Gromphy waited five minutes after the carriage stopped moving before opening his chest. He peeked out at first, barely lifting the lid. Nothing moved, and he slowly climbed out. Within a few seconds, he had the trunk inside his inventory, not contemplating the magical irony that he could easily hide inside the cavernous item while it could also fit effortlessly within him.
The driver heard nothing and sat still at the front of the carriage. Gromphy saw over a dozen other drivers sitting by their charges as well, scripted to not react to anything other than the orders of their masters. The goblin snuck away from the vehicles without notice.
The hedge wall was his first serious barrier to overcome. He saw the mages guarding the entrance 100 feet to his left. The way they only looked straight ahead, waiting for new guests, made the goblin worry. They didn’t look left or right. The bushes bordering the inner courtyard of the estate were hardly impenetrable, yet they didn’t keep any watch on them. There must be some other protection in place.
Gromphy had collected dozens of potions and devices into his personal inventory while in his trunk preparing for this stealthy assault on Imani’s home, and he pulled one of those potions now and drank it. The darkened landscape brightened considerably as if bathed in mid-afternoon sun. He looked back at the carriages and saw several were trapped or warded against thieves. He looked toward the mages, and the area before them glowed with magical light, preventing anyone from smuggling in an invisible companion.
The goblin looked at the hedges before him and saw . . . nothing. They were just bushes. Gromphy approached cautiously, getting within a few feet before stopping. He waited several rounds to give his insight potion a chance to pick up any trap or magical border, but there was nothing. Instead of giving him confidence, Gromphy was even more concerned. His small body moved quickly between the well-manicured branches of the hedge until he was hidden inside. He waited a few more moments for an alarm or lightning to strike him dead, but nothing happened.
Then he heard it.
Sniffing.
Having spent only a brief time with his master’s familiar, Gromphy recognized the searching nose of a large dog. He couldn’t tell how far away it was. With his senses heightened, the canine could still be hundreds of feet away or only a few paces down on the other side of the foliage wall. The goblin was prepared for this, which was a good thing since he couldn’t remove his chest in the close confines of the bushes. He reached into his vest and pulled out two small animal figurines similar to the mountain goats he had summoned before.
With two bursts of mana, a pair of full-sized deer burst from the hedges, running into the inner courtyard in opposite directions. The unmistakable cry of hellhounds baying into the air sounded right after, and Gromphy willed the deer on faster, knowing they would never escape the mighty hunters, but they could give them a prolonged chase.
Gromphy waited thirty seconds and then left the bushes, seeing the hounds bounding off in the distance, hundreds of feet away and still chasing the deer. Each of the guard dogs was level 20. Gromphy shuddered; either one of them would have been able to eat him in one bite. He drank an invisibility potion. It wouldn’t protect him from the hellhounds, but equally dangerous enemies waited for him in the home ahead. Hopefully, they would be comfortable enough in luxury to only care about what they could see with their eyes.
Next, he focused on the building before him. It was massive. Gromphy appreciated Jace’s stronghold. It was built by gnomes for orcs and was only as big as needed to be comfortable. His own quarters were perfectly sized for his goblin frame. Imani’s estate was monstrously large for medium-sized creatures, even more so for someone like himself.
Gromphy saw a few people milling about before the entrance to the main hall, likely there so they could get the first look at each guest that came in. Gromphy wouldn’t be able to enter that way. His heightened perception expired when he drank the invisibility potion, but he could tell magical light flooded through the hall and spilled out onto the front landing.
He skirted around the fortress-like building, already knowing he wouldn’t find any loose stone, basement windows, or wooden doors he could burn through with fire or acid. He only saw one other entrance in the back, a door barred with iron and flanked by gargoyles. Before it, tombstones rose from the ground with fresh dirt piled beside several of them. Gromphy wasn’t even going to think of approaching that.
He could hear sounds from the ocean side of the house and assumed a large deck and pool area bordered the estate to the south. It probably offered another way in, but that would be heavily trafficked by people. No, his only option was to wait to see if Esther could find something and signal to him.
The goblin was about to activate his locating ring to see where Esther was, but that was when the window broke.
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“What is the meaning of this?”
The voice was deep and commanding, and Esther suddenly felt small and retreated a step from the gathering crowd around her, broken glass crackling under her feet. She still couldn’t see any teeth, claws, scales, or red eyes in the group, but she felt them. The powerful characters were all heightened, mana brimming at their fingertips, ready to call forward hidden weapons or cast powerful spells. But they also shrank back from the sound of the voice.
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“Who would attend my party and treat my property so?”
The throng before Esther parted, and a man stepped forward. Several women followed, but when he entered the clearing the crowd had made, his female companions stayed with the others. Esther felt the power from him as effortlessly as heat from one of Draya’s fireballs. This was Imani.
His attire broke the black-tie dress code as he wore a gray suitcoat with a white shirt and . . . Esther paused. No, he was shirtless. His chest was stark white, rippled with muscles, while his arms and shoulders were a dark gray. No, Esther self-corrected again. Not stark white, shark white. His body had the same coloration as a great white shark. He wore black pants, boots, and a bowtie around his neck, nothing else.
Imani now paused to examine Esther, and she felt like bait on a hook. He didn’t take long and soon was grinning, his pointed teeth visible behind his thin lips. “Who are you?” he said. “I don’t know you, and I didn’t invite you.”
“I’m a friend of Ella Roseth-”
“A vampire,” Imani interrupted. “A thief. And a charmer. I suppose you need some charm skills if you come to my home dressed like that.”
“What?” Esther said, much of her fear evaporating at the insult. “I kill in this dress.” She paused, realizing that likely wasn’t the right metaphor to use.
Imani smiled. “We’ll see about that.” He looked at Thomas for the first time. “I see you brought your own food. Didn’t anyone tell you it would be provided?”
“Why do people keep saying that . . .” Esther’s voice trailed off as she looked around at the wait staff. The skimpily dressed humans walked around these hungry monsters, utterly oblivious to what lay in store for them. She looked at Thom and deeply regretted bringing the young man.
“But if you insist on crashing my party,” he looked at the broken window behind her, “you might as take it the whole way. Go ahead,” he motioned toward Thom, who was frozen in fear. Imani licked his lips and bared his teeth. “Take a bite.”
Esther was suddenly hungry, hungrier than she had ever been before. She looked at Thom, his heart beating a million times a minute, his pulse throbbing in his bare neck. Her lips curled back, and she took a step toward her date.
“Esther Xerxes!”
Esther stopped, her hunger interrupted by the call, the voice hauntingly familiar. Several in the crowd responded in hushed exclamations. Her name was known among some even if her face was not, and this was not her typical attire. Even Imani had heard of her. “Is that so?” he said, turning toward the voice.
A tall, broad-shouldered man stepped out of the crowd. Esther locked eyes with him, and recognition flowed through her. She thought he might have been one of her “clients” from the past, but Jace had told her that would be players like him from another dimension. This room was filled with characters native to the realms. Plus, something else about him tugged at her that she couldn’t quite place.
“Atrax,” Imani said, recognizing someone he had invited to the party. “You know this woman? She is THE Esther Xerxes? I expected someone more . . . more . . .”
“She is more,” Atrax assured him. “And she is mine.”
The man-shark laughed, his teeth moving up and down, both rows flexing unhumanly. An uneven chuckle went through the gathering. If the host found it funny, they should be laughing too. He stopped laughing and grew stern. Everyone else followed suit. “Atrax, we go back. You know me. You know my rules. She is on my property. Uninvited to my home. Hunting grounds take priority over everything.” He spread his arms to indicate the fabulous banquet hall and everyone in it. “I am very generous with what is mine. Do not try me on this. If that is Esther Xerxes . . .”
“It is,” Atrax said, trying to keep a smile off his face, knowing what was coming.
“And she is as valuable as I’ve heard . . .”
“She is.”
“And she is currently employed by Jace Thorne . . .”
“Also true.”
“Then there is no way in the nine seas that I will let you tell me what I can do with . . .”
“She is also a fallen angel of Decus Gemma, one of the sworn enemies of my master, and he claims her as his own. I am here as his representative.”
Imani looked like he was choking on his food. He blinked several times and then turned to Esther. “Is this true? Are you . . .” but once again his words were left hanging as he regarded the vampire rogue before him.
Esther was in shock. Her past had been shrouded in mystery to her. The knowledge that she was a fallen angel had been like knowing she was adopted. She knew she was unique and had a complicated history, but it didn’t tell her where she came from or who her “parents” were. As Atrax had explained what she was, a key had been turned in her mind, and it all came flooding back. She could remember herself as a glorious angel, a precious, beautiful jewel in the heavenly realm. And then she had fallen to this cold, harsh realm of infamy. All her power was lost in an instant. Memories of who Atrax was and what he had meant to her came back to her as well, but it was too much all at once, and she struggled to find an anchor in the here and now.
Once she lifted her head and opened her eyes, she saw a throng of powerful guests staring in her direction, one in particular. Imani repeated the question. Esther nodded. “I . . . I am. I was.”
The party's host swore but then brightened so as not to bring a dower specter over the gathering. “There are many fish in the sea,” he said, bringing cheers from the crowd. “Come, everyone, let’s celebrate!” More cheers. He waved at Atrax and nodded toward Esther, rescinding his claim on her. The women who had been swimming in Imani’s wake before rejoined him and laughed in delight. “And someone fix that window.”
As interested as the gathering was in learning more about Esther, they understood the gravity of what Atrax had said, even if Esther did not, and they dispersed, honoring their host’s wishes to celebrate. Thom had been ignored through the whole encounter but approached his date now to give her support.
“Esther,” he said. “Are you okay? Do you need me to help you out of here? Is what he said true? I know about Decus Gemma, the god of beauty and precious stones. If you are an angel of his, you . . .”
Esther held up a hand to stop him. She knew he meant well, but she had too many thoughts racing through her mind right now. “Thomas,” she said. “Maybe it is best if you leave. I have some things I need to figure out.”
“No. Let him stay.”
Esther and Thom looked up to see Atrax standing before them. He wasn’t alone. “This is Stemenia,” he said, indicating the diminutive tiefling beside him. She wore a short black dress that hugged her slim figure. The demon was one of the few “monsters” present who showed her true colors as small horns poked out from her wavy brown hair. “We have a lot to talk about,” Atrax said. “Might as well make it a double date.”
Stemenia smiled alluringly at Thom, and Esther could feel mana transfer between them. The young man smiled back. She took him by the arm and led him away from the broken window and into the middle of the room. Atrax offered his arm to Esther. “Like old times?”
The “old times” were still flowing into her mind, and Esther couldn’t process them. She looked deep into Atrax’s eyes, trying to figure out if he was someone she wanted to remember. Only one way to find out. She took his arm.