[English] THE WITCH WITH NO NAME

The Witch With No Name
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“A-a-a-a-asleep!” Lucy crowed, throwing her toilet paper banner again and watching it drift down. “Surprise!”

Trent held out his other hand. “Show me?” he asked, and she jumped over to him, her dress flying up to show her tights.

“Come on, Daddy!” she said, dragging him off.

Ray turned before they left, and I made an open-and-closed hand wave to match hers. Ducking her head shyly, she trailed along behind Trent, leaving the door open. I didn’t mind, but I did put on a borrowed robe before I scuffed into my slippers. I could hear Quen talking to Trent, and I wasn’t quite up to more people yet. The morning garden beckoned, a gray patch of solitude and calm after Lucy’s exuberance, and after a look at my phone and the time, I shuffled to the big French doors. I wasn’t going out into the living area until Ellasbeth knew I was here.

Besides, if there was a real problem, Quen or Jon would be on it. It might look as if the girls had been wandering the upper floor unattended, but both Jon and Quen were big on letting the girls explore freely within sharply defined boundaries. Either one wouldn’t have a problem letting them walk in on me and Trent—each for different reasons.

Lucy’s shrill voice was punctuated by masculine rumbles as I hit the code at the box by the door and opened it. The first breath of morning damp cooled my flush as I recalled the pandemonium the first time I’d opened it without the code. Birdsong and what might be the clatter of pixy wings drew me out onto the sheltered patio. There was a small koi pond with steam rising from it, and tidy flower beds carefully raked and put to bed for the coming winter.

I wrapped my arms around myself as the coolness slipped up my legs. A soft scuff yanked my attention to the small patio table for two, and I jerked to a halt. “Al?” I said, fear for being coated in mystics flashing through me. I froze, unbelieving, as he stood, clearly having been waiting for me out of sight of the door. At least I hope he’d been out of sight. “What are you doing here?” I warily shuffled closer in my slippers and robe, having to trust that he wouldn’t come here, out of his way, to choke me to death. “And in a suit?” I added, thinking he looked dashing, though very different. He wasn’t trying to kill me. That was good, right?

He looked up from the hat in his hands. “I didn’t change for you,” he said, his proper British accent only a hint, and I nodded, more nervous yet. The tight pin-striped suit gave him almost a forties look. He’d trimmed his physique as well with a narrower waist and shoulders not as thick. It made him appear younger, less mature, more hoodlum, but not quite a thug—the hairstyle shifted it to professional? Professional what, though? I wondered as my eyes slid from the hat he placed on the table to his shiny shoes. The demon did like his shiny shoes, stylish hats, and glasses that he really didn’t need.

“It’s a different look for you,” I said, and he sniffed.

“Not everything I do revolves around you,” he said quickly, as if I might think he was softening to me. “I have my reasons.”

“It looks great, but I thought you looked good before,” I said, and he hesitated as if never having considered that. Remembering where I was, I glanced back at the open door and inched closer. “What are you doing here?” And how long have you been here? Did you look in the window? Did you see me happy with Trent and his children beside me?

Al’s gaze was on the door when I turned back around, and my eyes narrowed in mistrust. “I want to ask you a few questions,” he said. “Is now a good time?”

It wasn’t, but I went back and shut the door. “You put Ellasbeth to sleep, didn’t you.”

He smiled, and I knew it was the same old Al despite his new look. “Was it you who destroyed the back end of your church?”

“No.” What is his game? I wondered, arms over my middle again.

“Was it . . . Trenton Aloysius Kalamack?”

“No,” I said again, coming closer until only feet separated us.

“Tell me about it in your own words.”

Tell me about it in your own words? I stood before him, head ****ed. “Why?” The scent of burnt amber was almost nonexistent, and I wondered how he could lose it so fast when it always took me a week of showers.

“I want to know.” Nose wrinkling, Al flicked something away from me. “Disgusting creatures,” he muttered, and I backed up, thinking he was talking about the mystics.

“I can’t hear them,” I rushed to say. “And I didn’t call them to me.” I shut my mouth, thinking that to tell him they’d showed up when Cormel had threatened Trent was a bad idea.

Al’s jaw tightened, and I felt a pang at his disgust. “Ah, it was one of the vampire camarillas,” I said to distract him. “Cormel made a deal with the elf dewar that if they got rid of Trent and me, the elves would bring their souls back from the ever-after.”

“So it was Cormel’s men?” he said.

I licked my lips, remembering Al had seen Cormel last night outside Junior’s. “No.”

Al sighed and clasped his hands before him. “No proof. That should be your middle name, Rachel Mariana Morgan.”

Why is he even interested in this? “Look,” I said, thinking this was a lame excuse to check on me, but it was better than choking me to death. “They were vampires,” I added, and he made talking motions with his hands. “Bis snagged one and Trent got a confession.”

“A forced confession means nothing,” he said, and I wondered if the demons were working on some point-of-law thing they wanted to use somehow.

“Why are you badgering me?” I asked, and he casually sat, tugging at his sleeves before remembering the lace was gone.

“You’re very defensive,” he said. “I’m simply ascertaining what happened that morning.”

Yes, but why? He waited silently, and I finally said, “There was a mix of vampires from a lot of camarillas. No one took responsibility, but last night Cormel said the attack was his effort to remind Trent and me of our place in life.”

Goat-slitted eyes unfocused in thought, Al steepled his fingers. “This was last night?”

Someone has been watching old Godfather flicks, I thought as I nodded, and then I said, “Yes,” when it became obvious I needed to actually say it. “I didn’t blow up my church, but I did take advantage of it to pretend to be dead.” I leaned one palm against the table, shivering as the cold from the iron seeped into me. “Why are you here?”

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His lip curled, and I forced myself to stay unmoving as he flicked nothing off me, his finger just missing my robe. “I thought you might be interested in seeing what happens to the surface demons when the sun rises.”

I glanced at the house, imagining Ellasbeth’s reaction if I came in with him. It might be worth the fallout. “That’s why I’m up at this godforsaken hour. You want to come in and watch the news with us? Quen makes a good cup of coffee.”

Al blinked, quickly regaining his aplomb. “No, thank you,” he said, the barest shifting of his feet giving away his surprise. “I thought we could do this out here.”

“Sure,” I said softly, then stiffened when Al spoke a word of Latin, gesturing with his usual flair. It lacked a little something without the lace and velvet, but his eyes still glowed with the pleasure of doing something no one else could, and I tightened my hold on the ley lines as a sheet of black-tinted ever-after coalesced into a hunched shape right there on the patio.

Crap on toast, it was a surface demon, and I reached out to circle it.

Al was faster, and a second sheet of power snapped shut around the surface demon with a solid thump I felt in my soul. “Nasty little bugger,” he said, both feet on the floor as he scooted to the edge of the metal chair and peered at it, elbows on his knees and head tilted.

Uneasy, I inched closer. The surface demon hissed wildly, pounding against the wall even as smoke curled up from his fists. Or maybe it was a her. This one had hair snarled down to her waist, and a decidedly delicate cut to her jaw—even if spittle was dangling from her chin.

“Who is that?” I whispered, and I stopped short, not having realized I had moved to stand right next to Al as if wanting his protection.

Al’s expression was closed. “I’ve no idea. Newt gave it to me.” His gaze lifted to the sky lightening in the east. The tops of the trees were already glowing, and it wouldn’t be long before we had our answer.

“Look, the sun,” Al said as if it wasn’t obvious. “Let’s see how well the elves have f**ked this up.”

I was holding my breath, and as the sun touched the top of Al’s containment bubble, the surface demon hissed, hunched as if afraid. Eyes wide, it went silent for three heartbeats, and then without fanfare, it vanished.

“Hot damn!” I exclaimed, spinning to Al. My lips parted. His eyes were closed, and his jaw was clenched as if expecting to be whipped. “Al?” I whispered, and they opened. Slowly his tension eased, and he exhaled, fingers shaking as he hid his hands behind his back.

“There, you see?” he said confidently, but what I’d seen was his fear. “Typical elven sloppiness. Rachel, if you are ever that careless, I’ll strangle you with your own charm.”

“Al . . .” I touched his shoulder and he jerked away. This was why he was here, not to show me the flaw in the elven curse. He’d been afraid, and I was the one he’d come to. “You weren’t sure if you could stay,” I said, and his eyes flicked to mine.

“What? Nonsense,” he grumbled, taking his circle down with an unnecessary wave of his hand. “The elves haven’t crafted a decent curse in three thousand years. Pull up your second sight,” he said, grimacing at empty space. “What a nasty piece of work. I was never for their creation in the first place, but you do have to admire the pure savagery of it all.”

He’d once told me demons had created vampires, which would in turn mean they’d created surface demons, and feeling uneasy, I pulled up my second sight. It wasn’t hard to do, but I didn’t do it often, not liking the red-smeared, gritty vision overlaid on the green of reality.

Sure enough, the surface demon was there among the sparse grass and sunbaked dirt that existed this far out from the city center. It howled soundlessly at the sun, clearly not happy to have been forced back. Hissing, it turned to Al and myself, and I dropped my second sight to become invisible to it. “Holy crap on Velveeta toast,” I whispered, shaken as I imagined this happening everywhere as the sun slowly crept across the surface of the world.

“Just so,” Al said, a hint of what might be sympathy in his voice. Shaking, I felt my way around the table to settle in the second wire chair. There were going to be lots of unhappy vampires. I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to get to muck out the church with Jenks and Ivy today. This was bad. If the vampires had been ticked at me before, they’d be doubly so now, blaming me for the elven failure since Landon had set me up to take it.

“That is what happens when you try to tweak a well-crafted curse,” Al said, flipping his hat. “It’s always better to start from scratch than mend flaws created by a modification.”

“What about the vampires who found their souls last night?” I asked.

“They are soulless again,” he said, attention distant as he flipped his hat to land squarely on his head. “The long undead will be most unhappy that their headlong rush to their demise has been interrupted. I predict that by noon, the elves will be spelling to bring their souls back again. They want the old undead gone, and this is the easiest way to do it.” He set his hat on the table between us. “But you already knew that,” he said, voice low. “Killing them with a kindness. Perhaps elves are more like us than they wish to admit . . .”

I rubbed my forehead. The sun was barely up and I was tired already. I needed to call Ivy. “This isn’t my problem.”

“Of course not.” Al stood and brushed at his coat, watching the way the sun hit the fibers. “There’s a way to save them, the undead I mean.”

I looked up, hesitating when I realized some of the threads in his suit sparkled. “How?”

He twirled his hat, running it down his arm, across his back, and down to his free hand where he caught it and jauntily placed it on his head. “If you break the path between the two worlds—”

“I’m not going to destroy the ever-after. It will be the end of all magic,” I interrupted.

“Why not?” He eyed me speculatively. “You’ve seen Cincinnati without her undead. You can end it all right here. Break the lines and no one goes in or out. You might learn to like living without magic. It may be the only way *****rvive us coming home.”

He meant the demons, and my arm dropped, chilled against the cold metal. “Why are you concerned about Cincinnati or the vampires?”

“I’m not. I simply don’t want to go back.” He turned to me. “Ever.”

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If he was proposing an end to magic, it was a good bet he had a way to fix it. “Then maybe you should try playing by our rules.”

“Maybe we already are,” he shot back.

“Right.” Mistrusting this, I leaned back in my chair, tugging my robe closed when it threatened to fall open. “So I break the lines to keep surface demons out and you here. Everyone is mad at me.” I hesitated as he beamed at me. “Except the demons, who set themselves up as king.”

“That’s about it.”

“You do it. I don’t have time to learn a new life skill,” I said, and he put a hand atop the table, leaning over me with his breath smelling of Brimstone.

“You are the only one with mystics in her.” He took a breath. “Rachel.”

I put a finger on his chest and backed him up. “So now mystics are a good thing?”

“Does it feel like a good thing?”

The birds were getting noisy, and I shook my head. It didn’t feel good. Not at all. “I didn’t ask for this,” I said, and Al looked toward the house.

“Be careful what you wish for,” he said, and I watched as a sheet of ever-after fell over him, clothing him back in his usual green crushed-velvet coat and top hat. His shoulders broadened, and his middle became thicker, more muscular.

“Because you might get it,” I finished, wondering why he’d changed until Ellasbeth’s voice rose in distress. Great, they were coming out here, and I tugged my robe closer. “Be nice,” I warned Al, and he gave me an innocent look.

Oh God, it wasn’t just Trent, but Ellasbeth and the girls, too. Lucy made a shrill demand when she spotted Al, thumping her fists into the door to be let out.

“Rachel didn’t charm you,” Trent said as the door opened and Lucy darted out before he saw Al and me waiting. “You simply fell asleep.”

“Trenton!” Ellasbeth shrieked, panicking as Lucy ran to Al.

“Allie, Allie, Allie!” the little girl cried, flinging herself at the demon’s knees. Al winced, hastily covering his crotch as she flung her doll around. Ray was no less captivated, watching Al from Trent’s hip, her evaluating eyes never looking away.

“Get her away from him!” Ellasbeth demanded, frozen at the door as she wanted to both fly at him and run back in the house.

“Good morning, Ellasbeth,” I said, and she looked at me, horrified and hyperventilating as I calmly sat at the table.

“Ellasbeth,” Al purred, delighting in the fear he’d instilled as he sat down and took Lucy onto his lap. “How nice to see you.”

“Trent! Get her!” she screamed again, and Trent sighed, waving Quen and Jon back from the window. “Get him out of here!”

I stood, uncomfortable in my robe all of a sudden. “He wanted to show me what happened to unbound souls when the sun came up.”

Trent’s eyes lit up. “And?” he prompted. Ray was beginning to wiggle to get down and get a closer look at the pink and purple flying horses that Al was making, each one coming from his cupped hands to Lucy’s delight.

I couldn’t stop my grimace. “We’re both going to have a very busy day.”

Ellasbeth was clinging to Trent’s elbow, her face red and her fear obvious. “Surprise!” Lucy shouted as Al opened his hands and another horse neighed and leapt into the air. Giving me a tired look, Trent set Ray down, and the little girl toddled forward. I gentled her to me so Ellasbeth wouldn’t pass out, and Ray leaned against my legs, watching Al and her sister.

“Get them away from him!” Ellasbeth demanded, and Trent took her elbow.

“The girls are safe. It’s you I can’t vouch for,” he said, and Ellasbeth jerked her eyes from the children, her face red.

Al straightened as he let three horses go and Lucy ran after them, giggling. “I no longer steal people,” he said as if insulted. “Haven’t you heard?”

“Seriously?” I said, and he raised his hand, tilting it back and forth to say more or less.

Ellasbeth glared at Trent, refusing to go in even as his hand on her back began to look forceful. “You aren’t believing this, are you?” she said.

I was having a hard time believing it, too, but I wasn’t worried when Ray stood wobbling before Al, captivated by the horse charm. Her little hand went to his knee for balance, and Al froze, emotion cascading through him so fast I couldn’t recognize anything but its depth.

“Why are you even here?” Ellasbeth exclaimed.

“Many reasons.” Al was staring at Ray’s hand, and I held my breath as he wiggled a finger under her palm and she gripped it, smiling up at him with her one-toothed smile.

Emotion hit me as Ray’s carefully given but ultimate trust smacked Al like a ton of bricks. That fast it happened, and I knew he’d move heaven and earth for her now. Ray may have saved us all.

Lump in my throat, I turned. I didn’t want him to know I’d seen, and if I stayed, I’d start to cry. “Ah, I’m sorry,” I said, looking around as if my purse and coat were out here. “I have to go take a shower. Al, thank you for the information.”

He looked up, and when he saw my damp eyes, he took Ray’s hand off his finger with a frown. “I’m being gotten rid of.”

Trent inched forward to take Ray, and I lifted her from Al. “You’re welcome to stay for breakfast,” Trent said as I settled Ray in his arms.

“I have already breakfasted, thank you,” Al said stiffly. He was trying to be flip, but I could tell he was shaken. He hadn’t expected Ray’s trust, and it couldn’t be taken away.

“Lucy, come here,” Ellasbeth demanded, crouched with her hand held out, ignored.

“What time was your appointment with the dewar?” I asked, having forgotten already.

Trent jiggled Ray. “Nine forty-five.”

“You, ah, think I could come with you?” I said, and Ellasbeth jerked, her attention on Lucy momentarily eclipsed. “I need to persuade them to leave the surface demons in the ever-after and the real demons in reality,” I added, wincing. I wasn’t going to be the demons’ liaison, but someone had to say something, and I did have a reputation for saving large demographics—even if the collateral damage was high.

Ellasbeth finally got hold of Lucy, and she backed up to the door with her as the little girl protested. “You’re joking,” she said, voice distracted. “You want them here?”

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“Absolutely,” I said. My feet were freezing, and I wanted to go in.

Trent shrugged. “Sure. I’ll pick you up at eight. You’ll be at the church?”

Ellasbeth was struggling with Lucy. Exasperated, she exclaimed, “Yes, you both go. I can watch the girls.”

My eyes darted to Trent, and then Al.

“You will watch the girls?” Al drawled, popping little blue horses into existence as fast as Lucy could pop them out of existence between her two hands. “I heard it was your idea to kill Trent and Rachel so you’d have the girls as your own.”

It was out, and Ellasbeth’s cheeks reddened. “That was not my idea!” she protested, and Lucy slipped from her.

Frustrated, Trent checked his watch. “Quen and Jon can watch them.”

“I am not trying to steal the girls,” Ellasbeth said hotly, and Trent absently took a horse out of Ray’s mouth.

“I’m sorry, Ellasbeth,” he said frankly. “Rachel seems to think the best of everyone, but I’m not that . . .” He hesitated.

“Naive, I believe is the word you’re looking for,” Al said, and I frowned, almost smacking him with the back of my hand.

“Lucy is my child!” Ellasbeth said, one hand gripping the wildly twisting little girl. “I can watch her.”

Trent lifted his chin and started for the door. “I don’t want you to.”

I needed to get dressed, and I hesitated, wanting to say good-bye to Al before going in, but not wanting to do it in front of everyone.

“I can watch the girls until six,” Al said suddenly, and I blinked. Face red, Al jerked his watch out of its little pocket. “Ah, that’d be six P.M., eastern standard time. I’m busy after that.”

“You?” I said, and his complexion darkened. “You don’t know anything about babies.”

“Absolutely not!” Ellasbeth pushed her way into the courtyard, a mix of terror and anger.

Al seemed unperturbed. “They’re not babies, they’re toddlers. Besides, I’m third on the list, I believe?”

Trent was smiling, small but honest. “No, thank you. Jon can do it.”

Ellasbeth struggled with Lucy, the little girl wailing about the dead horse in her tight grip. “What does he mean, third on the list?”

Trent and I exchanged a look, but Quen poked his head out the door, saving us from having to answer. “Sa’han? Ms. Morgan? Ivy has phoned. She’s fine, but she’s trying to reach Rachel. Felix committed suncide this morning and she’d like Rachel’s help with Nina.”

Fear slid through my soul, and I took a fast breath. The dewar would have to wait. “I have to go.” I hesitated, wanting to touch Al to say good-bye but not daring to.

“Of course he committed suncide,” Al said distantly. “That’s why we had to separate their souls from their bodies to begin with.”

“Go.” Trent jiggled a fussy Ray. “I’ll bring up your concerns to the dewar.”

I looked at Al one last time before I started for the door. “Thank you,” I said, trying to remember where I’d left my boots. “I’ll do what I can.”

“You’re going to need all the voices you can get in the dewar, Kalamack,” Al said loudly. “Poor use of resources to waste Quen and Jon tending your girls, especially when you claim to want this closer tie. Let me watch the little darlings.”

I turned, half in the house, half out. Ellasbeth waited, her lilac perfume strong on the still air. Trent was frowning, but it was in thought, not concern.

“I’m not worried about the girls,” he said, making Ellasbeth gasp. “I’m worried about you rummaging in my things. No. I’ll take them with me. It will be a good reminder to the dewar.”

Al pulled himself up, a hand elegantly behind his back. “I will be the perfect example of correctness.”

Ellasbeth’s hand went to the house for balance. “I swear, Trent, if you give our children to that demon to watch them, I’ll never forgive you.”

Trent looked at me, and I shrugged. “He won’t keep them permanently,” I said, and Al grinned to show his blocky teeth.

Trent set Ray down, and the little girl wobbled to Al, beaming as if he was a new toy.

“Trenton!” Ellasbeth shrieked, and Lucy finally slipped from her. Ellasbeth made a lunge after her, and Quen jerked the woman back, his expression stoic as she slapped his face.

“You get my standard sitting rate,” Trent said, almost shouting over Ellasbeth’s hysterics as Al picked Lucy up. “You stay on the top floor and out of my room. And my spelling hut. And everything else. No phone, no scrying, no showing them off to anyone. I want them here in my apartments at all times.”

“De-e-e-elighted,” the demon said, then vanished with both girls.

“Trent!” Ellasbeth screamed.

Giving her a sidelong glance, I sidled up to Trent. “You forgot to tell him no visitors.”

Trent’s breath hissed in between his teeth. “Oooh, I did, didn’t I.”

“Trenton Aloysius Kalamack!” Ellasbeth exclaimed as she pushed between us, her face red. “Where are my girls?”

He pointed inside when Lucy’s laughing giggle echoed into the patio. Hand to her mouth, Ellasbeth bolted inside. “You’re welcome to stay,” Trent said loudly, but she was already inside. Only now did a faint worry line wrinkle his forehead. “Tell me this isn’t a mistake.”

Smiling, I gave him a hug. “This isn’t a mistake,” I said, feeling his arms take me in and make me strong. “He’s the only one who might agree to play by our rules. The rest need to be shamed into it. Thank you.”

I dropped back to see a lingering worry in him. “I’m going to miss you today, too.”

He was tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, and I felt loved. “Maybe we can have dinner or something.”

But I knew that I’d be lucky to end today still standing. If Felix had committed suncide, Nina was going to be out of control and Cincinnati’s old vampires would be a conflicted terror of want, desire, and fear. What tore at me though was that Ivy’s hope of ever saving her soul was now tied to a maybe.

And as I gave Trent a kiss and felt his grasp slip from me, I vowed that Ivy was going to get her happy ending. Even if it killed me.

Chapter 19

My breath caught and I stomped on the brake when the car ahead of me squealed to a stop. Head swinging, I flicked my eyes to the rearview mirror, wincing until the car behind me stopped as well. I was trying to get to Fountain Square. Ivy and I were having lunch before digging through the mess at the church. Yes, I should be in some library looking for how to close the lines, but Ivy needed me, needed me to tell her that one blood orgy wasn’t the end. Besides, I had to do something normal for a few hours before I started saving the world again.

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“What the Turn?” I said to myself, trying to see past the cars lined up before me. Traffic was at a standstill, and when I rolled the window down, I could hear a crowd and a bullhorn a few blocks up. I was nearly at the square. Something was wrong. Ivy was there.

Pulse fast, I jerked the wheel, driving in the wrong lane for a few car lengths to pull into a tiny—and illegal—parking spot for the meter police. I waved at the guy blowing his horn at me as I popped my FIB sign in the front window and grabbed my shoulder bag. Thanks to my weekend sleepovers at Trent’s I was in a clean pair of jeans and a casual sweater, but I felt anything but professional as I locked the car and strode off, boots clunking.

Nina? I wondered, shocked as her voice came through the bullhorn, her aggressive urgency mixing with the rising roar of unseen people. Crap on toast, Felix had committed suncide this morning. A handful of other masters had gone from soul-induced depression to out-of-control raging when their souls were ripped from them. That they were forced underground was a blessing and a breathing space. Cops were everywhere, both the FIB and the I.S., and I strode up to the nearest. “Excuse me. What’s going on?”

“That way, miss,” he directed, and I jerked back before he could touch me. His expression hardened, and he actually looked at me. “There’s an illegal demonstration at the square,” he said, clearly not recognizing me. “Please go home.”

They were almost lining the streets now, and everyone was being turned away. “Ah, I’m trying to reach someone,” I said, thinking if Nina was in there, so was Ivy. “I mean, I was called in to work,” I said, flashing my old I.S. badge with my spell-burned hair and dopey look. “Who do I talk to?”

“Hell if I know,” the cop muttered as he looked at my street clothes. “Go on.”

He didn’t have to say it twice, and I slipped behind the forming human wall and hustled to the square, waving my outdated ID at everyone with a badge who looked my way. My pulse pounded, and the brief respite of people vanished. It wasn’t a demonstration, it was a mob, and I stood in the middle of the blocked-off road trying to make sense of it.

Nina was on the stage with a bullhorn, trying to outshout the man with a mic. The crowd was split and ugly, yelling at the stage, hands in fists raised in protest. The huge TV was showing a national news station, but it was all bad, with excited newscasters standing, as I was, at the outskirts of similar protests in other cities. High above, people pressed against the windows of the surrounding buildings taking pictures. I.S. and FIB officers were everywhere, but apart from the ring of them keeping new people out, I couldn’t tell what they were doing.

“I’m with the I.S.,” I said, flashing my ID when a cop came close, and he went the other way. News crews were setting up on the corner, and I began to inch away before I was recognized. Ivy, where are you?

The sound of pixy wings jerked my attention, and I looked up, getting an eye full of pixy dust as Jenks dropped down. “Damn it, Jenks!” I exclaimed, eyes watering.

“Tink’s a Disney whore, Rache, what are you doing here?” he exclaimed, his voice shrill as he struggled to be heard over the rising noise.

“Yeah, I’m glad to see you, too,” I said sourly, hand up for him to land on. “I’m trying to find Ivy. What is Nina doing?”

He went to land, then darted back as someone jostled me forward. My hand hit a lamppost, and I stepped up onto the footing for a few extra inches as Nina’s voice rose clear and strong, a hard surety in her voice that she’d learned from Felix. She sounded like a master, and it was chilling.

“The peace is false!” she cried, the vampiric pull in it bringing a good part of the crowd to silence. “Peace is death to the undead. It breaks them. Your masters are weeping. It’s our duty to protect them as they protect us! They keep us safe, and now it’s our turn. Even if they rage and threaten, we must withstand the anger knowing they love us! Their souls will kill them!”

“How long has she been up there?” I asked, one arm looped around the post for balance.

“Long enough.” Jenks’s wings were shading blue from the cold, and he vibrated them for warmth. “She’s, ah, rallying the living vampires to protect the undead. Not everyone is happy about it. I don’t know what’s going to happen if the elves bring their souls back.”

Concerned, I climbed farther up the pole. The crowd was ugly, and my brow furrowed when I heard a few “Let them die!” rise up. This was so not good. Had they forgotten already the chaos of Cincinnati not three months ago when the master vampires were sleeping?

“You can’t deny them their souls!” the man with the mic shouted with the professional outrage of someone comfortable with the pulpit. “It’s their God-given right!”

“Is it not our right to protect them?” Nina said, eyes black with threat. “We’ve always given them what they needed *****rvive. We can’t give them their death! They’ve been tricked by the elves and their own desires!”

Nervous, I looked toward the river. Trent was only a few blocks away at the arena and the closed dewar meeting. It was too easy to imagine the mob storming the place. No one could stop it with the I.S. and FIB concentrated here.

“My master found his soul,” Nina said, and the crowd stilled at the power in her voice. Felix had changed her, almost into a master herself with his thoughts running through hers for so long, and I shivered at the command. “It was fixed to him,” she intoned, and even the zealot on the stage was silenced. “It tormented him day and night until he walked into the sun. Be glad the souls have fled. Hide your masters if they should return. They bring only pain.”

“He was weeping in joy!” the man with the mic proclaimed, but beside Nina’s impassioned presence, he looked cheap. “Who are you to deny him?”

“He was in pain!” Nina shouted, and the crowd began to stir. “The grace of the undead is that they feel no pain, and he was in pain. He was broken! Tell your masters the elves lie. Tell your masters they seek to kill them! Tell them even if they should beat you and send you from their sight. You must protect them because they love you!”

The voice of the crowd rolled between the buildings, drowning out both Nina and the man onstage. Worried, I got down from the pole. I had to find Ivy and call Trent. Get him out of there. Warn him.

“Your master died because God brought his sins home!” the man was saying.

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“The elves sit in conference right now to bring their souls back. We can’t let them do it!” Nina thundered. “They’re trying to kill our masters! He walked into the sun!” she cried in pain. “He walked into the sun and now I am alone!”

Her anguish raged out, connecting with every living vampire there. They knew what it was to be alone. They feared it. The urge to rise up was almost unbearable. Felix had given her the strength of the undead and the passion of the living. No wonder Ivy loved her.

“My God,” I whispered, jolted from her charisma when someone bumped me. “Jenks, is Edden here?” We had to get Nina to shut up, even if I agreed with her. The vampires were going to storm the dewar if this continued.

“Yeah.” Jenks landed on my shoulder. “He’s over by the curb. Where the horses are?”

I looked over the heads to where the mounted police usually hung out. Sure enough, there were two very unhappy horses, an FIB van, and a bunch of FIB guys clustered around something. A plan to get the people out of here, maybe.

“How am I going to get over there?” I muttered, gaze roving over the square. The huge vid screen was now showing the Cincy arena. The wind down there was intense, blowing the newscaster’s hair everywhere as the dewar began to break up and people began to leave. My breath came easier. Maybe they were evacuating before the crowd decided elves were on a par with biogeneticists and lynched them all. Maybe the vampires were trying to get rid of the elves . . . So far, only Felix had died, and he’d been on his way out already.

“It’s God’s will they die!” the zealot was screaming, a harsh contrast to Nina’s powerful anguish. “It’s penance for the atrocities they have perpetrated! Let them be judged!”

Jenks’s dust was a beacon as he hovered over me, looking for the easiest path to the curb. “Ah, Rache? Is that your mom?”

Oh God. I shoved someone, trying to see. My fear redoubled as I spotted her standing on a planter, hand in a fist as she shouted and gestured, calling someone a prejudiced prick and religious hypocrite zealot all in one breath. She looked fantastic in her outrage, and I almost lost sight of her when the crowd shifted. “Mom!” I shouted, then grunted when I got an elbow in the gut from some faceless woman. “Mom!”

She heard me. Somehow she heard me over the noise and confusion. She turned, her face still alight with the fire of battling injustice. Clearly this was where I’d gotten it from, and without even a glance at the stage, she fought her way off the planter and to me.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” I said when she finally got close.

“Oh, you ruined your funeral!” she moaned, giving me a quick hug.

She was okay, and I hugged her back. “Mom. We have to get out of here,” I said, not believing she was worried about my funeral.

“No matter,” she said, beaming as she shoved someone to get a smidgen more room. “The band crapped out on me anyway. Isn’t it a marvelous day for a protest?”

Wincing, I held her shoulder so no one would force us apart. Marvelous wasn’t exactly the word I’d use. Nina was on the bullhorn again. Some were listening raptly, others—mostly human by the look of it—were booing. I could tell who were the living vampires not only because of the way they reacted to Nina but because they looked terrified. It was starting to slide from a mob to a riot. “Jenks? Find Ivy. My car is on Vine.”

He darted off, making me envy his wings. My heart pounded. “Mom, we have to go.”

But she was watching the stage as Nina exclaimed, “If there’s one thing the living have learned, it’s that what you want most will kill you. It’s our time to protect them. We can’t allow the elves to bring back their souls!”

My mom wiped an eye. “It reminds me of the Turn,” she said, smiling. “But it smells a hell of a lot better. No one decaying in the alleys.”

I elbowed someone out of the way so we could start for the street. “Mom, where’s Donald?”

“He went to get me a coffee. It takes him a while. People recognize him, and he always stops and talks. It’s a pain in the ass sometimes.”

Visions of tomorrow’s headlines began swimming before me. Stomach tight, I began to inch her to the curb. She jerked me to a stop with a hug. “I’m so proud of you, sweetheart. I’ve been watching Nina, and I think she’s perfect for Ivy. It wouldn’t take much to change your funeral into a wedding for them.”

“Mom!” I said as I disentangled myself. “We have to get out of here!”

“I’m just saying she’s smart, attractive, and has more determination than you. Look at her. Magnificent! She’s so entrenched in her belief. It makes me want to protect the beastly things myself.”

“We have to go,” I said again, then jumped when my phone vibrated.

“Go!” she exclaimed, face flushed and eager. “It’s just getting started!”

She turned to the stage, arm pumping in the air as I let go of her to fish my phone out. It was Trent, but I’d never be able to hear him. Just glad he was alive, I flipped the phone open. “Trent? You okay?” I shouted, hand over one ear as the zealot with the mic pointed at the TV and proclaimed that now they would know the true purity of the soul.

Clearly something had shifted at the dewar, and I turned to the TV, showing the riverfront with lots of blond men and women coming out of the stadium now instead of one or two as before.

“Rachel?” Trent’s voice came, tiny and small. “I’m fine. Where are you?”

“I’m looking for Ivy. I’m at the square with my mom and Jenks!” I shouted. On the screen, a reporter I recognized elbowed a CNN reporter out of the way to get in front of Landon. “Nina’s rallying the vampires to stop the elves from returning the undead souls. Trent, you have to get out of there.”

“I’m going right now,” Trent said, but I never would’ve understood it if I hadn’t heard him whisper in my ear before. “You have to leave the square. Now!”

But the reporter had gotten Landon to stop, and the crowd quieted enough to hear her say, “Sa’han Landon, Sa’han Landon, can you comment on the sudden disappearance of the undead souls with the rising sun? Have the elves agreed on a course of action to bring them back?”

Her voice was echoing between the buildings, and the sound of the crowd diminished even more, punctuated by the occasional shout.

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“Rache?”

I dropped my head, trying to hear Trent. “I can’t leave without Ivy. Trent, I’m looking at Landon on TV. He’s going to make a statement.”

“Damn it, Rachel, get out of there!” he shouted. “It’s about to get ugly!”

I tugged at my mom with my free hand, but no one was moving anymore, all eyes fixed on the screen as Landon raised his hands at the mics shoved at him. Behind him, people were leaving the arena with the quickness of rats fleeing a foundering ship. “Wait, I want to hear this,” my mom said.

“It has been determined that the sudden absence of souls this morning was caused by the demons, not a failure in our original spell,” Landon said, his benign young smile both practiced and convincing.

“You liar!” I shouted up at the screen. “It was your lame-ass spell that failed!”

People turned to me, and I scowled as Jenks’s dust suddenly wreathed me.

“Rachel?” came Trent’s voice, tiny from the phone in my hand. “Listen. To. Me. Get out of there! For God’s sake, get out now!”

Jenks landed on my shoulder, his wings cold against me. “Ivy’s coming. Don’t move.”

But moving was the last thing on my mind as Landon spoke. “We’ve decided on a course of action, one that not only will bring the souls of the undead back and lock them to this reality, but one that will also facilitate a smoother reunion with their original bodies and rid us of the demons now among us.”

“You son of a bastard,” I whispered. I stared up at the screen, almost oblivious to the new space around me and that the nearest people were whispering. “He’s lying!” I shouted, and from the stage I could hear more voices raised in anger. “The demons didn’t do it! It’s the dewar elves with their sloppy spell casting. They’re trying to kill the undead!”

“Ah, Rache?” Jenks said from my shoulder, too cold to fly well, but I stood there and fumed. Had they forgotten the chaos of when the masters were sleeping just three months ago? Their fear of the night?

“I would implore everyone,” Landon was saying, “especially the living vampires, to find it in themselves to not take their anger out on the demons. We will resolve the issue in due course in a safe and efficient manner.”

My jaw clenched. “You’re saying that because it’s only demon magic that can fix the souls permanently, and you need them! You want the vampires dead!”

“Rache!” Jenks shouted, and I jumped when he pinched my ear. Blinking, I saw the new eight feet of space between me and everyone else. My mom stood at my shoulder, and I could hear Ivy fighting her way to get to me. My phone dangled in my hand, and Trent’s voice desperately shouted at me to leave, to get out.

I didn’t think it was going to be that easy anymore.

“You see the lies!” the zealot on the stage shouted, and I spun to see he had the stage all to himself. “She is a demon!”

Oh God, he was pointing at me. Sure, I could do some magic and blast everyone, but that’d only get me in jail, if I was lucky. “Ah, Trent. I gotta go,” I muttered, then closed the phone in the middle of his outcry.

Shaking, I tucked the phone away. The ring of people stared at me, more joining them every second. My mother took my elbow protectively. “Let’s go,” she said, but no one moved to let us through. Instead, they inched closer, expressions determined.

“Stop them! Make them answer to us!” the man on the stage shouted, and I gasped as hands reached out.

Instinct kicked in. I pulled heavily on the line. Someone cried out a warning, and I sent it through them, the power of the line arching from one to the other.

“Rachel!” Jenks shouted as it had no effect and I went down under a wash of arms and hands. There were too many of them, and my strength was diluted. Hands grasped and tugged, and I couldn’t breathe. Someone pulled my hair, and I hit the pavement. I couldn’t set a circle—there were too many bodies crossing the line and it couldn’t form.

“No!” I shrieked as a hand clamped over my wrist, and then I cowered as I felt the snap of lavender strike through me as if in protection.

“Corrumpo!” my mother shouted, and I cowered again as a wave of energy pulsed forward, ripping the grasping hands away so the sun could beat down on me again.

Stunned, I looked at the one hand still on me. “Mom?” I questioned, and she yanked me up as if I was still fourteen and couldn’t walk a block without panting. “Where did you learn that?”

“Get your hands off my daughter!” she shouted, her color high and her hair wild.

Jenks dropped down, and my mom let go of my wrist. “Jeez, Rache. Your mom kicks ass.”

I took a breath. We weren’t out of it yet. They were wary, but that guy on the stage was still yelling at them to attack us. “She needed to be to keep me alive,” I said, edging forward and seeing people grudgingly begin to part. “She once took an orderly out with a bedpan so I could go home for the solstice.”

“Move!” Ivy’s voice came, and I turned. “Get out of my way!”

The man on the stage pointed, distance making him brave. “Stop them! She’s a demon! She took their souls! If you act together, she can’t stop you!”

“The hell I can’t,” my mother muttered, and hearing her, the people pressed back to make a path.

Ivy finally broke through. Her head snapped up at the harsh claxon that suddenly rang out. “Son of a bitch,” my mother muttered, staring at the sky. “They’re going to seal the circle. Run!”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but after seeing her blow a lynch mob off me, I wasn’t going to question her. “Come on!” I shouted, grabbing Ivy’s hand and running at the people circling us.

They screamed, parting in panic as we came at them, and we plowed through. Elbows hit me, and the scent of fear. My grip on Ivy never faltered as I followed my mom and Jenks’s dust. Adrenaline was cold fire as I felt the prickling of a rising field. It was just before me, and I lunged, dragging Ivy behind me as I dove for the rising shimmer.

“No!” I cried as it licked over me, hesitating a heartbeat as it decided what side of me it would form on, and then I was through, Ivy in tow. We hit the ground together, and she spun to her feet with unreal grace.

Shocked, I sat on the pavement and stared at the purple-and-green shimmering field behind me. It was so thick, I couldn’t see past it. My palm was scraped, and I rubbed at it as I tried to decide what hurt and what didn’t. I hadn’t known they could close the square like that.

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My urge to rise vanished at the new pain in my shoulder. Hissing, I took my weight off my hand, then yelped when some guy smelling like vampire hoisted me up. “Hey! Let go,” I shouted, then looked for my mom, even as the man got a tighter grip.

“It’s a containment field,” she said, smiling as an I.S. officer wrenched her arms behind her and zip-stripped her. “Donald and I got stuck in it once during a protest and they let us sit there for five hours before dropping it.” She looked up at the man trying to haul her off. “Hey! I’ve a right to assemble!”

Jenks was grinning, darting back and forth to avoid a man with a net. “Your mom could write a book, Rache.”

They were arresting us? “Dude, I’m on your side!” I exclaimed, then gasped when the guy who’d picked me up off the sidewalk shoved me at a car and wrenched my arms back. “Ow! Watch the shoulder!”

“Nina is still in there!” Ivy was screaming, and I heard the familiar thumps and pained grunts that happened when you told Ivy no. The man let go of me, and I spun, wrists bound as I leaned against the car to watch. I kind of worked for the FIB. We’d get this sorted out as soon as we found Edden.

“Ohhh, that’s going to hurt for a week,” Jenks said in admiration as he hovered beside me, and I winced.

“Jenks, go find Edden, will you?”

“You got it!” he said cheerfully, and darted away.

Ivy was backed up to the shimmering barrier, keeping everyone a good eight feet away with her attitude. They knew who she was, and I thought it dumb they persisted. She was magnificent with her streaming hair and dark eyes, motions clean and sharp as she beat off two more agents who dared to try her.

I.S. officers in specialized vests were going in and out of the barrier as if it didn’t exist. I hadn’t even know they had this kind of thing. Ivy spun when Nina’s voice carried as she was brought through, subdued in a straitjacket as they bundled her to an I.S. van. The zealot was right behind her, and I hoped they put them in separate vehicles. What is taking Edden so long? This strip is too tight.

“Nina!” Ivy called, and then I gasped as a man in a vest came through the barrier right behind Ivy and took her down.

Ivy struggled wildly, and my mom inched to stand beside me, eyes wide in admiration as my roommate wiggled, twisted, and finally succumbed to a martial arts grip that would snap her wrist if she continued, her free hand slapping her thigh in a show of submission.

“Good girl, Tamwood,” the vampire who had downed her snarled. “Get me a restraining harness!” he shouted, louder.

“Hey!” I exclaimed, pissed. He was the same guy who’d zip-stripped me, clearly pleased with himself as Ivy was bundled up by his buddies. “I’m Rachel Morgan, and that’s Ivy Tamwood. What are you doing? We’re here to help!”

The vampire’s smile chilled me, but his charms fell flat as I lifted my chin and stared him down. “Rachel Morgan,” he drawled as he took his field harness off and handed it to a subordinate. “Resisting arrest? You’re going to be locked up for a long time.”

“I did not!” I said indignantly. “I did not do one thing to resist arrest. If I had, I wouldn’t have been arrested! Where’s Captain Edden?” But as the vampire continued to smile at me, I was starting to have doubts. I hadn’t done anything wrong except fudge a little on why I was down here, but once you went into I.S. custody, they could make you sit in a room for over a day before they had to charge or release you.

And here I stood, my magic gone because I played by the rules. I could almost hear Al laughing at me, telling me I deserved to be locked up if I expected a demon to get a fair shake.

“Cormel wants to talk to you,” the vampire whispered.

“Back up, fang breath,” I said, and his nasty smile faltered because he hadn’t scared me. The reality, though, was a little different. Cormel? Great. He wouldn’t accept that this was madness. I couldn’t help him, and even if I could, I wouldn’t.

“You’re making a mistake,” I said softly, gaze flicking to Ivy being hauled up from the pavement, sullen and angry.

The vampire looked back at her. I didn’t like the way his lips curled in satisfaction. “Cormel wants you to fix this. Give him his soul.”

“And be blamed for it when he commits suncide?” I snarled. It was starting to thin out this side of the barrier, though it would probably be at least an hour before traffic would be allowed to resume.

“That way,” the vampire said, shoving me into motion. My mother was behind me, and Ivy in front. The I.S. van was dead ahead, and I wasn’t going to get into it. Once you went into the I.S. tower, the law didn’t seem to matter anymore. And they are afraid of demons? I asked myself, heart pounding. What did they know that I didn’t?

“He wants his soul,” the vampire said, pinching my shoulder as he pushed me along. “You either get it for him, or Ivy dies.”

My pulse raced. I looked at Ivy, then the van. I tensed to do something, spinning when Edden’s voice echoed out, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing, Uric? These are my people!”

My knees almost gave way, and the vampire, Uric apparently, stopped, hands scrabbling to catch me as he suddenly had my entire weight to hold. “Edden,” I breathed. “Thank God.”

Uric hauled me back up, and the entire group of us came to a halt, mere steps from the I.S. van. “Since when?” he said boldly, and I jerked when he twisted the band around my wrist to make it hurt. “She can’t work for you. She’s Inderland.”

Edden bulled his way forward, six uneasy but big officers behind him. “She’s a demon,” Edden said, gesturing. “There are no restrictive labor laws for demons. She’s mine. Let her go.”

The scent of angry vampire grew, and the man holding Ivy grunted as she jabbed an elbow into him. “She was resisting arrest,” Uric muttered.

“I was not!” I went slack in his grip to keep him from hauling me off, then stood up when he tried to scoop me into a carry hold. “Edden, I made no move to resist arrest, or I wouldn’t be here now and you know it! This is an abduction. Cormel wants me, and if I go in, I’m not coming out.” I hesitated as Edden chewed his lip, making his mustache bunch. “Edden!”

Edden’s eyes narrowed. He reached for me and Uric pulled me back. “Do the paperwork,” Uric said, and Edden’s eyes narrowed. Jenks hovered, unsure and uneasy.

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“Hit me,” Edden said, and Uric’s hold on me tightened.

“E-excuse me,” I stammered, then exclaimed, “Ow!,” when Uric yanked me back a step.

“Hit him, Rache!” Jenks shrilled.

Uric gestured, and the men holding Ivy began wrestling her to the van.

“Rache!” Jenks shouted, and my mom pursed her lips.

“Hell, I’ll do it,” she said, and flung out her foot, kicking Edden square in the balls.

Clutching himself, he groaned as my mother muttered that she hadn’t hit him that hard.

Everyone was looking at him, and it suddenly dawned on me what he was trying to do. “Let go!” I shouted, wiggling out of Uric’s grip and doing a soft, barely there crescent kick at Edden’s jaw as he froze, clutching his privates.

“Get her down!” someone screamed, and my eyes widened. They were all coming at me. Both sides.

“Look out!” Jenks shrilled, and I was suddenly trying to breathe as three men pretended I was a loose football and fell on me. The pavement hit hard, and I think I blacked out for a second. Oh God, I couldn’t breathe, but it was Edden who hauled me up, a little rougher than he needed to as he shoved me at his men. I fell into them, gasping for air. ****, I’d broken something, and his nose was bleeding. From the outskirts I heard a wolf howl rise, and a shiver ran up my spine.

“She’s mine!” Edden yelled at Uric, inches in front of him and angry as Edden had to peer up at him around his watering eyes and bleeding nose. “She hit me, and she’s mine! You hit an FIB officer, you go to the FIB. You can have her when I’m done with her. Got it?”

Breath fast, I looked for Ivy, not seeing her. She’d used the distraction and gotten free. From behind the crowd I heard a bang and the van holding Nina shook. Another howl rose. David? I hadn’t seen any Weres in the crowd, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t been there.

My mom was grinning as she landed next to me against the cop car. “God, I love protest rallies.” Her gaze went past me to the crowd. “Yoo-hoo! Donald! Come bail me and Rachel out, will you, sweetheart?”

Oh God, the news crews were here, and I hung my head as my birth father grinned and waved his checkbook. He had a couple of groupies with him, and I figured he’d get a ride to the FIB building with no problem.

“They’re Inderland. They’re to be in my custody!” Uric was shouting, eyes black and face red, and Edden shoved his chest right back at him.

“That woman assaulted me,” Edden said, pointing at me. “She’s mine unless she assaulted you first. Did she assault you?”

Uric’s lips curled back, and I thought I saw the fear of self-preservation in him. “No, but Tamwood did,” he snarled, and then his expression became even uglier when he saw the bleeding faces and cradled arms of the men who had been holding her. “Find Tamwood!” he shouted, and everyone scrambled into motion, even the one with the bad limp. My good feeling died as Uric focused on me for a long moment before turning on a heel and striding away.

“There’s got to be an easier way to do this,” Edden said, dabbing at his bleeding nose.

“Crap on toast, Edden. I’m sorry,” I said, heart pounding. “I owe you big.”

He put a hand on my shoulder and led me away with a quickness that told me he wasn’t quite sure he had the legal authority on his side. “Don’t think I won’t call this in someday,” he said, leaning so close I could smell the coffee on his breath. “Ivy just better keep that girlfriend of hers quiet.” He glanced back over his shoulder, then dropped his head. “Damn, Rachel, don’t you know how to pull your punches?” Edden dabbed at his lip. “I bit right through my lip.”

“Sorry,” I said, then gestured for Jenks to see if he could find Ivy. Knowing her, she was probably safe already. Humming his approval, he darted off.

“How is the investigation on my church going?” I asked, hands still tied behind my back. There was an FIB car up ahead, and I guessed that’s where we were headed.

“I’ve assigned someone to it, but we’ve been kind of busy lately. What are you doing out here? It’s not safe.”

I looked back at the mess. People were being pulled out from behind the hazy field in ones and twos, the most cooperative coming first, apparently. “Yep, I figured that out. How about getting this zip strip off me?” I asked as he unlocked the back door and opened it. Takata was watching this, and I was embarrassed.

“Next time pull your punches,” Edden said as he put a hand on my head and sort of scooted me into the backseat. “Watch your head.”

“Edden!” I complained, and he hesitated, pointing for me to stay but not shutting the door. It was awkward with my hands behind me like that, and I sat sideways with my feet on the pavement. It smelled like stale man sweat, and my nose wrinkled in disgust. My mom was already free, talking to the officers and waving to Trent as his car slowly pulled under the DON’T CROSS tape. I jumped when my phone rang, frustrated when I couldn’t reach it. Damn it, it was probably Ivy.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” I grumbled, pulling at the plastic-coated silver strip. Trent had gotten out, and my heart thumped as he talked to Edden. He shook Edden’s hand before turning to me, his hands in his pockets and steps slow as he wove through the thinning crowd of officers.

“I told you to leave,” he said when he got close enough, and my frustration vanished at his smile, both glad to see me and worried.

“I tried,” I said, gaze shifting to my mom and then the I.S. van. “It got complicated.” I scooted out of the car, awkward until he took my shoulder to balance me. Turn-blasted zip strip, I thought, and suddenly the wristband gave way with a little pop. Surprised, I rubbed at my wrists. “Thanks,” I said as I sighed in relief.

“For coming down here? It was a calculated risk.”

“No, for taking the zip strip off.” Trent hesitated, and a cold feeling slipped into me. “Ah, didn’t you just snap it?” I hadn’t felt anything, but if he’d been quick about it, I wouldn’t, seeing as the strip blocked you from all line contact.

“No.”

Worried, I turned back to the car to find it. Uric must have put it on too tight and it just broke. But a cold feeling slipped into me when the backseat and pavement were bare. “It’s got to be here,” I said as I dropped to my knee and looked under the car.

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“What?”

“The zip strip,” I said, not seeing it. “One of the I.S. guys zipped me, and it just snapped.” Worried, I dug down between the seat and the back to find an old pen and a plastic cup lid, but no zip strip. “You sure you didn’t break it?”

Trent shook his head, and my heart seemed to stop. The strip hadn’t broken. I had destroyed it. I had destroyed it with a wish, with a want, and I’d done it without access to the ley lines. There was only one way to do magic without access to a ley line, and my jaw clenched.

I had mystics in me. I might not be able to hear them, but they could hear me. And I think Al knew it. Was counting on it, maybe. He wanted me to close the lines, and it would take magic to open them back up again.

“Trent—” I started, then scrambled to grab my phone when it began humming again. It was Ivy, and I thumbed the answer tab, fingers shaking. “Ivy! Where are you?”

A velvety, angry voice flowed out, chilling me. “Don’t wait too long,” Uric said, and the phone clicked off.

Chapter 20

Trent’s tiny car was plush, the fan pushing a warm breeze over me, making my hair tickle against my neck. My hands were on the wheel, but we were parked in one of the few spots on the street right outside the I.S. building. It had been a good hour since leaving the square, and Ivy was probably in there by now, settled in whatever cell they’d picked out for her.

Fidgeting, I tapped my nails on the wheel. I’d chipped one somewhere, and I ran my thumb over the rough edge as I looked at Trent drowsing, slumped against the window on the passenger side. Jenks was in the back window doing the same. I didn’t want to wake either of them, but if I waited much longer, Cormel would start tormenting Ivy. I had one shot at getting her out, and I was lucky Trent was with me, sleepy or not. His bangs shifted as he breathed, and I stifled my urge to arrange them.

He shouldn’t be here. He’s too important, I thought, but Trent had flatly refused to leave. And I could use his help—a lot—so I sat here in his car hoping something would happen and I wouldn’t have to risk Trent’s life in order to save Ivy’s.

Love stinks.

My attention flicked behind me to a car beeping as someone locked it. Trent stirred, quickly placing himself and straightening with a soft sound and a stretch. From the back, I heard the hum of wings. “How long have we been sitting here?” Trent asked, fuzzy with sleep.

“About five minutes,” I lied, then shot a look at Jenks to shut up when the pixy darted into the front, his dust a tattletale orange. “You were tired. I was thinking.”

Trent frowned as he looked at his watch and then to a smug Jenks. “About what?”

About the mystics in me, I thought, then decided to keep lying. “How good that island you offered me three years ago sounds.”

“Yeah, Rache, but think of all the stuff you would have missed lounging on a beach with an umbrella drink.” Jenks parked it on the dash and ran a hand over a wing, looking for tears.

Trent’s smile took on a touch of longing. “Mmmm, yes.” He began gathering his things to get out, and I just sat there, not moving. We had a plan, but I didn’t like it. He hesitated, glancing at Jenks before settling back. Taking my hand, he pulled me to him across the small space. Eyes inches apart, he earnestly said, “We either go in under our terms, or they come get us when the sun goes down.”

“I know,” I said, thinking of how little I had in my shoulder bag. I needed his help, but I didn’t want to risk his getting hurt—or worse.

Trent’s grip on me tightened. “Ivy is down there,” he said, and I almost pulled away. “Fighting our way in and out is chancy. This gets us halfway there.”

“I know.” Damn it, I’d worked hard to stay out of Cormel’s grip.

“That is where we need to be,” Trent said, and I blinked fast. He’d said us. He’d said we.

“This isn’t your fight,” I whispered.

“Rachel . . .” Trent squeezed my hand, bringing my eyes to him. “It is. This is more than Ivy, and even if that’s all it was, I’m not about to let you walk into Cormel’s office alone. Cormel knows Landon is lying about giving him his soul. He needs you alive to give him what he wants.”

Jenks was watching us solemnly. “How does that make this your problem?” I asked, and Trent’s eye twitched.

“He needs me, too. He just doesn’t know it yet. I have to make him aware of it before he tries to kill me again,” he said, and Jenks frowned.

Sighing, I looked past Trent and to the lobby door wishing I knew how to play this political game better. I’d spent two of the last three years of my life hating Trent and the last six months realizing it hadn’t been hate at all. “I fail to share your optimism about our intrinsic worth to a master vampire,” I said dryly, and Trent ran a hand over his stubbled cheeks, a flicker of surprise crossing him at the rough feel.

“Landon is trying to find enough support to close the lines,” he said. “It’s the only way to keep the surface demons in reality. If the lines close, magic ends . . .” He hesitated, unable to look at me. “. . . for the most part. If it happens, we need to be in a position to open them back up again.”

My lips pressed in disbelief. “And we get that seven stories down in the earth?”

Trent nodded, shrugging helplessly. “If that’s where you are, then yes.”

He wasn’t going to let me out of his sight. The soft snick of Jenks sharpening his sword seemed loud. “I still say that’s a bunch of hooey, so I’ll let you come with me,” I said, and Trent smiled, leaning across the space to give me a kiss. His lips met mine, warm and tasting of cinnamon and wine. My eyes closed, and my heart gave a thump, almost an ache for how much he loved me—I loved him.

“There’s that, too,” he whispered as he pulled back, his fingers leaving tingles. “Ready?”

I was going straight into the devil’s lair, but at least I had company. “Okay, you can come,” I said as I looked behind the car for traffic and reached for the door handle.

Trent’s touch pulled me to a stop, and I turned to see his worried smile. “Thanks,” he said, and I choked back a bitter laugh before I got out, scared for Ivy, scared for me, scared for Jenks and Trent.

But I did get out, breathing in the good Cincy air as I sent my eyes up the imposing facade. Trent and Jenks were waiting for me at the curb, and I hustled forward. “Thanks for driving,” he said as I came even and I hooked my arm in his. “The nap did me good.”