[English] THE WITCH WITH NO NAME

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 40



I jumped when Trent leaned close, whispering, “Close the deal. Make a sure end to it.”

I almost cried at his words. He knew I had no choice, even if it meant the end of the undead, and he didn’t think any less of me. I had to trust Landon. Shoulders tense, I faced Cormel again. “I’ll do it, but I want your word that this pays my and Ivy’s debt in full. Everything. And when Felix walks into the sun, there’ll be no retaliation and no more demands for your souls.”

Felix’s cries cut off with a strangled suddenness. Cormel’s lips twitched, and I remembered the aide rushing off. Anger radiated from him as he pushed forward until I put up a hand and he stopped that same eight feet back. Pixy dust glittered in his hair, and I knew Jenks was hovering above us in the dark. I could see the lines of worry around Cormel’s eyes, feel the tension in him, the overwhelming need he was trying to hide. Cormel wanted his soul. Nothing would stand in his way—not now that he might be so close. “There will be no tally of debt made until I have my soul,” he said, and I shook my head.

Nina’s shoe scraped the cement behind me, and Trent touched my elbow before dropping back to make sure that she woke as herself and not Felix.

Hands on my hips, I moved forward until Cormel could’ve reached out to throttle me. I was safe enough, seeing that he knew I was far more malleable when he hurt others than when he hurt me. And besides, Jenks was up there somewhere. “Your soul was never mentioned in the original agreement. I said I’d find a way for you to keep your soul. I’ve done that.”

“And you refuse to implement it!” Cormel shouted.

“Because it’s going to send you into the sun!” I said, hearing Trent shushing Nina and trying to get her to stand up. “Are you blind? I’m trying to help you!”

Cormel was silent. His eyes flicked to Trent and Nina, then deeper, to his people ringing us. Finally his eyes touched upon the Hollows, and then rose to the sky. I wondered if he was saying a curse to a God who had allowed this to happen—or just looking for Jenks.

“Cormel,” I said, soft, so my voice wouldn’t shake as my knees were. “I’ll fix Felix’s soul to him, but only because you’re forcing me, and even then only if you agree that when it’s over, we’re done. That neither I nor Ivy owe you anything. No retaliation. Nothing.”

Cold and unyielding, he stood before me as those who trusted him listened. “Not until we all have the security of our souls will I call it done.”

Frustrated, I backed up a step, wanting to look at Trent but not daring to take my eyes off Cormel. “Did you not hear Felix?” I said, looking from him to the scared vampires behind him. “Your own people have doubts, enough that an entire camarilla stood up to you to stop me from even trying. The elves think you can’t survive with your souls either. That’s why they taught me the charm to fix a soul to an unwilling body in the first place. They want you to kill yourselves so they can step into the vacuum of power you will leave behind.”

Cormel’s eyes flicked behind me, and I heard Trent sigh.

“It wasn’t Trent who told me the charm, it was Landon,” I griped. “Cormel, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but listen to me,” I pleaded, but Cormel turned to look behind him at his people. “We can’t always have what we want. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

He sniffed, unable to believe I might know what I was talking about. “You gained this knowledge of fixing souls from the dewar?”

I hesitated, wondering if it had been a mistake bringing up the elves, but if Cormel had followed me here, then he knew who’d been going in and out of my church. I nodded, heart pounding. He was making a decision. I could tell. And I probably wasn’t going to like it.

“Prove to me that a soul of the undead can again be fixed. Do that, and I will call the debt you and Ivy have accumulated null.”

I shivered at his expression, both riven with a coming pain and hopeful that I might be lying. “It will send Felix into the sun,” I breathed, and those in the front whispered my words in a rising wave to those in the back, gaining strength and fear as it went.

Cormel dropped his head. His eyes were a normal brown when they met mine again. “He’s halfway there already,” he said in regret. “We will do this at my house.”

Trent scuffed forward with Nina, but I didn’t move. I was not going to go under the ground with him. I might never come back up. “No,” I said, and Cormel jerked to a halt.

“Are you suggesting we fix his soul here?” he said bitterly, indicating the cold darkness. “I won’t do this here, nor at your church, nor at any elf holding,” he finished, grimacing at Trent.

We needed a neutral place, and unfortunately one was staring at me just across the open grass. “Luke and Marsha’s,” I suggested, and I swear I heard Jenks dart off to check it out.

Cormel grimaced, but it was nearby, and I might even be able to sit down. “Neither one of them is my child.”

“But you have enough pull with their masters or you wouldn’t have used them in the first place to try to kill Ivy.”

The master vampire thought about that for a moment, his lips twitching when Nina regained her balance and glared at him, her fear for Ivy overpowering her fear of him. “Clear the building,” he said gruffly, gesturing. “Make sure the apartment in question is secure.”

The vampires began to break up, some jogging to the apartments, but most simply vanishing into the night. Cormel waited, as still as, well, the undead, the wind moving the hem of his coat the only motion about him. Frowning and tucking the bottle back in my shoulder bag, I turned to Trent. Nina jerked away, snarling when I tried to take her other arm, and I backed off.

“You sure you don’t have any other ideas?” I asked Trent as we started across the grass, Nina’s aggressive stalking held in check by the vampires around and behind us.

“Not any you’re going to like,” he said. “You never know. It might work just fine.”

Or it might kill Felix outright, I thought, but I didn’t say it as we made our way to the road. But I’d do anything for Ivy. What happened after that was not going to be my problem.

Chapter 9

Felix sat on the couch not four feet from me, not breathing, not moving, creeping me out as he stared with red-rimmed, hungry eyes while I wiped the glass coffee table with a salt-soaked rag. The three heavies by the door weren’t helping, even if the undead vampire was bound and gagged. I wished Cormel would get up here so we could get on with it.

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I jumped at the thump from the bedroom, but Jenks gave me a thumbs-up before darting to the open kitchen. Trent, too, had started, and he turned from the vampire graffiti sprayed on the inside of the closed blinds. His eyes roved over the space, evaluating the lifestyle of the average living vampire, calculating the difficulty of getting out of here in a pinch, generally doing his warlord/businessman elf thing.

Apart from the ominous jagged and swirled vampire graffiti, the apartment looked the same as when I’d last seen it. I wondered if Marsha and Luke were still alive and running. It was possible, seeing that the real intent behind it all had been to get Ivy involved.

“Hey, Trent. Be a pal, would you?” Jenks called, and Trent went into the kitchen to take the top off a jar of peanut butter. It had been an exhausting night for everyone, but I thought it interesting that he’d asked Trent. He’d never asked me to help with anything remotely connected to his admittedly high caloric needs.

Must be a bro thing, I thought as I tossed the rag into the sink in the kitchen. Jenks rose up and down on a column of silver, peeved that I’d startled him. We were all on edge as we waited for Cormel’s thugs to give him the all clear so he could come up, making me wonder if there was a charm or a spell I hadn’t found the first time I was here.

My fingers were cold, and I knelt with the low table between me and Felix. I could feel him watching as I brought the bottle out of my shoulder bag and set it on the table. Felix’s eyes turned a savage black, but he didn’t move. My heart thudded, making things worse. This was so dumb. Where in the hell was Cormel?

My head snapped up when the man searching the bedroom ghosted out with a vampiric quickness, his nose wrinkling at the smell of burnt amber. Vampires didn’t generally like burnt amber—thank God. My thoughts swung to Ivy, who’d never said much either way, something I appreciated. Nina was downstairs waiting for her—which didn’t sit well with me.

I knew Ivy could take care of herself, but not when she was suffering from internal injuries and was weak. But Nina loved Ivy. That made her dangerous as she’d do anything to be with Ivy, up to and including killing her. Vampire logic didn’t make sense to me.

The hiss of a match drew my attention as Trent lit a huge pale green candle. “Better?” he said as he waved the match out. He looked odd in someone else’s kitchen. I should stop being selfish and tell him to go save the world with Ellasbeth. He has a daughter with her, for God’s sake. Why am I letting him endanger himself like this?

But I needed his help, and I forced myself to smile even as Felix began a weird growling hiss. “Better, thanks,” I said as the clean scent of sea foam overpowered both the scent of sulfur from the match and the reek of burnt amber rising from all three of us. Leave it to a female vampire to have a candle that could outstink the ever-after.

“You’re doing the right thing,” Trent said as he sat in the closest chair. His eyes were on Felix, but all I could think was, This is a mistake.

“I don’t like being forced,” I said softly, and he gave my shoulder a squeeze before picking up the bottle and giving it careful scrutiny. In front of us, Felix groaned.

“No one does,” he said as the vampire began to pant through the gag, black eyes bulging in anger. “Don’t blame yourself for what follows.”

Maybe. Uneasy, I took the bottle from Trent and set it back on the table to get Felix to settle down. I prided myself on being able to find a way out of just about anything, but not this time. Cormel was going to get his way—to the letter of the law and no further. My eyes flicked to Felix, and my jaw clenched. Ivy, I will not let this happen to you.

My bag of scribing salt hit the glass table with a gentle hush and I dug deeper. Jenks’s wings clattered, an instant of warning before voices rose in the hall. It was Cormel, and Trent stood when the unassuming-looking man came in without even a knock, flanked by three more of his heavies and an aide. I stifled a shiver as we made eye contact, but he was already frowning over Trent’s presence. How many guys did Cormel need, anyway?

Conversation low to the point of inaudibility, Cormel toured the apartment, making me uneasy as he circled to finally settle at the most comfortable chair between the gas fireplace and the shuttered window. He wasn’t exactly behind me, but I didn’t like it, and the Möbius strip clinked loudly when I set it down. Felix was staring at me again, and Cormel steepled his fingers, smiling at me, making me shudder. Do I stay where I am with Cormel just outside my easy sight, or turn and put Felix out of my sight?

“He’s good,” Trent said as he shifted to a second chair so he could see both vampires.

“They don’t let you run the United States if you’re not.” Stomach knotting, I reassured myself that I had everything. Salt, rod, little bowl for the egg, the egg itself . . . Nina hadn’t known what color Felix’s soul radiated originally, so the scarf was a neutral black.

“Technically, I was never sworn in, but thank you,” Cormel said as he idly peeped through the blinds from where he sat.

Jenks rose up from the counter, his fingers buried in a torn piece of paper towel. “We doing this or not? I got plans tonight.”

I knew his mood stemmed from worry for Ivy. Cormel let the slat fall and turned to me, black eyes showing his impatience. My heart thudded. Landon was a conniving, backstabbing elf focused on his own redemption. I was reasonably confident the charm before me was going to do exactly what he said—if only because its origins were so nasty—but it was still going to turn and bite me on the ass. I knew it down to my toes. It wasn’t a question of if, but how, and I steadied myself. “Can we clear the room a little?”

Cormel waved impatiently, and his scar-covered aide headed for the door. It creaked open, and the aide jumping back with a cry when a scruffy white dog skittered in, followed by two vampires.

“Rache!” Jenks shouted, and I yanked my bag to me, digging for my original bulky but true strong-magic detection amulet.

“It’s a dog!” I shouted as the two men chased him into the bedroom amid the hoots and derisive comments from the watching thugs.

“Hey!” someone yelped. “Watch it! No! That way!”

Buddy barked and ran back into the living room. His feet were leaving muddy prints on the carpet, and panicked by the reaching hands, he skittered under Trent’s chair. The vampires slid to a stop, unwilling to reach under Trent, sitting with his ankle on a knee and his hands laced. Buddy growled, but it was a frightened noise.

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“Relax, it’s a dog,” I said again, trying not to watch Bis crawling in along the ceiling. He’d been downstairs with Nina, and if he was here now, then everything was okay.

“I can tell it’s a dog,” Cormel said sourly as his men clustered around the one who’d been bitten, his hand cradled protectively close. Felix’s eyes had dilated to a full, hungry black. I frowned, anger finally finding a toehold in my anxiety and shoving it down.

“I mean, it’s Buddy, the dog that lives here, not Luke or Marsha under a transformation curse,” I said, and Cormel’s eyes narrowed even as he beckoned to one of his people.

“Remove him,” Cormel said, pointing. “He belongs in the pound.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, vamp boy.” Jenks darted to the center of the room. “This is his turf, not yours. If someone got bitten, that’s not the dog’s fault.”

Trent dropped his hand below the bottom of the chair, and Buddy stopped growling to sniff it. “He’s probably just hungry,” Trent said, and I watched, surprised when he stood and went into the kitchen. “You hungry, Buddy?” he called, voice high, and Buddy thumped his tail.

“Everyone leave him alone,” I said when Buddy slinked out from under Trent’s chair, skulking into the kitchen when Trent began opening cupboards, looking for his food.

“We don’t have time for this,” Cormel said dryly.

“You want him out, right?” Trent’s expression was calm as he searched. “That’s not going to happen until he trusts you. He’s probably not eaten for days.” His attention went down and he smiled. “You need a bath, Buddy. Where have you been?”

Jenks hovered over them, and I watched a camouflaged Bis inch into the kitchen, intrigued. “Dumpster, by the smell of it,” Jenks said, fingers pinching his nose. “And the river. Cats are better, even if they do try to eat you. They at least keep themselves clean.”

Trent found a bag of food and Buddy whined, nails clicking. “Good boy. Here you go.”

The kibble clattered into a salad bowl, and Trent set it down with a disarming look of satisfaction. Jenks on his shoulder and Bis clinging to the ceiling beside the fan only added to the odd tableau. All three watched him eat, and then Trent bent to shake even more into the bowl.

Smiling, I turned away, shock a cold slap when I found Cormel had moved and was sitting in the chair right beside me, staring. Holy ****!

“Right,” I said, smile gone, and Cormel nodded for me to get on with it. “Ah, he needs to be prone,” I said, glancing at Felix, the undead vampire glaring malevolently at me, apparently not appreciating the kindness to stray dogs.

Two of the men by the door came to shift him, seeing that his hands and feet were bound.

“Soon, Felix,” Cormel crooned when Felix began to struggle. “Soon. Give her a chance to work. I’ll remove your gag if you promise not to howl.”

Felix’s eyes were entirely black, but when he nodded, Cormel patted his hands, taking a small jackknife from his pocket and cutting the gag himself. Jenks and Trent hastened back to the living room, leaving Buddy to growl at the vampire inching forward to grab him.

The gag fell away. “She stole it,” Felix said, his voice crawling down my spine as he fixed his unblinking eyes on me. “Make her give it back. It’s mine!”

Cormel patted his shoulder and stood, the knife tucked inside his overcoat along with the gag. “She didn’t steal your soul. She captured it so she could fix it properly.” He turned to me. “Isn’t that right, Morgan?” he threatened.

I nodded, glad when Trent took the chair behind me again. “Keep him there,” I said, not liking Cormel being this close. “If I’m interrupted, his soul will return to the ever-after.”

“You might lose it?” Felix exclaimed, his alarm sparking my own fear. “Give it to me! Now!”

“I’ll lose it if you interrupt me or take the scarf off your face before I tell you to.”

Stark fear marred Felix’s young face, giving me a glimpse of what he might have been. Cormel shot me a look to be more gentle before he leaned over Felix and patted him on the shoulder. “She won’t lose it, Felix,” he said, reminding me that for all their casual disregard for the lives of those they destroyed, they had a weird sense of protection for those they deemed worthy of it. That their children seldom entered that category was indecipherable vampire logic.

Trent leaned over me, the lingering scent of ever-after obvious. “I should do the charm. You’re better at defense than I am,” he said, almost breathing the words.

Jenks’s wings were clattering in worry, and I wished he’d park it somewhere. “No,” I said, thinking back to Trent’s numb shock of capturing Felix’s soul. I was the demon here. I could do it. “As long as no one interrupts me and he doesn’t remove the cloth until I say, it should be fine.” Chin rising, I looked over the room, not liking how many people were in here. “I need to anoint anyone who’s staying in the room with spider silk so his freed soul isn’t attracted to them. I’ve only got a few strands.”

Jenks rose up, arms crossed. “I don’t need any. No vampire soul will find me.”

Cormel gestured at his thugs, and I breathed easier until I realized all of them were heading out, leaving just him to maintain control of Felix. And the bastard smiled at my unease. “Kalamack?” he said, almost taunting. “Are you staying?”

My pulse quickened. Rule number one: never be alone with a master vampire. Misunderstandings were often fatal. “He’s my spotter in case I need help.”

“You are unsure of the charm?” Cormel said, and I lifted my chin, thoughts of Landon’s inexperience and hidden agenda warring in me. The man wanted me dead. What in hell was I doing trusting that his greed for recognition would keep me safe?

“I’ve never done it before,” I said, my unease coming out as anger. “Trent is here in case there’s a snag. Got a problem with that?”

“Can we get on with this?” Felix growled, and Trent pulled his spelling cap out, hastily arranging it on his head before pulling his ribbon from a pocket like a magician. Draping it around his neck he sat down, his ankle going to his knee and settling back to look confident and unmoving. Buddy trotted out from the kitchen, and no one said anything as he flopped down at Trent’s feet with a happy sigh. Trent gave Cormel a mute look, daring him to protest.

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“Begin,” Cormel said sourly.

My fingers shook as I unfolded Ivy’s borrowed black silk scarf, the strands of this morning’s spiderweb in it. It had been hard to find this late in the year, impossible if not for Jenks. Still kneeling, I draped the first strand over Trent’s shoulder. “Thank you for staying,” I said, starting when he unexpectedly took my hand, eyes pleading.

“I should do this. It was my idea to trust Landon.”

“Yeah, let him,” Jenks said, and Buddy sneezed from the pixy dust.

But something in the feel of his hands about mine said he wasn’t worried about Landon. It was something else. “And have Cormel say I didn’t fulfill my agreement?” I said, and Cormel cleared his throat impatiently. “No.” I slipped from Trent’s hands, feeling a tingle pull all the way through me. “Jenks? Here.”

The pixy’s chin lifted, and I stared at him until he dropped down and tweaked a tiny piece from Trent’s strand. “Happy now?” he barked at me, and I stood.

“Ecstatic.” My mood worsened as I looked at Cormel. “Sir?” I said, holding out the scarf. I wasn’t going to get any closer to him than I needed to.

Motions slow, he took a long strand and draped it across the buttonhole of his coat. He still hadn’t taken off his coat, and his suit under it looked expensive and exquisite, the kind that Trent had once worn all the time.

There was one strand left, and I carefully plucked it free, intending to put it on my hair.

“What about the dog, Rache?”

Crap on toast, what about Bis still hiding at the ceiling? Lips pressed, I broke it in two, holding the larger strand out. “Here, you give it to him,” I said, eyes going to Bis in the kitchen. “I don’t think he likes me yet.”

Jenks’s gaze was crafty, dust sparkling as he dropped down. Wings clattering, he took it, darting first to Buddy and then the kitchen, pretending to get another dollop of peanut butter before rising up to give the last strand to Bis.

Cormel was frowning, and my stomach clenched. The world was going to change again. I should have worn nicer shoes.

I took a deep breath and reached out my awareness, laying a mental finger, as it were, upon the nearest ley line. My sour expression melted away as the energy flowed through me and back to the earth, connecting me to all things. It was akin to a warm bath, a shot of tequila, and an hour’s massage, easing my tension and instilling in me the confidence of past spells. Feeling the first hints of a soothing numbness, I began to spill the salt into a pentagram.

As if pulled from the energy flow itself, the beating of drums seemed to rise in my memory, making my motions sure and steady as I felt as if I was drawing on the skill of all of those who had come before me. Landon hadn’t said anything about the elven chant coming into play this soon, but it felt right, and I let it flow through my actions. Ta na shay. See me. See me recognize you.

A gentle warmth from the line tingled through me, my fingers no longer cold and slow. With a sudden shock, I recognized the faint feeling of lassitude slipping into me and I jerked from it. My smooth motion pouring salt bobbled. A tiny slip of sand marred my perfect pattern, and I froze. Felix jerked as my fear hit him. I didn’t need the Goddess’s help for this, and alarm that I might fall under her sway this easily was a shock.

“Rachel,” Trent pleaded, and I shook my head.

“I’m fine,” I said as I finished my pattern, not knowing why Jenks was hovering so close. He’d seen me spell worse charms than this. Besides, I was entirely hidden from the Goddess, even if I should stand on the highest tower and shout for her. I was alone, and it hurt after being a part of something so much bigger than myself.

Trent’s hand found mine, and I gave it a quick squeeze to tell him I was okay. He always seemed to know when I thought of the mystics. They’d let me see around corners and almost through time. Giving them up had bought Newt’s silence, so I knew they were real, my blackmail going both ways as my silence protected her as well.

I exhaled as the last of the salt went hissing down. The lines of the pentagram took on a faint glow in the glare of the overhead light. Satisfied, I reached for the aspen sap. The grinding feel of the glass stopper was familiar, and I didn’t set the stopper down as I touched the stylus to it. The thin rod had cost almost as much as the sap itself and was guaranteed to be from the same Colorado field the sap had been taken from: a thousand trees, but one genetic organism. It was a potent symbol. Souls were as unique as trees, but they all sprang from the same source, the same beginning.

Trent whispered for Jenks to back off as I anointed the two feet of the pentagram. His dust burned, and I looked up at the jolt of connection to the rising spell, blinking at Felix’s shiny dress shoes parked on the arm of the short couch.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my spellbound voice coming out almost as a croak. “Can you take off his shoes and socks, please?”

Young face drawn up in affront, Felix wiggled until he sat up. “You forgot?” He looked at Cormel. “Cormel, her skills are inadequate. She failed to fix it to me in the ever-after, and she will fail now.”

Cormel was already moving to Felix’s feet since Trent was obviously not going to do it. “Dear Felix,” he soothed. “Your soul was unable to bind to you because you were in Nina. Morgan will do this, or she and Ivy are forfeit. Lie back down.”

The drums seemed to fade at Felix’s voice, and I took a cleansing breath. The stylus in my hand glistened at the tip. “Shoes? Socks?”

Cormel was untying them even as Felix protested. “It’s my soul. This demon witchery is unnecessary. Make her let it out of the bottle. It won’t harm me. It won’t harm anyone!”

One shoe was gently removed, but as Cormel slipped his sock from him, Felix’s expression became nasty. “You stole it!” he shouted, erratic, as if Cormel were taking his defenses from him, not just his socks. “You took it from me. Give it back!”

“She found it for you, Felix.” Cormel unlaced Felix’s other shoe, keeping his ankles tied with knots made secure from long knowledge. “It would be Nina who would have your soul otherwise.” His other sock was pulled from him, and Felix whimpered. “Remember?” Cormel said as he put a hand on his chest and forced him down. “You were in Nina in the everafter. Sit back. Don’t take the scarf from your eyes when she puts it there.”

Damn it, if Felix didn’t cooperate, it wasn’t going to work and I’d be left with nothing. My gaze went to the covered windows. Sunrise was eight hours off, too short a period of time to do much of anything if this should fail.

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But Felix had gone still in waiting, his feet pale next to the stark blackness of the hem of his pants. They looked cold and too soft for all the people he’d trod upon. They reminded me of Al’s hands outside his gloves, vulnerable and revealing, always hidden.

“Keep him still,” I warned as I leaned across the space to touch the rod to the underside of his arches and made him jump. I wondered if he’d have any regret when his soul returned. I knew lots of people who felt no regret for the people they’d hurt, and they had souls.

Leaning back, I caught sight of Trent’s tense worry. He regretted. He had guilt. I’d seen him more than once in the early hours of a sunless morning, sitting beside the bed, waiting for me to wake and tell him with a smile that he wasn’t a bad person.

The choices we make, I thought as I cracked the hummingbird egg with my thumbnail before dropping it into a ceramic dish. Landon hadn’t said what to use, and ceramic was as neutral as glass. Damn it, I didn’t even know if I was doing this right. Jaw clenched, I used the sap-soiled stylus to dab the egg white of binding on the black scarf.

Immediately the line I was holding seemed to refine itself, the energy feeling more potent as it narrowed to my desires. I was doing it right, and that scared me even more. The phantom drums in my head pounded, and I shivered, wishing to remain hidden even as the chant called attention to me.

“Is it supposed to be glowing like that?” Jenks whispered, shushed by Trent.

“Show me your palms, please,” I whispered, head down as the spell wavered over my skin as if looking for someone to soak into.

“Is that my soul?” Felix said, voice high as he wiggled.

“Soon,” I breathed. The magic filled me, slowed my muscles. “Show me your hands.”

He did, and I dabbed them, my heart pounding in time with the drums. Ta na shay rose through me, even as I desperately wanted to hide.

Blood, I thought, fear slicing through the drum-borne lethargy. I needed a drop of undead blood. My head snapped up, and Jenks darted back, shocked at my worried expression. “Ah, I need a drop of his blood,” I said, flicking a look at Felix.

“My blood?” Felix snarled, and I drew back as Cormel moved to get between us.

“Felix,” he coaxed, his thick fingers looking odd against Felix’s young body as he forced him to stay down. “It’s for your soul. Just a drop so it can find you. Let me. From your thumb,” he suggested, and I nodded. I didn’t want to risk contaminating the connection on his palms, but his thumb should be okay. I guess. God help me do this right, I thought as I rummaged in my bag for a finger stick. I didn’t know what was on that knife Cormel had used to cut Felix’s gag. One by one, Felix was losing his bonds.

I pushed the finger stick across the glass table to Cormel. He picked it up, clearly already knowing how it worked. The snap of it opening was familiar, and Felix held out his bound hands, never taking his mistrustful gaze from Cormel as he pricked his thumb. Felix hissed as the master vampire retreated, careful to not get any blood on himself.

Buddy began to snore, immune to everything now that he was home and his stomach was full. Bis was creeping down the wall beside the door, and Cormel frowned, noticing him when a nail scraped.

This is for Ivy, I thought as I got to my feet. Reaching across the distance, I touched the wand to Felix’s thumb before pressing it to the top of the silk pentagram. My knees wobbled as the energy flow sharpened to a crystalline hum. The spell was ready. I only had to finish it.

But the beauty of the lines, clouded until I found this very moment, was hard to look past, and I blinked a tear away, shaken. I hadn’t seen them like this since losing the mystics. The reminder hurt. I could see evidence of their passage all around me, but they couldn’t see me. Perhaps the punishment was fitting.

“Trent, stop this,” Jenks protested, and I bowed my head, shaky hand raised to tell Cormel I wasn’t backing out of it. Breath held to hide the heartache of what I’d lost, I touched the rod to Felix’s forehead.

“Close your eyes,” I said, and Felix did. His lips closed over his fangs, and the blackness in his eyes was hidden. He looked normal, frightened, and hopeful to the point of pain. He exhaled and didn’t breathe again, and I felt the magic beginning to rise in the room, prickling along my thumb until I rubbed it out. By the prickling of my thumb . . .

“Trent . . . ,” Jenks whined, his wings making an odd sound.

“It’s perfect,” I said again, breathless and disoriented as I turned back to the charm, confident Felix wouldn’t move for fear of losing his coming soul. “I’m fine,” I echoed, breathing in time with the drums. Why are my fingertips tingling?

“Cormel?” Felix called, eyes opening and panicked. “Why am I bound!”

“Peace,” Cormel said, and Felix dropped back with a whimper.

I shivered as Cormel whispered the word. I could feel Trent behind me as I rolled the black cloth into a cord and wove it through the Möbius strip. As each inch scraped through, it was as if another layer of dross peeled from the lines and my connection deepened. My head hung, and I dropped the metal band to clank against the table. Dizzy with knowing, I shook the salt out. I didn’t think my eyes were open. I couldn’t tell—sparkles blocked my vision.

“You okay, Rache?”

I blinked fast. It was Jenks. I could tell because his dust was a frightened black, and the rest of the sparkles were a white so pure they were painful.

“Fine,” I said, blinking again, and suddenly the sparkles were gone. It had just been the spilled salt on the table that I’d been looking at. “I’m fine.”

Oh God, everything was transparently sparkly, as if I was going to get a migraine. Black cloth in hand, I found Felix’s expression, hopeful and longing. “It may make you walk into the sun,” I warned, and Cormel stiffened.

“I don’t care,” he moaned. “Finish it!”

Someone was holding my elbow, and I shook as I covered the vampire with the shroud of finding. That same someone handed me a bottle, and I recognized Trent’s slim fingers as I stood and peeled the wax cover off.

“Stay with me, Rachel,” Trent said softly, drawing me back, and like a breath exhaled on a winter night, a haze pulled from the bottle as I wove it through the air over Felix, his soul remaining still as the bottle slipped away from around it.

“Cormel?” Felix whimpered, sounding like a lost child.

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How can a spiderweb fend off an angry soul?

“I’m with you,” Cormel said as he stood over him, envy and jealousy in the slant to his eyes as he gripped Felix’s shoulder.

I’d be lucky to escape with this one task, I mused, hazy as the elven drums became my entire world. Tislan, tislan. Ta na shay cooreen na da wove through my mind, tingling over my skin, soaking in until it found my chi and sent my blood moving to its cadence. I watched in awe as the hazy presence slipping from the bottle grew, the last of it joining the rest like water. My eyes closed, and vertigo took me.

Tislan, tislan. Ta na shay cooreen na da wove through my breath, and the freed soul pulled strength from the salt, growing more substantial. Landon had been wrong. The Möbius strip hadn’t balanced the spell. It had charged the salt, and I watched the soul pull it in, becoming stronger.

“It’s close,” Felix groaned, and Cormel pressed him into the couch, keeping him unmoving. “Cormel, I can feel it!”

“I can see it,” Cormel said in awe, and Felix’s bound hand rose to his face.

“Don’t let him move!” I shouted, and the spirit recoiled at the echoes of my voice. “Hold him. It’s searching!”

“Holy mother toad piss,” Jenks swore, but the first feelings of doubt trickled through me. It wasn’t going for Felix. It wasn’t finding him. Why? I’d done it right. I knew it to be right!

Ta na shay. Ta na shay. The chant swirled through me, but I felt the soul lose interest and begin to fade as the power of the salt was spent. It was returning to the ever-after. I’d seen this with Kisten, and my panic flared, making Cormel’s eyes flash to black. It wasn’t the charm that was failing, it was me. I needed the Goddess, and though I was saying the words, my heart wished for the opposite.

Oh God, I was going to have to call on the Goddess.

“Cormel!” Felix screamed, and Cormel forced him down, his eyes fixed to mine.

“I will tear her apart, carefully held dream by carefully held dream,” he threatened. “It will not be fast, and I will enjoy every minute of it.”

Oh God, I had to do this.

Hear me! I screamed into the line, silver and pure as thought itself. See what I do! Lend me your skill. Ta na shay cooreen na da!

“Oh no,” Trent breathed, and the humming of Jenks’s wings dissolved in the thrum of the eternity bound in the cracks between worlds.

Tislan, tislan. Ta na shay cooreen na da, I begged, thinking of Ivy. I could not fail her. What happened to me didn’t matter. Ta na shay. Ta na shay, I begged, letting the line take me as I looked for the bright sparkling thoughts of the mystics.

And I found them. Very close.

Jenks groaned as I shivered, feeling the touch of purple feathers in my mind. Whirling eyes not seeing me poured forth their strength all around but I couldn’t touch it. Again I whispered, Ta na shay. See me. Help me.

One lazy eye hesitated, falling to me. My pulse thundered in my ears, and I lost myself to the line until that’s all there was and I wasn’t sure if I still stood in that tiny apartment at the edge of Al’s ley line. The mystic didn’t recognize me, and I wrapped my awareness around that single spot of light. Please help me, I begged as it began to lose interest, searching for something else. Give your strength to me. It will make my life hell if you do.

The mystic’s attention darted back to me, drawn by my last thought. I cowered under its full strength, and another turned from the glory of the stars to look. Who are you? the mystic mused, more to itself than me. I remember . . . before you.

Ta na shay, I fumbled, trying to be seen but easily forgotten. Help me.

But it was too late, and my soul quailed as more feather-lidded eyes found me and opened wide.

I know you! one called in terror, but others grasped the thought raging through them like fire as if it was joy. You are the becoming!

****, this was not working. I’m sorry, I thought, then made a quick twist in the wave of energy flowing through me. Panic flared, but it wasn’t mine, and that fast, I took the power of the Goddess and made it mine.

“Rache!” Jenks shouted, and my eyes flashed open.

Trent was not holding me upright. He was forcing Felix’s feet to the couch. Cormel was sitting on the vampire, the cloth pressed against his face and snarling. Felix was screaming, out of control as he tried to be free.

“Tislan, tislan. Ta na shay cooreen na da!” I screamed, convulsing at the purity of the line arching through me. It exploded from me, lighting the room in a flash of purple and silver. Jenks flew end over end into the kitchen, his face aghast as Bis caught him inches from the wall. Trent and Cormel were flung from Felix. I couldn’t see Jenks’s tears, but I tasted them in my mind as the mystics brought the image to me, as gentle and easy as breathing. They scintillated within the room, power with direction, just needing to be tasked.

Oh God, what have I done?

“Cooreen na da!” I said again, and the energy filling the room collapsed into Felix, carrying the wandering soul with it.

Felix screamed, the sound finding the pit of my soul and squeezing. It was the cry all make when they first breathe, but behind it was a world of understanding, of pain, of knowing.

For an instant, no one moved, and then Felix screamed again.

Scared, I dropped the line. Blackness hit me, and I stiffened, afraid to move. It was gone, everything, and I froze. I could feel nothing.

“Rachel!” Jenks called, and the world rushed back. Trent took me in a crushing embrace, and I breathed. Numb, I felt his heart beat against me. It reminded mine of what it was supposed to do. It was dark, and I didn’t know why.

“Breathe,” Trent said, his hold never easing. “Stay with me, Rachel. This is where you belong.”

“I know,” I mumbled, but the words seemed hard to form.

Pain iced through me when Felix screamed a third time, and my eyes opened. Trent held me as I stood. Cormel struggled with a bound Felix on the couch. Beyond them, Bis stood on the kitchen counter with Jenks. The gargoyle’s red eyes were round, and his skin was blacker than the line was white. “Am I okay?” I whispered, and he nodded.

“You broke the lights,” he rasped.

Blinking, I realized I had. Only the glow from Jenks’s dust and the candle Trent had started lit the room.

“My God,” Jenks whispered, and my gaze shifted to him. “It worked! He’s got an aura!”

The hunched shadow of Cormel let go as if stung. Shock—unusual and frightening in the undead—shone from him, a forgotten, unneeded emotion. He staggered back as a faint bluish-green haze, patchy and thin, began to rise from Felix. It was his soul, and it was struggling to escape even as Felix writhed, trying to contain it.

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“Take the cloth!” I exclaimed. “Burn it! Now!”

Cormel reached out, hand drawing back as if afraid to touch him.

“Oh, for Tink’s ever-humping loving,” Jenks swore, darting down and snatching the silk off Felix.

“Burn it!” I cried out, struggling against Trent’s arms as a thin ribbon of aura trailed from Felix, mixing with Jenks’s dust as he flew to the candle.

“No!” Felix howled, back arched and searching, and then the cloth hit the flame. It went up in a flash. Jenks darted to safety. Felix collapsed, sobbing, but it was different this time, broken, relieved, full of pain. His soul was trapped in him. This wasn’t going to be good.

I can do better than this, I thought, shaking as Ivy came to my mind. She wouldn’t have such a hard time of it since she hadn’t been dead for two centuries.

Cormel inched closer to Felix. “Is it done?” he asked, and I nodded, only now realizing that I was still in Trent’s arms.

His hold was tight in fear, and I looked up at him, seeing the stress in the lines by his eyes. “I’m okay,” I said, and he let go fast.

Jenks hovered close, eyeing me sharply. “You sure?”

My knees felt funny and my head was humming, but I nodded. Cormel dropped to his knees before Felix as the vampire sat up, hands shaking and tears of regret and guilt spilling down his cheeks. This was not going to end well. Ivy would handle this better.

“Rachel is okay,” Bis said, but he was still black in fear as he jumped to my shoulder, his tail wrapping tightly around me. I couldn’t feel the lines at all, and for the first time, I was glad of it. I shouldn’t have wrested the Goddess’s power from her, even if I gave it right back. She was going to start looking for me again, changed aura or not.

“Okay, Rache is all right, but what about him?” Jenks said, and we turned to Felix. My stomach hurt as Felix sobbed, sitting up and trying to wipe his eyes with his bound hands. His bare feet on the carpet looked odd with his business slacks and pressed shirt. It had worked. The real question was, would he survive its success?

“You can let him go,” I said, my voice sounding ragged to my ears. I was suddenly fatigued, and I waved off Trent’s help as I sat down. Buddy was gone. Smart dog. Are my hands sparkling, or is it my imagination? “He’s got his soul,” I added, though it was obvious. For better or worse, he had his soul, and it seemed to be working. Ivy . . .

“She is not okay!” Jenks snarled, and Trent leaned closer to the hovering pixy.

“Yes she is,” he insisted. “Look at her.”

“I am, cookie farts. She’s not okay!”

Bis leaned to put his face next to mine. “You’re okay, Rachel. I can tell.”

But I wasn’t sure how he knew. I started shaking, the entirety of the evening coming down hard. The Goddess had recognized me and my mystics had found me. She’d be on the lookout now. I’d be lucky if I could even use the lines.

“Where is Ivy?” I said, and Cormel looked up from where he still knelt with Felix. I didn’t like the hunger in his eyes. It wasn’t for blood, it was for his soul, and I held my breath, ready to move though every part of me was pained and sluggish.

Trent moved to get between us. “It’s done,” he said firmly, Jenks hovering beside him to create a united front. “She paid her and Ivy’s debt. Give us a token that you free them.”

Cormel turned to Felix, and my lips parted when Felix finally looked up. His eyes held sorrow, but there was hope, too. “I am me,” he said, voice broken. “I am whole.” Eyes shining with tears, he clung to Cormel. “I don’t hunger! Rynn, it’s gone! The ache is gone.” His head dropped. “Let them go. If she can do this, any witch can.”

Cormel stood. Trent shifted, becoming a threatening shadow in the flickering candlelight. “I want my soul. He’s whole and undamaged. Do it now!”

“I did what I promised,” I said, taking Trent’s arm so I could stand up, awkward because of Bis’s weight, slight as it was. “You know how to find your souls. I’m not going to do it.”

“You refuse me?” Cormel shouted, and Felix looked up, blinking.

“Find someone else!” I said, tentatively tapping a line and breathing in relief when I felt no change, no recognition. “I’m not the only demon in existence. Talk to one of them,” I said softly. “You can’t afford me anymore.”

Cormel’s eyes narrowed, black in the shadow light. “Perhaps. Remember you said that.”

What did he mean by that? I wondered as Cormel helped Felix to his feet. The once-powerful vampire was falling apart. Only time would tell if he could piece himself back together.

“I want a token that our agreement is fulfilled,” I demanded, leaning heavily on Trent. “If you threaten Ivy or myself, you’ll find out what it is to face a free demon, Cormel, and you’ll lose.”

He hardly even gave me a glance as he helped Felix to the door.

“Cormel!” I shouted, and he flung the door open. My anger evaporated. Ivy was there, Nina supporting her. Surrounding them were his men, all of them frustrated that they’d been commanded to stay out.

“Here is your token,” Cormel said, his teeth clenched. “We are done, Morgan. You and Ivy owe me nothing, and I owe you the same.”

Ivy hung in Nina’s grip, eyes dark as she took in my ragged state and Felix’s slumped weariness. The light of possibilities was in her eyes, and Nina was flushed and breathless. Buddy came from the bedroom at the sound of the door opening, and he trotted to Trent.

“Don’t come back to me,” Cormel said, his expression empty as he looked at Ivy, Felix hanging on his arm. “I will not see you.”

Ivy blinked fast, and Nina pulled her out of the way when Cormel gracefully carried Felix through the door. Immediately his aides descended upon them, and in a shockingly short time, they were down the stairs and gone.

“He has his soul?” Ivy finally asked, and I nodded, stiff as I forced myself to move. Where’s my bag?

“I’m so tired,” I breathed as I found it and shuffled to the door, not protesting when Trent scooped me up.

“I told you she shouldn’t do that dumb charm,” Jenks muttered, and I tried to focus. Bis. Where had Bis gone?

“She’s just tired,” Trent said, then more stridently, “No, we’re not taking the dog.”

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“But he doesn’t have anyone,” Bis complained, then giggled as Buddy licked him.

My eyes are closed. How do I know Buddy is licking Bis?

“She’s just tired,” Trent said again. “Come on. We could all use a shower.”

I nodded, my head falling onto Trent’s chest. I was too tired to think, but a shower sounded good.

Chapter 10

I can’t. Allergies,” Nina shouted over the wind from the backseat of my MINI Cooper. It had been closer than Trent’s car at Eden Park, a relief to get back even if I wasn’t driving it.

Jenks’s wings drooped as Bis leaned to see the dog, wiggling on Ivy’s lap. “You don’t look allergic,” the pixy said, and Nina made a prissy, fake sneeze even as she rubbed Buddy’s ears. The top was open, and the dog was enjoying himself, tongue hanging out and his tail smacking into the back of my seat with a regular rhythm that nearly matched the clicking of the turn signal. We were almost to the church, thank God. Even with the top open it smelled like vampire, burnt amber, and stinky dog. Reason two for taking my car instead of Trent’s.

Nina was in too good a mood for my liking: too good, and too in control. I didn’t think Felix had the presence of mind to be dipping into her thoughts right now, but it felt as if the worst was yet to come. In contrast, Ivy was tense, her motions edging into that vamp quickness she always took great pains to hide from me.

Trent had driven us to the church despite my protests. I’d counted six yawns from him so far. Bis was on my lap, expression mournful as Jenks continued to try to get someone to take the dog home. Jenks was right. We had enough strays. Rex could take care of herself in a pinch, but Buddy was high maintenance.

“Carport?” Trent asked when we found our street, and he took the curve fast, shooting into the covered spot on momentum. The headlights flashed and bobbed as we careened to a stop, and I braced myself, startled when Bis jumped into the air. Trent wasn’t angry, he simply liked driving my car to its fullest extent.

Ivy and Nina didn’t wait, Nina swinging her legs up and over the side of my small car and to the cement before using her vampire strength to lift Ivy carefully to the walk. “This way, Buddy!” Bis called, and I heard the happy sound of clicking nails and jingling tags.

“This isn’t going to end well,” Jenks said sourly before he darted up and out. “Bis! Keep that dog in the garden until he pees on something! Tink loves a duck, you don’t bring someone into the garden who doesn’t know how to bury their own crap!”

I watched Ivy slowly manage the front steps with Nina’s help. Seeing me with Trent, she smiled softly as Nina yanked the door open, the woman’s chatter never stopping as they went in. Finally the door shut. We were home, but I was too tired to move. My smile faded.

The keys jingled as Trent handed them to me. “You want me to carry you in?”

His tone was amused, but the sad thing was, I was tempted. “Give me a minute. I’m just tired.” Tired and not wanting to have to go in and deal with the mess.

“Me too.” He yawned again. “I’ll call a cab to get back to Eden Park. I don’t want to leave you without a car.”

“Thanks. Take Jenks with you, okay?”

His phone hummed, obvious in the midnight silence. Taking it from a pocket, he silently looked at it, sighed, and tucked it back. “Ellasbeth?” I guessed, and he nodded.

“If it’s important, Quen will call. Huh. I think I left my briefcase in the ever-after.”

He had, but I wasn’t going *****ggest we go back and get it. I knew I should be in a better mood, but I was just so tired. “Do you think Cormel will hold to his agreement?” I asked. Maybe that was what had Ivy uptight.

“To the letter. He won’t go to the demons, though. He’s going to talk to Landon.”

“Let him. I’m done with it.” Expression sour, I pulled my shoulder bag from the floor. Landon’s charm had been perfect, but he’d known I’d have to make contact with the Goddess to finish it. That’s why he’d given it to me. Son of a bitch . . . “Trent, the mystics recognized me.”

Trent was silent for half a second, and then he moved, his motion fast as he got out. “I think I left my tablet inside. I should get it before I go.”

“You saw them, didn’t you?” I said, confused. He hadn’t ignored me, but burn my cookies if he didn’t look . . . scared. Our doors shut almost together, and I gathered my resolve. I wasn’t going to let this go and possibly fester. “You and Jenks both,” I said as I met him at the back of the car. “The mystics.”

Eyes on the street, Trent looped his arm in mine. “Yes.”

My pulse quickened. “Is it bad?” I asked, that same nauseous feeling clenching in my stomach as the memory of that black nothing I’d felt rose up. Jenks’s call and Trent’s arms had brought me back. It felt as if I had nearly fallen into shadow. “Trent . . .”

“They follow you like puppies,” Trent said softly, our steps slowing. “Ever since we captured Felix’s soul in the ever-after. Are . . . they speaking to you?”

He was afraid, and I shoved my own fear aside. I knew I’d seen Bis and Buddy with my eyes closed, both of them on the floor as Trent carried me out. It had been a compilation vision of at least a dozen mystics, cobbled together and presented to me in a way that my mind could interpret naturally—sophisticated and practiced. They weren’t the Goddess’s mystics, but the ones that Newt trapped in reality so they couldn’t poison the Goddess. They were alone and unable to become, but the alternative was their complete obliteration. But had I heard them? No, the connection had not been that deep.

“No,” I said softly, and Trent breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good,” he said, his fingers finding mine in the dark as we walked to the church, lights flickering on inside to show where Ivy was. “I don’t think you should do wild elf magic.”

I gave him a sideways look as I opened the door. “You think?” The warmth and light spilled out, and I squinted as we went inside. Trent’s hand was on the small of my back, and I listened for not-there voices telling me about the scatter pattern of the photons, but my thoughts were silent. Safe? I thought, then, with a touch of melancholy, a more certain empty.

“Oh, Rachel,” Trent said, somehow knowing as he pulled me into a hug right there in the foyer. “I’m so sorry.”

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He wasn’t talking about tonight, and I tucked my head against his shoulder, breathing in the spicy scent of wine and cinnamon under the reek of burnt amber. I refused to cry, even though I ached. It was stupid to cry over something that would hurt me if I had it. It hadn’t been a choice between the mystics and Trent, though that’s how Newt saw it. Keeping them would have destroyed the Goddess and changed me beyond what anyone could handle.

“I’d give them up again in a heartbeat,” I said, and he tilted his head to give me a kiss. My eyes closed as our lips met. Tingles followed by a swath of warmth plinked through me, and I pressed into him as my arms went around his neck. Even if it had been a choice between them and Trent, I would’ve taken Trent. I didn’t have to explain things to him, and he knew how tight to hold, when to go along with an idea, and when to slow me down so I could think.

The vibrating hum of his phone was almost unheard, but I dropped back to my heels. Too bad I’ll only drag him down from what he could be.

Trent frowned, and from the hallway, Nina called to Ivy that she’d only be a few minutes. The bathroom door shut, and shrugging, I looked at his pocket and his humming phone. “You probably should take that. She’s going to keep calling.”

He said nothing, but his grip eased, and I found a smile. “You want some coffee? It’s going to take at least thirty minutes to get a cab out here.”

“Sure, thanks.” Pulling his phone out, he looked at the screen and dropped it back again. “I need something to wake me up,” he said, then yawned. “Sorry.”

My hand found his fingers, and towing him almost, I headed for the back of the church and the scent of brewing coffee. The sound of the shower from my bathroom was obvious, and I winced, thinking I must stink with burnt amber and vampire fear.

Jenks, Bis, and Buddy blew into the hallway from the back living room, and I jerked into a hunched duck. “No!” Jenks said, his dust an irate red. “Someone tell Bis he can’t have a dog!”

“We already have a cat,” I said, and Bis’s wings drooped as he hung upside down in the doorway to the kitchen. Buddy stood under him, tail waving and neck craned. “They won’t get along.”

“I’ll take care of him,” the little gargoyle pleaded, and Jenks made a harrumph, fists on his hips. “I’m fifty years old and I’ve never had a pet,” Bis complained.

Shaking my head, I ducked under him and went into the kitchen. “He’s awake in the day, and you’re not.” Ivy smiled at me from her usual chair before her computer. She liked normal, and we’d had precious little of it since most of Jenks’s kids had left.

“He’s up now! I can train him in the dark. He already knows how to use the cat door.”

A soft smile curved the corners of Trent’s lips up as he crouched to fondle the dog’s ears. “I’ve never had a pet either, Bis. Inside pet, I mean.”

“See?” Jenks crowed. “Even Trent knows it’s not a good idea.”

Trent eyed the pixy, his expression making it obvious that hadn’t been what he was saying. Bis did a front flip from the top of the doorway to land right on Trent’s shoulder, startling both him and the dog. “We can’t take him to the pound.”

Why am I the boss all of a sudden? I went for the coffee, hoping it’d all just go away, but Jenks’s wings rose in pitch, making my teeth hurt. “Trent can take him,” Jenks said suddenly.

“Ah, no.” Trent rose, his hands up in protest. “I can’t take care of a dog.”

Bis lightened to his usual pebbly gray, and Jenks bobbed up and down like a yo-yo. Even Buddy seemed to like it as he waved his tail, responding to Jenks’s excitement. “Tink’s titties, you can so. You got a pack of them. What’s one more?”

Again Trent’s phone hummed, and I held out his coffee to him as he frowned. “He’s a mutt, not a hound. He needs more attention than I can give him.”

All true, but I’d go along with it just to get the dog out of my church.

Trent set his coffee on the table so he could look at his phone, and Jenks dropped down, sparkles floating on the black brew. “Ellasbeth will hate him,” he enthused. “Come on. The girls will love him.”

I leaned to see it was Ellasbeth. “She’s just going to keep calling.”

Trent sighed. “Do you mind?” he said, face twisted up unhappily, and when I shrugged, he answered the call. “Ellasbeth. Yes. Just finished. I’m getting a coffee while I wait for a cab.” He hesitated. “Eden Park. We drove Rachel’s car back. Are the girls okay?”

I took my coffee to my usual chair. Jenks, though, hot on a chance to get Buddy out of our church, remained by Trent. “You can take him for walks,” the pixy prompted. “And he pees on your plants to mark your territory for you. What more could you want from a best friend?”

“It sounds like you’ve done your research,” Trent said. “Will you excuse me?” Turning away, Trent headed out of the kitchen and to the back living room. “Ellasbeth? Yes, I’m here. Can I talk to Quen?”

Buddy, Bis, and Jenks trailed after him, and I smiled at Ivy in the new peace. She rolled her eyes and I pushed my untasted coffee to her. “Thanks,” she said, her long, pale hands slipping around the porcelain. “Just as long as the dog doesn’t end up here,” she added, and I nodded, getting up to pour myself a new cup.

Hesitating, I took only half a cup, leaving the rest for Nina. Warm cup cradled in my hands, I leaned against the counter. “So . . . how does it feel?”

Ivy’s eyes flicked to mine and held. “To be free of all of them? I don’t know.” Her focus eased and she smiled faintly. “I’ve never been alone like this. Scary, maybe?”

Scary? I set my coffee down and crossed the kitchen in three strides. Ivy looked up, startled, and then I dropped down right there so I could give her a hug. “You’re not alone,” I whispered, my arms around her and breathing her in. Slowly her hand touched my back, hesitant and light. The memory of her teeth sliding cleanly into me rose and fell, a flash and then nothing.

“That’s not what I meant,” she said, and I let go of her. “I’m scared,” she said, eyes beginning to swim as she looked at the ceiling. “I’m scared, even as I’ve got this wonderful thing happening.” Her eyes fell to mine. “I’ve always been untouchable, protected by someone so powerful he alone can abuse me and call it love. For the first time I’m my own person. What if something happens?”

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I gave her a squeeze, smiling. “No one is going to touch you with me around.”

She made a bark of laughter at that, wiping her eye. “That’s funny. I remember saying the same exact thing to you when you moved in.”

“And no one did, did they?” I glanced at Trent as he strode down the hall, phone to his ear. Bis, Buddy, and Jenks followed with noisy chatter.

“Don’t be absurd,” he said, voice faint from the sanctuary. “The girls were never in any danger. Vampires have a soft spot for children. They wouldn’t have touched them.”

It was true, and I looked back at Ivy to see her lost in a memory. “You okay?” I asked, and her focus sharpened on me. There was sorrow in her, even as she was glad to be free of them. She nodded, and I stood.

“He’s going to walk into the sun, isn’t he?” Ivy asked.

“Pretty sure,” I said glumly. “How’s Nina?” Meaning, was she strong enough *****rvive it?

Ivy’s grip was white-knuckled tight on her coffee. “She hasn’t gone a day without him in her mind to steady her,” she said, eyes down. “I can’t save her. She just can’t stop. He’s in there now, I can tell. Maybe I should just walk away.”

He was in her now? My God, I would have bet my life that he wasn’t. “Ivy . . .”

“I can’t save her if she doesn’t want to be saved, Rachel!”

There was a sudden sliding of dog nails in the hall, and we both turned when Trent poked his head into the kitchen, his phone pressed against his shoulder. “Rachel, can I use your room for a moment. I need a door.”

“No door ever stopped me,” Jenks boasted as he hovered behind him. “Trent, I’m telling you it’s a great idea. She’s going to hate it!”

I nodded, and Trent smiled a quick, terse thanks and vanished.

“Hey!” Jenks darted after him. “You’re the one who wants her gone!”

Ivy looked depressed as she stared into her coffee. I hesitated, then called out, “Jenks? Will you and Bis check the walls?” Jenks hovered backward into the archway until I could see his utter disbelief. “I’ll get him to take the dog. Just leave him alone, okay?”

Bis looked in, upside down and around the doorframe, both sad and happy. “Yeah?” Jenks said, and when I crossed my heart, he flew off. Bis dropped into the air, and followed.

“He doesn’t want Buddy,” the gargoyle complained. “I can take care of him. I promise!”

There was a scrabbling of claws and a squeak from the cat door as the three of them finally left. Sighing, I looked at Ivy, still despondent and lost in thought.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said, but my confidence was faltering. “You’ve been fighting them your entire life. She’s only been doing it for six months.”

Her shoulders were stiff, and she started to cry. Ivy, who could do anything, was crying silent tears, unable to move for fear of falling completely apart. “She doesn’t have a lifetime to learn,” she protested. “She’s got days. He’s going to walk. Cormel knows it, but he wants his soul so bad he’s ignoring it. He’s going to walk, and she’s going to die with him!”

The shower went off, and she stood, mourning a future not even here yet. “Oh God, she’s going to go mad.”

“Ivy.” She wasn’t listening, and I squeezed her shoulder. “Ivy, look at me!” Finally she turned back, and I tried to smile, even as my heart thumped in fear. I’d do anything to save her, to see her happy, but never had I thought it might mean I risked my life for someone I didn’t even like all that much. “I’ve been thinking about this,” I said. “I think I can modify Trent’s binding charm so that you can carry it around with you, like in your purse or something, and if she does die, you can catch her soul.”

“But . . . ,” she whispered, hope almost painful in her eyes.

Still, I smiled. “I know it’s not exactly what you want, but if you have her soul, it won’t be in the ever-after. I think if we fix a soul soon enough, there would be almost none of the trauma that Felix is showing. Maybe it’s not that he has his soul back that’s causing the trouble. Maybe it’s the guilt for all the things he did that is sending him over the deep end. He was never that stable to begin with.”

Tears fell freely, and she smiled, looking beautiful. “You think?”

Eyes welling, I pulled her into a hug. I had to do this, the Goddess be damned. “I know.”

Ivy started at a soft scuffing of bare feet, and we jerked apart as Nina cleared her throat. I flushed though we’d done nothing wrong, and Ivy hurriedly wiped her eyes. Her chin lifted, not to hide that she’d been crying, but rather a clear statement that she wasn’t going to talk about it.

“Sorry,” Nina said, looking domestic with her hair up in a towel and Ivy’s black robe tied around her. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

I backed up from Ivy. Jealousy was normal, expected, and I almost welcomed seeing it since it meant she loved her. “Did you leave me any hot water?”

Nina’s smile was wide but clearly fake. “You bet.”

“Thanks.” My smile was honest, though, and I gave a nod to Ivy as I left. She looked a hundred times better. This was what she had been worried about, terrified she was going to lose Nina when Felix walked. I was going to make two bottles, not just one. I’d find a way around needing the Goddess’s help.

“Don’t be silly,” Ivy said loudly as I reached the bathroom. “She’s just glad I’m okay. I did get hit by a car yesterday.”

Had it only been yesterday?

No way was I going to put my same clothes on, and I knocked softly on my door, then went in. Immediately my expression eased. Trent was stretched out on my bed, the stuffed animal he’d won for me at Six Flags shoved under his head, his feet all the way down to the folded-up afghan. His eyes were shut, and his phone was in his loose grip. I could hear Ellasbeth talking.

“Yes, I’m listening,” he mumbled, eyes shut.

My heart went out to him, and I carefully slid the phone free, edging backward to the door and slipping out. He didn’t even notice, seeming to settle in even deeper atop my covers.

Breath held, I eased the door shut and leaned against the wall. “I’m trying to understand, Trenton,” Ellasbeth’s perfectly reasonable voice said from the tiny speaker. “But you’re ignoring the consequences of your actions.”