The first bang on the door sent me jerking back with a gasp.

It took several seconds of banging and Zara’s voice calling from the other side before I regained my senses and realized exactly where I was and what I’d been about to do. Hank’s arms released me the same moment I pushed back. I slid under the surface of the water, turned, and swam to the edge of the pool as Zara entered with three attendants at her back. I hadn’t felt this humiliated since high school.

With a weary sigh, I pulled my heavy, wet, shaken self from the water. Zara stopped in front of me, her wide eyes assessing the soaked walls and upended furniture. “Sorry about the mess,” I mumbled, grabbing a wet towel and wrapping it around me. “Just bill me if I broke anything.”

A splash sounded behind me, but I didn’t turn to see Hank hiking himself out of the pool. Instead, I grabbed my clothes and fled.

“Damn it, Charlie,” Hank said. “Wait!”

I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

Yeah, it was cowardly of me, but I had to get away. Away from him. Away from Zara. Just … out of there. I found my way to the large women’s locker room, near the main bath, tore off the wet gown, and pulled on my damp clothes, wondering who the hell was controlling my body because it sure as hell wasn’t the normal Charlie.

I strapped on my weapons and cell phone and then hurried out of The Bath House, making a beeline down Helios Alley. I didn’t need to look at the time on my cell to know that the dinner rush hadn’t started. Otherwise Helios Alley would be teeming with lines to the best restaurants and people would already be milling about, shopping, drinking, eating, and enjoying the nightlife in Underground.

My irritation with myself turned to anger with each step I took. Off-worlders just weren’t my cup of tea, and I had never thought about Hank in that serious of a way before. What was I doing?

For most of our partnership, I’d been happily married to Will. But now that I was divorced and single, free from any chance of ever getting back together with my ex—since, technically, he didn’t exist in this realm anymore—I had the freedom to explore other attractions. And apparently, my body had decided to start the explorations whether my mind was ready or not.

God, I felt like an idiot. I never should’ve almost kissed him. And worse, that kind of thing probably happened to him all the time, and now I was just one among many.

Once I reached Topside, I stopped on the sidewalk to catch my breath and refocus my thoughts.

The darkness hung above the skyscrapers, the lights from the buildings illuminating the heavy, swirling mass. Far off in the distance, a green flash snaked through the gray.

Incredibly, I’d been inside of that mass.

How the hell was he doing it? How the hell was Llyran taking control of the darkness? I shuddered softly as my gaze went to Helios Tower; the massive glass dome at its top glowed like a beacon in the dark sky. I needed to figure out the Adonai’s interest in me, and how he thought I played into his cause.

I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me.

“Charlie Madigan?”

I spun and looked down to see an imp male standing behind me. Three and a half feet tall, wild orange hair, and cocoa skin in a cheap suit and dull dress shoes.

“Who wants to know?”

“I’m with L.D. Collections.” He held out a large yellow envelope. Cautiously, I took it. “This is for your ex-husband. He has thirty days.” He gave a sharp nod, turned on his heel, and strolled off into the dark shadows.

“Thirty days for what?” I muttered, wondering how long the guy had been following me around as I tore open the envelope and scanned the cover letter. “Twenty-one thousand dollars?!” I yelled toward the direction the imp had taken, but he was already gone.

Will had been served collection papers.

Apparently, as I read beneath the streetlamp, he was responsible for back mortgage payments on his condo and penalties for defaulting on contracts for the houses he’d been in the process of building. This couldn’t be right. And damned if I’d be paying my ex’s bills. We were legally divorced.

How the hell had this happ—

Rex.

Following my stay in the hospital after bringing darkness to the city, and during my week at home to recuperate, Rex and I had gone over Will’s finances. It was clear from the beginning that Rex lacked the know-how to run Will’s fledgling architecture and construction business, so we’d canceled his contracts, found new builders for the projects he’d been working on, and made sure there was insurance to cover crap like this. Rex was supposed to have filed the claims. And the condo was supposed to have been rented. Trust me, Charlie, he’d said. I’ve been around for thousands of years. I know how to take care of business.

My gaze focused on nothing and then down at the envelope, eyes widening on the return address label. “Lion’s Den Collections!”

L.D. Collections. Sonofabitch! A frustrated groan burst from my throat. “I can’t believe this.” Just great. My ex’s debt had been picked up by the biggest organized crime boss in Underground. Grigori Tennin.

My fist curled around the letter. I was going to kill them both.

13

I pulled into the driveway and parked. Will’s truck was gone. Emma was still at practice. I called and left a message for Bryn to see how the support meeting went, and then I shoved the collections letter into my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and got out, but as soon as my feet hit the concrete, I had that feeling again of being watched.

I closed the door, slipped the keys into my front pocket, and then slowly put my hand on the hilt of my sidearm. I turned to scan the park area across the street, regulating my breathing, trying to focus and open myself to my instincts. I took a few slow steps, hand moving to my Hefty and finger sliding the frequency setting to low as I felt an aura prick my senses.

My footsteps brushed the driveway, sounding loud. The aura became clearer. Blues. Greens. The woods. The water. The tangy scent of grass. Then, like looking down a rifle scope, my sense zoned in on it. Nymph. Oak Tree. Across the street. I turned and fired. The Hefty was silent, except for the small hiss the tag made as it ejected from the barrel.

A black shadow the size of a large predatory cat fell from the tree and hit the grass with a faint thud. I jogged across the street, finding what I had guessed, a nymph. A naked male, Orin to be exact, clutching the tag in his shoulder. “Goddammit,” he hissed, and jerked the tag out. “Did you have to shoot me?” The nymph whispered the words that would clothe his naked form.

“It was only low stun.” I reached down to help him up, but remained on guard, my Hefty still clutched in my hand.

“Did that address I gave you help?”

“You first. You’ve been following me, haven’t you? You were there this morning on Solomon Street. Is this you acting alone or is it on behalf of Dragon Boy?”

“It’s part of my service for lying. Believe me, I would much rather be fulfilling the funeral rites than following your ass around Underground.”

“So that was you in the back alley.”

“No, that was Killian. I’m rotating with him. Pen’s getting restless. He wants answers. Wants justice for Daya. We all do.”

“Tell him to let us do our job. We want the same thing, too, but if you guys start interfering or distracting us from our work then it could jeopardize everything. You need to back off.”

He snorted softly. “You try telling the Druid to back off. He wants a report.”

It was my turn to snort. “You can tell him that I don’t—”

“Charlie,” Orin said with a gentle smile, “if I may … If one of your family had been murdered, what would you do?”