Fate: California Obscura

After a while, he said, “I still can’t believe you’re here. I also couldn’t believe it when Carter told me where he found you. Had you been living in the Hollywood Hills a long time?”

“Yeah, for about a quarter-century.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I was only about twenty miles away for the last two decades. I know L.A. is huge, and we only sense each other’s presence if we’re less than half a mile away. But still, it seems like we would have occasionally crossed paths, more than just that one time three months ago when I was on my way to the airport.”

“I made sure that wouldn’t happen by going into hiding.”

He asked, “Do you mean you stayed in the house?”

“No. I spent twenty-four years as a warlock’s familiar while disguised in animal form. I actually just shifted back last fall, after Griffin’s full powers came in and he didn’t really need me looking out for him anymore.” I grinned and added, “It took several days to get used to walking on two legs again.”

Elias looked shocked. “You can do that? It should be impossible for anyone but a pure werewolf to shift into his wolf form.”

“Oh, it is. I had help transforming and turning back, from people with far more magical ability than I’ll ever have. Also, I didn’t disguise myself as a wolf. That would have attracted too much attention in L.A.”

“Then what form did you take? Please don’t tell me it was a black cat.” He looked like he was ready to be offended on behalf of our canine counterparts, which I thought was pretty funny.

“No, it was a dog.”

“Well, that makes sense,” he said. “A husky or malamute would be really close to a wolf.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t either of those.”

“Was it a German shepherd? And I actually envy you, as odd as that may sound.”

“Why?”

“Every part werewolf I’ve ever met has this intense longing to be able to shift into our animal form. You were actually able to experience it for a while.”

I glanced at him, then looked away as I said, “It wasn’t a German shepherd, either,” before scooping some more soup into my mouth.

“Then what form did you take?”

“Okay, so, what you have to realize is that I chose to become a familiar when the warlock was just a baby. After Griffin’s parents were killed, he and I went to live with an older woman, a friend of the family who didn’t know things like warlocks and werewolves existed. I couldn’t exactly be something big and ferocious.”

His grin turned teasing. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

I frowned at him before admitting, “I was an English bulldog.”

Elias burst out laughing. I’d actually never seen him do that before. It was a great laugh, too—loud, uninhibited, and totally undignified, and it made me chuckle. When he could finally speak again, he said, “Please tell me there are pictures.”

“Sure, lots of them. I’d show you some that Griffin sent me, but my phone was left behind when your demon abducted me.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

I ate some more bisque before saying, “I forgot to ask Carter how he knew he’d found me when he traced the fireworks to my house. He started knocking down my wards before he ever laid eyes on me.”

“I let him read my mind, and he memorized your scent. I’m sure he detected it as soon as he arrived at your home.”

“That explains it.”

“For the record, I would have preferred to come to you myself, but I really can’t set foot in L.A. right now.”

I teased, “Well, I guess I can forgive you for not abducting me personally.”

“At least Carter’s polite, and he probably orchestrated a very well-mannered abduction.”

“He did, apart from the bit where he went after my wards with the psychic equivalent of a battering ram and scared the shit out of me.” I finished my soup before asking, “Who are you hiding from? Because whoever they are, I’m pretty sure your astonishingly powerful demon friend could kick their ass.”

“Normally, you’d be right. There’s almost nothing as powerful as Carter, with two exceptions.”

I stared at him and said, “Carter told me there are a total of three demons on earth. Please don’t tell me you befriended one and made enemies of the other two.”

“Unfortunately, that’s it exactly.”

I put down my spoon and exhaled slowly as that sunk in. Then I muttered, “That’s bad, Elias. Really, really bad. The darkness and power I sensed in Carter was terrifying, and if they’re the same—”

“They are, and that’s why I’ve put a continent between us.”

“What if they find you? Will they kill you?”

“Not right away. That’d be too merciful,” he said. “Centuries of torture is more their style.”

“So, what are we going to do about this?”

“We’re going to avoid getting caught. Carter warded the hell out of this island, and he also conjured a series of perimeter alarms that surround us like domes, so we’ll know if anything’s coming.”