wouldn’t have to worry about that again for . . . well . . . four years, nine months, and five days. The thought made me unaccountably sad.
“Smile, love. You’re free now. I doubt Julian will try to kidnap you again, but I wanted to apologize. The only reason he targeted you was because of me.” Alex sat on the edge of his desk and he reached over to stroke my cheek. His hand was cool, very cool, and felt so alien yet so familiar. With one finger, he tapped my nose and then returned to the other side of the desk, where he sat down.
I caught my breath, staring into those pale eyes of his, wondering what he really thought of me. The Wing Liege had unceremoniously dumped me on Alex’s doorstep and now he was responsible for me. At the same time, Alex Radcliffe was one of the most exasperating men I’d ever met. Dragon or vamp—men were pretty much the same everywhere.
“Yeah, I’m free. But for how long?”
“I don’t know—until you get yourself in the next mess? Which, no doubt, won’t be too long, knowing you.” He laughed and wrinkled his nose. “You want a chocolate?” He pointed to the candy dish he kept out for his clients.
“Chocolate? Really?” I stared at him. “You’re offering me chocolate right now? You’re better than this, Alex. Don’t drag it out. Just get it over with.”
“What the hell are you going on about?” He looked as confused as I felt. “Go home. Sleep. Get your ass in here at five P.M., ready to work.” He sounded like he meant it.
More confused than ever, I burst into tears. “You mean you really aren’t going to summon the Wing Liege?”
Now it was his turn to look perplexed. “Why should I?”
“I tried to stake you. I tried to kill you.” There, I said it—blunt and to the point, so to speak.
Alex cocked his head, the tips of his hair dancing along his shoulders. “Love, you didn’t have a choice. You were under a charm. I’m not going to report you for that.”
Relief flooded through me. He wasn’t going to give up on me and I wouldn’t end up in a cell at home! The rush of emotion must have shown, because he put down his pen.
“You really think I would have done that?”
I slouched back in my chair, my hand over my chest. “Alex, in the Dragon Reaches, this would have been considered my fault. I would have been punished for being so lax as to let it happen. And the punishment would have been severe, given that I’m considered outcast.”
Alex let out a snort. “Really? Well, you’re Earthside now. And yes, I’m your boss, but I’m fair and willing to give you every chance. I’ve been in a lot of trouble over the years, trust me. If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s a hypocrite.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand. Everything is so strange over here. Hell, I don’t even know what happened. You told me, yes, but . . . I’m still trying to fit all the parts together and nothing makes sense to me.”
“Give it time, Shimmer. Don’t be in such a hurry. Take your time in getting to know people. But I will tell you this, you can trust the D’Artigo sisters. They’re good folk.” With a soft smile, he picked up his pen againand waved me off. “Go home. Rest. You’ve got a lot of paperwork to fill out on this case.”
As I headed for the door, I glanced back to find him staring at me. He immediately dove back into his work, but there had been something . . . something in his eyes that made me want to run over, to give him a big snuggly hug. But I didn’t. Because at that moment, I realized I felt a spark for Alex. And that was the last thing I wanted.
So I turned back to the door and all I said was, “Right. Night, boss. See you tomorrow.” But for the first time in a
long while, I realized, I was actually looking forward to the new day. And all the new days coming down the line.
The Playlist
I write to music a good share of the time, and so I always put my playlists in the back of each book so you can see which artists/songs I listened to during the writing. Here’s the playlist for Flight from Hell:
ACDC:
“Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution”
Aerosmith:
“Sweet Emotion”
Alice Cooper:
“Go to Hell”; “Didn’t We Meet”; “Poison”
AWOLNATION:
“Sail”
Beck:
“Cellphone Is Dead”; “Elevator Music”; “Broken Train”; “Mixed Bizness”
Black Angels:
“I Hear Colors”; “Don’t Play with Guns”; “You on the Run”
Black Sabbath:
“Paranoid”
Bravery:
“Believe”
Broken Bells:
“Your Head Is on Fire”; “The Ghost Inside”; “The Mall and the Misery”
Crazy Town:
“Butterfly”
Cul de Sac:
“Cul de Sade”; “Into the Cone of Cold”
The Cure:
“A Short Term Effect”; “Cold”; “The Hanging Gardens”
David Bowie:
“I’m Afraid of Americans”; “Jean Genie”; “Fame”
Donovan:
“Season of the Witch”; “Sunshine Superman”
Doors:
“The Crystal Ship”; “We Could Be So Good Together”; “Whiskey, Mystics and Men”
Eric Clapton:
“Cocaine”
Garbage:
“Queer”; “I Think I’m Paranoid”; “Supervixen”; “Fix Me Now”
Haysi Fantayzee:
“Shiny Shiny”
Hugo:
“99 Problems”
Julian Cope:
“Charlotte Anne”
Kinks:
“Destroyer”; “Superman”
Kirsty MacColl:
“In These Shoes?”
Kyuss:
“Space Cadet”; “Writhe”; “Thong Song”
Lou Reed:
“Walk on the Wild Side”
Madonna:
“Beautiful Stranger”
Marilyn Manson:
“Arma-Goddamn-Motherfucking-Geddon”; “Personal Jesus”; “Rock Is Dead”
Mark Lanegan:
“Riot in My House”; “Like Little Willie John”; “Riding the Nightingale”; “Quiver Syndrome”; “Phantasmagoria Blues”; “Pentecostal”
Maroon 5:
“If I Never See Your Face”
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds:
“Right Red Hand”
Ohio Players:
“Fire”
Orgy:
“Blue Monday”
Peaches:
“Boys Wanna Be Her”
Dear Reader:
I hope you enjoyed your journey through Otherworld. Fans of my longtime series recognized the D’Artigo sisters right away—the half-human, half-Fae sisters have had many adventures and are on a dangerous quest right now.
What people may not be aware of is that this novella introduced my upcoming series, the Fly By Night Series, which takes place in Seattle within the Otherworld Altaverse, while focusing on different characters. Shimmer, a blue dragon shifter (sent Earthside as a punishment); Alex, her vampire boss; and Ralph, werewolf geek boy extraordinaire, run the Fly By Night Magical Investigations Agency, a magical and paranormal private eye/bounty hunter firm.
But don’t worry—I have no plans to end the Otherworld Series. I’m just adding more dimension to the world.
So this is the crossover novella that ties the two worlds together. I hope you enjoyed meeting Alex, Shimmer, Ralph, and Bette, even as you caught up with Camille, Menolly, and Delilah!
For a sneak peek of the next Otherworld book, Priestess Dreaming, keep reading and you’ll find the first chapter.
Bright Blessings,
The Painted Panther,
Yasmine Galenorn
Read on for a special preview of the next Otherworld Novel
PRIESTESS DREAMING
Available soon from Jove
I contemplated going back into the house, purse over my shoulder. Should I, or shouldn’t I? Utter mayhem lay within. Absolute chaos in a kitchen, complete with spilled food, a huffy dragon, one very pissed-off house sprite, and my sister, the wide-eyed, catch-da-giant-bird, turkey-chaser. Add to that the rest of the milling—and by now, thoroughly confused—throng that was our extended family, and I made my decision. Not a chance. Nope. Not gonna happen.
I was perfectly fine out here in the pouring rain, getting soaked. Let Smoky take his lumps from Iris. This was all his fault, not mine. The only part they could blame me for was that I had assigned him the chore of bringing home a twenty-five-pound turkey for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner. Was it my responsibility to remind him to make certain it was already dead?
Not. My. Fault. And neither was the Three Stooges aftermath that followed. Now, with Iris and Hanna both on the warpath, I had no desire to go back in there and subject myself to their outrage.
As my gaze wandered over to the turkey pecking around our backyard, it occurred to me that the bird was eyeing me with an evil glare—like some demented ostrich. The fat old Tom was closer to the woods than our back door, and I wondered if he realized just how lucky he was.
I stamped my foot in his direction. “Go on, you dumb bird. Make a break for it while you can, before Smoky comes looking for you.” As if he understood me, the turkey turned toward the treeline back of the yard and slowly began to waddle off into the sunset. Or rather, the pitch darkness. It was only around five thirty, but by this time of year, the Seattle area was swathed in night. Sunset had come and gone about an hour ago.
I snorted. “Have a happy Thanksgiving, bird. You lucked out so give your thanks to the Great Turkey or whoever it is you pray to.”
As I watched him vanish into the woods, I wondered where the hell Smoky had found him. No doubt he’d stolen him from some turkey farm or something. Wild turkeys generally didn’t go running around the streets of Seattle. But I wasn’t going to ask. After this fiasco, I had a feeling that my dragon-shifting husband wouldn’t be in any mood to discuss turkey-hunting.
Thanks to sheer dumb luck, the bird had managed to escape from the kitchen. He’d left behind a trail of walking wounded, though—including me. That beak was nasty sharp and I had the scratch to prove it, but at least I didn’t have a hole in my hand like Roz did. Yeah, in the great dinner war, the bird deserved his freedom. He’d earned it. As the last of his tail feathers vanished from sight on the path leading to Birchwater Pond, I saluted him.
“You’ve got what it takes to make it, soldier. Carry on.”
With one last look at the house, I straightened my shoulders and headed toward my car. We still needed a turkey. I might as well head out to buy one. On the up side, by the time I got back, things should have smoothed over.
Families. One thing was for certain: Mine was loopy, batty, and all around a freakshow crew. But I wouldn’t trade them for all the glitter and glitz in Otherworld or Earthside.
I slid into the driver’s seat, but as I inserted the key into the ignition, a shiver ran down my back. A shadow passed through me, cold and dark and incredibly ancient.
Quickly, I locked the door, suddenly nervous. Maybe it was the wind that rattled the trees that had spooked me. Or maybe it was the driving rain. Or perhaps the darkness and perpetual gloom had finally managed to suck the smile off my face. Whatever the case, I glanced back at the house, anxious.
PTSD, maybe? We had recently come through a horrible stretch, what with the war raging in Otherworld and losing our father. We were all still a little shell-shocked. I had been coping with a lot of nightmares and flashbacks the past few weeks, but this didn’t feel like it originated from the same place.
Trying to quiet my mind, I listened, breathing slowly.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Listen . . .
At first, I could sense only the wind and rain that lashed the yard, but then . . . below that . . . there it was. Something was on the move. Something big. I searched my feelings, examining the sensation. Was it fear? Yes, but more. Anticipation? Anxiety? A tingling at the base of my neck told me that deep magic was afoot, and would soon be knocking on my door.
Magic rode the currents, on the wings of a flock of birds. They were there, in the astral, black as coal and shrieking warnings of an ancient wood filled with extraordinary beasts. The rolling mists of time poured past as the ravens cried, their song echoing with magic. Dark magic, deep woodland magic. Death coming in on waves of flame and smoke.
As if in synch with my thoughts, a shriek cut through the darkness, startling me out of my trance. I recognized the cry. Raven. Oh, fuck—raven was calling. And where raven flew, Raven Mother couldn’t be far behind.
And behind Raven Mother, chasing her, was a dragon. At first I flashed back to Hyto, but then caught hold of myself. Hyto was dead and gone. I forced myself to focus, to examine the energy that went rushing past. This dragon was ancient—not a dragon from the Dragon Reaches, but from the depths of the earth, come awake after eons of time asleep in its lair.
As he roared to life, chasing the flock of ravens, he vanished from sight.
I found myself sitting in the car, my hand on the keys. Wondering what that had been about, and almost afraid to examine it, I shuddered and started the ignition. As the car warmed up, I stared into the darkness of the night, my thoughts far from Thanksgiving.
Flight from Hell Page 11
