The Witch With No Name

Page 6

And dont come back! I shouted, shaking as I reinstated the circle. Or Ill give you more of the same!
My skin prickled. I spun back to Al. But the demon wasnt even looking at me. Relieved, I turned to Ivy, seeing her eyes black and beautiful. You okay? I asked her, and she smiled.
Ill miss watching you work, she said, more alive than Id seen her in two hours.
Pissed, I pulled the hair out of my mouth and glared at Al. Youre a prick for standing there when I need help, you know that? I said, then ducked as something flew over my head.
Rachel! Bis called, the cat-size gargoyle winging in a tight circle to drop down onto the rock Ivy was slumped against. Jenks said you were going to walk to the church. Hold on. Ill be right back. Trents at the wrong line.
Trent? I took an elated breath, but the little guy was gone. The sun had gone down unnoticed, and his pebbly black skin was hard to see against the night. Id hardly recognized him before hed vanished.
My knees were shaking, and I turned to find Al was gone. Coward. You left me! I shouted. And I can love anyone I want! I added, but there was no one there but Ivy to hear me.
Son of a bastard, I muttered, hope a quick flash as a figure stepped from nothing in the soft sound of displaced air. There was the quick pulse of leather wings, and Bis was gone again.
Nina! I had expected Trent, but it was Nina, the athletic woman in her classy dress suit and black nylons bolting to Ivy with a vampiric quickness despite her high heels.
Youve been here for hours! Nina exclaimed, black eyes angry as she fell to kneel before Ivy and covered her with her jacket. Why didnt you give her any blood?
It hurt when she said it like that. She doesnt want any, I said, my relief overwhelming.
Ivy pushed weakly at Nina, eyes slipping shut. No. Im okay. Rachel did what I asked.
She doesnt want blood. Stop forcing her, I said.
Hunched over Ivy, making her Hispanic elegance into a frightening shadow, Nina all but hissed, This is what she is. What she wants means nothing when it comes to keeping her alive.
But if she quit striving for who she wanted to be, Ivy might as well be dead.
I took a breath to tell Nina to back off, startled when Bis jumped back into existence. The little gargoyle was on Trents shoulder, and he immediately popped back across the lines, for Jenks, probably.
Thank you, God. Trent shuddered as the stink of burnt amber filled his lungs, and something flip-flopped in me. My eyes darted to where Al had last been to be sure he was gone. Trent was here. I didnt have to do this alone. He wouldnt let Ivy die. Wed be in time.
Rachel. Trents usual slacks and dress shirt looked out of place, sheened with red from the glow in the sky. His dress shoes slipped on the dust, and he caught his balance effortlessly. His pace crossing the dust was fast, and his eyes were quick. Sunset, even in the ever-after, was truly his best time. Thank God youre all right. Jenks told me what happened. Is Ivy okay?
Shes hurt bad, I said as he reached me. Nina was trying to get her pearl button undone from a silk cuff, but Ivy wouldnt let her, insistently promising she was okay. Shes got internal injuries and a concussion. I hesitated, surprised at the sudden lump in my throat. I probably shouldnt have moved her, but I had to get to a line . . .
Why the hell am I always last! Jenks complained, joining us in a bright flash of pixy dust. His bright sparkle sifted down like a temporary sunbeam over Ivy, making her smile and lift her hand to give him a place to land. She was whispering to Jenks, comforting him when it should have been the other way around.
Bis landed on the rock above them, clearly anxious to start jumping us out. His lion-tufted tail wrapped around his feet, looking both submissive and protectivedangerous even as the white tufts on his ears made him cute.
We had to gobut I nearly lost it when Trent pulled me close, smelling of green things and spice, his touch real and loving, reminding me of everything I wanted but was afraid to call my own. Suddenly I was fighting the urge to cry as fingers strong from pulling in unruly horses and tapping out keyboard commands gentled me closer. Id had to keep it together, and now there was someone to help. Ivy was going to make it. Shed make it! She had to.
You did the right thing, Trent whispered, the deep understanding in his voice bringing my defenses down. Id never have expected it a year ago, but now . . . after seeing him lose everything to follow his heart, I could. I could accept his comfort, show my vulnerabilityeven if it might not last. The undeniable truth was, he was meant for better things than me. One day Ellasbeth would have him, and Id be left with the memory of who he had wanted to be.
Rachel?
But Id be damned if I didnt take what I could of the time we had. Catching my tears, I wiped my face, giving Trent a thankful smile as I pulled back and looked for Bis. The little gargoyle had his wings draped around him, looking like a devil himself. Bis? Can you jump her to Trents?
Not until I give her some blood! Giving up on her sleeve, Nina used her little teeth to rip the button off. She cant be moved yet, the living vampire said as she pushed her sleeve up. Her naturally dark skin showed the scars even in the dim light, and her panic at finding Ivy this close to death obvious. I cant believe you let her sit here on the cold ground!
Easy, Trent said when I stiffened, and he lifted my chin, reading the strain Id lived with for the last few hours, the fear. Why is it harder when those we love are in danger than when its just us? he whispered, and I blinked fast. I wasnt going to cry, damn it. I wasnt!
No, Ivy said again, her eyes black as she found Ninas. No, she said more stridently, and Nina hunched over her, aching with her need to help her.
Ivy, sweetheart, please. Let me make you stronger so we can move you.
Bis waited, wings half open, unsure and unwilling to do anything that might hurt Ivy. Trent, though, was grimacing. He knew it for the lie it was as well as I. Oh, I was sure blood would help stabilize her, but it would be an unredeemable step backward, back to where Nina, in all her expensive perfume and trendy clothes, wasback to where Ivy was striving to pull Nina from despite Ninas assurances that she wasnt allowing Felix into her mind anymore. The clever woman was too in control most days not to be.
No. Ivys voice was stronger. No blood. Not like this. Id rather die twice.
But, Ivy . . . , Nina protested, breaking off when Ivy fumbled to pull Ninas sleeve down and kissedher fingertips. Frustrated, Nina knelt over Ivy. It doesnt have to be this hard! she begged, but Ivy only smiled lovingly, feeling good that shed resisted, that shed won again for another day. Why do you do this to yourself?
I turned away as Ivy patted Ninas back, comforting her. In Ivys eyes, Nina was the one who needed help.
Bis. Go. My surgical staff is waiting, Trent said, and the gargoyle awkwardly hopped from the rock. We need to get out of here before the surface demons find us.
Too late. My eyes lifted to the surrounding rocks, glad they hadnt shown themselves yet as they evaluated the threat Nina and Trent might be.
I thought so. Trent sighed, turning to watch my back. Im sorry about the church.
My church? Whats wrong with the church?
Jenkss blur of wings shone against Trents fair, almost transparent hair, glowing red as it picked up the red ever-after dust. The pixy-piss vampires have overrun it, he almost snarled. Stinking up the place and stomping everything like fairy maggots looking for spiders. They thought you might jump to the line in the garden, and theyve got enough manpower there to make Piscary pukeif the putrid pus pile of vampire piss were still alive.
Ivy chuckled, the laugh choking off in a pained sound making Ninas eyes go black again. Bis carefully reached a clawed foot out to touch her, and when Bis and Ivy winked out of the ever-after, the tight knot around my gut finally began to ease.
Nina hunched over the space Ivy had been in for a moment before rising to lean dejectedly against the rock. Slowly her expression changed as she realized where she was. Tension wound through her, turning her from uneasy to a threatening shadow, smeared red with the remaining light in the sky. When Id first met Nina, shed been lively and eager for anything new. Now, after almost a year under a failing masters warped attention, she was still looking for thrills, but she was also twitchy and unpredictableher jealousy of any attention I might show Ivy becoming increasingly violent. I didnt believe for a second that Felix was ignoring her, but every time I brought it up, Ivy got mad, wanting her happy lie rather than the inconvenient truth.
Word got out you were finding undead souls, Trent said softly.
Thats not true! I exclaimed, but he was nodding as if already knowing it.
Even so, every undead vampire in the city now believes you can, he added. Especially after what happened last July. In their minds, they dont understand why you havent done it.
No wonder they were camped out at my church. I dont think you can tie a soul to a mind when the body is dead, I said. Thats why souls leave after the first death. I was tired, but I didnt dare relax, and I strained for any clink of rock, any sliding of dust.
They dont want to believe that. Trent cupped my elbow. Tingles spread from there to the small of my back where his other hand had gone to pull me closer to him. Well figure this out. Im not entirely penniless, you know.
That he was there to help without my asking was a guilty relief, but I didnt know how he could. Hed lost almost everything in discrediting the truth of his illegal manufacture of genetic medicines and the very drug that the vampires depended upon for survival. It didnt sit well that both the vampires and the elves had gone after him because of me, and I bowed my head when I realized Id done the same thing to Al, bankrupting the demon before hed had enough and left. I was an albatross, pulling down those who meant the most to me. Maybe I should leave before I brought Trent down, too.
Trents arms were around me, but I couldnt speak, unwilling to breathe in his clean scent and feel the whisper of wild magic that sometimes rose from him like aftershave. But the guilt of him losing almost everything because of me was a sharp, insistent thorn.
He still cares for you, Trent said, and I looked up, confused. Al, I mean. He was here, wasnt he?
Oh. That. Grimacing, I turned in Trents arms, feeling his grip ease as I looked at Als line, knocked off its path by my desperate pull on it. Als jealousy wasnt born of affection, but from a weird kinship and maybe a little envy. Id stood against the demons to keep who I loved, and Al had worked within the shadows of their hatred for a thousand years for the same reason, ultimately failing. He was bitter. How can you tell?
Smiling, Trent tucked a gritty strand of hair behind my ear. You have that I yelled at someone who deserves it look. Hell come around.
Sour, I bobbed my head and pulled entirely from him. Thats what Im afraid of.
Bis jumped back in, and Jenks yelped, taking to the air and dodging the winged gargoyle until the bigger flier snagged him. Im going last! Jenks protested. Im going last with Rachel, you overgrown worm! And then he was gone. It was just me, Nina, and Trent.
The scrape of wood on rock jerked my eyes to a surface demon, its gaunt shadow rising up black against the still-darkening horizon. And the surface demons, I thought, setting up a new protection circle and wondering if it was too late.
Behind me, a rock clinked. Slowly Trent moved to put his back to mine.
Yep, it was.
Rachel? The air tingled at the pull Trent drew on the ley line.
There, I said, flicking a tiny pop of energy at a swiftly moving shadow. Shit, there were two of them in here. Heart pounding, I turned to the first. Detrudo! I shouted, and he pinwheeled back, crashing into the inside of my circle. His staff lay on the dirt, and I ran forward, scooping it up before running back to Trent.
Hissing, the larger surface demon jumped from rock to rock, looking alien as he circled us. Nina was white faced, pressed up against that rock, and I beckoned to her. Scared, she inched closer, but she was moving too slowly, and there was a demon creeping up behind her.
Nina! Get down! I shouted, leaping to get between them. Without thought, I pulled on the line, sending it from my chi to my hand, condensing it as it took fewer and fewer pathways until it finally reached my fingertips and ran down the staff. Dilatare! I shouted as it exploded from the end, the rod acting like a rifle bore to focus it into a finite point that slammed into the surface demon with a thunderous ache of release.
Nina screamed as she dropped, the burst of light showing surface demons doing cartwheels into the rocks and pebbles. The shock echoed back up my arm, and the staff fell from my senseless fingers. Shaking, I looked at it, wondering what the thing was made of.
And still . . . a hunched shadow found its feet, not giving up as it began to creep forward again, low to the ground and hissing.