Clueless, Edden looked over the heads of everyone as if having already dismissed it. I dont like you working for Kalamack, he muttered.
Hes the only one who comes knocking on my door looking for something other than a black curse, I said, worried. Damn it all to hell, I had to talk to Al. Hed know if my line was malfunctioning. Again.
Making a small grunt of understanding, Edden touched my shoulder. It meant more than it should, and I managed a small smile. Sit tight, and Ill see if I can get your car before it goes to the I.S. impound. Okay?
Thanks, I whispered as I took a swig of water. It was too cold, and my teeth hurt. Jenks noticed my grimace and the hum of his wings dropped in pitch. Sitting tight sounded fine to me. I wasnt up to dealing with vampires yet, especially if everything was hitting me twice as hard.
Ivy seemed to gain two inches as she scanned for someone wearing an I.S. badge and a tie. Across the cleared pavement, the last of the charmed people were finding their feet. The only one still on a stretcher was the kid. Mind if I go with you? she asked Edden. I dont recognize anyone, but someone out here probably owes me a favor. She looked at me as if for approval, and I nodded. I was fine, and if anyone could get my car back, it would be Ivy.
Great, Edden said. Jenks, stay with Rachel. I dont want anyone from the press bothering her, he said as he hitched his pants up and tightened his tie. Well be right back. Someone needs a refresher on this sharing information thing were supposed to be doing.
I rolled my eyes, wishing him luck as Ivy looped her arm in his and they started across the bridge to the Hollows end of everything. Theyre just afraid, Edden, I heard Ivy say as they left, a sultry sway to her hips. FIB forensics can put them in the ground, and theyre tired of looking bad.
I couldnt help my smile as I watched them, her svelte sleekness next to his round solid form, both very different but alike where it counted.
Ah, scuse me, Rache, Jenks said, a pained look on his face. I gotta pee. Dont move.
I looked around, finding a car I could lean up against. Okay.
His wing hum increased as he hovered right before my nose. I mean it. Dont move.
Okay! I said, leaning against the car, and he darted over the edge of the bridge.
Sighing, I turned to the insistent beeping of the last car being towed off. Most of the news crews had left with the recovering spell victims, and it was beginning to thin out. A man in a trendy black suit drew my attention, up to now hidden behind the Toyota being carted out, and I frowned as he looked at his phone, fingers tapping. It wasnt his dress, and it wasnt his haircutboth trendy and uniqueit was his grace. Living vampire?
A distant pop across the bridge sounded, and the man looked up, his eyes scanning until they fastened on mine.
A chill dropped through me as I took in his blond hair shifting in the wind, the grace with which he tucked it behind an ear, the knowing, sly smile he wore as he looked me up and down. Suddenly I felt alone. Jenks! I hissed, knowing he was probably within earshot. This guy wasnt FIB, and he definitely wasnt I.S., even if he was a living vampire. The suit said he had clout, and confidence almost oozed from him. Jenks!
Putting his attention back on his phone, the man hit a few more keys, slipped the phone in a pocket, turned, and walked away. In three seconds, he was gone.
Jenks! I shouted, and the pixy darted up, his dust an irate green.
Good God, Rache, give me a chance to shake it, huh?
My hands on the warm car burned, and I curled my fingers as I scanned the crowd. Slowly my pulse eased. Are you sure my aura is okay? I asked out of the blue.
Hands on his hips in his best Peter Pan poise, he said, You called me back about that?
I think it might be linked to the misfires, I said truthfully, and he looked askance at me.
Yeah, but you were nowhere near any of the other ones. It wasnt you, Rache.
I suppose. Heart pounding, I leaned back against the car, arms wrapped around my middle. I couldnt tell Jenks I had been spooked by a vampire, not under the noon sun, and not by a living one. Hed laugh his ass off.
But as we waited for Ivy to return with good news about my car, I shivered in the heat, unable to look away from the crowd and a possible glimpse of that figure in black.
Hed looked like Kisten.
Three
It wasnt Kisten, I thought again for the umpteenth time as I shook two tiny pellets of fish food into my hand, wiggling a finger at Mr. Fish in his bowl on the mantel. But it had looked too much like him for my comfort, from his lanky, sexy build to his funky sophistication and even his thick mass of blond hair. Id been so embarrassed I hadnt even told Ivy. I knew shed loved him tooloved him long before Id met him, loved him, and watched him die twice defending me. But those feelings belonged to someone else, and I now knew what vampires were born knowing: those who could live forever truly held no future.
The heat from Als smaller hearth fire was warm on my shins, and I soaked it in, worried about the beta resting on the bottom of the oversized brandy snifter, gills sedately moving. The wood fire crackled, and I breathed the fragrant smoke, much better than the peat moss fire that stank of burnt amber that hed had last time.
I dropped the fish food into the bowl and turned, glad to see other hints that Al was pulling himself, and therefore me, out of ever-after poverty. Id seen other demons spelling rooms over the last year or so, and they varied greatly as to the theme. Newts looked like my kitchen, which made me all warm and cozy. But Al was a traditionalist, and it showed in the stone floors, glass-fronted ceiling-tall cabinets holding ley line paraphernalia and books, and the smoky rafters coming to a point over the central, seldom-lit raised hearth fire in the middle of the circular room. We didnt need the big fire for the spell we were working, and Al sat on the uncomfortable stool at his slate-topped table five feet from the smaller hearth. He liked the heat as much as I did.
The shelves were again full, and the ugly tapestry Id once heard scream in pain was back on the wall. The hole that hed hammered between my room and the spelling kitchen had been tidied, and the new solid stone door between the two met with an almost seamless invisibility.
Mr. Fish is acting funny, I said as I watched the fish ignore the pellets.
Al glanced from the book he was holding at arms length. Nothing is wrong with your fish, the demon said, squinting at the print as if he needed the blue-tinted, round glasses. Youre going to kill him if you give him too much food.
But he wasnt eating, simply sitting on the bottom and moving his gills. His color looked okay, but his eyes were kind of buggy. Distrusting this, I slowly turned to Al.
Feeling my attention on him, he frowned as he ran an ungloved finger under the print to make it glow. His usual crushed green velvet coat lay carefully draped over the bench surrounding the central hearth, and his lace shirt was undone an unusual button to allow for the warmth of the place. His trousers were tucked into his boots, and to be honest, he looked a little steampunky. Feeling my attention on him, he grimaced. It was one of his tells, and my eyes narrowed. Either it was the fish or the charm I wanted to know how to do.
Hes just sitting on the bottom, I said, digging for the source of his mood. Maybe I should take him home. I think its wearing on him.
Al peered sourly over his book at me. Hes a fish. What would wear upon a fish?
No sun.
I know the feeling, he murmured, apparently not caring as he went back to the book.
His mouth is funny, I prompted. And his gimpy fin is the wrong color.
Als breath came out in a growl. Theres nothing wrong with that fish. Teaching you how to identify the maker of a spell by his or her aura is a bloody hell waste of time. As you have an interest, I will indulge you, but Im not going to do it myself. If youre done playing zookeeper, we can begin. He looked pointedly at me. Are you done, Rachel?
Silent, I took the mangled ball out of the brown lunch bag Id brought it in and nervously set it on the table beside the magnetic chalk, a vial of yellow oil, and a copper crucible.
Als eyebrows rose. Since when do you golf?
I knew Al didnt like Trent. I knew that the source of his hatred was over five thousand years old and hadnt lessened in all that time. I was on a job, I said. It exploded under a deflection charm. I think it might have triggered an assassination spell.
Shoulders stiff, his eyes narrowed. You were Kalamacks caddie?
Im his security, I said, voice rising. Its a paying job.
Standing, Als lips curled in disgust. I said avoid him, and you take a subservient role? My breath to protest huffed out when he slammed the book in his hand onto the table. Theres only one possible relationship, that of a slave and master, and you are failing!
God, Al! It was five thousand years ago! I exclaimed, startled.
It was yesterday, he said, hand shaking as it pinned the book to the table. Do you think the fact that there can be no viable children between elf and demon is an accident? Its a reminder, Rachel. Lose him, or abuse him. There is no middle ground.
Yeah? I exclaimed. Youre the one who offered him a circumcision curse. I thought you two were BFFs.
Brow furrowed, Al came around the table, and I forced myself to not move. Youre making a mistake. Therere already concerns that we moved too fast in killing KuSox.
I drew back. Excuse me!
That we were taken in by elven trickery and lured into killing one of our own.
That is so full of bull! I could not believe this. KuSox was trying to kill all of you and destroy the ever-after!
Even so, he said as he put a threatening arm over my shoulder. It would be better if you simply . . . His words drifted off into nothing, his fingers rubbing together to open as if freeing something.
You spent a thousand years with Ceri. Whats the difference?
His arm fell away, and I felt cold. Ceri was my slave. Youre treating Trent as an equal.
He is an equal.
Motions brusque, Al reached for his book. No, he isnt, he growled.
Yeah? Well, you loved Ceri, I accused. You loved her for a thousand years.
I. Did. Not! he thundered, and I cringed when dust sifted from the rafters.
Fine, I muttered. You didnt. This had been a bad idea, and I grabbed my golf ball to go home. He was my easy ticket out of here, though, until the sun set and Bis woke up.