jogged toward the outer edges of scaffolding hoping to come across Lyric, and she wasn’t disappointed. He’d already spotted her and was heading her direction with a big smile on his face, but the smile dropped away when he registered her expression.
“What’s happened?”
It didn’t take long to tell the story because the entire event, beginning to end, had taken place in less than a minute.
“What did he look like?”
“Tall. Tan. Brown hair, blonde streaks. And now that you mention it, out of place here.”
“How so?”
Shivaun looked around. “Strange as it is, considerin’ that all of these people are dedicated to self-expression, they still sort of, em, go together?”
Lyric scowled, scanning the crowd like he thought he might spy someone matching that description. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Okay.” She nodded.
They ducked under a tarp and stepped into the passes holding hands. Shivaun didn’t ask where they were going. Lyric always knew the perfect place with the perfect mood.
When they came to a stop, she said, “Where are we?”
Turning in a circle, as far as she could see there was nothing but white mist.
“It’s called the Thracian clouds,” he said smoothly.
Quicksilver made a snap decision to retain Lyric’s form for a while longer, even though it was risky.
Shapeshifting demons are careful about the use of their talents because, while miraculous, the act of maintaining another form drains energy quickly. They can be anything, but while in alternate guise they take on traits of the person, animal, or thing they are impersonating. Then there’s also the danger of permanence setting in if the shifter stays too long.
During the few hours it had taken him to develop to maturity, his mother had told him stories about shapeshifters being trapped inside the thing they’d become until that thing either died or was destroyed. That was the only means of restoring a shapeshifter’s freedom. Those stories had kept Quicksilver from making such mistakes as, say, becoming part of a six-thousand-year-old Maltese temple. Would he survive the experience? Yes. Would it be excruciatingly unpleasant? Hel yes! Avoidance was the best policy.
He thought pushing the limit a bit was worth it for a taste of what he might enjoy once he’d persuaded the female to mate with him.
“Nice isn’t it?” He smiled and pulled her toward him for a kiss.
The instant his mouth came in contact with Shivaun’s, she hissed and jerked back. A small bolt of lightning involuntarily flew from the fingertips of her right hand, which was pointed at Quicksilver. It was purely reflexive, but supremely effective.
As Quicksilver mimicked the ugliness of seizure at the hands of taser, Lyric’s visage vanished and left Quicksilver revealed in his true form.
Shivaun stomped forward to where he’d slumped to the ground and stood over him. “I’m leavin’. Do no’ follow.”
Even in his compromised state, Quicksilver couldn’t suppress a little smile. “Okay. Good luck.”
Shivaun wished herself back to Monterey. Nothing happened.
She wished herself to the Abbey. Nothing happened.
She wished herself to ‘someplace that was not here’. Nothing happened.
Wheeling on the demon who was still on the ground, if clouds can be called ‘ground’, she said, “You’d better tell me how to get out of here.”
Quicksilver, beginning to gather strength, sat up with effort. It was only then that he realized he had only one exit bracelet. And that Shelejiah was likely to be too mad to want to give him another. He decided he’d cross that bridge once Shivaun had agreed to the mating.
“Sorry. No can do. I can leave but you can’t.”
She looked around. “You intend this to be a prison?”
He got to his feet. It was shaky, but he was more or less upright. “Let’s say you’re my guest in this vast estate. Until.”
“Until what?”
“Until I’ve persuaded you to agree to be my mate.”
After staring at Quicksilver for a long, slow blink she laughed in his face. “What in Paddy’s name could make you think that’s a possibility?”
“Well, first, there are my superb powers of persuasion. Second, if you don’t agree, you’ll spend eternity here.”
“Your interpretation of courtship leaves a lot to be desired.”
“Maybe not as much as you think. Lyric was just lucky enough to get a head start. You haven’t had a chance to hear the whole story. How you’d be wasting all that potential on a music demon.” He sneered the phrase ‘music demon’. “If you pledge yourself to me, we could rule the world of elementals like gods.”
“The answer is no. ‘Twill always be no. You may as well let