Demon Moon

where and how did the transformation take place?
    “He’s here,” Jake said finally, and for the first time she noted the tension around his eyes and mouth.
    “Where?” Her stomach sank as she recalled the conversation from the previous evening. But hadn’t Colin told Michael he’d go in before dawn? “The mirrors?”
    Jake and Drifter exchanged a glance; Drifter shook his head and said, “We know the location in the building, Miss Savi, but we don’t know what’s in there. And they’ve sealed and locked it with the spell, so they likely wouldn’t hear even if you pounded on the door.”
    “Can you unlock it?” she asked. He could open any lock with his Gift, whether mechanical or electronic.
    “No, miss,” Drifter said. “My Gift doesn’t work on the spell. I can let you know when they’ve removed it from around the room.”
    She nodded numbly and turned back to her chair. “Thank you.”
    Jake stopped her. “Savi…he isn’t always himself when he comes out. We’ve all noticed it; we respect his privacy, but it’s hard to miss a psychic backlash that dark. You might want to wait until later to see him.”
    “Thanks, but I think I still need to know.”
    Jake’s reluctant assent hung in the air between them, and it was several moments before she heard him typing again. She sat, stared blankly at her monitor.
    Then she roused herself, flexed her fingers. A quick, hard trip through her memory gave her an image of his account listings and assets, which had appeared on a similar computer screen eight months before. Hugh had only asked for Colin’s address and telephone number; now Savi was glad she’d been nosy and poked a bit further.
    It wouldn’t be perfect—Colin had bought Polidori’s and renovated his house, which would show as a huge spike in financial activity—but it would give her a place to start.
    What other transactions had been taking place in his name? And how far back did they go?

    “Colin, love, open your beautiful eyes and tell us what you see.”
    Lilith’s voice was soft now, and he barely heard it over the screams. When had he closed his eyes? Had he lost consciousness?
    “Colin,” Selah said. “You’ve got to come back.”
    Come back from where? He was so tired. When would she come back? She’d promised not to leave him, but she did.
    No, he’d told her to go. To find Michael. And she had, but not before the wyrmwolves had found him—
    “Colin! Goddammit, you fucking pantywaist, sit yourself up on your beautiful ass and look!”
    Christ, but she had the devil’s own tongue. “Sod off, Lilith,” he said hoarsely, and her relieved laughter pushed the screams away. A pleasant memory surfaced in their place.
    The night before, Savi had called it spectacular. Though tears had brightened her eyes, she’d been laughing, and the delicious scent of her blood had filled—
    No. Don’t make her part of this .
    He gave his head a hard shake, and the screams poured back in.
    “Colin, what are the nosferatu doing?” Michael’s melodic voice was impossible to ignore.
    He didn’t want to look up, but he did. The shrieking filled his brain, but he didn’t allow himself to see the dangling bodies, only the pale creatures that flew between them. “Still writing.”
    “Is it intact?”
    “Yes.” Colin dropped his chin to his chest, closed his eyes again. On his hands and knees like a fucking dog, but it was better than falling.
    “And the wyrmwolves?” Castleford asked quietly. “Can you see them?”
    Colin lifted his head, slid his knee forward, then his hands. The ground below sped by with dizzying speed. An inch here, miles in Chaos.
    Or he was just so tired he couldn’t tell the difference between speed and sickness.
    There. A writhing mass. A pack moving across a plain of solid black stone, at the base of a towering mountain. It had been that mountain in which he and Selah had found the caves, where they’d clawed their way to safety.
    Safety, for a time.
    “They’re still congregated near the mountain. All of them, moving together.” Almost aimlessly, it seemed—but they hadn’t formed such a large pack when he and Selah had run from them. Or flown, rather—Selah carrying him until they reached the mountain. In the caves, her wings had been useless.
    Don’t leave me here alone .
    The screams built and built, and his lips trembled with the effort of keeping them in. He shook his head, fought a wave of exhaustion and vertigo.
    “That’s