CHAPTER 211

Her cryptic reply wasn't entirely unexpected, but the sudden yanking sensation inside his belly was. He was ripped free of the house, his mind rocketing across the garden and back inside the viewing globe. There was a burst of light and he was now back inside his own body. He was on the ground, his limbs entangled with Titania's.

"Wow," whispered Titania. "I didn't know pleasure like that with a mortal was possible."

He said nothing, his body still experiencing post-orgasmic bliss while his mind was frustrated about a lack of straight answers from the house. He cuddled with her for a bit before shifting his legs, startled to discover that they were lying on something hard.

Turning his head to the side, he saw that they were inside a crater of smooth glass. The heat from their lovemaking had melted the sand around them.

When Titania sat up, she let out a deep sigh, then rolled back on top of him and pressed her lips to his.

"If you ever tell anyone about this," she whispered. "I would be forced to kill you. And you know what the worst part would be?"

"Being dead?" he asked.

"No." She kissed him again. "It would break my heart a little. You have done me a kindness, Caretaker."

"It's just Mike. At least when we're in here," he told her.

She smiled, and her body became translucent, made up of tiny stars and mist. "See you on the outside. Mike."

And she vanished from his mind, leaving him alone in the sand. For nearly a minute, all he heard was the steady lapping of the waves against the shore, and then a voice called to him from across the distance.

"Mo shíorghrá." It was Cecilia, her voice echoing across the sky. It started to rain, and he closed his eyes. When he opened them once more, Cecilia was cradling his head in her lap, and tears of joy falling from her cheeks to his own. "You came back to me."

He touched her chin with his fingers, then smiled.

"And I always will. Let's get you home."

"Tell me the truth." Beth was standing in the front yard, her hands on her hips while she surveyed the house properly in the morning light. "How bad is it, really?"

Sulyvahn scratched his head and then let out a laugh. The centaurs had returned and now milled about the yard with stunned looks of disbelief. Giant gouges in the turf had ripped out most of the maze, and the storm summoned by the thunderbird had created giant mud pits that ran out to the street like dirty rivers.

"Lord Mike will have to be in a right craic mood to overlook that his house be bejanxed."

"I figured."

The home looked like a failed demolition project. Not a single visible window was intact, and Tink and the rats had already amassed a giant pile of destroyed furniture in the front yard. Abella had placed some timbers beneath the porch to hold it up, but this was mostly so it wouldn't collapse while they were using the front door.

Kisa was up on the roof in a tank top and jean shorts, taking pictures for Tink to look at. The cat-girl had been quiet since her return, but Beth had noticed that she had been inseparable from the goblin.

The smell of sulfur was followed by a loud thump, and Lily now stood next to Beth, her wings folding into her back. She whistled appreciatively. "Boy, you really fucked this one up. Daddy isn't going to leave you in charge ever again."

Beth grimaced, then threw the succubus a dirty look. "Where have you guys been? I heard that tower-thing collapse in the middle of the night and then had to listen to what I can only assume was a demon gangbang right outside my window."

It was Lily's turn to frown. "Yeah, that little outing went completely sideways. The asshole left a bunch of traps in his castle that slowed us down, and by the time we found his little treasure room, he had already emptied it out. Yuki didn't take it well, and so we spent forever digging ourselves out of the rubble while the demons got into a huge fight over these weird soul fragments that appeared all over the place. I can only assume that one of them belonged to Emily, because Yuki went ballistic. Then we had to fight off an angry demon horde after she literally iced a bunch of them. Cerberus is helping her sniff around the Underworld for Emily's spirit piece, but I decided to check in here and see if you needed my help."

"Only if you are ready to pick up a hammer. Place is in need of some serious repair, and I don't like the idea of Yuki wandering the Underworld by herself."

"As long as she has Cerberus, she's fine. The demons chased each other off." Lily waved her hand dismissively, and then a hard hat appeared on her head. "So what happened? Did you fuck the shadow and make him your buddy?"

Beth blushed. "No. In fact, we almost lost. The shadow knew you were planning something, so he lured you off with his castle."

Lily frowned. "So did he get away?"

"He didn't. Death came home, and the shadow pissed him off by incinerating his candy stash, so he got reaped."

Lily's jaw dropped open, and then she let out a maniacal cackle. "No shit, seriously? Oh, man, that must have been fucking hilarious."

Terrifying if you were there, Beth thought but kept it to herself. "Anyway, he got killed, and Quetzalli chased off the ghosts with an electric field, so things are finally calm."

"Maybe not quite." Lily's face became serious, and Beth turned around to see that a police cruiser had pulled up in the front drive.