Jenks"s wings clattered, and he flitted to the far side of the car, well out of her reach. "I didn"t tell her nothing!" he shouted, laughing. "Tink"s contractual h.e.l.l, Ivy, I didn"t tell her! She must have figured it out. She"s not stupid!"
The car jerked as I hit the brakes before I needed to, but I wanted to look at Jenks. "Something is is going on. I knew it!" going on. I knew it!"
"There"s no anything," Ivy protested, her face red in the light from the oncoming traffic. "Nothing is going on. Nothing!"
"Nothing?" Jenks blurted out, unable to keep quiet anymore. "You think-"
"Shut up, Jenks," Ivy snarled.
His wings humming, he hung in the middle of the car as if nailed to the air. He was holding his breath, and silver sparkles were drifting from him to make a light bright enough to read by. The pitch from his wings was starting to make my eyeb.a.l.l.s hurt. Grinning, I looked across to Ivy. "You"d better tell me or he"s going to explode."
"They"ve been on three dates," Jenks said, and Ivy s.n.a.t.c.hed for him.
My smile widened as Jenks frantically darted about the car. "I can"t!" he shouted. "Ivy, I can"t! I can"t not say anything!"
Sullen, Ivy slumped in her seat, giving up. "I can"t believe you told her. You promised."
The pixy landed on the wheel as I put the car in motion and merged into "traffic" when a big SUV made some s.p.a.ce. "He didn"t tell me," I said as I waved thanks to the guy. "Glenn"s coat smells like you." I made a face. "And honey. I don"t want to know why. Really."
Jenks"s wings halted. "Honey? Honey and gold?" he asked, and Ivy seemed to cringe.
"Yes," I said, able to identify the hot-metal smell now. "Sun-warmed gold. And honey."
Hands on his hips, Jenks turned to Ivy. "You told me Daryl was leaving."
Daryl? Who in h.e.l.l is Daryl?
Ivy"s expression became bothered. "She is. Soon as she finds a place." She? She?
"Like that"s ever gonna happen!" Jenks exclaimed. "The woman is s.e.x in sandals!"
"Glenn isn"t going to kick her out!" Ivy said loudly. "She"s not well. "
"No wonder with Glenn keeping her up all night doing the nasty! "
"Hey!" Ivy exclaimed, eyes going black. "That"s uncalled for! He hasn"t touched her."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I said, sneaking glances at them both. "Who is Daryl?" And why haven"t I heard about her before? And why haven"t I heard about her before?
Jenks"s wings stopped moving, and I thought I saw a flash of panic in him as Ivy forced her expression to neutral. Both of them seemed to pull three steps back in their thinking, and after a moment, Ivy said, "Just a woman we met on a run when you were in the ever-after. She needed some help. A place to stay. Glenn is putting her up until she finds her feet."
Jenks was silent as he looked at the car"s ceiling, so I turned to Ivy-waiting.
"It"s not any different from you foisting Ceri off on Keasley," she muttered. "I couldn"t bring her to the church. Glenn is helping her out is all."
"Helping her right out of her clothes, I bet," Jenks said loudly, then darted to my shoulder when Ivy flicked her finger at him.
"She is not having s.e.x with Glenn," Ivy continued. "I"d know."
"Yeah, you"d know because you"re dating him," Jenks said. "Did you give him the dating guide yet?"
"Jenks!" she said, dismayed now, and he darted away from her s.n.a.t.c.h for him.
"How about kissing him? Did you at least kiss him yet?" he asked, laughing.
A low noise came from Ivy, almost a growl, and she seemed to melt into the cars darkness. My breath slipped out, and I put my blinker on to get in the lane for the bridge traffic; someone would let me in. Yeah, she"d kissed him-within an inch of his life, I bet.
I curled in my lower lip and glanced at Jenks. The pixy gestured for me to go for it, and I did. "Have you bitten him?" I asked, needing to know. He was my friend, too.
Ivy said nothing, and Jenks hummed his wings. "Did"ja?" he needled. "Did he?"
Still she said nothing, telling me she had, and I wondered if this might be a big mistake or one of the best things in Ivy"s life. Glenn was nothing if not solid. "He doesn"t want to go vamp, does he?" I asked, half joking but afraid of her answer. I was the last person to advocate shunning vampires as friends, but if you didn"t know what you were doing, or the vampire was a real predator, you were in trouble. Glenn and Ivy were all of the above.
"No."
She was down to one-word answers, but she was still talking. Jenks"s relieved expression told me it was more than she"d told him-which made me feel good. "Good," I said, careful to keep my eyes on the pa.s.sing traffic to give her some privacy. "I like him the way he is."
"You"d like him more as a vampire. I can tell. I"ve seen it before." She sounded wistful, and I looked across the dark car at her, trying to hide my alarm.
"Ivy..."
"He doesn"t want to go vamp," she said, flicking her eyes at me and then away. "That"s one of the things I like about him."
Jenks winced, wings flat against his back. He knew as well as I that what you you wanted didn"t mean c.r.a.p if the vampire you were with wanted something else. She was alive, so she couldn"t turn him-only dead vampires could do that-but she could bind him, make him a shadow. Not that she would mean to, but accidents happened in the throes of pa.s.sion. h.e.l.l, I roomed with her, and that was hard enough. Adding s.e.x or blood to the mix could be deadly, which was why I"d finally made our relationship strictly platonic-that it had taken almost two years of confusing emotions and two bites between us to do it was beside the point. wanted didn"t mean c.r.a.p if the vampire you were with wanted something else. She was alive, so she couldn"t turn him-only dead vampires could do that-but she could bind him, make him a shadow. Not that she would mean to, but accidents happened in the throes of pa.s.sion. h.e.l.l, I roomed with her, and that was hard enough. Adding s.e.x or blood to the mix could be deadly, which was why I"d finally made our relationship strictly platonic-that it had taken almost two years of confusing emotions and two bites between us to do it was beside the point.
I darted a nervous look at Jenks. "And he"s okay with you going somewhere else for blood?" I asked hesitantly. Ivy never talked to me about her boyfriends. Her girlfriends either.
Gazing out the window at the night, Ivy said softly, "Who said I was?"
"No fairy-a.s.sed way!" Jenks exclaimed, and I gave him a look telling him to shut up.
Turning to us, she shrugged in embarra.s.sment. "I told you I didn"t need much. It"s the act, not the amount. I"m not going to make him a shadow. Piscary taught me to be careful, if nothing else." Her eyebrows were raised in challenge as a flush colored her usually pale face. "Jealous?" she asked as she took in my alarmed expression.
Oh. My. G.o.d. "No, I think it"s great," I finally stammered. Ivy and I had a... balanced relationship. Adding blood to it, no matter how right it felt, would destroy exactly what we admired most in each other. Her dating Glenn was a very good thing. I think. "No, I think it"s great," I finally stammered. Ivy and I had a... balanced relationship. Adding blood to it, no matter how right it felt, would destroy exactly what we admired most in each other. Her dating Glenn was a very good thing. I think.
"Urn, you won"t say anything to his dad, will you?" she asked. "Glenn wants to tell him. He"s not embarra.s.sed as much as not wanting to-"
"To deal with Edden telling him it"s a bad idea to date your coworkers," I finished for her before she could even think to bring up the dangers of dating a vampire, even a living one.
Ivy pointed to a break I could slip into, and I hit the gas, eager to be moving again. "I"m being smart about this," she said as the car swung and we shifted from the momentum.
"I won"t say anything unless Edden asks me first." Ivy and Glenn? Am I that blind, or was I just not looking for it? Ivy and Glenn? Am I that blind, or was I just not looking for it? The bridge was ahead, and beyond that, the lights of the Hollows. The bridge was ahead, and beyond that, the lights of the Hollows.
"Thank you," she said, her entire posture easing as she settled into the seat. "Glenn... I wasn"t expecting this. He"s not after my blood, and we like the same stuff."
From the rearview mirror, Jenks snickered. "Guns, violence, crime scene photos, leather, s.e.x, and women. Yeah, I can see that."
"I think it"s good," I said again, hoping he"d shut up, but it was pretty nearly the same list that had brought Ivy and me together.
Jenks laughed. "Has he let you hold his gun yet?"
I smiled as Ivy stiffened.
"The man has a big gun," the pixy continued, his words innocent, but his tone full of innuendo. "It"s got shiny bullets. You like shiny, don"t you, Ivy? I bet Daryl has seen his gun."
"G.o.d, Jenks! Grow up!" she exclaimed, and the pixy snorted.
We inched forward another car length, and Ivy swung her hair away from her face, the oncoming traffic lighting it. "You"re okay with this?" she asked, as if she needed my approval, not because we"d almost been more than roommates, but because we had both loved Kisten and he was dead. I nodded, and she relaxed. My shoulders slumped at the reminder of his bright blue eyes, his lips curving up in a smile I"d never see again.
"Nice," Jenks said from the mirror. "Now she"s thinking about Kisten. Way to go, Ivy."
I shrugged, eyes on the road. "And that"s okay," I said, comfortable with the ache.
Ivy was silent as we moved forward and stopped, moved forward and stopped, lost in her own thoughts, probably tinged with guilt. I"d already had my rebound relationship. Solid, dependable, fun Marshal, who could scuba dive and roller-skate. It could have been a really great friendship, seeing that he liked complex relationships and I was nothing if not that, but then I got shunned and he left. I didn"t blame him. I"d actually seen him a few weeks ago at the Old Newport Theater with a woman who had red hair longer than mine. He hadn"t even waved, just looked at me and walked away with his arm around her waist.
A s.p.a.ce opened before me, and I hit the accelerator as my lane started to move. I picked up speed, turning onto the bridge and b.u.mping over the bad pavement. As I had expected, traffic eased, and I let up on my death grip on the wheel. Ahead of us, the Hollows was beautiful with light, and I sneezed, jerking unexpectedly. "Bless you," Ivy said and Jenks chuckled.
"That"s funny," he said. "A vampire blessing."
I would have agreed with him, but my gut cramped up, stopping my words. "Ow," I said, putting a hand to my middle. Ivy turned to me. "You okay? You look green."
"I feel green." Twisting, I took a quick look behind me to see if I could shift into the exit lane. "My gut cramped up is all. I"m fine." But I wasn"t. I was dizzy, too. It was almost like the time-Shocked, I looked at Jenks. He was looking at me with the same horrified expression. c.r.a.p. It was after sunset. Someone was summoning Al, and since I had his summoning name, they were going to get me instead.
"Rachel?" Ivy questioned, clueless.
No! I thought, scared. I wasn"t a demon. I could I thought, scared. I wasn"t a demon. I could not not be summoned like this! be summoned like this!
But I"d been summoned before by black-arts witches trying for Al, and this was exactly what it had felt like.
My breath hissed in as another wave of pain hit me. A horn blew behind us, and I yanked the car back into my lane. "No," I panted through my teeth. "I won"t go. You can"t make me."
"She"s being summoned!" Jenks shrilled, and Ivy"s face, now close to mine, became terrified. "Ivy, she"s being summoned!"
"Pull over!" Ivy exclaimed. "Rachel, stop the car!"
I couldn"t think, it hurt that bad. My hands gripped the wheel and I seized, the engine racing until I jerked my foot off the gas. The car lurched, and my head hit the wheel. Tears p.r.i.c.ked, and I held my breath, trying to make the world stop spinning. d.a.m.n it, I should have insisted that Al give me my my pa.s.sword back. But as long as I had his, he couldn"t abduct anyone. pa.s.sword back. But as long as I had his, he couldn"t abduct anyone.
"Ivy! Do something!" Jenks yelled as another pain ripped through me. I let go of the wheel to clutch my middle. Ivy grabbed the wheel as the car swerved. Vampiric incense rolled over me, and the car jerked as it hit the curb and swung back.
My head hit the wheel again, and a horn blew. "Ow," I moaned, trying to open my eyes. I could smell ashes. I wouldn"t go. I was not not a demon! a demon!
Vertigo hit, and I reached out, grasping anything as the ground was jerked from me, hands digging into the door, the seat... anything.
"Get out, Jenks!" Ivy screamed. "We"re going to hit!"
There was a quick hum of wings, and then a terrifying jerk. The sound of plastic splintering and the screaming of wheels was loud. My face hit something that felt like a wall and smelled like plastic. The hold on my will cracked, and with the suddenness of a drop of water leaving a faucet, I felt my body suck inward, pulling my soul and aura with it.
And I wasn"t in the car anymore.
The sudden cessation of pain was a shock. I tried to take a breath, but I didn"t have lungs. I was in the ley lines, the warmth and tingling sensation familiar as I was pulled who knew where. Somewhere between my car hitting something and now, I had accepted the s.m.u.t of the demon curse and the pain had vanished. It hurt only when you resisted.
Oh my G.o.d, Ivy and Jenks. They had to be okay. I think the airbag had deployed. We"d hit something, and I was okay, but Ivy and Jenks... They had to be okay. I think the airbag had deployed. We"d hit something, and I was okay, but Ivy and Jenks...
Anger replaced my fear. Someone had pulled me out of existence, causing an accident that I"d live through but that my friends might not. Jenks, Jenks, I thought, imagining his fragile body against the gla.s.s, slowly going cold in the night air as no one looked for him. d.a.m.n it, someone was going to pay for this! I thought, imagining his fragile body against the gla.s.s, slowly going cold in the night air as no one looked for him. d.a.m.n it, someone was going to pay for this!
I"d traveled ley lines enough to know how to keep my soul together, and once I relaxed, it was absurdly easy. Al refused to teach me how to jump the lines by myself, but I could ride them. A tingling whispering through my thoughts gave me warning, and I stiffened as my aura rose through my mind, tapping into the demon archive to find out what I looked like, then turning the energy of the ley line into a body. At least, that"s what Al said that itchy feeling was.
I shuddered, tasting the disjointedness of what felt like a broken ley line slice raw across my awareness, tasting of salt and cracked stone. The uncomfortable feeling ran through me like water in a saltshaker, and I squirmed as I felt myself take shape with an unusual slowness, as if everything was being checked twice.
My lungs were filling with air that was just a shade more substantial than I was, and I stumbled, not quite solid yet. I was standing, though, which was a lot better than showing up facedown. Not yet visible to my summoner, I sniffed deeply. There was no scent of burnt amber-I was in reality, and that was a relief. I"d be dealing with people. A demon might be a problem, but I could convince people to let me out, and then I could do some damage. I knew how to play this game. When summoned, demons couldn"t lie except by omission, but I wasn"t a demon.
There was a faint hum of chanting. I was in a high-ceilinged, round room, dimly lit with a white floor etched in black to make circles intersecting circles. Granite, Granite, I thought, thinking it was almost the inverse of Al"s kitchen floor. I was trapped in the center of a huge six-pointed star that took up most of the room. The protection circle holding me was actually a shallow ditch made to contain salt, blood... whatever. It glowed faintly, the thick haze fading to a soft shimmer a mere three inches above the floor. The sound of gulls turned my attention upward to the open round skylight high above. No clouds, but the clear transparency of dusk told me it was sunset. I thought, thinking it was almost the inverse of Al"s kitchen floor. I was trapped in the center of a huge six-pointed star that took up most of the room. The protection circle holding me was actually a shallow ditch made to contain salt, blood... whatever. It glowed faintly, the thick haze fading to a soft shimmer a mere three inches above the floor. The sound of gulls turned my attention upward to the open round skylight high above. No clouds, but the clear transparency of dusk told me it was sunset.
Holy c.r.a.p! Was I on the West Coast? How in h.e.l.l was I supposed to get home? How in h.e.l.l was I supposed to get home?
With a soft shiver, my aura finished rising through me, carrying the thought of my body with it and coalescing around my mind to leave a nasty taste of ash on my tongue. I had arrived.
Squinting, I brought a hand up to shade my eyes to better see the five people standing at equal intervals around the six-pointed star. I didn"t look like Al, but he could appear as anything he wanted. Any demon summoner worth his salt would know that.
Abruptly I realized where the soot taste was coming from, and horror filled me. I was covered in ash. The faint white haze on my clothes was some dead person"s ashes!
"Oh my G.o.d!" I shouted, smacking at myself to get it off. The chanting abruptly stopped as I danced about the interior of the circle, beating the chunky dust off me. It only made things worse, and I began coughing on someone"s dead grandmother. My eyes watered, and I finally gave up, glaring at them from around my hair, now all over the place. d.a.m.n it, I was covered in strawberries and human remains. This was really gross, but the more I brushed at it, the more it stuck to my leather coat, like pixy dust on wet leaves.
Disgusted, I slowly turned in a circle to look at them. Jaw clenched, I tapped the nearest ley line, feeling that same disjointed cracked sensation again, and I wondered if this was why the U.S.-wide coven meetings were held here. If you weren"t born to it, trying to use the ley lines on the West Coast would be like Russian roulette. Earth magic wouldn"t work at all within a hundred miles of the ocean, a fact that led ley-line witches to think that they were superior to earth witches, but earth magic functioned on fresh water, and put a ley-line witch on a boat-any boat-and they were in trouble without a familiar. I was on the West Coast? Al would laugh his a.s.s off. I was on the West Coast? Al would laugh his a.s.s off.
Between us, the opalescent sheet of the ever-after showed a hint of all their collective auras, not a shade of black among them. My pulse quickened. This might be harder than I thought. These people looked professional, not like the laughable excuse for black-arts witches dressed in hokey black robes who had once summoned me into a bas.e.m.e.nt. The summoning pattern was odd, too. Not that I"d been in the middle of many, but usually it was a five-pointed star, not six-. This was an old configuration. If it had been a friendly spell, I"d be at the position of power where I could draw from the other six. Here, I was their prisoner.
Two women, three men, varying ages. They were dressed professionally in pastels and dark colors-all solid, with no patterns that could disguise a written charm or symbol of power. The tallest had a laptop open on the high stool next to her. Their manner was subdued and confident, not excited, as I"d imagined, seeing as they were summoning a demon. All were looking expectantly at me. And outside the formal circle, standing submissively, like a dog, behind the woman with a laptop, was Nick.
You toad!" toad!" I shrieked, striding forward only to stop short at the shimmering wall of ever-after rising up from the protection circle. It hummed aggressively, and I pulled back, stymied. Hands on my hips, I glared at Nick, heart pounding and p.i.s.sed, growing hot in my strawberry-and-ash-covered coat. I shrieked, striding forward only to stop short at the shimmering wall of ever-after rising up from the protection circle. It hummed aggressively, and I pulled back, stymied. Hands on my hips, I glared at Nick, heart pounding and p.i.s.sed, growing hot in my strawberry-and-ash-covered coat.
"You summoned me, didn"t you!" I accused him, and Nick hunched, brown eyes avoiding mine. "I was driving, driving, Nick. Ivy and Jenks were with me. We hit something, you little p.r.i.c.k. If they"re dead, I swear I will hunt you down. There is nowhere you can hide from me. Nick. Ivy and Jenks were with me. We hit something, you little p.r.i.c.k. If they"re dead, I swear I will hunt you down. There is nowhere you can hide from me. Nowhere!" Nowhere!"
A clatter of pixy wings turned into Jax, and Jenks"s eldest son, dressed in black and looking so much like his dad it hurt, darted erratically in front of Nick. "I gotta get to a phone!" the pixy exclaimed, and he vanished through the open skylight and into the early dusk.
The sight of Jax was a shock, and realizing what I must look like-practically foaming at the mouth and raging like... a demon-I forced myself back from the barrier, the warning buzz having escalated into cramping my toes. Most circles didn"t burn, but this one had been drawn to hold demons. To hold me. I am not a demon. I"m not! I am not a demon. I"m not!
The surrounding witches held to their posts to keep the circle strong, but Nick, who had apparently done the actual summoning, seeing that he knew Al"s name, was picking up his stuff and jamming it in a worn, army-green satchel. "It"s cold in Cincy, Nick," I said, shaking. "You son of a b.i.t.c.h. Even if he survived the crash, he"s going to have a hard time staying alive."
The witch with the laptop shifted to draw my attention from Nick"s grim expression. She was the tallest one there, wearing a black business suit and gray hose. Her legs were too muscular to be called pretty, and her sandy blond hair was in a simple cut with gray highlights. She looked familiar, like from a news article, but it wasn"t until I saw her Mobius-strip pin holding a sprig of heather that I finally got it. c.r.a.p, it was the coven.
Worry colored my anger, and I moved back to the center of the circle, looking over my summoners again to see the balances in play. Vivian was still in Cincinnati, but if she had been here, there"d be three men and three women, an equal number of earth and ley-line users, all carefully selected to supplement one another"s skills. Remembering Vivian"s strength, I knew I was in trouble. Yes, they had been voted into the position, but they"d been trained for it from early childhood like Olympian athletes, skills and traditions embedded into them until magic was like breathing-instinctive, fast, and powerful. This was going to be... tricky.
The woman with the laptop seemed to be the high witch, since she did a quick look around at the others before asking Nick in a pleasant voice, "Is this Morgan, or the demon?"
I wrapped my arms around myself, wanting to demand that they let me out, but I knew they wouldn"t. They wanted me in a hole in the ground-quick and quiet. I was in so much trouble.