CHAPTER 140

The succubus looked down at the rose, then back at the dullahan. She raised her hand to the rose as if she was going to crush it, then set her hand back down. After a few seconds, a smile crossed her face.

"Okay, I like this one. Yes, I was up on the roof earlier, but I wasn't moping. Mostly I was just enjoying the weather, but the real reason I came down was that Mike just went through the gate, so I thought I would come down and make conversation because..." Her lips curled up, and she looked around, then pulled money out of her pocket and handed it to Beth.

"What's this?" Beth asked.

"A retainer. For attorney-client privileges, so you don't go blabbing my secrets or something."

"You don't need that, you can just talk to me." Beth pushed the money back. "Besides, I'm not that kind of lawyer."

She was about to open her mouth again, but Sulyvahn was grinning.

"Oh, I'm not worried about you," Lily said to him. "If you do something I don't like, I'll rip your head off and shove it up your ass."

"And I'm believing that ye would, bless yer black little heart." He chuckled and took a step back. "There be other roses that need tending, so I will be leaving you two to yer business. It's me self wishing ye be having a grand afternoon, ladies."

Once Sulyvahn had picked up his bucket and left, Lily turned her attention back to Beth. "I'm worried about him."

It wasn't the directness of the statement that hit hardest. After all, Lily was rarely subtle about anything. Instead, it was that brief moment when Lily's eyes had shimmered with moisture, as if she was holding back tears. But as far as Beth knew, succubi didn't cry.

At least not on purpose, anyway.

"Is it because he went to the Underworld?" Beth asked.

"Ugh, that, too. No, it's that stupid cunt of a queen. When he finds her, you know she's not going to just give him what he wants. Even Cecilia doesn't want him to come, that's how dangerous she is."

"Wait, Cecilia? How do you know what Cecilia wants?"

"She's been bouncing around in his dreams. She can't see me, she only has eyes for him, but sometimes I hear what she's saying." Lily's head transformed into Cecilia's. "Stay away, Mike, she's going to hurt you, don't come for me, I'll be fine."

It was spooky hearing Cecilia's voice after so long, and Beth shivered.

"Have you told Mike?"

Lily laughed. "Do you think he would listen?"

"Good point." Beth looked out into the yard. "So, what could we do to help? He won't let anyone go with him, at least not into the faerie realm."

"Well, about that ten dollars..." Lily grinned. "The faerie queen made a deal with the builder, or Architect, or whatever we're calling him. She couldn't kill Romeo without violating the deal, and I imagine that the deal itself has to be on paper somewhere, right?"

"You want me to try and find it, don't you."

Lily nodded. "If anyone can find a loophole in her own deal, it would be you. Maybe it's something that can help him, or at least keep him from being turned into a toad or something." She stood and offered a hand. "Unless you'd rather go over that thing for a tenth time."

Beth laughed dryly. "So you have been watching me."

"Maybe." Lily motioned her hand at Beth. "And I think I know a good person to start with. C'mon, let's go."

Lily led Beth into the house, but she stopped in the hallway.

"Hold up, let me get these put away." She held up the papers.

"I'll be out back." Lily walked toward the back door and Beth went into the office. Despite being used as research central, Mike had kept it pretty neat. She walked to the desk and opened up her designated drawer and filed the paperwork inside.

She was startled when she heard a loud thump, then looked up to see that a book had landed on the desk. Nobody else was in the room, and she picked it up.

"Death, did you do that?" She wondered if the grim reaper was currently using the office. On more than one occasion, she had walked through him, but only knew this from the sudden chill in the air. "I'm about to leave, I'm just dropping something off."

She set the book on the desk and was almost to the door when it hit the ground. Puzzled, she looked back and saw the pages flipping by themselves, eventually coming to a stop. Was Death trying to tell her something?

Crouching down, she picked up the book and read the page.

"Samhain," she read aloud. "A celebration of the dead." Curious, she turned the pages and scanned through the document. The gears of her brain turned and her mouth dropped open.

While Mike had been so busy trying to figure out how to get to the Underworld, he hadn't considered what to do once he got there. Now, looking at the text before her, she felt a sense of triumph. At the start of Samhain, the veil between Earth and the other side would be at its thinnest, and the spirits of the dead would cross over, along with all manner of fae.