Black Spring

“All in the name of ‘warning’ the public,” I said. “I know. I wish there was somewhere we could stash him until the wedding was over.”

“Why until the wedding’s over?” Beezle said.

“I’m hoping by then to have solved the shifter problem and it won’t matter what he publishes.”

Since Samiel was at the table, I did not add that the burning of Chloe’s body would protect us from any murder charges that might come up if the authorities happened to read and believe Jack’s blog.

“Awfully confident, aren’t you?” Beezle said. “We haven’t found a way to track the shifter yet, and you think you’ll have the problem solved before tomorrow?”

“The wedding is on Saturday,” I said. “Today is Thursday. That gives me two days. I think. Unless I slept longer than I thought.”

“No, it’s still Thursday,” Beezle said. “But Lucifer lives in California, and you’ll be expected as an overnight guest. You don’t arrive for a wedding on the same morning as the festivities.”

“Why the hell not?” I said. “I don’t want to spend one second more than necessary in Lucifer’s house. And I certainly don’t want to sleep there.”

“This is one of those things you really don’t have a choice about,” Beezle said. “Lucifer expects you on Friday night, whether you want to be there or not.”

“What, you can read Lucifer’s mind now?” I asked.

“No, he sent me a message on Facebook,” Beezle said.

“I don’t even want to know what Lucifer is doing on Facebook,” I said.

“Reposting pictures, like everyone else,” he said. “Lucifer’s home has very strict private portal access, and he’s allowing you to transport directly there, along with the rest of the crew.”

“Gee, what a privilege,” I said. “So what am I supposed to do about Lock and Barrel? What am I supposed to do with Jack Dabrowski?”

Beezle shrugged. “The dogs can probably take care of themselves for a day or two, believe it or not. They are supernatural creatures that only act doglike because of you. As for Jack, let him go and deal with the consequences. Or keep him here and deal with the consequences.”

“Either way I don’t like the consequences,” I said.

“Which would you like least?” Beezle asked. “Jack telling a wild story about a monster that can kill people from afar, or Jack possibly finding out about Lucifer’s wedding and following you there?”

I shuddered at the thought of Dabrowski at Lucifer’s wedding. “Let him go, then.”

“Shall I simply throw him in the street?” Nathaniel asked, rising from the table.

“No, escort him nicely out the back door and encourage him to forget anything that happened here yesterday. Not that it will do any good. Anyway, he said he rode his bike here so he can probably get himself home without too much trouble.”

Nathaniel left the room to take care of the Jack problem. This was going to continue to be a problem until Jack figured out it was in his best interest to keep his mouth shut about me or until he was killed, whichever came first. In the meantime, he would probably be pretty irritated about being locked in my storage area all night long, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him.

“So, just to update the status of our various situations,” Beezle said. “Alerian is unhappy with you and will probably send another monster to kill you soon since the first one didn’t do the job. The city’s plan for locking us all up is going forward and you haven’t come up with a solution to stop it. The shifter has way more power than we first thought and we have no idea who its master is. The most famous supernatural blogger in the city witnessed a horrific killing in your house and then you pissed him off by locking him in your basement for twelve hours. And the first of the fallen is getting married in two days and all of your friends and enemies are invited to the party.”

“Seems pretty standard for us, doesn’t it?” I said. “Lots of insurmountable situations to surmount. Let’s start with the protection for the house. We’ve got to have a way to keep the shifter out; otherwise none of us will be able to sleep again.”

“While you were passed out in the kitchen I went online and looked up some information about domicile protection,” Beezle said.

“I wasn’t passed out; I was focusing,” I said.

“Whatever. Anyway, I talked to some witches and they gave me some tips,” Beezle said.

“Shouldn’t you know all about domicile protection since you’re a home guardian?” I asked.

“My job is to watch for intruders. I can’t do a damn thing to actually keep them out. The threshold is supposed to do that,” Beezle said. “Luckily the witches did know a thing or two about spells that can get past the protection of the home. It seems that some of them have cast those kinds of spells in the past.”

“Isn’t that handy,” I said dryly.

“Totally,” Beezle said. “The point is that you and Nathaniel should be able to seal the house up pretty tight.”

“What’s going to happen when we go to Grandpa’s house tomorrow?” I asked.

“I would hope that this creature’s master would have the sense to not attack you while you’re in the presence of the Morningstar,” Jude said.