I’m meeting a contact. I think they’ll be able to help us. I should be back in a few hours. Make yourself at home until I get back. There’s some stuff in the fridge if you want to make food. See you soon.
—Declan
I stared at the letter, reading it several times before understanding exactly what was being said, and once it sank in, I wrinkled my nose in disgust and crumpled the paper into my fist.
“Well, screwthat,” I hissed to myself.
If he thought I was going to hang around here, while thebig strong manwent out to do the work, he was mistaken. He’d already said the people looking for me had tracked me via the device hidden in my clothing, which meant it was probably safe for me to go out as long as I was careful.
It still shockedandterrified me that the academy staff had somehow managed to hire a changeling or a changeling master to track me down, but if they’d reverted to such deeply unholy tactics, it meant they’d exhausted all other magical attempts to find me. I was effectively a ghost in the wind at this point. As long as I didn’t draw attention to myself, then I’d be safe from any prying eyes. The best way to do that was to stay in a form most people didn’t recognize. My wolf. Here in Chicago and the surrounding area, there were thousands of shifters, and hundreds of those would be wolves like me. My animal form would be harder to pinpoint than my human form. The auburn fur and tawny throat I sported when in my canine body wasn’t unique enough for anyone to think twice about me running by.
Decision made, I grabbed my bag, slung it over my shoulder and went to the back door. After unlocking it, I opened it a sliver and peered out to glance around. I blinked, confused why it appeared to be later than it should be, then I glanced up. An ominous blanket of storm clouds had consumed the sky, mostly blocking out the last rays of the sun.
Perfect.
I flipped the mechanism so the door would lock behind me, then stepped outside and shifted into my wolf. Giving myself over to my other side was so freeing, and I stood there, breathing deeply. Thousands of scents assaulted my nostrils. Car exhaust, asphalt, rubber, pigeons nesting atop the roof, the reek of a rotting rat corpse a few yards down the alley. It took a minute, but I was able to pick out the smell I most wanted to find. Declan. His scent was a combination of his natural odor, his cologne, his soap, and the bitter tang of the silver bullets in his gun. I had him.
I ran, following his smell, my claws clicking on the pavement. My wolf was fairly large, and any human who looked outside wouldneverconfuse me for a wandering mutt, so I did my best to stick to the shadows.
Trying to keep the trail and find Declan before the storm came in and washed his scent away, I moved as fast as I could, while still being cautious. After an hour, with the sun fully down and thunder rolling, I allowed myself more freedom and ran out in the open, letting the darkness hide me.
Eventually, I tracked Declan to a strange location on the outskirts of Lincoln Park. His car was parked at the curb nearby, and as the first drops of a wintry mix of rain and snow fell, I followed his scent to two decrepit trees standing roughly six feetapart. In the distance, the green fields of the park rolled away toward one of the small ponds. These two trees were gnarled and ancient, perhaps even older than the city itself. The closer I drew, the weirder things became. Pressure filled my skull, and I recalled how it had felt when we drove into Tombstone Station. The sensation was unpleasant, and anyone who didn’t know what it was would have instinctually backed away and departed. The perfect way to hide something that needed to remain secret.
An underportal.Glancing around, I shifted to my human form and walked between the trees. The moment I stepped through, I came to a stop. My ears had popped painfully, but I hardly registered that momentary discomfort. I was too surprised by what I saw to think about anything else.
This was totally different to Tombstone Station. That area had beenexactlyas expected based on where we had been before entering: a dark and dirty street attached to other city streets, the only difference being the inhabitants and businesses. This was… not that.
The park had disappeared, and I found myself on a dark street, surrounded by towering buildings, as though I’d somehow been transportedbackinto the heart of the city. Except this city wasnothinglike the Chicago I’d seen. The buildings were shaped strangely. Some leaned as if they were about to fall, yet somehow managed to remain wholly stable; others towered into an unseen sky. Still more appeared to have already been ancient when Rome ruled a majority of the world, built with primordial-looking bricks and blocks, all the doors made from rough-hewn wood.
The temperature was different here as well. The moment I walked through, the frigid winter air vanished, replaced by blessed warmth of a mild summer day.
A flash of golden light burst at my feet, causing me to flinch back as a tiny figure emerged up from the ground, flitting upward like a butterfly. My mouth spread in a delighted smile. A tiny fairy. Her porcelain white arms and legs looked so thin that a hard sneeze might shatter them. Her miniature face turned toward me as she flew by, her almost imperceptible eyes gave me a quick glance before she vanished upward into the pitch-black darkness of the sky.
“Holy shit,” I muttered. I knew of such creatures, but back home in Arkansas, I’d never had many dealings with anything other than other shifters, witches, and the random werewolf. This was… crazy.
I touched one of the ancient buildings, grinning as a rainbow of color flashed across where I touched, as though my fingers had been dipped in a whirlwind of color. No sooner had I lifted my hand than the color faded.
“Whoa,” I breathed, and moved further down the street, the park I’d been in already forgotten.
A distant rumble of voices drew me onward. I glanced at the doors of the buildings as I went, my shoes shuffling against the cobblestone street. Reading the names as I walked:Darkman’s Tomes: Grimoires and Scrolls,Pierre Fontaine Men’s Clothing,Miranda’s Palmistry. Another corner brought me to yet another business.Blackstock and Associates.Below that, a smaller sign read:Specializing in Magical Agreements and Spell Nullification.
Here, the street intersected. To the left, the main volume of the sound echoed forth, telling me that was where most of the people were. To the right, an even darker alley. Shadowy figures moved around, their faces obscured. What looked at first like aneon sign glowed above a huge ornate door. It took a moment for me to realize it was in fact charmed fire, twisting in the air to form letters.Winklevoss Bordello.
An ember of the charmed fire disengaged itself and hovered toward me, stopping a few feet away before transforming into the outline of a busty woman.
“Hello, sweetie,” she said. “Looking for some fun? We’ve got girlsandguys inside.”
“Uhm…uh…” I glanced around, as if looking for help. “I’m not sure?—”
“You haven’tliveduntil you’ve seen a minotaur’s cock. I promise,” the fire sprite said. “Seeing is believing. Seeing, touching, sucking, and doingotherthings with it, of course,” she added, then let out a chuckle that sounded more like a crackling fire than actual laughter.
“I, uh, should really be going,” I said, taking a step back.
Shrugging, the fire sprite floated up toward the sign. “Your loss. Stop by if you ever want to know how well a succubus can go down on a lady.”
With that, she waved and puffed into smoke that reintegrated into the magical fire sign. I let out a sigh of relief and turned around, nearly bowling over a vampire in my path.
“Oh, sorry,” I muttered as she swept past me.
