[English] THE WITCH WITH NO NAME

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 70



So far, so good. Let’s push it a little more. “You really should reevaluate your life choices,” I said as I leaned against the counter, thumbs in my pockets. The demon looked vaguely familiar, but I didn’t think I’d ever done business with him. Like the rest of the demons here, he was in a business suit, jewelry flashing and hair slicked back. Only Newt and Al maintained their usual attire, Newt in her androgynous robes and elven dewar hat, and Al in his green crushed-velvet finery. His anger that Trent was still with me was almost palpable.

My skin tingled as someone pulled heavily on a line. I didn’t think it was Trent, and my knees went wobbly when two more demons did the same. “Why are you here? With that elf?” the demon said, voice oily with domination.

His barest hint of doubt was like a spark on a dark night, and I pulled it to me, fanning it higher with a confident smile. He was unsure, not about his skills but that this might end when the sun came up. I could use that, give them a fairy tale to think about so they’d go away and ponder the truth of it for a few hours until they knew for sure.

Smiling, I leaned over the table between him and the couple, showing him some cle**age in exchange for their freedom. “You remember Trent. He’s my boyfriend,” I said, and the couple rose at Jenks’s urging, racing for the door. “He’s taking me to his place and I’m making spaghetti, but the FIB asked me to stop on the way and give you a little welcome-to-reality message.” The door chimes jingled, and I straightened. “Seeing as you might be here for good and need to start being . . . what’s the word . . . accountable?”

He laughed at that, ugly and mean. Pulse racing, I backed up, glad Trent had put himself at the door. Past the windows, a car’s engine revved and the small Pinto drove right over the sidewalk, taking the curb hard enough to leave sparks as it found the street and drove away. If he had really wanted them, my cle**age, such as it was, wouldn’t have stopped him. “Mark, my usual!” I called out, making a finger motion for Jenks to join Trent in a doomed attempt to keep my way open.

“S-s-sure, Rachel. Double espresso grande latte, no fat, no foam, with a pump of raspberry in it. Extra hot.”

I felt better. Mark had been through this before. He had the emotional skills and a circle behind the counter to hide in. “With cinnamon on top,” I added, and the demon I’d just flashed snorted. “You got a problem with my drink order?” I said, and he raised a hand, his expression mocking. I gave him a long look before turning my back on him to go to the pickup window. The speakers blew with a pop, and chuckles rose when I jumped.

Shaking my hair out, I leaned against the counter. More demons were jumping in, and I was getting nervous. Well, more nervous than I had been. Even with Trent at the door, I’d never make it out of here unless they let me. I thought it interesting that no one had gone to the other side of the globe and to the sun. They were afraid it wouldn’t last.

“I know you’re having a good time on a Sunday night, being freed from the ever-after and all, but if you’re going to stay, we have some rules,” I said, smile wide.

Al clenched his jaw, but Newt was delighted even as that demon, Mica, I think, brought his cold stare from Trent to me. “We weren’t freed, we fought our way out,” Mica said.

“You’re Mica, right?” I said, and he nodded. “Sure, you fought your way out,” I agreed, “but tomorrow is a weekday and you should be thinking about finding somewhere to work and a place to live because you’re not bunking with me.” They were laughing, Mica’s face holding the most amusement of all. “You don’t want to exchange one prison for another, do you? I won’t say Alcatraz is inescapable, but they plugged the hole I used.”

“My God, is she serious?” Mica turned his back on me, but I thought it telling that he was looking for support among the rest. It was a new world despite their boasting and power, and they didn’t know if they were going to see the sun. Such a small thing, but it would chart their every thought until they knew.

Trent’s hold on the line strengthened, and my gaze flicked to his. Not yet, Trent. Not yet.

“This is our world now,” Mica bragged, but more than one set of eyes was pinched in concern. I had a scant few hours to convince them that condescending to play in our rule set was better than them playing out of it.

“The elves will fall first,” he said, and those who’d just popped in agreed with him. “Vampire society will falter if they lose their souls again. It will fall if they retain them. The witches will align with us as our poor cousins, and the Weres will heel or be leashed. The world will change.”

“Why even bother shifting realities if you’re going to make it just like the ever-after in your new war?” I said, and more than one demon furrowed his brow in thought.

“Coffee up!” Mark said, and I took it, eyes closing in bliss as the first sip hit my tongue, warm, sweet, and bitter, all at the same time.

“Oh God, that’s good,” I said, and Mark backed into his uninvoked circle with a nervous smile. Trent was still at the door, and I told Jenks to stay with him with a twitch of my finger. Dali noticed, putting a hand on Newt’s arm to keep her silent when she took a breath to say something.

“The world will change,” I said, echoing Mica, setting my coffee down even as that first swallow buzzed through me. “See, I think that’s funny. It already has, and you missed it.”

Al’s scowl hesitated. Emboldened, I pushed from the counter to claim a spiral circle inlaid on the floor as my own.

“Why are you here?” Mica said, but he wasn’t moving. “You think the elves mean anything?” he added, goat-slitted eyes flicking to Trent. “They have no Sa’han. It’s the only reason you’ve been allowed your game of pretend. You’re doing us a big favor.”

Guilt was a quick stab, and I refused to look at Trent, knowing my feelings would give me away. “I’m not here for the elves, I’m here for the FIB,” I said flippantly. “Before you get yourself into more trouble, you need to know there are laws on the books now concerning demons, demon magic, and demon activity.”

They laughed, but there were more than twenty of them in here now, all but the original eight or so standing at the windows, listening. “We don’t recognize any law but our own,” Mica said, turning his back on me.

“It’s your choice. You sure it’s a good one?”

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 71



It wasn’t me who made him turn back around, it was the questioning faces at the window. At the corner booth, Dali squinted at me in warning. Warning me to be careful? To be quiet?

“I’m serious,” I said lightly, moving to keep their eyes on me. “You’ve been stuck in that stinky hole of forced existence for too long, and the world has changed. Al might be able to adapt, but most of you need help. I can do that.”

“You think we need help?”

It had been Dali, and my pace bobbled at the flash of fear that lit through me and died. Damn it, they noticed.

“I don’t think you see what’s going on here,” the round, powerful demon said.

I could actually hear the soft hush of sliding fabric as everyone turned from him to me. Swallowing, I lifted my chin. “I see demons having coffee in a coffee shop. What do you see?”

Dali hesitated, looking at the deeper meaning past my simple statement. I’d gotten to know them pretty well in the last year or so, and I knew that this was what they wanted. They wanted acceptance. They wanted to be part of something alive again, something where their voices and actions meant more than a stale circle of parties and distractions. But their pride, I knew, would get in the way. They were all-friggin’ powerful. Blah, blah, blah. What did it really mean when all was said and done? Nothing. Nothing they did meant anything.

Feeling them waver, I shook my head. “It’s not the same world it was two thousand years ago. Hell, it’s changed in the last six months to make room for you,” I said, words almost tripping over themselves as I tried to get it out before someone opened his mouth and ruined it. “They knew you were coming, and they made room for you.” Someone snickered, and I spun. “Hey!” I shouted, and Trent jumped, his hold on the line zinging through me. “They made room for you. Don’t you get it? They didn’t make weapons, or spells, or traps. They made room!”

Arms crossed over his chest, Mica stared at me. “They’re scared and stupid.”

“It means you belong, damn it!” I shouted as a rumble of discussion rose. “Are they scared? Hell yes. Are there going to be people who will try to ruin it for you? Goad you into making decisions so that fear overflows and starts a war? Absolutely. They wouldn’t be people if they didn’t, but that doesn’t rub out the fact that they made room for you!”

“We thrive on war!” Mica exclaimed as the demons closest to him inched away.

I gave him a disparaging look until his eyes narrowed. “Right,” I scoffed. “And that’s why you can’t live on the ever-after’s surface anymore.”

Mica stood. Trent stiffened, and I moved. Arms swinging, I got in Mica’s face. The demon hesitated for the smallest instant as I stared up at him, expression cross. “Trent just spent almost a year getting legislation on the books for you. Lost his fortune doing it,” I barked at the demon. It seemed to be the right approach, as the tension defused with a soft chuckle from Dali.

“Ah, not all of it,” Trent said from the door.

“Ruined his reputation,” I continued, hands on my hips.

“Er . . . ,” Trent muttered.

“An elf did this,” I said loudly. “Not just any elf, but the same one whose father found a way for me *****rvive being a demon. He broke the curse, you idiot! What more do you want? I want this to work. I want all of you here with me in the sun. Don’t screw this up for my kids, Mica, or I swear I’ll take care of your family planning for you the hard way. Permanently and painfully,” I added just for the hell of it.

Oh God, I couldn’t back up without looking scared, so I stood there, praying someone would say something.

“Work in their system?” Al said, and I spun, both relieved and petrified at his next words. Of all the demons here, I feared his voice the most. “Settle down? Get a job? Pay taxes?”

I warmed at the titter, and I lifted my chin. Mica backed up, and I inched away from him as well. “Why not?” I said. “It’s better than starting a war that you’ll eventually die from. And that’s another thing. No more stealing people into slavery. It would be a nice gesture of goodwill if you freed your familiars.”

Trent winced, probably thinking I’d gone too far, but if I didn’t ask for more, they’d give me nothing. Sure enough, most laughed. I was losing them. Al knew it. They all did.

“Not going to happen, Rachel,” Al said, the thread of genuine sorrow sparking my hope. “We will not be taken again by elven trickery.” He looked at Dali and elegantly sipped from his paper cup. “A job,” he scoffed.

I stifled a shudder as Jenks hummed closer. “They’re not going for it,” he whispered.

My jaw clenched. This was my only chance, and I’d be damned if I let Al ruin it with his “poor me” attitude. “Hey!” I shouted, making Jenks ink a bright dust. “You will keep your mischief and misdeeds within the confines of the laws of this society, or I’ll sling each and every one of your asses back into the ever-after and Trent will curse you to remain there forever.”

“Ah, Rache?” Jenks whispered as Trent paled.

“You know we can do it,” I said, warming at the dubious looks. “We beat Ku’Sox.”

“Rachel!” Trent cried in fear, but I’d already felt the pull on the line and had spun, my word of invocation filling the circles I’d asked Mark to paint the floor with last year.

Demons cackled and guffawed as Mica’s shot was deflected into the ceiling by Trent’s cast charm before coming close to hitting my protection circle. Scared, I looked first at Trent, remembering to breathe when I saw him wreathed in his own protection, Jenks at his side.

My hand glowed with my power held in check, and I slowly spun to Mica. Fine. We could get the hard part over with first.

“That is enough!” Newt said as she stood, and the laughter slowly ebbed.

Trent came forward to join me, and I dropped my circle, loving his grace and bound anger—and that he was strong enough to stand beside me when my life got ugly. My God, he looked good, his feet barely seeming to touch the floor, and the tips of his hair floated, waving before his brilliant green eyes.

“That could have been a mistake,” he warned Mica as he stood a little in front of me, his voice having a singsong cadence and holding an unsaid threat. “Don’t do that again.”

Adrenaline seemed to rake over my skin as Al stood as well. “You had my help bringing Ku’Sox down,” he growled. “I don’t stand with you anymore.”

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 72



I edged past Trent, trying to get to Al before he jumped out. I knew him, and I knew the signs. He was leaving. Running away again.

“Fine,” I snapped, and someone from the back laughed. “Run off so they can kill me without you watching. But put a playroom in your new mansion, Al, because if Trent and I die, you get Lucy.”

Dali’s head jerked up, and I swear I heard Jenks’s dust sizzle, on fire. “He what?” Jenks shouted, but I was staring at Al, reading his shock. He wasn’t going to jump out now, and that’s all that mattered.

“Mother pus bucket . . . ,” the demon said, his blocky face pale as he looked from me to Trent and back again. His cheeks flashed red at a laugh. “I will not be responsible for elf brats!”

Trent’s presence edged in beside mine again, and it was all I could do to not take his hand, but big bad-ass runners facing down a coffee shop full of demons do not hold hands. “I had the papers drawn up six months ago,” Trent said, and Jenks hit the table, his wings unmoving. “If Rachel and I die, Lucy goes to you. You’ll hold the elven future, Al.”

“Oh my God,” Newt breathed, and Jenks made it back into the air, his bright silver dust falling from him like stardust.

“I will not!” Al bellowed as he spun and fussed, but I could tell he was flattered. The demon was dying inside that someone—anyone—trusted their children to him. I blinked fast, wanting to give him a hug, but bad-ass runners didn’t do that either.

“It’d be easier just to let both of us live,” I said, but only Al, Dali, and Newt heard me over the caterwauling of laughter. “And if you kill just one of us, you won’t survive the revenge of the other. I promise you that.”

Al was speechless, a hand on the table as he tried to understand.

Newt gave a long, meaningful stare to Dali, and when he shrugged, she slipped out from the booth. “Gentlemen?” she said softly, then shouted it, “Gentlemen!”

Slowly they quieted. Trent and I backed to the middle of the room. There had to be at least fifty demons in here, and I heard the cooling click on. It didn’t smell as bad as I thought it would.

“Gentlemen,” Newt said a third time as she smoothed her robes. “I propose we take the time until sunrise to weigh Rachel’s proposal.”

“I do not make deals with elves!” Mica protested. “They’re chattel! Slaves!”

No one moved, either away from him or toward him. They were balanced, and I forced myself to breathe.

“Perhaps,” Newt said, voice as silky as a slinking cat. “But they haven’t spent the last two thousand years trapped in a bubble of reality kept alive by tenuous threads of energy as we have been. Rachel is a demon. She’s also the elven Tal Sa’han, the one who sways the actions of the putrid, stinking chattel of an elf. You can strike a deal with her—can you not?”

My mouth went dry, and I edged back until I could feel Trent’s warmth. Tal Sa’han. Quen had called me that once in bitter sarcasm, and while Mal Sa’han held romantic overtones, Tal Sa’han did not. It wasn’t exactly an adviser, but rather the person the Sa’han thought of when he made decisions. I ask myself: Will this decision take me closer or farther from you? And then it’s so clear. Even if it doesn’t make sense at the time, resonated in me, and my pulse quickened. But he wasn’t the Sa’han. It was a title awarded by fealty, and no elf looked to him anymore. Because of me.

“I will not bind myself to human law!” Mica said, jerking me back to the present. “We’re free, and we take our rightful place!”

“You don’t know that!” another demon exclaimed. “What happens if we’re pulled back when the sun comes up?”

Mica’s hand glowed with black smut. “What if we aren’t?” he proposed.

Trent inched up to stand beside me, his eyes darting as he took in the demons with a professional eye. “They’re divided,” he said, breath tickling my neck. “Interesting.”

I suppose, but I’d be more excited if they were all for behaving themselves. Did it matter if Trent wasn’t the Sa’han if the demons thought he was? It wasn’t as if they’d ever come to an agreement with Landon.

Newt cleared her throat, putting me on edge as she came to stand beside me in a clear show of support or perhaps protection. “Where do you want to be next week, Mica?” she said, and I shivered at the certainty in her voice. “Alone in some godforsaken island cathedral playing god with people terrified of you? I’ve done that. It gets boring fast. I’ve looked at these human laws, and they’re more complex and devious with loopholes and clauses than Dali can structure in a thousand years. Their court system alone boggles the mind with the red tape that can be used to twist ends. If we can’t work our will within them, then we don’t deserve the name demon.”

They were listening, but only a fraction were happy, and none was convinced.

“We have a chance to be a part of something again,” she said, stock-still. “All in favor of playing by the rules and making Rachel our liaison with reality-based law?”

I jerked, and beside me, Trent grunted. “Hey, wait a moment,” I said, but Dali had stood with a resounding “Aye!”

He was the only one.

“Opposed?” Newt said cheerfully.

“Nay!” I said, panicking. “I never agreed to this!”

“Never!” most of the demons had shouted, but a few were silent, and I panicked some more as I shook Trent’s hand off my elbow.

“I suggest you leave, Mica,” Newt growled, and I swear the air sparkled around her. “Go away so we can get on with it.”

But only Dali had agreed, and I pulled on the line, my knees wobbling as I yanked what I could from the rest to try to prevent a bloodbath.

“Bravo, Rachel,” Newt praised, a small smile hovering over her face. Her eyes darted past me, and her hand flashed out in threat. I spun, doing the same. Mica. Our thrown energy smacked into the demon before he could loose his magic, bowling him over the table and into the far wall. Demons scattered to avoid him, and the black flickering in his fist went out as he groaned.

“Maybe you should leave,” I said, voice quavering. They wouldn’t make a decision until they knew if the sun would sling them back to the ever-after or not.

In pairs and groups they left, their expressions varying from worry to outright anger as they winked out. I didn’t care where they went, only that they were gone. Mica was the last, his murderous look chilling me as he vanished.

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 73



She’d called me the Tal Sa’han . . . My pulse quickened, and I met Trent’s eyes, finding him just as thoughtful as I.

“Damn woman!” Jenks shrilled, and I shivered as his dust seemed to burn my aura. “Where did you learn that?”

“Al,” I said, seeing him still with us. The demon was sweating, and I wondered if he’d been as scared as I’d been. I took a breath to try to mend the rift between us, but he vanished, the black curl of ever-after magic swirling up as if to smother him before it fell in on itself with a soft pop. My stomach hurt, and I blinked fast. At least he hadn’t tried to kill me this time.

“That went rather well.” Newt’s words were precise and holding zero sarcasm.

“Well, you say?” Trent said, shaky as he almost fell into a chair.

“That was good?” Jenks echoed, dust sparkling as he flew to Trent. “Did you really give him your kid if you and Rachel kick off? Damn! That’s either really stupid or really smart.”

Trent eyed him sourly. “It’ll ensure both girls’ safety if Rachel or I aren’t here to see to it.”

Dali snickered, easing back into the booth to take up most of the seat. His opinion that it was really stupid was obvious.

“They left,” Newt said saucily. “I’m here drinking mar-r-r-r-rvelous coffee. Therefore, it went well. Mark, love. Another if you will? Put it on my tab.”

Tab? I slowly sank into the nearest chair. Mark wobbled to the door and turned the closed sign around. Good idea.

Elbow on the table, Dali dropped his chin into his hand. I caught a hint of worry as he looked at the clock. “Three against all the rest? Not good odds, Newt.”

He had included me. Interesting.

“Four.” Trent’s attention rose from his hands, having been gauging their shaking.

“Five,” Jenks added, and Newt eyed him until the pixy flipped her off.

Shrugging, Newt sipped her cooling coffee. “They’ll come around as soon as they know they won’t be pulled back to that hole come sunup. They’re just worried, poor dears. It’s not as if we have to trust the elves. Just not let them kill us.”

Poor dears, my ass. Tired, I looked for and found my bag, still on the pickup counter.

Newt’s eyes shifted to the window. A big black car was pulling up in disregard to the parking lines. It wasn’t the I.S. vans I had asked for, and Newt laughed at my fast inhalation when burly vampires began getting out. ****, it was Cormel. But then I grew angry. Ivy. She’d better be okay. He promised, damn it!

Jenks hovered before Trent and nodded to the window. Trent sighed when he turned to look, and I could almost see him begin to pull himself together, his professional mask slipping over him to hide his fatigue. I thought it interesting that he’d let it drop in front of Dali and Newt. “I’m never getting home tonight. Ellasbeth is going to flay me alive,” he grumbled as he tucked his shirt back into his pants.

“I know the feeling.” I could think of a few reasons Cormel might be here, none of them good.

Newt wrinkled her nose. “Vampires,” she scoffed as Cormel emerged from the car, tugging his coat’s sleeves down as his people jogged around to the back of the store to look for possible trouble. “They remind me of surface demons in suits. Trenton, thank you for your offer to stay with you until I can arrange for the legal purchase of an estate.”

Trent jerked, clearly surprised, as Jenks hovered backward, mouth curling up in a laugh. “Ah, I would be honored . . . ,” Trent said, and Dali chuckled as well, seeming to gather himself to leave. Seeing it, Trent paled even more.

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea, Trent,” Jenks said as he yo-yoed up and down. “If that dog doesn’t get Ellasbeth to leave, the demons sure as hell will.”

Licking his lips, Trent stood, all professional polish gone. “Ahhhhh.”

“Dog?” Newt stood, and I froze when she leaned over to give me a professional cheek-to-cheek press. “Trent, I’ll fetch my horse and stable her. Dali, you know where the elf lives, yes?”

“It’s my bloody line running through his office,” the demon muttered.

“Ah, as much as I’d like . . . ,” Trent was saying, but it was too late, and Newt pressed her cheek against his as well, her lips smacking to make a kiss sound.

“I’ll make you spaghetti. Rachel will be too busy tonight,” the demon said primly. “Little girls love spaghetti.”

“N-Newt . . . ,” I stammered, but she vanished along with Dali as one of the vampire thugs jimmied the locked door open. Behind the counter, Mark made a sad, tired groan, and I gave him my best “sorry” look.

“Ellasbeth is going to kill me,” Trent said as the lock snapped and they opened the door.

“Nah,” Jenks said as he took to the air and hovered between us. “She’s got lousy aim. Remember?”

Tired, I turned as the first of Cormel’s thugs sauntered in. The spicy scent of confident vampire pricked my nose, diving deep and fanning the small flame of fear higher. The suave, pretty man in his bad-boy leather reminded me of Kisten, and I quashed it. They were all afraid if you looked deep enough.

He stopped in the middle of the room, his nose wrinkling as he took in the faint scent of burnt amber and rich coffee, and smiling, he gestured for us to stay where we were.

Like I had a choice?

Chapter 17

The thumps of car doors closing pulled my attention to Cormel. “Ivy . . . ,” I whispered, and Trent tersely shook his head. His brow was pinched in thought, as calm and collected as ever. I wished I had his trust in vampiric deals and agreements.

“If he wanted Ivy, he’d have her already,” Trent said as he tucked his phone away. “My guess is he wants to talk to us about the surface demons.”

Jenks had said he’d warned us off them, but we hadn’t done anything. Yet. And I sent Jenks to assess the situation since Cormel seemed to be content to chat with his thugs while his people checked out the back. Paranoid much?

FIB officers watched a safe two blocks down since getting a coffee wasn’t illegal. I didn’t expect them to help. Didn’t want them to. They’d only get themselves killed. What had I been thinking telling Edden to make a stand?

“Ivy had better be okay,” I muttered as Mark sighed from behind the counter and Cormel entered the shop, his motions graceful with the ease and inevitableness of death. The man had run the country during the Turn, and his confidence was absolute. Handing his felt hat to the man coming in behind him, he stood just inside and breathed in the air, nose wrinkling as he scented demons under the rich coffee and tang of spent magic.

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 74



“Demons,” the man said, his Bronx accent obvious. “Have you gotten rid of them, then?”

“No. Why?” I said, and Cormel nodded to Trent as he shrugged out of his coat and carefully set it on the chair by the door.

“You’re a hard man to find lately, Kalamack.”

“Cormel,” Trent said in greeting, the thinnest trace of magic flowing through him making my skin tingle.

Blinking, I turned to Trent when Jenks whistled appreciatively. Not only was Trent’s hair slicked back and clean, but he was clean shaven. “H-how . . . ,” I stammered, then, “When did you learn that?”

A hint of red about his ears, Trent adjusted his collar. “It came with the, ah, circumcision curse. Kind of an all-encompassing trim-and-neat . . . spell.”

Do tell . . . I gave him an askance, approving look. Cormel was eight feet away, and all I wanted to do was run my hand over Trent’s smooth face. My eyes lost their focus, and when Cormel cleared his throat, I flushed.

“If Ivy is not okay, I’m going to slice your chest open with a plastic spork and rip your wrinkly heart out.”

“Charming . . . ,” Cormel drawled, and my eyes narrowed as he shifted one foot to stand directly on a painted line, in effect preventing Trent or me from circling him with the patterns in the floor. “I’m glad the rumors of your demise were premature.”

Premature? I thought dryly. Was that a threat?

Making a show of breathing in my rising anger, Cormel smiled. “Get me a small black coffee,” he said to the tidy man with him. “No cream. And whatever anyone else wants?” he asked pleasantly.

Okay, he was being nice, but that only made me more suspicious.

Jenks came in from the back smelling of fresh air. “I’ll have a buttercream latte if you’re buying,” the pixy said, and Cormel blinked before waving his hand at his aide to get one.

“You’re not afraid of me anymore,” Cormel said, and I shrugged, my attention on the parking lot behind him. The FIB had moved in and they were talking amicably with Cormel’s men. I felt a twinge of guilt. It wasn’t safe. Why had Edden listened to me?

Cormel cleared his throat, and my focus shifted to him. “Oh, sorry,” I said, and Trent hid a smile behind a cough. “Ah, no. No, I’m not.”

“You’ve no idea what that does to the undead,” Cormel said, his voice a mix of velvet and smoke. Behind him was the mundane sound of coffee being prepared, a study in contrasts.

Tired, I leaned against a table. It began to slide, and I jerked up again. “Yes I do. That’s why I apologized. Would it help if I shivered a little?” I said sarcastically. “Pressed up against the wall, maybe?”

“Shame what happened to your property,” Cormel said lightly. “Exploded boiler, was it?”

Jenks’s wings hummed louder, hands on his h*ps and near his sword as he hovered between Cormel and us. “It was my property, blood bag, and it’s going to take a lot more than a coffee to make up for it.”

Not a flicker of shame showed itself as Cormel settled his feet firmly on the floor, put his hands behind his back, and rocked forward and back. “You will return the demons to the ever-after.”

Is that what this is about? My shoulders eased. Ivy was okay—so far. “I’m not the one who freed them. Talk to Landon.”

Still as death and unmoving, I watched his thoughts realigning themselves in a pattern I couldn’t guess at. “He’s missing. You will send them back,” he insisted, a hint of a threat behind the professional cajoling. His lackey had come back with his coffee, and Cormel took it—never shifting his eyes from mine.

My skin was itching, humming almost where it was closest to Trent. It was kind of uncomfortable, and I edged away from him. “No. I like them where they are.”

Trent tensed at the flicker of anger crossing Cormel’s face as the vampire sipped his drink. “Landon claims you are able to reverse the spell and send our souls back to purgatory. That would be a mistake—Rachel.”

He had said my name, but he was looking at both of us. “How’s Felix?” I asked, knowing I’d hit a nerve when Cormel ignored my question, taking the top off his cup and going to the condiments bar. “When the sun comes up he’s going to walk.”

“Ah, Rachel?” Trent said, feet scuffing as his eyes flicked from me to the FIB guys outside. “The intent is to avoid conflict. Not incite it.”

“I like poking at dead things,” I said, and Cormel gave me a disparaging glance as he tore open two of the salt packets they had out for the breakfast sandwiches. “Felix is going to walk, and he knows it!” I protested. “Cormel, this can’t work. Admit it!”

Cormel calmly poured the salt into his coffee like sugar. “He’s doing much better.”

“It doesn’t matter how many sunrises you chain him in the basement for, he’s going to walk. I’m sorry, but the entire idea of the undead having their souls is wrong.”

“You. Out,” Cormel said tersely, and his aide left, head down and stinking of fear. Cormel was silent as the door chimes jingled, motions sharp as he stirred the salt into his coffee with one of those lame little sticks. “I’m here for two reasons,” he said, his gaze flicking to the FIB men among his own, making me wonder if he was as eager to avoid an interspecies confrontation as I was. “I will have my soul, and you will remove the demons from reality. I will not have them here mucking up the current power structure.”

Trent’s small sound of agreement was as significant as a gasp. That’s why he was here. Cormel was rightly worried about the demons, and Landon was missing. Damn it, Landon. If you’re going to break the world, you need to stay around to put it back together.

Jenks’s wings hummed a warning, and I strengthened my hold on the nearest ley line. It was more dangerous now that Cormel was alone. “You knew Landon was using you to try to topple the vampire power structure.”

“Obviously.” Cormel sipped his salted coffee. “And you will finish what he began.”

“Cormel, I can’t!” Frustrated, I pushed into motion. Jenks darted into the air, and I resolved to calm down when both Trent and Cormel jerked. “I can’t,” I said again, voice softer. “Undead souls running around, spontaneously merging? You’re going to lose your entire population of the old undead. Why do you think Landon gave you your souls to begin with?”

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 75



Trent looked pained, but I knew he believed as I did.

“As I said before, this is why you’re alive, Morgan,” Cormel said, and a thread of fear slid through me at his anger. “Fix it.”

Fix it. He made it sound so simple. “I swear, Cormel, if you go after Ivy I will hunt you down myself.”

Cormel’s expression was stoic. “Ivy is safe. Fix it.”

“Order up!” Mark called loudly, but Jenks hung where he was, over my shoulder. Cormel said Ivy was safe, but I didn’t believe him. Neither did Jenks. I thought of her at her parents’ house, knowing there was probably a crack team of efficient assassins within three minutes of her driveway. I never should have made a deal with him. Vampires and five-year-olds played by the same rules, and both threw tantrums when they lost.

Frustrated, I sat down. My cooled coffee was before me, and I reached for it, warming it up with a quick thought. “Why should I? You tried to kill us so Landon would bring back your souls.”

Trent made a pained noise, but honestly, everyone in the room already knew it.

“Your lives were reasonably safe.” With a sound of sliding linen and wool, Cormel sat down across from me, and surprised, I searched the vampire’s expression. He was a hard man to read. I didn’t know. Seeing me staring, Cormel saluted me with his salted coffee. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead. The destruction of your church was a warning. A reminder of what everyone’s place is.” His eyes were pupil black when he looked up. “You will do what Landon cannot. You will send the demons back.”

I exchanged a quick look with Trent. I’d give just about anything to be able to read Trent’s mind right now, but I had a pretty good idea of what he wanted. Too bad it wasn’t what I wanted. “Yeah?” I said, leaning back in my chair. “I like them here.”

“Rache!” Jenks protested.

“Well, I do!” I said, embarrassed. “They’ve been stuck in that hole for three thousand years. Maybe if they saw the sun once in a while they wouldn’t be so crabby.”

“Crabby?” Jenks darted over, and I covered my cup so his dust wouldn’t get in it. “That’s not crabby. That’s a two-year-old on a sugar high after missing his nap!”

I frowned at him and his Peter Pan pose on the wilted flowers. “They aren’t that bad. You just need to get to know them.” Trent sighed. I found his hand under the table and gave it a squeeze. He didn’t like my decisions, but he’d back them up.

“You have a week,” Cormel said, and I shifted my focus past an angry Jenks to Cormel fitting a lid back on his cup. It was the universal signal that this meeting was over.

An entire week. Wow. “Or what?” I said snottily. “You gonna kill everyone important to me?” Shut up, Rachel. Your mom is in town. My eyes narrowed and I stood, knees shaking. There were at least eight vampires outside, a dozen FIB officers. I didn’t want to risk them. I didn’t want to risk Trent either. “You need me,” I said, pointing my finger at him as Trent stood as well, his calm beginning to crack. “You need me because as soon as the sun rises, every single vampire who gained his soul tonight will commit suncide, and you know it!”

“You will fix this,” he said, hammering each word into me.

Trent’s presence was a whisper beside me. “Ah, Rachel? You’re making some rather large policy statements.”

“Yeah?” I wasn’t going to do it. I’d fight them to get them to behave themselves, but I wasn’t going to force them back in that pit. But there were FIB guys in the parking lot, and I tried to calm down. “I’m not the one busting in here with ultimatums,” I muttered. “And I’m not going to make the demons go anywhere but to driver’s ed, maybe.”

Cormel sat across from me, his chest not moving as his pupils widened and the air seemed to shimmer between us. I couldn’t tell if he was pissed or trying to bespell me. “Remove them,” he demanded, the hunger in his gaze breaking the illusion of a kindly political leader and laying bare his true intent. “Or Kalamack will be your whipping boy.”

Pissed, I reached across the table, fear making me stupid. Cormel was faster. His fingers encircled my wrist, as cold as steel and twice as unbreakable.

“Rache!” Jenks shouted as he darted forward, sword bared. Cormel’s eyes flicked to the pixy, and my breath came in a single, unhurried draw as I felt Trent pull on the line. I felt it flow into him, saw it almost as a bright silver ribbon that sang. A familiar tingle raked over my skin with the rustle of feathers. Purple eyes flashed open in my mind, rejoicing echoed between my thought and reason as somnolent mystics awoke, eager to dole out mischief in a splashing banquet of overindulgent intent.

Stop! I demanded, and they washed up against my will, cheerfully jumbled and riding the wave as I realized I was gripping Cormel’s neck while he pinched my other wrist. Purple eyes spun madly, wanting me to give them direction. Between one heartbeat and the next I saw the FIB arranged outside, heard the tense decisions being made beyond the constructed calm within the chilly parking lot. I felt the indecision within Cormel, the unending agony pushing him to believe what he knew to be untrue. I saw a flicker of pain, real and new in him as his thoughts, spinning in unchanging circles, widened into the possible understanding that he could not have what he most wished for.

And then my heart thudded and I realized I’d somehow crawled up onto the table, kneeling to put myself inches from Cormel’s face. His canines were bared and sheened with a slick saliva, and his breath held still within him. His fingers gripped my wrist, and my free hand remained around his neck, thumb poised and stiff to jab into his larynx. He didn’t have to breathe, but it would still hurt—not to mention impede his ability to talk for a while. Mystics wreathed us so thickly I could almost see them. They played in my hair, making it float. I wasn’t afraid. Cormel was a small thought, one already dead and spinning in circles.

Damn it, how had they found me? I thought, only now recognizing that the mystics had been in the room for a while, making Trent’s aura tingle against mine.

But Cormel’s black eyes had scummed over with a long-dead fear. Jaw trembling, he stared at me, remembering the feel of the mystics on him, knowing they could hold his death if I wished it. He’d been a master vampire for a long time, but he started out as all of them do, as someone’s toy. And he remembered being small. I’d made him feel it again. Oh God, I was deep in it now.

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 76



“You will leave Kalamack alone,” I said simply, never letting go of his eyes as more people came in, halting when Cormel waved them off. It had been my fear that had brought the mystics back, fear for Trent—and now I was really up **** creek.

Slowly I let go of him, edging backward off the table as Cormel’s thugs clustered in small knots. My wrist was tingling where Cormel was still holding it, and he let go in the sudden realization that it, too, was a conduit for the mystics. “I may be a pawn,” I said as I locked my shaking knees. “But I’ve been to the other side and survived the trip back and can move like a queen.” Pixy dust sifted over us, and my skin burned. “Don’t piss me off.”

Behind me were people stinking of fear and nylon. I could feel the give of rubber tread from heavy boots, and the chill being lifted off from skin too long in the cold. None of them was my sensation. The mystics had brought them to me, eager to become a part of something again. I’d gambled and lost. The demons would never listen to me now.

But he had threatened Trent . . .

Swallowing hard, I sank back into my chair to try to hide my shaking hands. Damn it, I loved Trent. I’d risk everything and all to keep him alive. It made me strong but vulnerable to manipulation at the same time. Love sucked.

“You okay?” Trent’s voice was low, and my chest hurt at the new fear in him, one born from the heart. He knew the mystics had found me again. Blinking fast, I reached to touch Trent’s hand on my shoulder. He was still holding on to the line, and he started when the pure energy from the mystics washed through him as they used his connection as a way to get back to the line and ride it like an ocean current. The power in me lessened, and I breathed easier.

“Ask me tomorrow,” I whispered, and his grip tightened in understanding. I didn’t feel good. People in suits and smelling of vampire surrounded Cormel. Our eye contact had been broken, and I wanted to leave.

“Tink’s a Disney whore, Rache!” Jenks exclaimed as Cormel began to slowly distance himself. “He’s as scared as a tick under the bed.”

Yeah. Me too. I’d been ready to kill Cormel to keep Trent safe. And though Cormel had been shocked to find my hand around his throat, I couldn’t shake the growing feeling that he’d almost been expecting it. Even as he bent his will *****rvival, a part of him wanted to die. Looked for it. Ached for it. Maybe that’s why he was so adamant about getting his soul?

“Rache?” Jenks called, his excitement faltering as he dropped down to search my face. “You’re okay, right?”

My head came up as I recognized Ivy’s voice. Jenks spun where he hovered, darting to the door as she elbowed her way in. “Get out of my way!” she exclaimed as she fought her way through the growing crowd, and Trent’s hand tightened on my shoulder when I smiled at her. Thank God she was okay.

Nina was hot on Ivy’s heels, the jealous little vampire scowling. I watched her visibly catch herself as the scent of frightened vampire hit her. Eyes lowered, she concentrated on the floor. Ivy, though, pushed through it as if it wasn’t there.

“Rachel,” she all but breathed as she reached me, and I rose to give her a hug. “I-I . . . ,” she stammered, and then, “Are you okay?”

I almost missed the flash of guilt that crossed her. It wasn’t reflected in Nina, as much as sanctioned by the crafty woman’s smug expression. “I’m okay,” I said, my suspicions tightening. Something had happened . . .

Feeling it, Ivy let go. “Trent texted me that you might need some help.”

“Trent?” I hadn’t seen him on the phone. Surprised, I turned to Trent, stifling a shudder at the sensation of mystics peeling off me to dance in the pheromones and guilt she was giving off. “When did you have the time?”

Trent shrugged, the rims of his ears reddening as he watched Cormel’s thugs begin to leave. “I type fast.”

“Like a fourteen-year-old girl!” Jenks exclaimed, a happy ball of dust at his shoulder.

Cormel was putting his coat on with a formal stiffness, clearly not liking being watched by the admittedly proud but helpless FIB. We weren’t done yet, but I’d given him something to think about as he sulked in his hole in the ground.

“Too many people in here,” Nina muttered. She was doing really well despite the fading stink of frightened vampire. And then it struck me how good Ivy looked, a flush to her cheeks and moving better than she should for having been in intensive care less than two days ago. My eyes jerked to hers, and a flash of self-loathing and guilt crossed her before she turned away. Even having access to Trent’s full-strength Brimstone shouldn’t have her looking like this.

“Ivy?” I questioned, and Jenks rose up, clearly pleased when Edden walked in, glancing at us as he shook Cormel’s hand and held the door for him.

“Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out,” the pixy smart-mouthed. “Trent, you call him, too?”

“Yes,” Trent said from behind me. Fingers trailing reluctantly from me, he went to Edden, the stocky FIB captain making his slow way to us. The gray looked a little heavier, the worry wrinkles a little deeper, but his eyes were just as sharp and his smile inviting when he saw me.

But even as I met his smile with my own, I ached for Ivy’s guilt. I wasn’t seeing the effect of Brimstone alone. She’d satisfied her hunger for blood, and not just the little sips she’d been allowing herself while making love, but a huge grasping amount that was selfish and demanding. Nina had goaded her into it, and she had succumbed. It would account for Nina’s increased stability as well, which might be reason enough to ignore it but for the little fact that it meant Nina was only exchanging one master for another.

“Ivy,” I tried again, and she turned away.

“Rachel!” Edden boomed, the force behind it honed by years of arguing with thickheaded FIB officers. “How did I do?”

He was grinning, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Catcalls and hoots rose up as I gave him a hug, rocking back and seeing his pleasure in the embarrassed flush on his round face. “I owe you, Edden,” I said, and he smiled all the wider. “Big-time. Don’t ever do it again, okay?”

“It was a calculated risk.” Edden looked out the plate-glass windows, a flicker of spent worry saying he was lying. “Cormel doesn’t want any bad press right now. We just need to travel in packs more often.”

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 77



“Or pair your men up with a demon,” I said flippantly.

Edden’s feet scuffed on the painted floor. “Ah, yes. About that.”

Jenks’s wings clattered in the new chill flowing in with the outgoing officers. “Can we go now?”

I nodded, spent adrenaline laying like a heavy coil in my middle as I waved my thanks to Mark. He was behind the counter stoically handing out drink coupons as he refused to make anything despite his being open twenty-four hours a day. Mr. Fish was probably dead from the cold in my cup holder, and I wondered if I dared a warming charm lest I cook him.

“Your folks okay, Ivy?” I asked as Nina all but bolted to the door. I really wanted to talk to her, tell her that one night of hunger was not a failure, but she wouldn’t look at me. Jenks shrugged, his shifting dust telling me he’d figured it out as well. What a pair we were; Ivy had fallen off the wagon and I was harboring mystics again.

“Ah, Rachel . . .” Edden pulled me to walk beside him, and I winced as Ivy strode out the door, her head high and jaw clenched. “Rachel, you talked to the demons,” Edden prompted.

“I’m working on it,” I said as I hesitated before going out. “You should be okay tonight unless someone gets a wild hair up their, ah, yeah.” My voice faltered as Trent breezed past. “It won’t get bad until they know if the sun is going to force them back,” I finished, voice softer.

Edden seemed pleased as he stuck his thick hand out for me to shake. It was rough, with just the right amount of strength, and I felt a moment of connection, of being needed, part of something. “That’s all I can ask for,” he said, making a “wrap it up” motion to get his men out. “Thank you. I’ll have someone get right on your arson case.”

“Thanks.” The welcoming feeling grew as I left and took a deep breath of the good Cincy air not stained with vampire or demon, but smelling of deep river and chill. Cormel’s car wheels crackled and popped over the loose stones on the pavement as they found the street and drove away. The taillights blinked red at a stop sign, and then they were gone.

I shivered, not moving as Trent handed me my bag. My stomach rumbled, and I looked at my hands. They weren’t shaking anymore. The mystics were back. “Ivy?”

Trent was right next to me, and I turned to him. “Trent . . .”

A shiver took me as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “We have time. All the time in the world.”

“Thanks.” Feeling breathless, I spun. “Ivy!”

She hesitated at her mom’s car, the door already open. Nina grimaced from the other side, and I paced forward, head down as I rummaged in my bag. “Here,” I said, feeling unsure and nervous as I stopped before her. “I, ah, made this for you.”

Behind her, Mark was pushing out the last of the FIB guys, locking up and bolting the door before shutting off the lights. Fingers shaking, I found the cool shape of the tiny bottle. Nina pressed jealously close as I put it in Ivy’s hand, and they both looked at it, the faceted shape catching the buzzing streetlight. “What is it?” Ivy asked, her usual hesitancy where my magic was concerned blunted.

“It’s something to catch your soul in,” I said, curling her cold fingers around it. “Keep it in your pocket.”

Ivy’s head snapped up, and I could have cried at the hope in her eyes.

“Until Felix laughs and means it, I’m not calling this a good thing, but if you have your soul in a bottle, then it’s not in the hell of the ever-after,” I said. “You don’t have to do anything, just keep it within your aura. And don’t open the top once your soul is in there.”

“You did it?” Ivy said, looking at the stop sign where we’d seen Cormel last.

“Well, we’ve not tested it,” I offered, but she pulled me into a hug, her hand fisted at my back pressing into me hard. “I can’t imagine that if you get your soul back right away there would be that much trauma.” It was a hope only, but one I clung to with the same fervent wish that Cormel clung to his lies.

She was nodding as she pulled back, her eyes dark with unshed tears, anxious to be away. Behind her, Trent leaned against the car, thoughts pinching his brow as he waited with Jenks on his shoulder.

“I’ll be at my dad’s.” She hesitated. “Unless you need me?”

Nina was smiling, but it was a thinly disguised grimace. “Cormel is going to be too busy tomorrow to worry about us,” I said, looking for my keys until I remembered Trent had them. “Dali and Newt are terrorizing Trent’s house, so I’m going over there to run interference.”

“Okay.” Her eyes came back to me, and she hesitated, looking for words.

“So it’s the younger who find their souls first?” I blurted out, not wanting her to go until I could tell her she was a good person, and she shook her head even as Nina clenched her jaw, clearly wanting to leave.

“No, it’s how close you are to your death place.”

“Cormel died in Washington,” I said, thinking he’d have a long wait if his soul had to travel only by night. Unless he went to find it.

“Only those within twenty miles of their death are reuniting, but he expects it to make it here in a week.” She hesitated. “If nothing changes.”

“That’s the same time frame he gave me to get rid of the demons,” I said, glancing at Trent when he started my car. It wasn’t a silent rebuke to get me to hurry up, but a way to get Jenks out of the cold.

Eyes holding guilt, Ivy gave me a last hug before turning away. Grim, Nina hustled to the other side of the car and got in. I backed up, reluctant to leave Ivy alone, though I knew she needed to be with her dad. Her mom would be distraught but safe. I’d found out last year that she’d died in New Orleans. It would be weeks until her soul found her.

But what made my steps slow as I walked back to my car was knowing that Cormel knew I was right, otherwise he would’ve gone to find his soul. He knew I was right, but he wanted me to be wrong so badly that he was ignoring it.

Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day.

Chapter 18

It was anguished and alone, even as others of its ilk hovered supportively nearby—forgotten and abandoned, curled into a tight ball in the center of my presence like a lion cub seeking comfort from a dead lioness—unresponsive even as everything about her screamed memories of comfort and warmth.

I saw myself through it, my dream cycling down to this tiny spot of torment until its heartache became mine. Confusion and betrayal soaked into me until I wept, not understanding. I’d searched for so long, and now there was nothing. I’d been forgotten, like a dream finding the window shut against it.

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 78



She doesn’t see, the mystic moaned to the others, and they clustered about it, trying to make it feel better, that it would become. But it wouldn’t.

I took a breath in my dream to shout that I saw them, that I was here, that I was. But a soft gong distracted me, blurring my intent. It came again, and my dream broke apart as the waves of sound moved through my unconsciousness and pushed me awake.

That’s Trent’s alarm, I thought groggily as a chill slipped under the covers. The bed moved and my weight shifted as Trent pulled from me, stretching to reach his phone.

I sighed, eyes closed as he rolled back, his warmth up against me now dulled with a sheet between us. The weight of a hand pressed into the bed at my left shoulder as he propped himself up over me and leaned to try to see my face. “Rachel, did you want to get up?” he whispered. “I can tell you what happens.”

A fuzzy-feeling smile came over me, and I rolled onto my back. Eyes opening, I tucked his hair behind one of his pointy ears as he hung over me. The light was dim with the coming sunrise since the drapes at the French doors to the garden were open, and it made his eyes dark. He was himself but different. “I like you best this way,” I said, seeing him rested and still soft with sleep, smelling of soap from his shower before he’d come to bed.

The bed shifted as he found my fingers and kissed the tips. “The sun doesn’t wait for lovers or villains. Up or not?”

I groaned, gaze on the elaborately painted ceiling of horses and the hunt. The sun had risen on the East Coast almost half an hour ago, and we both wanted to know if the demons and vampire souls had been pulled back to the ever-after. “Up,” I said, and his smile widened at the pained sound in my voice. This was insane, getting up at dawn, but I was starting to become used to it even if my stomach hurt and my thoughts were slow. Horrors, as my mother would say.

Trent kissed my fingertips again. “I’ll see if the coffee is going,” he said as he rolled to the edge of the bed, and I watched him, listless and unwilling to move yet. The faint light outlined his skin, accenting his abs and thighs defined by his horsemanship. I sat up and shoved my tangled mess of hair back and tried to imagine his gorgeous body tamed by the years, more mature but no less attractive. Yes, I wanted to be there, but as I looked at the shadowed opulent room with its heavy furniture and extravagant lushness and attention to detail, I had a hard time seeing myself here longer than a weekend. On the few occasions I’d been here without Trent, I’d felt lost, as if I was curling in around something that didn’t recognize or have a need for me. Sort of like my dream.

Propped up against the headboard, I watched him hike his slacks up. My God, the man had a nice stomach. “I’m going to miss you today,” I whispered.

Trent’s smile vanished briefly as he put his shirt on. Head down over the buttons, he said, “Believe me, I’d rather be spending it with you. Just because I have the right to speak before the dewar doesn’t mean they have to listen.” He worked the last button and tossed the hair from his eyes, making my heart stop with his smile. “You want to try to meet up around noon?”

I fumbled for my own phone, squinting at it and seeing that I’d gotten a call from Edden last night. It wasn’t tagged as urgent and I set it back down. I’d been planning on spending the day with Jenks and probably Ivy at the church to find out what we’d lost and what could be salvaged. “Only if you’re really available,” I said as I scrunched back down into the warm blankets. “You know you’re not going to have time for a coffee, much less lunch.”

The bed shifted as he sat next to me to put on his socks. “I’m only going to be across the river. There might be more support among the dewar than at first glance. It’s easy to stand by and do nothing, even when you know it’s wrong, harder when someone calls you out on it. If we have a wave of suncides this morning, it will be easier.” My smile froze, and he looked up, one sock in hand. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know,” I said, touching his hand.

Expression grim, he put his ankle on a knee. I’d seen him do it a hundred times before, but never to put his sock on. “That doesn’t make me feel any better or this any easier.”

I was silent, my hand tracing along his back as he leaned over his foot. “Trent,” I said softly, remembering my dream. “Are the mystics still with me?”

His fingers fumbled, and alarm brought me still. “Ah, why do you ask?”

“I had a weird dream.”

His smile wasn’t exactly fake when he stood up, but he was hiding concern, which only fueled my own. “Not unusual when you’re woken up early,” he said, words a bit breathy as he dragged a shoe out from under the dresser. “You scared me last night.”

“Really? What part?” I scooted farther back, against the headboard. “When I tried to throttle Cincy’s head vampire, or when I stood up to Mica?”

His expression caught at me when he sat back down beside me. “When the mystics found you. Rachel—”

“Oh God. It’s bad, isn’t it?” I said.

Smiling, he cupped my face, but there was sorrow in his eyes. “You might be sparkling just because you’re glad to see me.”

Crap on toast, it was bad. My hands clenched themselves, and I looked at them, twisted about themselves into a knot in my lap.

“Rachel,” he breathed, pulling me to him. My arms went around him and I held my breath, trying not to cry. I hadn’t called them to me even if I’d missed them. I’d done everything right, and I was exactly where I’d started. The elves hated Trent because of me, and with the mystics, I’d probably lost the demon support, too. It was falling apart, and I couldn’t stop it!

“You’re not hearing anything, are you?” His words shifted my hair, and I shook my head. What happened in a dream was not reality. And there were no voices showing me visions around corners. His grip on me shifted, and I looked up to see his relief. “Then you’re okay,” he said, making my heart almost break that he cared that much. “Promise me you’ll tell me if you do.”

“Promise.” My foot twisted under me was falling asleep, and my other, hanging out over the edge of the bed behind him, was getting cold. I wasn’t going to move, though, not with Trent holding me, telling me he loved me without even a word. “What time is your appointment?”

The Witch With No Name
The Witch With No Name Page 79



His breathing shifted, his shoulders tensing. “Nine forty-five.”

It was only a few hours away. “I’m sorry,” I said as he let go. “If it wasn’t for me, the enclave would be listening to you and you could have stopped this before it started.”

Trent’s eyes widened. “Is that what you think? Rachel, if not for you, then I’d probably have been the one to start it in the first place. I like who I am. Do you know how long it’s been since I did? Listen to me.” He took my shoulders, leaning over to find my eyes. “You and I are an excuse for the dewar to try and wrestle control away. This would’ve happened regardless.”

“But not to this extent,” I said, and he collapsed in on himself, holding my hands between us as he chose his next words. “You can’t be the Sa’han if you’re with me,” I said miserably. “They won’t let you.”

“It’s just a title,” he said, but even I could hear the lie.

“One that gives you a voice, one that people follow.”

His lips pressed into a resolute line. “I’m not letting you go, so stop it. We’ll get through this. Besides, if the demons call me the Sa’han, then maybe that’s enough,” he said, a hint of worry tugging at the corners of his eyes.

“Maybe,” I said miserably. I will not cry. I won’t!

“The demons won’t listen to Landon, but they might me. I’ve ridden the hunt with them. Fought beside them to eliminate a threat. If that’s not being the Sa’han, then what is?”

The depth of his commitment shivered through me in the predawn gloom. “But how . . .”

“This isn’t your fault,” he said, bringing me to him again, and the tingles his whisper started racing through me. “We can do this together. I can’t do it alone. I don’t want to.”

My eyes closed as I soaked in his warmth, his hands firm without binding, their slow motion against me suddenly taking on a new meaning. I took another breath, and that fast, my desires flipped to another direction. I licked my lips and Trent’s breath quickened.

“You know, we’ve got a good ten minutes until sunup,” he said, his fingers tracing over me and the flimsy nightie I had over here. “They won’t have any real information about Cincinnati for at least twenty.”

I pulled back to see the heat in his eyes, the desire. “We can’t,” I whispered, smiling.

“Why not?”

He wasn’t confused per se, but clearly wary at my smile, and I pulled him closer, turning our embrace less amorous and more friendly. “Because someone is pinching my toes,” I said. Trent hesitated, and I almost laughed. “Really. Someone is pinching my toes.”

Realizing I was serious, he leaned to see around me. “Ray!” he exclaimed, and I held my arms out for the little girl. She was about eighteen months now, sweet with her blanket in her grip, her dark hair carefully combed and her even darker eyes solemn as she pinched my toes for our attention. She couldn’t have been there very long, and her expression was troubled.

“Daddy?” she said, her high voice clear. “Oucy no. No!” she demanded, pointing to the door, now open a crack. I hadn’t even heard her open it, but she was a quiet little thing.

Trent pulled the toddler up, bringing the scent of baby powder and snickerdoodles with her. Dressed and ready for the day, she pointed again at the door, her features tight in distress. I could hear Lucy, her sister, shrilling something in the background as I fixed Ray’s collar.

“What is Lucy doing that she’s not supposed to?” Trent said patiently, and Ray scrunched her face up, clearly wanting to spill the beans but not having the vocabulary yet. “Lucy?” Trent called, loudly, and the little girl’s enthusiastic shouts became closer.

“Daddy!” the toddler cried, shoving the door open so hard that it bounced against the wall and nearly closed again. But the blond, excited girl was already in here, a strip of toilet paper in her grip as she danced in a circle, somehow not breaking it. “Happy birthday!” she shouted, throwing it up into the air and silently watching it drift down.

“Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet,” I whispered, and I swear Ray rolled her eyes.

Lucy clapped her hands and ran for the bed. “Hi, Aunt Achel!” she shouted, flopping against Trent’s knees, making Ray shove Lucy’s hands off him.

I pulled Lucy to me, glad that Trent hadn’t started dressing them alike. Lucy was only three months older than Ray, but their personalities made the difference seem larger. Squishy and wiggly, Lucy bounced in my lap until I penned her in with my arms, bringing the wonderful smell of innocence to me.

“Hi, Lucy,” I said, careful to not talk to her like she was a baby but a real person. “Is that toilet paper? Shouldn’t it be on the roll?”

She slid from me, running to where it lay on the floor and throwing it back into the air with a jubilant “Surprise!”

Trent looked up from playing a finger game with Ray. “There were streamers at a party, and now she won’t leave the toilet paper alone.” Ray held her arms out to me, and I took her willingly. “Ellasbeth is supposed to be watching them,” Trent said, his eyes on the door. “Though to be honest, Quen is keeping an eye on them as well. And Jon. Everyone.”

“You think she’s okay?”

Standing, Trent ran a hand over his chin, mildly concerned. “She’s still fighting jet lag. Maybe she fell asleep reading to them again. Unless she left. That’d be nice.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” I said as I arranged Ray’s very dark hair. I knew that Trent believed Ellasbeth agreed with the elven dewar’s opinion that the world would be better if we weren’t part of it, but I wasn’t so sure. “Maybe you should check on her,” I said, because I sure as hell wasn’t going to. Not in my nightgown.

Trent nodded and held out his hand to Ray. “Ray, where is Ellasbeth?”

Blinking her dark eyes, Ray slid from me. Her hand looked small as it fit into Trent’s. Wobbling only slightly, she looked at the door. “Shhh. Nap,” the little girl said, and I swung my feet to the floor.

“That can mean anything,” I said as I stood and glanced at my phone. It was almost sunup. No time for a shower now. I could do it after the news.

Trent’s frown took on a shade of concern. “I’ll be right back,” he said, starting for the door. “Lucy? Where’s your mommy?”