Page 80 of Ruby Red Sky

I led Cassia into the woods, keeping the other girl’s energetic signature grasped in my mind although we weren’t following her path directly. “No. Maybe some know me with my original appearance. Elijah and his woman do, but I don’t believe there is anyone else. At least not nearby.”

“Is he a good friend?”

With my mental pathways open, several different energies circled around me, piquing my interest. Witch. Demon. Human witch. Sorcerer. Sorcerer vampire. Demon vampire. Vampire demon. Disembodied souls. It was dizzying.

We reached a sparkling brook, and I crouched by the water, staring into its mirror-like surface. A face with eyes like coal peered back at me, someone’s memory. Then it disappeared, rippling away as Cassia trailed a finger through the water.

There were so many different beings that were not supposed to exist. Half of the signatures I’d picked up, it was my job to extinguish them.

I stood, my heart doing an uncomfortable somersault in my chest. I couldn’t say I wouldn’t strike them down should they show their faces. The universe was one of order. My species' survival depended on our laws.

Small warm hands grasped my own. “What’s wrong?” Cassia asked. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “It’s not that much farther.” She squeezed my hand but didn’t let go.

We wound our way past large moss-covered boulders and hanging vines, traversing a fern-lined path. Cassia exclaimed over the bright and deep green shades, and I had to admit, it was enchanting. The Fourth Realm certainly had its charms, despite being a hotbed of crime and lawlessness.

Before the trees thinned, a pair of fragrances brought me to a halt. The sickly sweet and spicy scent of gardenias, and then the heady smell of Bloodmoon flowers were carried on a breeze, the effect as if one had stepped into a perfumery.

At least, for me.

“What is that?” Cassia sniffed the air. “Is there a garden around here? That’s really strong.”

Dragging her along, I strode into a clearing full of hedges. The Bloodmoon flowers were everywhere. Crawling in vines over what turned out to be a maze of shrubberies, dripping their poisonous liquid nectar all over anything they came near.

“Do not touch a thing,” I growled at her. She drew her hand back, startled.

Elijah may as well have smuggled the Second Realm’s rubies, or the Seventh Realm’s Fae diamonds. It was expressly forbidden to transport the blossoms out of the Second, it was unthinkable that he would do this, and yet here I was, standing in a huge garden brimming with the illicit blooms.

After everything I had done for the man.

Birds flitted in and out of the bushes, dripping nectar from their beaks. “What is this? What are these flowers? The nectar is a liquid?” Cassia stared at me wide-eyed.

“Bloodmoon flowers. They are deadly, but one generally only finds out too late,” I answered.

“You’re angry,” she stated.

I leveled her with a gaze. “They are illegal.”

“And how, exactly, was I supposed to know that?”

Ignoring her attitude, I snared her hand and led her to the house, a sprawling pile of dark brick and vast, legal, gardens.

I climbed the short staircase and eyed the doorknocker before I lifted my hand. No point in being polite.

The entrance swung open with a bang, and Cassia hopped on her toes. Something small tumbled to the floor somewhere in the distance.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” A woman exclaimed.

“Not exactly,” I muttered, walking into the foyer.

“Not even close,” Cassia said, wincing.

The woman stopped where she was, placing her hands on her hips. “If one more person shows up in my house, you are all going to die.”

I wasn’t sure who she was talking to, but a distant voice stated, “Technically, it's not your house.”

Cassia glanced up at me, her grip on my hand increasing. Gently, I freed myself from her grasp and guided her to the side. She grumbled, not so much a complaint and more because she didn’t know what to do.