“I wish. It’s not, no. It’s straight-up, pure demon magic. Lou can portal, but honestly, I’m not sure how he has that power. Portals are reserved for only a very few demons who are close to Lucifer.”
“Do you think Lou knows him? Could he be a spy for the devil?”
“What do you think Portia is doing here?” Ruby smiled. “She’s his spy, I’m sure of it.”
Ruby knocked on Portia’s office door, following a rhythm that was obviously an inside joke. She didn’t wait for her aunt to call out; Ruby pushed in.
Unsurprisingly, Lou and Portia were still watching the resort feeds on the enormous television. They were fighting over the controller, calling each other all kinds of profanities. It was like watching two little kids argue while Mommy and Daddy were looking in the other direction.
“Okay, you two! Enough! We’ve got a plan.” Ruby ran them through the basic idea once they finally settled down enough to hold an adult conversation.
“I like it.” Lou was impressed with their plan. “You’re using the kind of creature you are to your advantage. I like that it’s respectable. Good behavior for a wolf who is hanging out with Portia’s Ruby.”
“On that note, we need the portal,” Ruby interrupted.
“Thewhatnow?” Lou asked, his eye cutting toward Portia. The older succubus didn’t even blush.
She just flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Look, I was excited, and I blabbed. It’s only Ruby. She won’t tell anyone.”
“She told Ethan,” Lou pointed out.
“Well, he’s her person, so it basically counts as one unit of knowledge. You know how couples are.” Portia took the controller from his hands. “You know you can’t get involved, but if you happen to leave a portal open, who is to say that you were interfering on purpose?”
“I love how that mind of yours works,” Lou jumped to his feet. “Are you ready to go, Ethan?”
“I’m going too,” Ruby announced.
“Like fuck you are,” Ethan roared while Portia said, “Over my dead body.” And there was Lou in the corner, clapping his hands together and chanting, “Best. Day. Ever.”
Ethan didn’t see Lou start the magic that opened the portal. One second, the office was warm and cozy, and the next, it was a cold vortex. A big black hole ringed by too many colors to describe opened, gaping like a mouth.
“That doesn’t look pleasant,” he groaned. Ethan didn’t like it, but apparently, the fact that Lou had opened the portal meant that Ruby was joining him whether he liked it or not.
“Portals aren’t fun,” she warned. “They hurt like hell. Be warned, you might vomit. Scratch that, you will. Most humans do.”
“I’m a shifter,” Ethan noted before stepping through the portal.
His body was cold and hot. It was heavy but so light that he was scared he would fly away. Something brushed up against him, and it took him a few seconds to realize Ruby had wrapped her arm around his.
Her hair twirled around them until suddenly, the air-popped, and they fell forward. There was nothing to stop his fall, nor had his vision caught up with his surroundings. He blinked rapidly and took in his surroundings. Ruby stood over him, holding out her hand.
“Come on. You did good for a first-timer.” She smiled at him warmly.
“I’m not sure I ever wanna do that again. Not a very pleasant way to travel.”
“But it got us to where we need to go in no time at all. If Portia and Lou hadn’t taken a liking to us, we would’ve had to take a whole bunch of boats and planes to get here. Where ishere, anyway?”
Ethan did another turn, noting the trees and soil. A quick sniff of the air told him exactly what he needed to know.
He was in California.
“We’re on the border between Tagnello and Adair land.”
Ruby whistled low. “Do I even wanna know how Lou knew to send us here?”
“No clue. I’ll worry about that later. If we stick around here long enough, one of the guards from both packs will eventually pass through here.”
“But not at the same time?”