No hospital. Her black eyes fixed on mine, and she went whiter still as she tried to take a deep breath. No safe house. Ive been marked.
Marked? Her gaze went to the pain charm around her neck, and she gripped it tight, shocking me. She never used my magic. Avoided it. You need a hospital, I said, and she hissed in pain as she tried to turn her head.
No.
Ivy, you were hit by a car! Jenks had dusted her cuts until they were only a slow seep, but her eyes were dilated and she hadnt taken her other hand off her middle.
Cormel, she said softly, hatred temporarily overriding her pain. I told you Marsha and Luke werent worth all of this. I wasnt supposed to walk out of that apartment alive. That charm was aimed at me, too. He wants me dead . . . so you . . . will figure out how to save the souls of the undead. The car was a last effort to salvage their plan before going back with failure.
My heart seemed to catch, then it raced as I looked at the surrounding faces for anyone watching too closelytheir eyes holding fear. Ivy moaned as she breathed in my alarm, but I couldnt let go of it. I couldnt distance myself. The lethal charm had been aimed at all three of them. If I hadnt been there to break it, Ivy would be dead and Id be getting a call from the second-rising morgue.
I dont want to become a dead thing, she whispered, then clenched in pain. Rachel?
I closed my eyes. Ivy groaned, her pain doubling as my panic pulsed through her, bringing her alive even as she struggled to stave off death. I couldnt do this. I couldnt be her scion. But I knew I would if it came to that. Cormel had grown tired of waiting for his soul. If Ivy was dead, me finding out how to return the undead their souls would move way up on my to-do list.
We had to get out of here. Even the safe houses held death, and the hospitals would only make her passing smell of antiseptic. Why had I worked so hard to save their miserable existences? I wondered as I found my bag and looped it over my head. But it hadnt been just the undead in the balance when Id freed the mystics last July, it had been the entire source of magic.
Jenks dropped down as I gathered my resolve. Theyre everywhere, Rache, he whispered, his fear easy to read on his narrow, pinched features, and Ivy nodded. Surrounded by onlookers, we had a small space to breathe, but we couldnt stay here.
Slowly I began to think. Trent. He had a surgery suite, one that wasnt staffed by people who could be bought. I wasnt sure where he was, but I could text him. Ivy was sitting. Maybe she could move. Ivy, I said, blanching at the blackness in her eyes when she looked at me from around a stray strand of hair. Can you move?
Her boots scraped as she shifted them under her. If I cant, Im dead.
A few in the crowd protested, but they backed up when Jenks rose, his fast, darting shape and the sharp sword in his grip making him a threat. My stomach turned when every hold I tried to help Ivy with only brought more pain. Teeth clenched, I tucked my shoulder under her arm and rose, staggering until we found our balance. Ivys eyes closed. We hung for a moment, waiting to see if she was going to pass out. In the nearby distance, a siren rosebut it brought death, not life.
Okay, nice and easy, I said, and Jenks kept everyone back as we started for the curb. Ivys head was down, and she moved in sudden, painful limps. Step, pause. Step, pause. Her weight on me was solid, and her scent was tinged with sour acid. Tears threatened, and I ignored them. I couldnt live with Ivy if she was dead. I couldnt be her scion, but I knew Id do it, even as it would destroy me. Id try to keep Ivy sane, knowing it was a bitter fallacy. I couldnt kill her a second time as she would want me to. I was a bad friend.
Im sorry, Ivy said as we reached the curb and she took her hand from her middle long enough to use the lamppost to help her step up.
This isnt your fault, I barked so I wouldnt cry. Well get you to Trents, and youll be fine. His compound was almost deserted since the serious inquiries into his illegal bio labs had begun, but he probably had a surgeon on call.
Seeing her standing to catch her breath, I dug in my bag for my phone. Can you hold this? I said, giving her my splat gun, and she held it loosely. My fingers shook as I scrolled for Trent. He was the last person Id called, and knowing he might not take a call but would always check a text, I wrote 911 and Eden Park and hit send.
My stomach was twisting as I tucked my phone in my back pocket. It was all I could do. But we couldnt stay here. Each moment seemed to weigh more heavily on Ivy. She was slipping, and her living vampire endurance would mean nothing if she gave up.
You cant go to the car, Rache. Jenks hovered before us, watching us and our backs both. Theyll run you down.
Shit. He was right. Tears of frustration pricked, and Ivy leaned against the lamppost. Behind her, people were turning away, leaving us to die.
Where else can I go, Jenks? I shouted, frustrated. Nowhere on earth is safe from them!
He shrugged, even as his dust grew dismal, but behind him was Eden Park, and a flash of hope lit through me. Ivy sensed it, and her eyes opened, glazed with pain.
The park. I wiggled under her again, and we staggered into motion. Ivy, hold on.
The park! Jenks echoed in disbelief, and then he nodded, rising up to fly five feet over us where he could keep watch.
The park. There was a ley line in it, thin and broken, but it was there. I couldnt jump the lines without Bis. He wouldnt be awake until the sun went down, but I could shift realities if I was standing in a line. The ever-after was a poor choice, but no one could follow us there, and maybe we could walk to the churchs ley line and pop back into reality.
Ivy stumbled as we found the grass, and we almost went down. Her moan sounded almost like pleasure. Old toxins were being pulled from her tissues to cope with the pain as her body struggled to stay alive. But this time it wasnt a master satisfying his blood urge that was killing her, and her breath quickened as she took in my fear and kindled her own long-suppressed desires.
Almost there, I panted, struggling under her weight as I scanned the open grass between us and the footbridge. It was exposed, but they probably wouldnt shoot her and risk hitting me by accident. Cormel needed me alive and Ivy dead. They only had to wait.
This was partly my fault, and I felt the helpless tears trying to start as I took more of Ivys weight. There was no way to bind a vampires soul to his body once he died, and as we slowly limped across the green space to Twin Lakes Bridge and the broken ley line, a warm tear ran a trail down my cheek.
Dont cry, Ivy slurred. Its going to be okay.
I wiped my eyes between our lurching steps, my stomach roiling. Almost there.
Jenks dropped down, worry pinching his features. Her aura isnt looking good, Rache.
I know! I shouted. I know, I said again, softer.
It hurts, Ivy said as I took even more of her weight. Its not supposed to hurt, is it?
Oh God. I knew the pain amulet was outclassed, but that the damage was too much for even the vampire toxins to mutate was scary. Almost there. Hold on, I whispered, eyes fixed on the statue of Romulus and Remus. You can rest when we get to the line.
But I didnt think we were going to make it, especially when Jenkss dust went an angry red. Therere two blood bags on the footbridge, he snarled, his blade catching the light. Keep going. Dont stop no matter what you hear. Ill take care of them.
Jenks! I cried out as he darted away. Beside me, Ivy wheezed. Her fingers rose to touch her mouth, coming away red with blood. Immediately she curled her fingers up in a ball to hide it, but a flash of fear lit through me. Internal bleeding. My gun, too, was gone, left behind somewhere on the summer-burnt grass.
Almost there, I said again as we moved another few feet, but inside, I was despairing. There were no hospitals in the ever-after, only demons who didnt care. I didnt think wed make it all the way to the church. If Trent didnt show, I might have just killed Ivy by trying to save her.
Ivys breath became labored, and the sudden shouting at the bridge yanked my attention up. With a quick flurry of motion, a woman swung wildly at Jenks, falling down the embankment and into the water, harried the entire way by the pixy. Suddenly she was screaming as Sharps, the resident bridge troll, rose up, swamping her.
Without a second look, the other vampire continued toward us, leaving her to sort herself out. He was vampire-child, beautiful, graceful, and sure of himselfand when he looked at me, I shuddered.
Jenks darted in and away, distracting him.
Move faster, Ivy, I begged, knowing Jenks couldnt hold off a determined vampire. Eyeing the statue of Romulus and Remus, I brought up my second sight. A faint haze, ill looking and sporadic, hung at chest height. It was Als line, half dead because of the shallow pond someone had dug out under it, but unable to die because the other half of it lay in the dry, desolate ever-after. It reminded me of the demon himself, having given up on life but clinging so tightly to the memory of a love he had once had that now he couldnt live or die.
He would never help me. Not now. And an old guilt pulled my brow even tighter.
From the water came a gurgling scream as the woman fought to be free of Sharps. Ivy moaned and I dropped my second sight. My eyes jerked to the controlled anger and grace striding toward us despite Jenkss darting flight and bloodied blade. The vampire knew the line was there and was trying to cut us off.
Crap on toast. I wasnt going to make it. Id have to beat him off.
Ivy hung on my shoulder as I came to a heart-pounding halt, her head down and her breathing frighteningly raspy. A lousy twenty feet was between me and the line, and the suave man smiled when he rocked to a silent stand before us. He was the expected eight feet back, his hair moving in the light breeze as he assessed my determination, feeding off my fear even as I found a firmer stance. Eight feet. Hed fought magic users before. It was just far enough that he could dodge anything I might throw at him.