‘‘What if we destroyed its form?’’ Cyrene asked, kneeling beside it.

‘‘We can’t…,’’ I started to say, but stopped. She was right. It was harmed doing something for us, and I couldn’t just walk away. ‘‘I don’t know what we can do, Cy. We can’t take it up to the house. The dragons-’’

‘‘Are no friends of Dr. Kostich,’’ she interrupted. ‘‘Come on. And stop making that face-you may work for a demon lord, but I know you. I created you! You’re not a heartless person, so let’s just get this poor demon to its people and then we can leave. All right?’’

‘‘Why do I have a feeling you’re enjoying this?’’ I grumbled as I picked up the front half of the dog.

She giggled as she lifted its rear legs. ‘‘I have to admit I’m looking forward to seeing real dragons. And famous ones! This Aisling Grey person was the subject of conversation at the Elemental Beings conference last month. It was a very romantic story. She met this wyvern and became a demon lord and then she had something happen to make her a prince of Abaddon…’’

We were puffing heavily by the time we got the heavy demon to the flagstones marking the edge of the patio area. Cyrene continued to tell me some convoluted story about the demon’s master-to be honest, it sounded far too bizarre to be real-but most of my attention was focused on how I was going to explain the situation to strangers, and more important, keep the existence of the quintessence secret. I might have never met any dragons, but their love of treasure was legendary; the quintessence would surely present a temptation they couldn’t ignore… and one I couldn’t let them have.

Chapter Four

‘‘Remember your promise,’’ I reminded Cyrene in a low voice as we set the demon on a chaise longue.

‘‘Which one? Oh! That one.’’ She nodded and made a gesture over her lips. ‘‘Locked tight, Mayling.’’

‘‘Good. I think we’re about to have company.’’ I straightened up and tried to adopt an innocent expression as two red-haired men burst out of the house, their body language (not to mention expressions) intimidating. I lifted my hands to show I was unarmed. ‘‘Good evening. I assume you are Pál and István?’’

‘‘I am Pál,’’ the taller of the two men said, stopping in front of me. He nodded to the stockier man, the one who watched us with hard, suspicious eyes. ‘‘He is István. What are you doing here?’’

I moved aside so the men could see the body of the demon lying on the chaise. The one named Istvàn started and gave a little cry, immediately kneeling down next to the demon. Before I could tell him the demon’s form wasn’t destroyed, it was just unconscious, the other man jerked me forward, twisting me around so his beefy forearm crushed my windpipe.

‘‘What did you do to Jim?’’ he growled in my ear.

‘‘Nothing. It was the mage next door-’’

‘‘Stop it! Stop hurting her!’’ Cyrene cried, leaping onto Pál’s back in an attempt to pull him off me.

He snarled something in another language, tightening his arm around my neck until large, wavering black spots began to eat at my vision. I struggled desperately for air, both hands clawing at his arm, but it was like he was made of steel.

Cyrene screamed as István pulled her off Pál, flinging her halfway across the patio. She slammed into a glass and metal table, cracking her head on the edge with a horrible gut-wrenching sound, her body falling limp to the ground.

Adrenaline spiked my blood at the sight of my twin lying in a growing pool of her own blood. I twisted away from Pál, but István caught me before I could reach Cyrene. Angling my head, I clamped my teeth over István’s arm, biting down and throwing myself backward at the same time. István yelled, slamming his free hand down on my head as I slid out of his grip.

‘‘What’s going on out here?’’ a woman’s voice asked. ‘‘Who’s… good god! Is that Jim?’’

I swung a metal chair at Pál as he leaped for me, István lunging at the same time. There was a flash of black, and I was slammed up against the stone side of the house, the furious green eyes of a dragon burning straight through to my soul.

‘‘What do you think you are doing?’’ the dragon asked in a more menacing tone than I’d ever heard from anyone who wasn’t a demon lord. Over his shoulder I could see István advancing toward Cyrene ’s inert form. I didn’t have time to explain what had happened to the demon-I knew that bastard would do something more to harm her. Without thinking, I wrapped my hands around the dragon’s arms and swung both my legs up to kick him in the chest. He was knocked backward into a couple of chairs, falling with a crash of metal and glass. I raced toward Cyrene, screaming, ‘‘If you touch her again, I’ll kill you!’’

The woman spoke a couple of words, and I stopped, rooted to the ground by a binding ward just a few feet away from Cyrene. István had reached her and was hauling her upward, her head lolling at an unnatural angle. I screamed again and shadowed, slipping out of the ward to leap onto István.

I heard the woman gasp. ‘‘Good lord! Did she just disappear-’’

Before I could reach István, I was knocked off my feet onto the grass a good ten feet away. I shadowed again, trying to roll out from under my assailant, but the man pinned me down with a knee on my back, his grip on my shoulders pressing me into the grass.

‘‘Stop fighting,’’ he said in my ear. ‘‘You will only harm yourself and your friend if you continue this.’’

‘‘If you hurt her again, I’ll-’’

‘‘We will not hurt you or her unless you continue to fight. Drake! I have this one. I have promised her no injury will come to the other.’’

I snarled into the ground as the man named Drake spoke to his men, trying once again to slip out of the grip holding me.

‘‘I will turn you over, but you must not attempt to escape. Drake is overly protective and will not hesitate in destroying you if you make a move toward his mate.’’

‘‘I don’t give a damn about anyone’s mate,’’ I said, spitting out blades of grass and a bit of dirt. ‘‘Just let me go to my twin. That gorilla broke her neck.’’

‘‘I am a healer,’’ the man said, removing his knee from my back. ‘‘I will see to any ills she has suffered.’’

I rolled away from him, but he was on me again before I could get up, lying across my chest in a manner that would have been intimate in any other situation.

Eyes of liquid silver bore down into mine, a look so intense it momentarily stripped all thoughts from my mind but one. ‘‘Quicksilver,’’ I said without thinking, reaching to touch the glittering mercury eyes that glowed with some inner light.

A foot descended on my hand before I could touch him, painfully grinding it into the ground.

‘‘Release her,’’ the man on top of me growled, glaring at the person who had suddenly appeared next to me.

Reluctantly, the man standing on my arm stepped off. I made a fist and tried to punch his leg, but he stepped out of my way.

Oddly, that seemed to amuse my captor. He smiled, dimples marking his cheeks, mobile, sensitive lips revealing teeth that for some reason reminded me of a wolf.

‘‘We will get up now,’’ he said, his gaze never leaving mine. He had a faint accent I couldn’t quite place-it was vaguely singsong, with occasional hints of an Australian twang. Wherever he came from, it left him with a beautifully lyrical voice, the sort of voice that could mesmerize… ‘‘You will not try to attack Drake’s men or Aisling. Your twin will not be harmed. Do you understand?’’

‘‘Perfectly, although I would like to point out that we did not attack them-they attacked us.’’

He said nothing, but moved off me, being careful to keep hold of my arms. Two other people stood around us, the man who had stomped on my arm, and a woman, both dark haired and gray eyed, and dressed identically in black. The woman held a wicked-looking knife, her eyes glittering angrily at me. I allowed the man to pull me to my feet, but wouldn’t let him brush me off. ‘‘I must see my twin. She’s injured. Badly.’’