by Kim Harrison
“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?”
“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 sl
id 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.
“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. Eve
n 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 to survive. 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!”
