Both women chuckled fondly. Kyrine was obviously important, but what they’d said really didn’t clarify things much for me. Well, whoever Kyrine really was, I figured I would be meeting her soon.

Astrid finished absorbing from her essence battery and slipped it into a pouch at her belt. “Come on, let’s get a move on. It’s not far to the mansion from here. Then you can meet Kyrine for real and have all your questions answered.”

We turned our back on the smoking remains of the blockade and started up the road. The women seemed energized by their consumption of the mana from the essence batteries, and they walked quickly, glancing around them at the surroundings.

The forest receded behind us. After a little while, the dirt road merged with a broad street of flawless tarmac. We turned left and began to walk uphill through a network of wide, curving suburban avenues.

Generously sized houses lay on either side, set well back from the road in leafy, expansive grounds. I hadn’t ever come here before, and all the houses were quite new, so I figured this residential area had been recently constructed. All was silent.

Belinda walked purposefully, her head lowered as if thinking, but Astrid held her head up, her lycan ears twitching as she picked up small sounds which were beyond my range of hearing. She sniffed the air a couple of times, seeming to take pleasure in the cool, silent night breeze.

We had been walking for about half an hour, and we must have been getting toward the top of the hill. I was thinking about Kyrine—whoever she might really be—and wondering if it was worth trying a different tactic to get some more information from these two sexy and mysterious Outworlder women.

I decided I may as well give it a go.

“So, why were those PentaTech guys after you?” I asked Astrid.

She took a breath to speak, but it was Belinda who answered in her place, with a playful laugh. “Because she was naughty! She went on an unauthorized excursion.” She wagged a finger at Astrid.

“I was hungry!” Astrid raised her hands in a gesture of mock self-justification. “You know Kyrine isn’t exactly a culinary artist.”

Belinda snorted. “That may be true, but you’re always hungry.”

Astrid patted her svelte, flat stomach. “It’s true, not that it’s caused me any harm so far.”

I had to agree, but I kept quiet for the moment. For all the women’s banter, I couldn’t help noticing that, yet again, they really hadn’t answered my question.

“Well,” Belinda said, “maybe Kyrine has been busy cooking, although I doubt it.”

“Most likely she’s been preparing for Jeremy’s arrival,” Astrid answered.

“Let’s hope so, because here we are.”