Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

Karen straightened up just a little, her chin lifting. She clearly liked knowing something the Red Prophet didn’t. “I Saw this in the past, as well. It’s not a new grouping.” She looked at Darius, then Emery.

“Reagan, Penny, and I,” Emery said, dipping his hands into his jeans pockets.

“They were the driving forces behind the victory against the Mages’ Guild,” Roger added.

“Yes, the three of them working together are incredibly powerful,” Darius said. “But they are not leaders, per se. The ladies are…largely unpredictable.”

Emery chuckled. “Reagan or Penny, when working alone, are unpredictable. Together they’re in another league. They’re a natural disaster. They can’t even be led, never mind doing the leading. They have to be corralled, at best.”

Charity noticed Roger nodding. Charity wished she’d been there for the mages’ battle to see all this in action.

“This is why they must stay with the fae,” Karen said. “He and Charity, with their people, will guide the powerful trio. They will stabilize their might. It is essential.”

“You will need your wits about you, boy,” the Red Prophet said to Romulus, and it wasn’t often someone talked to him like that and called him a boy. Charity was pretty sure the Red Prophet didn’t notice. “You have been sheltered for a long time, and the world is not as you’ve imagined it. Working with the shifters will be your greatest strength. Hold on to that asset. Trust in the Alpha Shifter’s morality, but do not always trust in what you see. Or feel.”

Karen shot Darius a grave look. “You will have to leave your people behind. For a while, at least. The Pyramid of Power is important, but so is the team you’ve created with Reagan. She will need her most loyal supporters by her side to start this journey—to keep her on the right path. It is necessary. You can…corral her like no other.” Charity stifled a grin. She didn’t know Karen well, but it was clear the woman knew how to control a space, and using the right language in times like these was clearly important in that, especially with a vampire. “You must start this journey with her if you hope to end it with her. But then what you dread will come to pass. When it comes time to visit the elves, you will need to let her go, come what may. She will take more risks and charge into the unknown, as is her strength. You will strategize and plan. Manipulate and enlighten, sometimes with lies, sometimes with truths, always with an agenda. You need to be the reason people should never trust vampires. Only if you are in your element, and Reagan is in hers, will your pieces of the puzzle work toward the greater good. And they must.”

“Seek the one you once sought,” the Red Prophet said, looking skyward. “The most dangerous will prove the safest. The newly awoken will be your ace in the hole. Use her, and allow her to use you. It is in this partnership that a new path shall be forged. Beware the trickster, for he will ruin you.”

Karen turned in her seat and looked at the Red Prophet. “I didn’t get that in the reading.”

“You will not get everything. Just as I will not get everything. It is foretold.”

“By who?”

“By whom…”

“Jesus Chri—” Karen turned toward the others again, her face red and her tolerance for the Red Prophet completely dried up, if she’d had any in the first place.

“If Reagan travels with the vampire, it’ll be immediately clear it was they who went into the Underworld,” Romulus said. “Especially if Charity is traveling with them.”

“Correct,” the Red Prophet said. “And if she travels without the vampire, it’ll be almost immediately clear who she is. The dam has burst. She has been unknowingly waiting for this moment since she was born. It is time she spreads her wings and challenges the lord of the Underworld.”

“Buckle up,” Roger said. Darius nodded grimly.

“Will you be going?” Romulus asked her.

“No. I must stay behind for now. Thankfully. I’ve had about all I can take of the Flush. What a boring waste of time.”

“What joy is mine,” Karen said sarcastically, looking over her tarot. She glanced back up at Darius and said, “It isn’t clear to me what is in store after you make it to the elves.”

“That journey is not yet written,” the Red Prophet said.

“I am not doubting you ladies, since I have seen your—at least one of your—merit in real time.” Darius slipped a hand into his pocket. “But you heard about my exchange with Vlad earlier. If I leave him unchecked, even for a few days, the damage he could do…”

“You must,” the Red Prophet said.

“Leaving him will do more good than harm.” Karen tapped a card. “I am in agreement with the nutter. You must. It is the only way to protect the heir. Otherwise she’ll never make it to the elves, and that would be the end. She must make it to the last battle.”