Page 38 of Queens Will Play

“Last month, Douglas’s aunt died. She didn’t have much, but she left a box of things to Doug. There was some sort of statue in it that gave me the creeps. Lucia lived in South America for a while, and was friends with a group of local jaguar shifters,” Marion said.

Wilbur grumbled. “Yeah, I’ll know if that’s it once I see it. Tell me, did they really like your husband’s aunt? Honestly?”

“I don’t know,” Marion said. “They—” She held her finger to her lips as Douglas appeared again, carrying a box. He set it down on the coffee table and poked through it, then pulled out a wooden statue and handed it to Wilbur.

The statue was about twelve inches high, made from a polished wood. It looked like a cross between an octopus and a demon, and as I stared at it, I felt an energy that made me want to take an axe to it.

Wilbur took one look at the statue and tipped it over. He glanced at the bottom, and nodded. “This isn’t any made-in-China shit. This is the real deal. And yes, this is an almagotar statue. Soul devourer, is the best translation. It attracts shandigoes, and is usually given to someone you don’t like, but whom you don’t want to confront. Somebody didn’t like your aunt very much,” Wilbur said.

Douglas let out a sigh. “She was kind of a Karen-type. She might have thought those shifters were her friends, but my guess is they tolerated her for some reason, but found a way to get back at her. But why didn’t it trigger around her?”

“My guess is she didn’t have much in the way of psychic abilities,” Wilbur said.

“Oh man, and with all the things you went through,” I said, “that must have been enough to trigger it once it came into your house. You and Douglas both have a tendency to attract things from the spirit world.”

“So this is the culprit,” Douglas said. “What if I break it? Will that stop these things?”

“It will put a stop to attracting new ones, however it won’t drive away the ones already here, and they’ll call more if they aren’t stopped until both of you are drained dry.” Wilbur set the statue on the table, grimacing. “We’ve got to get rid of the ones that are here, and perform a ritual to destroy this statue.”

“Okay, what do we do?” Marion asked.

“Tonight, this lot and I will go onto the astral and fight the buggers. We’ll need you as bait, though,” Wilbur said, nodding at us.

Marion sighed. “If that’s what it takes…”

“After that, you should ward your house. I’d recommend getting rid of anything else Doug’s aunt gave to him,” I said.

“Give me the box and I’ll burn it in a special fire,” Wilbur said. “Do you have anything else in there you’d like to keep?”

Douglas shook his head. “I barely knew her. Now, I’m wondering what the hell she did to piss off the jaguar shifters.” He handed the box to Wilbur.

“All right,” I said. “We’ll meet you here at midnight. Doug, you might want to stay away. We don’t want them to try to jump you, as well.”

We made plans to meet at around eleven-forty-five, and with that, Douglas and Marion headed back to their hotel, and we drove Wilbur back to his house. I thought about dropping over to tell Delilah about our plans, but decided to text her. I wanted to spend some time in meditation with the Moon Mother before heading into battle tonight.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

We showed up at Delilah’s at around six-thirty. Hanna ushered us in, a big smile on her face. I suddenly remembered that, at one time, she and Roz had been getting it on, but she couldn’t handle his obsession with his ex-wife. And now he was back. She caught me looking at her and blushed. I winked at her.

“Is Menolly here yet?”

She shook her head. “Sunset was only a few minutes ago. She’ll be here soon.”

“Where’s Roz?” I asked.

“In the living room,” she said. “I’ll get back to the kitchen.”

The sound of voices echoed from the living room as we shook off our coats and Trillian hung them in the closet. As we entered the living room, I saw a tall man standing near Shade, talking. His hair was longer than I remembered—almost mid-back now—and he looked a bit more beefed up, but as he turned, sure enough, Rozurial was back.

“Roz!” I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed him. He held out his arms, and I grabbed him in a bear hug. “It’s so good to see you, dude!”

“Camille,” he whispered, his eyes still sensual and dark, but I could see the hints of sorrow behind the glow and I could feel it in his aura. He was grieving a dream that he’d finally achieved, and that had turned into so much dust in his hands.

I gave him a firm kiss on the cheek, then stood back so he could greet Trillian, Morio, and Smoky. They hugged—at least Trillian and Morio hugged him. Smoky’s greeting was a little more restrained, but his eyes belied him. He was happy to see Rozurial as well.

Roz draped his arm around my shoulder, walking me over to the sofa. “That crown looks good on you,” he said.

“This is a tiara. The crown…wearing it is heavy on my head,” I said.