standing long jump was a little over eleven feet. Rule wasn’t human, and Jacob’s push gave him extra momentum. He still wouldn’t make it to the stage in a single leap, but he passed over the heads of those at the very front to land lightly in the clear strip between the crowd and the stage. Andy and Sean landed on either side of him.
Their order had been settled ahead of time. Rule wanted to go first, but he was a Rho. He couldn’t risk himself unnecessarily. So when Sean bent, cupping his hands, it was Andy who accepted that stirrup. Sean heaved. Andy sailed onto the stage.
Rule was right behind him. He grabbed the edge of the stage with his hands and heaved himself up.
The not-Lily thing stood halfway between the podium and the stairs, unmoving. Parrott was nowhere in sight. Kim Evans had surged to her feet and started forward, telling them to get off, get off—
Not-Lily’s face lit in a sudden grin. It sprinted fast—faster than anything human could move—to Kim Evans, stopping behind her, drawing something from its pocket. As Rule raced toward them, it grabbed the woman’s hair, tipped her head back. And slit her throat.
Blood geysered out, some of it splattering Rule as he reached them. He seized not-Lily’s arm, using his momentum and a twist of his hip in a simple throw.
It spun with the throw, twisting so fast it landed with its feet under it, that huge grin still on its face, a bloody knife gripped in its left hand. “Oooh, yes, let’s play! Catch me if you can!” With impossible speed it darted toward the three people who’d risen from their chairs on the stage.
But while it had paused briefly to taunt, Andy and Sean hadn’t. They shot past Rule. Andy got to it a couple feet ahead of Sean. It swung one fist almost casually—and Andy went sailing off the stage. Sean closed with it, grappling for the knife. Rule ran to help him.
And from the strip of ground next to the stage Cullen yelled, “It’s possessed! That’s how they work it—they summon demons to possess the dopplegängers!”
Shit. Rule kept running.
A wolf landed on his back.
LILY heard Cullen shouting about demons possessing the dopplegängers as she raced after Dennis Parrott. Parrott had heard the commotion when she and the others burst out of the truck. It hadn’t taken him more than a second to decide to clear out. He was running flat out, headed for a long black limo.
Scott shot past her as if she’d been on a leisurely jog. Just as Parrott reached the limo, Scott tackled him.
Lily slowed and looked around to see where she was needed. She’d sent Mike and Chris to check under the stage. Mike had thrown a couple security types aside and was vanishing through the door now.
Chris, dammit, was right beside her.
“Those sons of bitches are fast,” a gravelly voice said.
She glanced quickly to her left—not at Chris. At Drummond. Or some variation on Drummond. “You can talk!”
“Huh. I guess I can. This is confusing as . . .” His voice faded out, though his mouth kept moving. He scowled and stopped trying.
“Lily?” Chris said.
“It’s that ghost. Never mind. Why aren’t you backing up Mike?”
“Uh—”
“I’m with Scott. I’m protected. Go!”
He sped off.
Scott had Parrott on the ground. He wasn’t moving. “He unconscious?” she asked.
A rising swell of screams drowned him out, but he nodded. Then paused with his head up as if he were sniffing the air. “Smells weird.”
Demon-possessed dopplegängers might. “You find any jewelry?”
Scott shook his head. “Just a watch. Could a watch be the magical whatsit you’re looking for? ”
Someone giggled. “No, silly. I’ve got it.”
Lily looked down. “Harry?”
The little brownie was jigging from foot to foot excitedly. His high-pitched voice cut through the crowd noise better than Scott’s deeper tones had. “I got the ring like Rule said, but I can’t give it to him because he’s fighting with a wolf. And I can’t give it to Cullen because he’s fighting with some other wolves on the other side of the stage.”
Fear jumped into her throat and clogged it. She swallowed. “You could give it to me.”
His face scrunched up like a wizened apple. “He didn’t say to give it to you.”
“It’s okay, though. I’m wearing the engagement ring, remember?”
His face cleared. “Yeah, you are! Here.” He tossed something up at her.
She caught the ring—heavy worked gold holding a dark red cabochon gem—then nearly dropped it. Death magic coated the