"Yes, all three. Jim burst in a few minutes before you. They all left out the side door, there." She indicated a door that led to a smaller room of the ballroom.

"Thanks." I started to leave but stopped. "Rene, maybe you should stay here with Tiffany. The guy I'm after has a bit of a crush on her."

"Which one?" Tiffany asked.

"We will come with you," Rene announced, opening the door and pushing Tiffany out I looked at him for a moment, wanting to protect him in case things got dicey, but his chin was as obstinate as Drake's.

"Fine, but don't blame me if you see some stuff that'll give you nightmares for years to come," I warned, walking through the doorway.

Straight into a mob of naked incubi.

Chapter 27

"We have come to help you," Jacob said. "I have told my brothers what you said about taking charge of our own lives, and they agree with me that no more will we be used as sexual playthings. We have rights! We have needs and desires the same as other beings. Piotr wishes to become a musician." Piotr, standing behind Jacob, waved at me. I waved back. "Stefan wants to write novels. We are revolting from the tyranny that has long held us prisoners."

"Uh ... well, that's good. Really good. How the heck did you get here?"

"Nora summoned us. Was that not clever of her? She said that you would tell us what to do. Since you have helped us throw off the shackles of our bondage, we have decided to help you."

I looked around at the group of twelve handsome, well-formed, extremely well-endowed men.

Tiffany approached a dark-haired incubus with rippling washboard abs, pectoral muscles that probably could have withstood a blow from a sledgehammer, and nether regions that would do a pony proud. "You have a lovely smile," she told the incubus.

"How can we help you?" Jacob asked.

I thought of suggesting they put on some clothes, but that would take too much time. "You can answer a question. Your leader, the morpheus—is his name Gyorgy?"

Jacob nodded. "Yes. How did you know?"

"He's the one who murdered the two Guardians. Where is he?"

Jacob's mouth dropped open. "He left earlier. He said the signs were right for him to revenge his name and claim the Light of Chastity."

"The what?'

"Me," Tiffany said.

Twelve heads nodded their agreement.

"Oh, god. He's going to kill Marvabelle and kidnap Tiffany. Why can't I ever meet normal people?" I asked, waving the men aside. "Where's Nora?"

"Unconscious," Jacob said. "The demon Jim said she had it knock her out so she could summon us all. She could not summon more than one of us in a meditative state, but unconscious or asleep she could."

"Oh, great! What about Monish?"

"Who?"

"Never mind. I think I know where they went." I pushed past the incubi, running down the length of the ballroom to the small room that served as a meeting place for speakers and the like. Tiffany, Rene, and the gang of incubi followed. I resisted the temptation to ask them how they could run naked without at least a hand cupped around dangly parts. The door to the annex was locked, but gave way after a couple of the bigger incubi kicked it.

"Keep her back," I told Rene, gesturing toward Tiffany before I raced into the room. "Well, well, fancy meeting you here, Gyorgy the hermit. Or should I say Gyorgy the morpheus?"

The walls of the left side of the room were made of fabric over wood, the kind of walls that were on a track and could be accordioned back to increase the size of the ballroom. Slumped in a corner, Nora lay in an extremely uncomfortable position, Jim sitting protectively beside her.

Gyorgy had Marvabelle pinned by her throat against a wall on the opposite side of the room, held a couple of inches off the ground, her legs kicking madly as she tried to pull his hand from her throat. His eyes narrowed as the incubi followed me into the small room. "What are you doing here?"

Jacob came forward, shoulders back, chest out, the personification of righteous manhood. "We have revolted! I wish to raise horses. Piotr wishes to play violin. James wishes to work at a McDonald's and make the big hamburgers."

Gyorgy sputtered something in Hungarian that had a couple of the incubi stepping back in fear.

"Looks like your days of being head stud are over," I told him, strolling forward. "Your boys don't want to be women's playthings anymore."

"Actually ... I would like to. I don't mind the job, and the hours are good."

Jacob hushed the younger incubus who had spoken.

"Marvabelle's turning purple," I pointed out, nodding toward her. "Why don't you let her down, and we can talk about this?"

"She will die for her crime."

"Ya think? OK, how about this—you may have your ex-girlfriend, but I have Tiffany. Rene?"

Tiffany and Rene entered the room. Gyorgy gasped and dropped Marvabelle, who hit the ground like a sack of anvils. She coughed and gagged, clutching at her throat. I wanted to go over and make sure she was all right, but I didn't dare leave Gyorgy.

"Beauteous one! Has the she-devil harmed you?"

Tiffany gave him a haughty look. "Hello, Gyorgy. I did not know you were an incubus. You must be a very bad one to kill women. I do not like bad men. I will not give you my virtue."

Gyorgy groaned and went onto his knees, Marvabelle forgotten for the moment. "My darling, my beautiful goddess, do not believe the lies you hear about me. You alone possess the purity that can salvage my soul. You are my savior, my mother, the woman who will bring me back to life."

"Jim?" I said quietly.

"Got it right here," it answered, dropping the bag of supplies I’d bought earlier.

"How's Nora?"

"OK, although she's going to have a sore head in the morning."

"That's very pretty," Tiffany told Gydrgy, pausing to give one of the incubi a smile. "But I do not wish to be your mother. To be a mother would mean I would no longer be a virgin. That is what I do best. It would be a shame if I stopped."

I pulled a spool of red thread from the bag, slowly, carefully making a circle around Gyorgy, allowing the thread to trail on the floor behind me.

Marvabelle clawed her way to her knees, clutching the wall in an attempt to get to her feet.