Jenks darted from Lee, satisfaction on his small features as the much larger man nodded, clearly understanding the threat that Jenks could be, even as small as he was. "Rachel," the witch asked as he set his mug down on the table, "would you mind if I used your phone? Brooke took my cell, my wallet." His face shifted, eyebrows rising. "d.a.m.n, she mugged me! I need to call my wife and tell her I"m okay. Have her send a car."
Surprised, I leaned back against the sink with my coffee mug warming my fingers. Ivy"s and Jenks"s expressions were as confused as mine. "You"re married?" I asked for all three of us.
Lee grinned, looking like another person-a happy one. "Six weeks. Nice woman. Met her on one of my boats. She"s got her own money, so I know she"s not a gold digger." His head dropped, and a shocking amount of honesty shone from him when he looked up again. "I asked her to marry me for the selfish reason of making my nights easier, but I love her." He chuckled. "It"s... weird. I never thought... you know."
A small sound of understanding slipped from me as I thought of Kisten. It must have been h.e.l.l to be trapped in one"s own skull while a demon used your body for whatever it wanted. "I"m happy for you. Congratulations."
Jenks flew to Ivy, who had slipped in behind her computer to distance herself from the touchy-feely emotional c.r.a.p. Pushing myself into motion, I grabbed the cordless phone from the cradle and handed it to him. Lee took it, hesitating. "You did good, Rachel," he said, surprising me and making Ivy stop her irritating tapping. "You got rid of a demon mark without hurting anyone. The coven should leave you alone. I"d speak for you if it would help, but I"m going to be scrambling for enough favors to keep from being shunned myself."
Warmth touched my face, cooling when Jenks landed on my shoulder. "They will," he said staunchly. "Leave her alone, I mean. They can"t shun you. You own too much."
"Must be nice," I said, looking at my shoulder bag on the table and remembering that Brooke had my phone, too. "Ivy, can I use your phone? I need to call Brooke so she doesn"t try to summon me again."
Not missing a beat, Ivy pulled her slim phone from her back pocket and tossed it.
Lee gave me a nod in understanding, then went into the back living room with the landline for some privacy. Jenks, though, was not happy.
"You"re warning her?" he said, wings clattering at my ear. "What the fairy fart for?"
I scrolled through Ivy"s phone, noticing she"d been talking to Daryl a lot lately. "I don"t know," I said as I found my phone number and hit dial. "It just seems fair."
"Why do you care?" Jenks needled from my shoulder. "Let Al have them. No council equals no more worries!"
He was too close to look at on my shoulder, and I grimaced. Just what I need. My own personal shoulder devil, wearing black and smelling like the Garden of Eden. Just what I need. My own personal shoulder devil, wearing black and smelling like the Garden of Eden. "What if they survive?" I asked. "Who do you think is going to get blamed for the attack?" "What if they survive?" I asked. "Who do you think is going to get blamed for the attack?"
A faint smile quirked Ivy"s lips. "You sure know how to make friends, Rachel. Al is going to be ticked that you warned them."
"Al isn"t trying to give me a lobotomy," I said, then turned away as the line clicked open.
"Rachel Morgan"s phone," came a polite voice. "Can I take a mes-sage?
It was Vivian, and Jenks flew backward as he laughed with the sound of tinkling bells. Both he and Ivy would be able to hear both ends of the conversation with their better hearing, and I crossed my ankles, feeling only a twinge from my knees. "Well, well, well. A coven member is playing secretary for me? I kind of like that." Vivian had to have seen that it was a known number, but "Ice" probably hadn"t meant anything to her.
"Morgan!" the woman barked, followed by a m.u.f.fled exclamation and a demand to pa.s.s the phone. I took a breath to say something, waiting at the distant yelp of pain.
"You"re dead, demon witch. Dead!" Brooke shouted, probably having wrestled the phone from Vivian. "You signed your death warrant when you spilled coven blood. You, Saladan, and whoever that was in the hall with you-all of you are dead" dead"
"Sure. Okay," I said with more confidence than I felt. "You go ahead and bring charges against Lee. I"m sure his lawyers would love that. What was it, Brooke? Kidnapping? Forcing him to summon a demon? You might be able to hide me in a hole, but Lee will be missed. You want to speak with him? He"s in my living room."
I could almost see her jaw clench as she said with clipped words, "I can make people disappear, Morgan. I don"t care if you"re G.o.d G.o.d You don"t scare me." You don"t scare me."
Jenks was hovering a foot in front of me, and he made a motion to get on with it.
"Look, I"m not going to use up my roommate"s minutes arguing with you," I said. "I only wanted to let you know that Al took his name back. If you summon me, you"ll get him instead, so I"d advise against it." And I got rid of a demon mark, la, la, la-a, la, la-a-a, la. And I got rid of a demon mark, la, la, la-a, la, la-a-a, la.
"Demon sc.u.m wh.o.r.e. I"ll give you a lobotomy myself, with a f.u.c.king ice pick!"
Ivy"s eyebrows rose, and Jenks grinned. "Oooh, nice manners, babe!" he said loudly.
I sighed, wishing I"d just kept my mouth shut and let them figure it out for themselves. Lee came back in, quiet as he set the phone in the cradle and stood listening. It was embarra.s.sing to have my baggage displayed like this, but he knew it all already.
"You"re dead, Morgan!" Brooke shouted. "Dead/"
Faint in the background, I heard Vivian. "I"m not going after her alone again. I almost killed six people, Brooke. Innocents. You want her? You catch her."
"You had justifiable cause. There won"t be any charges," Brooke said. "Relax."
"Justifiable cause?" Vivian"s voice was barely audible as she shouted. "I"m not worried about charges. I"m worried about the people I hurt on that bus! She wasn"t even on it!"
"s.h.i.t happens, Vivian. Grow up. You"re playing with the big boys!"
I felt sick, glad now we hadn"t gotten on the bus, but if we had, maybe they would have been all right. "Brooke, this has gotten out of control. How about you leave me alone and I"ll leave you alone? Huh? If it doesn"t work, you can kill me then."
There was silence on the other end of the line, and I shifted my weight to the other foot. Maybe that had been too much, but then she came back after a short, private conversation. "You there, demon wh.o.r.e?" Brooke snarled.
"Yeah, we"re listening," Jenks said from my shoulder. "What do you want, flabby b.u.t.t?"
Brooke made a bitter bark of laughter. "Vivian thinks you still retain your ability to be reasoned with, so here it is. You"ve got one chance to turn yourself in. Be at Fountain Square tomorrow at sunup, or I"m going to burn your church to the ground. Got it? And I hope you hide, because I want you dead!" she shrieked.
I went to answer, but the line was m.u.f.fled as Vivian and Brooke fought for the phone. "So it"s Alcatraz or be made infertile and stupid?" I said sourly, glancing at Ivy. "Nice choice." Why am I trying so hard to stay here? Why am I trying so hard to stay here? In the archway, Lee shrugged. In a burst of motion, Jenks darted out of the kitchen, leaving a sifting beam of burnt gold sparkles. From outside came a gathering whistle followed by a burst of pixy light. Looked like he was telling Matalina the news. They"d likely have pixy lines strung in five minutes flat, rain or no. In the archway, Lee shrugged. In a burst of motion, Jenks darted out of the kitchen, leaving a sifting beam of burnt gold sparkles. From outside came a gathering whistle followed by a burst of pixy light. Looked like he was telling Matalina the news. They"d likely have pixy lines strung in five minutes flat, rain or no.
The sound of someone at the receiver pulled my attention back to the phone. "Just leave me alone, Brooke," I said. "I"m not hurting anyone." Except myself. Except myself.
"You are are a threat, and those are our terms," Vivian said, sounding irritated. "I suggest you take them. At least you"ll be alive." There was a click, and she was gone. a threat, and those are our terms," Vivian said, sounding irritated. "I suggest you take them. At least you"ll be alive." There was a click, and she was gone.
Lips pressed tight, I closed the phone, unable to meet anyone"s eyes. Maybe warning them hadn"t been such a good idea, but at least my conscience was clear. Crossing the room, I handed Ivy her phone, and she tucked it away. "Sorry, Rachel," she said, sounding resigned.
Forcing a smile, I turned to Lee. "How"s your wife?"
"Scared," he said. "I"m going to talk to Trent. I need to be sure my kids won"t be-"
His words cut off, and I finished it for him. "Demons?" I said, wincing in sympathy. "The coven doesn"t know Trent"s dad fixed you, do they?" I asked, realizing why Lee looked so tense in his rumpled suit. Lee shook his head, and I touched his shoulder in support. "Lee, even if they find out, you can"t pa.s.s on the cure. Your kids are going to be okay. They will be carriers, but that"s it. Besides, Trent won"t tell the coven about you. The only reason he told them about me was to force me to come to the elf side."
"The what?" Lee asked, looking confused as well as relieved.
Ivy clicked her pen in quick succession. "Trent told the coven she could invoke demon magic to convince her to sign a lifetime contract with him."
Squinting, Lee said, "I"m not following you."
Huffing, I rolled my eyes. "Trent told the coven that he can control me since his dad helped make me, and that there"s no reason to kill me if he has legal responsibility for me."
"He can"t control you," Lee scoffed, and I bobbed my head.
"I know! He"s doing it because he"s ticked about the familiar bond we have. He says if I own him in the ever-after, then he"s going to own me here." I was starting to get mad just thinking about it, and I crossed my arms over my middle and fumed.
"Sounds like Trent," Lee said, shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt. "You going to sign it?"
"No, she"s not going to sign it," Ivy said. "We"re going to get the coven to back off."
How, I didn"t know right now. I was just trying to survive.
Ivy, though, was eying Lee in suspicion. "Maybe you were the one who told the coven Rachel could invoke demon magic," she said tightly. "To buy your own freedom."
"What, and have them target me next?" he said, and I nodded my agreement. Lee wouldn"t tell. Not in a hundred years. Not newly married as he was. Jeez.
"You need a ride?" I asked, knowing better than to confront Trent in my current state, but hey, if there was an excuse...
"I"ve got a driver coming," he said, his hands unclenching. "You got this okay?"
I nodded. "How good are your lawyers?"
"Better than Trent"s," he said, smiling. I thought it weird that Lee and Trent were still friends, even after Lee had tried to blow up Trent. But after Trent left him for three days in the camp cistern, I guess all bets were off. I guess it was no weirder than my having saved Trent when I hated him.
Jenks buzzed back in, his wings sparkling with rain. "There"s a black car out front," he said, and Lee adjusted his coat as if getting ready to leave.
"That"s mine," he said needlessly, his expression heavy. "Are you sure you don"t want to come with me? I"ve got resources for this kind of thing. I can make you disappear, too, but with sunny beaches and little umbrellas in your drinks."
I considered it and dismissed it in the next heartbeat. I didn"t want to hide, I just needed a place to catch my balance.
"No way!" Jenks shouted. "Rachel is not going anywhere! She left once, and see what happened? That was a bad idea. Pierce doesn"t have a brain in his head. Don"t listen to him, Rache. We got this."
Ivy raised her hand. "I hate the beach," she said mildly, and Lee smiled.
"Fair enough," he said, standing in the middle of our kitchen and meeting everyone"s eyes with his own. "I"m out of here. Good luck."
"Same to you, Lee." I impulsively gave him a hug, whispering, "Tell Trent he can suck my toes and die, okay?"
He chuckled, rubbing my head for luck before turning and walking away. I let him get away with it, then carefully fixed my hair. There was a brief pixy hail in the sanctuary as he pa.s.sed through it, then silence. The church felt almost empty. Sighing, I turned to my library under the center counter. If the coven was coming for me, it was going to be a busy night.
"You spelling tonight?" Jenks asked as I pulled a mundane spell book out and thumped it on the counter.
"You know it." Now that Lee was gone, I could get serious. My thoughts strayed to the demon texts, inches from my knees. There were things in there that would stop intruders dead in their tracks. It would be so easy. And wrong. No, not an option. And wrong. No, not an option.
"I can"t believe you were considering leaving again, Rache," Jenks said, indignant, his wings stilling to nothing as he landed on the rim of the spell pot I"d just gotten down. "You leave and you"re dead. I don"t care how far Lee"s money can take you. We"ve been in the garden long enough to sh.o.r.e up the defenses, and they"ll have to get through that to reach the church. How long can you stay in a bubble?"
"A bubble won"t help her if they set the church on fire," Ivy said dryly.
"Maybe I could put the church in a bubble," I mused as I turned pages, thinking there had to be a way out of this. Besides going to Trent and signing his lousy paper, that is.
"Gas and electrical lines," Ivy said, always the doomsayer. "No good if it"s witches coming for you. Besides, you want to hide here for how long?"
I winced while Jenks vigorously bobbed his head. "Point taken," I said. "What do you think it will be? Witches?" I forced myself to not fidget, though Ivy could probably tell I was upset just by sniffing the air.
Ivy stretched until the red stone in her belly-b.u.t.ton ring showed from under her black T-shirt. "Well, it won"t be the Weres," she said as she reached one hand for the ceiling, the one in the cast bent over her head. "And no local vamps. Rynn would bury them alive."
"Brooke said we had until sunup," Jenks said grimly, wings going full tilt and sending a silver light to fill the empty sink. "That means out-of-state a.s.sa.s.sins. That"s where my pollen is. Tink"s a Disney wh.o.r.e, Rache. Can"t you go even one year without a price on your head?"
Tired, I skated my sock-footed toe around on the linoleum, staring at my book. I had until sunup to prep for who knew what. "I don"t mind leaving. I"m the one they want."
Ivy smiled, a faint, amused expression, as she came closer. The width of the counter between us, she pulled out a second book and set it gently on the counter, her long fingers pale on the faded rough leather. "Leave? Just when it"s getting interesting?"
My eyebrows rose when she actually opened it. Seeing her brow furrowed and her lower lip between her teeth, I wondered if she knew how provocative she looked as she tried to understand a part of me that was as foreign to her as vampire l.u.s.t was to me. Probably.
Jenks landed on the open pages, hands on his hips as he looked down. "David needs a couple more days to get your paperwork," he said, eyes down. "We can keep you alive that long half asleep."
"Besides," Ivy said, looking up at me with calm brown eyes, "we don"t have anything better to do tomorrow. Wednesdays are always slow."
I smiled, glad I had such good friends.
The wind was warm, and I could hear insect wings clattering in the tall gra.s.s as I sat beside Pierce in the vast golden field, content. Above my head, the amber seed heads of ripe wheat waved, and as I reached to tickle Pierce with a broken stalk, his eyes opened, shocking me with their deep blue depths. For an instant, Kisten gazed hotly at me, then his features melted and Pierce again took his place. The witch"s loose waves were in disarray, and his hat shadowed his face. "It"s almost sunrise," he said, his accent making me smile. "Time to wake."
Then his eyes shifted, going red and slitted like a goat"s. His features became harder, taking on a ruddy complexion until it was Al lying before me in his crushed green velvet, one knee casually drawn up. The skies turned bloodred, and he reached out a white-gloved hand, grasping my wrist but not pulling me closer. "Come home, itchy witch."
I snorted, jerking awake.
Bolting upright, I stared at my closed window to see the fading light of sunrise against the colorful reds and blues of the stained gla.s.s. Heart pounding, I realized the clattering of insect wings in my dream had been Jenks hovering before my closed door, listening at the crack.
He had a finger to his lips, and after seeing my wide-eyed stare, he went back to the door.
Slowly my pulse eased, and I looked at my clock. Quarter after six. I"d worked most of the night, finally lying down about three hours ago to get some sleep. Throwing off the afghan, I carefully pulled my knees up to tighten the laces of my sneakers. I didn"t feel so good.
"Why are you in my room?" I whispered, not knowing why I was being quiet except that Jenks had told me to be.
"It"s after sunup," he said, ear to the door. "You think I"m going to leave you alone? Open season on redheads started fifteen minutes ago."
Fingers fumbling and knees protesting, I tied my shoes. Three hours of sleep wasn"t nearly enough. "Where is everyone?" I asked as I rose to peek out the small stained-gla.s.s window.
"Bis is asleep, the cat"s inside, Jax is on the steeple, and my kids are strategically placed in the garden with Matalina," he said shortly. "We"re just waiting for G.o.d to say go. Either that, or your killers are waiting for you to walk in front of a fairy-farted window."
I backed from the window, arms around myself. Jax is here? Jax is here? "What about Nick?" "What about Nick?"
Jenks turned, hovering beside the door. "What about him?
You said Jax is here...," I questioned.
Frowning, he muttered, "The kid either got really smart or really stupid. He came in right after you went to bed. Said he left Nick because he didn"t like the way the lunker went after you with a knife. Tink"s little red thong, Rachel. If I"d been there, I would"ve killed Nick"s ratty a.s.s. Now I don"t know if I should take Jax back or send Jrixibell to see if he"s spying on us."
My eyebrows rose. From the sanctuary came a loud "I don"t trust you, that"s why!"
It was Ivy, and she was ticked. "Who"s here? Edden?"
Jenks dropped an inch in height, his wings slowing. "Pierce."
"Is he okay?" I stiffened. "How come no one woke me up?"
"Because he was fine and you were sleeping." Jenks gave up on listening and faced me with his hands on his hips in his best Peter Pan pose. "He"s only been here five minutes, and already he"s causing trouble. Cool your hormones, Rache."