by Kim Harrison
Kal’s confidence faltered as he turned to Ulbrine and the man looked away. Slowly Kal’s expression went blank. His finger twitched. It was one of his tells, and Trisk took a huge breath.
“Look out!” she exclaimed, dropping back even as Quen jerked her behind him. Tossed, she spun to the pavement, hitting Daniel to send them both sprawling. Quen stood before them, and she winced, feeling it when his circle sprang up around all three of them, undrawn but firm.
“Detrudo!” Kal shouted, and cries rang out as everyone outside Quen’s circle was bowled over by an expanding bubble of air. Leo rolled almost into the bonfire. With a whoosh, the flames sprang high only to nearly go out when the wood scattered.
“Catch him!” she shouted from the ground, but Kal had pulled Ulbrine to his feet, dragging him to the large circle the witches had etched in the pavement before the bonfire.
“Stay back!” Kal shouted as a huge bubble rose up around them. It was too large for any but perhaps a coven of witches to hold comfortably, but Kal held it alone, impressing Trisk. “I will not be betrayed a second time,” he muttered as he pushed Ulbrine out of the way and used a half-charred stick to etch an even smaller circle within his larger one.
A circle within a circle? Trisk thought, fear a cold spike when she figured it out.
Piscary found his feet, his hands on his hips as he stared at Kal as if he were a spoiled child throwing a tantrum. “This is getting tiresome. Ellen, how did he get the charmed silver off?” he asked, and she shrugged.
“What are you doing, Kalamack?” Ulbrine said as he stood, eyeing the circle that kept the vampires at bay. “There is nowhere to go.”
“You’d give me up? Twice?” Angry, Kal tossed the stick aside. “I’m no one’s scapegoat. You set me to this task, and I will not be punished for it.” Biting his lip, he spat blood into the small circle and invoked it. “Algaliarept, I summon you.”
Trisk felt ill, clutching at Quen when power swarmed up out of the earth. Edging backward, Ulbrine went pale. “No,” he whispered as understanding filled him. “You can’t!”
“What is he doing?” Daniel asked, and Quen’s eyes narrowed.
“Committing suicide,” Quen said, his expression shifting to one of guilt. “Trisk. I’m sorry.”
Trisk shook her head. It wasn’t suicide, but it was close. They were in the open. Anyone could see. If Kal didn’t make the booster, they wouldn’t come out of the closet, and if that didn’t happen, Cincinnati would be destroyed as Detroit had been. “Kal!” she exclaimed, pulling strands of her hair from her face. “What are you doing!”
But it was too late, and with no fanfare, Algaliarept appeared within the smaller circle.
“I will not be dragged about,” the demon intoned, his goat-slitted red eyes finding Trisk over his blue-tinted glasses. “You spread my name like butter across bread. You will live a thousand years in pain for this.”
“I summoned you, demon. Not her,” Kal said boldly, and Algaliarept shifted, his surprise genuine as he saw Kal with Ulbrine, the older elf nervously backing up. “You forgot something in your haste to leave this morning.”
Algaliarept’s smile widened.
“Quen, help me circle them!” Trisk rasped, and she patted her jeans for her absent chalk. Taking a stick of charred wood, they traced a new line around Kal’s barrier. With a sigh of relief, Trisk watched a new circle spring up to create a double-walled circle. Three circles glowed in the night. Now, even if Algaliarept should get past Kal’s barrier, the demon would not escape.
“I’m listening.” Algaliarept poked a gloved finger at Kal’s inner circle, testing.
Trisk let the burnt stick fall, walking backward to Daniel as all her plans began to dissolve. She never should have summoned Algaliarept, and certainly not where an entire room of Inderlanders could hear. Her grandmother might have been smart, but she was an idiot.
“You want him?” Kal looked at a horrified Ulbrine. “I’ll give him to you, but I will walk away from this clean. Not a hint now or ever that I or my family was involved in the plague. Blame it on a ladybug. I don’t care, but not me.”
“Difficult, but not impossible,” Algaliarept said, eyeing Piscary.
“And I want her research on the universal donor virus,” Kal added. “If I am to do this, I want everything.”
“What!” Incensed, Trisk took a step toward the bubble. “You can’t do that.” She looked from a stiff-faced Kal to a grinning demon. “You promised my name would go on my research!” she exclaimed, shrugging off Daniel’s calming hand.
“I’m a member of the enclave,” Ulbrine said, eyes haunted. “You can’t give me to him.”
Kal’s lip twitched. “You made a mistake, Ulbrine,” he said, an odd, dangerous, lost light in his eye. “My family can trace our name to the elven warlords that fought in the ever-after. Yours only goes back to the slave pens. I have no problem sacrificing a bishop to save a king.”
“You are no king, Kalamack,” Ulbrine whispered, but he was afraid, and Algaliarept began to laugh.
“Done and done,” the demon said, holding his gloved hand out. “Give him to me, and it will be as you say.”
Trisk stepped closer until Algaliarept’s image became wavy from the triple bubble. “You promised my name on my research.”
“Let it go, Trisk,” Daniel said, and she rounded on him.
“You think this is about my pride?” she said bitterly. “If Kal walks away from this, we are dead. I can’t make Piscary’s metabolism booster, and if that doesn’t happen, we don’t come out of the closet, and then we all die for breaking the silence, you included! That’s how he gets his name on my research. We’re all dead!”
“He wouldn’t . . .” Daniel looked behind him to Piscary, going white as he realized the vampire would.
Algaliarept actually bowed, short and stilted because of the narrowness of his prison. “My dear mistress, I have already fulfilled my end of your bargain.”
“You have not!” she exclaimed, and Algaliarept’s lips twitched in a flash of ire.
“I have. Did I not suggest you roll with him? Did you not take my advice? You are pregnant, and is not the father of the child bound by elven law to marry and support you?”
She went still. Quen sighed. She heard it clearly in the night air. She couldn’t look away from Algaliarept, even when Piscary began to laugh. Daniel’s shoes scraped, and she flashed warm, blushing as Algaliarept began to pull his glove off, one finger at a time.
“Is he not required by law to sta-a-a-ay with you,” the demon drawled, clearly enjoying this. “See that you and your child are well treated, fed, and have all the best a little elf can give an elfling?”
“You’re pregnant?” Kal blurted, and she flushed deeper at his horror.
“You slept with her,” Ulbrine muttered, and she clenched her jaw.
“Trisk?” Quen said, and she jumped when his hand landed gently on her shoulder.
She nodded, furious that she was going to have to sacrifice her own happiness to get what she thought she wanted. She’d be alive, though, and Daniel, and what was left of the world. “I will stay in Cincinnati,” she said in a low voice. Kal’s lips twisted in annoyance, and she lifted her head defiantly, knowing that custom and law would demand Kal remain with her. “I will stay!” she exclaimed. “And you, Kal, will stay with me.”
“That child might not even be mine,” Kal said, and Algaliarept smirked.
“It is,” the demon said, and Trisk glared at Kal, hating him. “It’s a boy.” Algaliarept cocked his head, breathing deep. “A healthy boy. Or he will be, with a little tinkering. Blond with brown eyes, but Kal, you can change that with your bride’s research so the little tyke won’t offend your mother.” He eyed Kal over his glasses. “I’d say yes. Your code is so tattered that you’ll never manage a child without the hybrid vigor of a dark elf.”
Trisk burned, hating them all now.
“Do you still wish to trade, Trenton Lee Kalamack? Or will
you simply marry the bitch and create a drug that a fifth of the world will want?” Algaliarept leered at him. “Need. Pay for.”
Kal turned to her, seemingly shaken that the demon knew his full name, and she shrugged.
“Well?” Piscary prompted.
Kal looked at Ulbrine, his disgust obvious. “I will marry Dr. Felecia Cambri,” he said, voice low and without inflection. “I will make what the vampires need, but I will set the price.”
Ulbrine sighed, a pleased, relieved smile blossoming over him. Trisk hated the glint in his eye. He knew he’d won again, and it disgusted her that he’d played them all.
“But I’m giving Ulbrine to Algaliarept anyway,” Kal said, shoving the unaware man at the demon. Bellowing in anger, Ulbrine hit the circle holding Algaliarept, then stumbled when Kal dissolved it, too. Algaliarept beamed down at Ulbrine. White-faced, Ulbrine looked up, realizing there was nothing between him and the demon, nothing at all.
“No . . .” Trisk whispered as Ulbrine shrieked. He backpedaled, too late as Algaliarept reached an arm out and jerked him forward.
“Fool,” Algaliarept said as he stepped over the drawn line, clearly intending to take Kal as well.
“Hold!” Kal said, self-preservation making him back up a step. He hit the inside of his circle. It fell, but the one Trisk and Quen had drawn held firm. Red spotted his cheeks as he faced Algaliarept, but he pulled himself forward, alone with nothing but his words to keep himself free. “Take me, and you will have sundered our bargain. You promised my name on her research, and for that, I need to be alive and in reality to marry her.”
Algaliarept said nothing. Then he snickered, the low chuckle rising to a belly laugh and finally a full-blown howl of amusement. Ulbrine began shrieking as the two of them dissolved, vanishing until even the demon’s laugh died.
With a thought, Trisk sundered her hold on the outer circle. The name on her research would be Kalamack, but since she would be married to the bitter sod, it would still adhere to the earlier bargain she’d made with Algaliarept. Son of a bitch, I hate being a foregone conclusion.
Daniel sighed, sitting down right there on the pavement. “I’m starting to miss my lab,” he said as he took off his shoe and shook out a pebble. “That’s better,” he said as he put it back on. “I’ve had that in my shoe since Chicago.”
Kal edged out of the defunct circle, chin high as he took in the surrounding vampires. His eyes landed on Trisk, then dropped to her flat middle. She was shaking, and she felt more alone than she ever had when Quen’s hand slipped from her, and, head down, he rocked away to make room at her side for Kal.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she accused Kal as he stopped four feet away from her. “You gave a person to a demon. In front of witnesses. Are you crazy?”
Kal gave Piscary a respectful nod, then turned to Trisk. Slowly his expression shifted to one of odd vulnerability. “He betrayed me twice,” he said, voice flat. “Will you do the same?”
She took a breath to protest, then exhaled, knowing that on this, all things would turn. She looked at him, seeing past the stained tie, limp hair, and fatigue that hung on him like a badly cut suit, recognizing the courage it had taken to stand before a demon with no protection other than the trust in a pact made between unequals. She saw the strength in him as he refused to be anything other than a peer to Piscary. She remembered the hard promise in his eyes, and knew he would do anything to protect what was important to him. And suddenly, she wanted to be on the right side of the line—even if she never liked him. “No, I won’t betray you,” she said.
He considered her for a moment in the last glow of the bonfire. “I can live with that,” he said suddenly, and she jumped, startled. “I need three days to get my grandmother’s ring.”
Oh God. She was going to marry him. “Fine,” she said, hoping she was matching his cool, calm tone. “It will take that long to convince my father I’m not insane.”
A smile flickered at the edges of his mouth, softening his eyes as he looked at her middle again—and then it was gone.
She was never leaving Cincinnati again. She would make it her garden.
Suddenly her throat closed, and she turned away before Kal could see her face twist up as she forced herself not to cry. Quen had his back to her. Daniel . . . Daniel just looked lost, left alone as the vampires around them began to disperse.
“Piscary? I need access to a lab in the meantime,” Kal was saying, and she wiped the hint of tears away. “A good one. That’s short-term. I will also need several low-interest loans to cover payroll and the initial setup for manufacturing. Can I count on you?”
“I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” Piscary said, and somehow, she found the courage to look at the master vampire. His expression was wary, but it gave her strength. It had all ended with a whiff of brimstone and burnt amber, a fading laugh, and a scream—Algaliarept taking Ulbrine in exchange for . . . nothing.
Arms wrapped around her middle, she stood in the intersection and looked up at a night without stars. She would marry Kal, but it would be a flavorless arrangement. Perhaps it was what she deserved, and seeing Quen five feet away with Daniel and Leo discussing the logistics of how to get to the nearest radio station, she realized how badly she had served herself in her quest for recognition. I won’t betray you.
Daniel clapped his hands once, beaming as he left the two men and headed to her. “Trisk. Leo is going to take us to the radio station. We can get the word out tonight.”
Feeling ill, Trisk looked to her left at Kal. Never ceasing his conversation with Piscary, Kal looked pointedly down at his right side as if waiting for her to join him. “You go ahead,” she said, and Daniel’s lips parted.
“But . . .”
Eyes smarting, she gave him a hug. It was allowed, especially when he started, clearly feeling the good-bye in it. “Go,” she repeated as she rocked back. “I have to stay here.”
Daniel looked over her shoulder to Kal, a reluctant nervousness in the pinch of his eye as he realized everything had shifted. “Okay,” he said as he kissed her forehead and the lump in her throat hardened. “Bye, Trisk. I’ll stop in and see your lab when you get settled.”
Leo groaned impatiently by the open car door. “Now, you little snack.”
“I’d like that,” she said, knowing she’d have to be circumspect about her friends from here on out, even if friendship was as deep as it went. “I’ll give you the full tour,” she said, her voice rising to a squeak.
Daniel drew back, his hand leaving hers reluctantly. In the distance, the basilica’s bells began to toll, cheerful peals of sound that rolled out over the river valley in an unexpected wave. Everyone turned to look into the night as the noise was picked up by first one, then another church, until they were all ringing.
“What is it?” she asked, following Piscary’s attention to the color TVs on display in the store window. “My God, they’re going to extirpate Cincinnati?” she said in sudden fear, but Piscary had a hand up in a gentle admonishment.
“Perfect timing,” Piscary said, pointing at the appliance store and the TVs still on behind the window.
Trisk’s brow furrowed, then evened out as she saw Rynn Cormel on TV. Orchid was on his shoulder, and the man’s confident voice rolled out, his smile saying everything would be fine.
“You are not alone,” the senator said, Orchid’s dust spilling down his front as her wings fanned. “We have always been here. Today we came forward to save our society, and tomorrow we will work openly together to build it anew. Witch, vampire, Were, and human.”
Trisk started when Kal came up beside her, standing too close but well within his rights. “It’s my decision that we will not come out,” Kal said softly, his eyes on the glowing TV. “I wish to remain on the rolls as human.” His eyes flicked to hers and held. “Understand? No magic from here on out.”
Her eyebrows rose. “What I do in the privacy of my garden is my business.”
His lip
twitched. “You don’t have a garden.”
She eyed him up and down. “Get me one. Wall it off. I want pixies.”
Behind them, Quen chuckled, muffling it when Kal looked at him.
Bothered, Trisk turned to Piscary, now done directing his people to spread the word door by door if need be. “You said you wouldn’t allow anyone to come out if we didn’t have Kal to make the metabolism booster,” she accused, and the master vampire smiled, making him look soft and pleasant. It was a lie, but it was a comforting one.
“I knew you’d accomplish it,” he said as he gestured at the cars now rolling up. “And many people enjoy eating ketchup on their eggs, do they not? Every life we save puts us closer to a new balance that much sooner.” Nodding confidently, he breathed deep of the night. “It is done. Excuse me.” Piscary walked away. “Leo!” he called, and the young living vampire held the door for him. Apparently he wanted to go to the radio station, too.
Together the remaining three turned to the car Piscary had left for them. “So, where do you want to live?” Kal said. “There are no virgin woods here.”
Trisk could feel the heat from his shoulder near hers, but not touching. “I like the field, but if you want a woods, by all means, plant one.”
Quen jogged ahead to open the back door. The gesture would have grated on her but for his smile. “Sa’han?” he said almost mockingly, and Kal got in first, the rims of his ears a bright red.
“Behave yourself,” she whispered to Quen as she gracefully folded herself into the supple leather seats to find Kal brooding, his brow furrowed in thought.
Giving her a wink, Quen shut the door with a firm thump. His motion to cross in front of the car held a curious excitement, and once he settled behind the wheel, they slowly drove away.
Get lost in the world of Peri Reed, Kim Harrison's latest kick-ass female heroine!
Every hero, even the accidental ones, have a beginning.
Sideswiped
* * *
The first explosive book in the Peri Reed Chronicles that will keep you guessing until the very end!
