Pale Demon

Page 14

 

  Chapter Fourteen

  Heart pounding, I ran back down the corridor. I hit the men's room door with a bang that reverberated from my arm to my toes. Breath held, I slid to a stop as the unknown elf turned.

  Trent still stood beside the row of sinks, hunched under a claustrophobically small circle. Something close to panic was in his eyes, quickly turning to his familiar cool dispassion, but I'd seen it, and I knew he was glad to see me. The air smelled like ozone, and the last of the attacking elf's green aura trying to break through Trent's circle flickered and went out.

  I put a hand on my hip, and gestured with the other at the man in his trendy windbreaker and utterly blank expression. Trying to kill Trent on my watch? I don't think so. "If I can't kill him, then neither can you," I said, and the assassin's lips twitched.

  I moved, tapping one of Las Vegas's lines even before he threw a ball of magic at me. Striding forward, I flashed a circle into existence for the bare second I needed to deflect the green-hazed ever-after into the corner. It hit the tiled wall and spread out, a gelatinous ooze smelling of bone dust emanating from it.

  "Nice," I said, thinking it must be a charm to break someone in half. "You want to leave before I hurt you?"

  Hunched, the elf backed up, trying to keep enough distance between us so that he could throw something at me and not have it bounce back at him. I kept going forward, trying to get under the guns, so to speak. Grasping him by the front of his windbreaker, I shoved him into the wall, slapping aside his attempt to flood me with ever-after.

  "I said, you need to leave," I said, unimpressed, but I hesitated when I felt the prick of wild magic brush across my aura like sandpaper. Eyes wild and frightened, the man smiled at me, and a quiver rose in my chi as I thought of black snakes unwinding from Al's head to kill Ku'Sox. The man made a gesture, lips moving and fingers twisting into an awkward figure. He gasped as his hand contorted and I heard knuckles pop, and hazy black enveloped his fist.

  Alarmed, I dropped him before his magic could flood into me.

  "Demon whore!" he shouted, clearly in pain as he threw whatever it was at me. I flung myself back to dodge his spell, hitting the stall door and falling backward into the toilet even as my protection circle sprang up. Arms and legs flailing, I caught myself with the oh-so-helpful railing they put in there. Sprawled across the seat with my arms straining, I stared at the horrifying green aura only a handsbreadth from me, slithering over my bubble as if looking for a way in. It was wild magic. It had hurt the assassin to cast it. It might make it through. I didn't think it was going to be sunshine and lollipops if it broke my bubble.

  In the corner, the assassin was getting to his feet, shaking the pain from his hand. I wasn't keen on the gleam of anticipation he still wore. Licking my lips, I glanced at the charm burning its way to me, then back to him. "Stricto vive gladio. . . ," I started, and the man's eyes widened in fear as he recognized the "bounce back" charm. He scrambled to his feet, almost flinging himself at the door in his effort to flee.

  "Gladio morere transfixus," I finished, and the green haze coating my bubble vanished.

  The fleeing elf skidded to a halt between Trent and me, his back arching as all his muscles seized. Mouth open in a silent scream, he reached behind him as if trying to touch something. Gurgling wetly, he collapsed, his back scraping on the sticky floor.

  Horrified, I broke my bubble and pulled myself out of the stall, looking at the man contorting under the charm meant for me. His lips moved as foam bubbled at the corners while he tried to speak the countercharm. "Sorry," I said, wincing. "Maybe you should have tried to kill me with something that didn't hurt so much. " A soft pop sounded, and Trent's face turned ashen. I think the guy had just dislocated something.

  Groaning, the man collapsed, but it had been the curse breaking, not the man's spine, and he lay on the floor, gasping for breath.

  "Maybe you should leave now," I suggested, and he rolled to his hands and knees. Reaching for the sink, he pulled himself up. Grime from the bottoms of a thousand shoes coated his back, and sweat glistened on his neck. Panting, he looked to the door as it creaked open, becoming even more frightened.

  I looked as well, and a heavy spike of fear slid through my ribs and into my lungs. Ku'Sox. "Damn it, Trent," I said as I edged over to stand by him. "I told you I have this. I do not need any help!"

  Ku'Sox stood before the closed door in a blue-gray, trendy suit, his pale eyes gleaming as he adjusted his silver tie. He had upgraded, it seemed-eaten an executive on Hollywood Boulevard, maybe. With one hand, he opened the door. Music drifted in, along with muffled conversation and kitchen clatter. The assassin didn't need to be asked twice. Soft shoes squeaking, he fled.

  "You'll never make it in time," he said to Trent as he slipped past Ku'Sox.

  "Oh yeah?" I shouted as the door started to close. "You don't know nothing!"

  Silence fell as the door clicked shut. Crap.

  "As compared with you, who thinks she knows everything?" Ku'Sox said, smiling.

  My thoughts flashed to him as an ugly stork, in his beak a pixy fighting for life even as the demented demon tossed his head to shift him headfirst down his throat. Stifling a shudder, I nudged Trent's bubble to get him to take it down, but he didn't, his face set in grim determination. No fear, though. Stupid man.

  "Hey, hi, Ku'Sox," I said, mouth dry. "Uh, no hard feelings, okay? Al had you beat before I got there. "

  Instead of the expected threats, the demon nodded as if I'd answered a question. "I thought it was you Al had slipped into," he said, blue eyes slitted. "If it had been Newt, I might have been hurt. You are full of unexpected talents. . . Rachel. I can call you Rachel, can I not?"

  He came in another step, and I backed up, hitting Trent's bubble and slipping backward when Trent took it down. There was a new caution in Ku'Sox, and that gave me hope, even as my palms started to sweat. Damn it, Jenks, where are you?

  "I should have guessed," Ku'Sox said, sniffing as he took in his image in the mirror and his nose grew a shade narrower and his tan deepened. "Even Al knows better than to let Newt hold his energy field. She might have snuffed him for the fun of it. " Blue eyes meeting mine, he frowned. "This alliance with Al doesn't bode well for your future. I will take drastic measures if you persist in it. It's all in the early training. I should know, having been. . . trained. Get us young enough, and we can do anything. Wait too long, and we never break our bad habits. "

  I took another step backward, teeth clenched. I was going the wrong way, but this guy scared the peas out of me. "I'm not being trained, and Trent's not in any danger," I said, proud of the way my voice didn't crack. "You can go now. He's safe. "

  I had held Al's energy field? I thought even as I looked for a way out of this. I'd assumed it had been the other way around, but maybe not.

  "Go?" Ku'Sox shifted his shoulders, watching his reflection as his suit broadened and he became wider across the shoulders. The scent of carrion seemed to tickle my nose. "Going is an excellent idea. We shall start your rehabilitation right away. "

  "No, wait!" I said, my hands raised to fend him off, but it was too late and he wrapped an arm around my waist and tucked me under his arm. "Watch it!" I cried out when my head almost hit a urinal as he spun. I was still connected to a line, and I smacked him with it.

  Ku'Sox trembled, shuddering in what could have been pain but what I was betting was pleasure. Maybe it was both. "More than adequate to get started," he said as he headed for the door. Trent stood at the sink, helpless as Ku'Sox picked me up like a kitten and walked away. Maybe he'd get it now. It only looked like I was safe around demons.

  Fingers scrabbling for the edge of the stall, I managed to stop us for a half second. "Still think you can find a way to control this? Then tell him to stop," I said to Trent, then yelped when my fingers burned as Ku'Sox yanked me off the stall. My butt hit the door, and the music got loud as we left
the men's room. Three steps later, Ku'Sox swung me up, putting me over his shoulder. I was helpless. If I threw anything at him, I'd get it back in spades.

  "I won't let you jump me," I said, his shoulder cutting into my lungs and making it hard to breathe.

  He slowed as we entered the restaurant, seeming to enjoy the music and high spirits. "To the ever-after? Why would I want to go there when we have the sun here?" he said, adjusting my weight to make my breath huff out. "There must be a boat somewhere in a sea of salt. I'm going to pick you apart, find out how much of a pain in the ass a natural-spawned demon is going to be to raise properly, or if I'd be better off destroying you all in the womb, so to speak. "

  Oh, that didn't sound good. "I'm not a demon," I said, jamming my elbow into his back, wondering if I grabbed a knife off a passing tray and hit his kidney hard enough, he might drop me. The blood was pooling in my head, hurting.

  "I've tasted you," Ku'Sox said softly. "You're like me, only natural born. With a mother and a father. "

  Even over the noise, I could detect his jealousy. And why was no one saying anything? Maybe men toting women out of the back was normal here. I hit his back harder, and he tightened his grip.

  "You might be strong enough to give me pain," he said, heading for the door. "You might not be. I want to know before more of you show up. "

  "Let me go, you freak!" I shouted, feet kicking as we started to pass tables, but everyone thought it was part of the show and only clapped. Where is Trent? Washing his hands?

  "I'm not a freak," he hissed, pinching my middle until I gasped in pain.

  Extending my arms to his back, I pushed myself up, looking wildly for Ivy. Jenks. Hell, even Vivian would be a help. Orienting myself, I sent my gaze to our table. "Pierce!" I shouted, and the man turned from where he'd been watching the two vamps in the corner. Beside him, Vivian's eyes widened. "A little help here, maybe?" Jeez, did I have to sing it for them?

  Pierce stood, his face ashen. "Rachel!" he called, cutting through the music and catching everyone's attention. Without missing a beat, the band shifted to "Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong" and the crowd exploded into cheers. I could understand their confusion. Ku'Sox looked like an especially attractive billionaire, rescuing his woman of the week from a lifetime of minimum wage.

  Tight over my head came a clatter of pixy wings, and I looked up to get a face full of pixy dust. "Jenks, get Ivy!" I shouted between coughs, the image of a pixy and a bird flashing through my mind-terrifying me more than Ku'Sox carrying me away. My head dropped as I wiped my eyes, and I glimpsed Trent at the top of the kitchen corridor. Focus blurry, I felt more than saw Ivy at the front of the restaurant in a puddle of light by the register, hands on her hips and looking svelte and refreshed.

  Finally I could see again, and I let out a little shriek, ducking when a black ball of ever-after arched toward us. Pierce. He'd thrown something.

  It struck Ku'Sox right in the head, little pinpricks of his aura hitting me like sleet. Ku'Sox stumbled as if shocked, and I scrabbled for a grip as he began to fall. The curse flashed through Ku'Sox, jerking his muscles stiff, but then it was me screaming when the son of a bitch shoved Pierce's curse into me instead.

  I howled as the arc of electricity jumped from neuron to neuron, burning. I caught a glimpse of Pierce, horrified, and then the pain was gone and I was panting, trying to breathe as I hung limp over Ku'Sox's shoulder.

  "What are you doing?" Vivian shouted from a thousand years away.

  "You think your white charms are going to do anything against that?" Pierce yelled back, and the band started to falter-except for the drummer, lost in the throes of his passion.

  "Please don't do that again," I slurred, head hanging. Conversation hummed in my stunned ears, and I caught a few uneasy whispers. We passed another table, and I started to rally. It was up to Ivy. Magic wouldn't do it-it had to be physical.

  "Thank you, God," I said as I heard her scream at him. The world spun, and I hit the floor, sprawling and hip bruised. I looked up to see Ivy and Ku'Sox in a tangle on a table. Shouts of protest rose high as glasses and plates hit the floor. My phone was humming, the buzz in my back pocket almost lost in the vertigo that was hitting me. Dizzy, I rolled to get out of the way. People were starting to scatter. We had to do this fast, or the freak would start eating people.

  "Jenks!" I shouted, ducking under the table when a chair Ivy had thrown shattered near my elbow. "Get Trent out of here!" I shouted again, thinking that maybe if Trent was gone, the demon might be constrained to follow.

  Jenks hesitated in midair, hovering between Ivy and me, clearly torn.

  "Tell him to get the car!" I yelled, a little ding from my back pocket telling me whoever it was had left a voice message. "Bring it here!" The demon would follow him or not. Either way, we'd have a quick way out of here when the shit quit hitting the fan.

  Leaving a burst of frustrated dust, Jenks darted from Ivy to me, his long hair swinging. His sharply angled face twisted up in indecision, but before he could say anything, Ivy yelled in pain. We both looked to see her slide across the floor on her back until slamming into the bottom of the stage. Blinking, she shook her head, trying to focus. The drummer finally stopped, and in the sudden hush, she slurred, "I'm okay. Get the freak of a demon. "

  That did it, and even as Ku'Sox dramatically turned, people surged to the doors in a panic. In seconds, the emergency door began screaming, and the people trying to get out of the jam-packed front surged to the rear. Ku'Sox seemed to be enjoying the chaos, raising his arms in benediction and soaking it all in as the fear rose and the noise grew louder.

  I jumped when Jenks landed on my shoulder. Beside me was Trent, and I grabbed his arm and started dragging him to the kitchen. There had to be a back door. Vivian and Pierce could take care of themselves. My phone was ringing again, and I ignored it.

  "Nice going, Trent," I said as I yanked us to a halt to avoid a panicked waitress, her eyes black in fear. "I had this under control until you called in Ku'Sox. "

  "Yeah, you stupid cookie maker," Jenks snarled, resting on my shoulder. "Quit trying to help, okay?"

  "I didn't call him. He just showed up," Trent said indignantly, and I would have laughed but it sounded too familiar. "Why don't you just hit him with some magic?" he said, and I stopped in the hallway, just outside the kitchen doors. People were screaming, trying to get out, but no one was coming this way.

  "What, and end up dead?" I said, not having a problem admitting that there were people stronger than me. "Ku'Sox almost killed Al," I said, my pointing arm dropping when I realized Ku'Sox was eying the frantic people as if mentally culling the herd. "I can't beat that! You freed a serial killer!"

  Trent flinched, but I think it was from the explosion behind me more than from what I'd said. I spun to the wave of heat at my back, and by the familiar green tint to the fading aura, I'd guess that Ku'Sox had deflected one of Pierce's curses. A table was burning with a green flame, and the fire licking the nets was beginning to crawl along the ceiling. A drop of it fell to the floor, and I felt myself pale when someone collapsed with an ugly scream, writhing in pain and clutching his leg. In three seconds, the man was engulfed, creating a second panic as people trampled one another to get away.

  Okay. Safety note. Don't step in the green fire.

  "Pierce!" I shouted. The choking air smelling like burned limes. "You're hurting people!"

  His long coat furling, he spun to me. My face went cold. There was no remorse in him, no softness. Only the demands of the fight. "He needs to die in flame!" Pierce shouted angrily. "Demons die in flame!"

  True, but so do people.

  I strengthened my hold on the ley line when Ku'Sox started for Ivy, but the shrill sound of the man burning pulled Ku'Sox's attention like a siren's song. He shifted his focus and started for the screaming man instead, flinging people aside if they didn't move fast enough. Standing before the writhing man, Ku'Sox
hesitated for a blissful second, soaking in the sound of the alarm and the fleeing people as the man gurgled his last. The demon's eyes widened in anticipation, and he flushed before plunging his hands into the slumped, still-burning form. Ku'Sox shuddered in pleasure, his expression one of gleeful enthusiasm. Pulling back, his two-handed grip was holding something hazed with a soft glow. Holding it over his head, Ku'Sox squeezed his hands and a black, viscous substance oozed from his fingers to fall into his mouth. His soul? Was it the man's soul, burnt and burning?

  "Holy crap," I whispered, scared to death. I looked across the restaurant to Pierce, seeing that he was as horrified as I was. Beside him, Vivian shook, utterly terrified-she had nothing to stop a soul-eating demon. I hadn't even known you could pull someone's soul out like that.

  Both Vivian and I jumped when a rifle shot exploded through the sound of alarms and terrified people.

  Only the ringing door alarm broke the sudden silence as everyone turned to the front where a huge bear of a man, a Were by the look of it, stood in a sifting of ceiling dust. There was a rifle as big as he was in his thick hands. "All right!" he said, and I nudged Trent to get the hell out of here. "The cops are coming. You just clear out, and we'll have no more trouble!"

  It was a nice thought, but he clearly didn't know this wasn't your average brawl, supernatural or not. "Get the car!" I all but hissed at Trent, and finally the man started to drift back toward the kitchen. Under the ringing alarm, I could hear a woman crying. Ivy stood slowly, able to focus again apparently. She had a hand to the back of her head, and I hoped she was okay. I didn't dare move yet. Ku'Sox seemed to have forgotten me, and I was too chicken to remind him; maybe we could all just slink out of here real quiet like. . .

  "Stay with Trent, Jenks," I said, unable to look away from Ku'Sox, and the pixy dropped to hover in front of me.

  "Don't make me leave," he said, his fear obvious.

  "What is that marvelous creation!" Ku'Sox exclaimed, looking across the restaurant at the rifle, and when he moved, people started for the door again. At least the alarm to the back door had gone quiet, and it was only people screaming this time.

  My gaze flicked to Jenks, and I felt a stab of shared fear. "I don't trust Trent. We need the car. Do this for me. " My palms were sweaty, and I wiped them on my jeans. "You've got my back, Jenks," I said as he hesitated in frustration. "Make sure Trent brings the car. I'm counting on you. "

  "Damn it back to the Turn," Jenks swore, looking both pissed and scared as he darted through the swinging kitchen doors to follow Trent. A silver sparkle dripped from his path, and I prayed Trent wouldn't cross us. Jenks would kill him.

  Shaking, I turned back to the restaurant. Maybe I could salvage something.

  "I don't want no trouble," the Were manager said as he cocked the rifle again.

  Maybe not.

  My shoulders slumped and I held my middle as I exchanged a look with Ivy across the tables, knowing what was going to happen next. We could do nothing but watch as Ku'Sox strode forward, his hand outstretched. The Were shook his head in warning, grimaced, lowered the weapon, pointed, and pulled the trigger. I jerked as the bullet exploded the wall behind the demon, people screaming as the splinters of wood and plaster went everywhere.

  The manager's mouth opened, and Ku'Sox yanked the gun from him, not angry at all, but curious. "Please make it fast, God," I whispered. I couldn't stop this. I couldn't stop it!

  "It works like this?" Ku'Sox said, turning the gun around and blowing a hole in the man's chest.

  I couldn't tell if the noise or the color came first: the blood and tiny bits of bone coating the register in a speckled red wash of thunderous noise. People screamed, and the Were looked down at the hole in his chest in shock. Red bubbles frothed from his lips as he tried to speak. Then he dropped to his knees and fell forward into a puddle of his own broken insides.

  It was ugly, and I leaned against the wall as the rising fear hit me along with the stench of gunpowder and hot metal. I wished this had never happened, that I'd never agreed to help Trent, that I'd never, ever gone to the library two years ago looking for a way to do whatever it was I'd been hoping to do.

  I didn't even remember anymore. Whatever it was, it had been a mistake.

  Shutting my eyes wasn't making it go away, though, and I opened them to find Pierce standing resolutely on a table, his moving fingers wreathed in blackness as his whispered Latin buzzed through my brain, an echo of his rising curse. I turned to the exits, seeing that everyone had gotten out but the few collapsed in fear. "Vivian!" I shouted, seeing her not panicking, but not knowing what to do, either. "Get them out of here!"

  Thank God Jenks is gone. I don't want him to see what I do next.

  "What a waste," Ku'Sox said as he looked at the rifle in his hands, then tossed it from him to clatter across a table. "It killed you far too quickly. " Scanning the nearby tables, he found a woman in white, sobbing, curled into a ball and spending her five minutes in hell.

  "You're still alive, though," he said, and the woman shrieked as he plucked her from under the table. "I'll eat you instead," he said, and the woman came to life as he held her up, ignoring her clawing hands as he pulled her closer, his jaw opening to fix on her throat.

  It was like a demented kiss, and the woman had one breath to scream-a terrifying shriek of pain and fear-of shock at what was happening. And then he pulled her from him with a sudden jerk, his face bloody and a two- pound gap of flesh in the woman's neck. She still struggled though her head flopped at an impossible angle, bits of bloody froth spraying from her torn throat as she tried to scream, her lungs still working though her voice box was now inside Ku'Sox.

  I wanted to turn away, but I couldn't. I wanted to run, to leave it for someone else to deal with, but I couldn't. It was me or no one.

  "Oh my God," Vivian said, and I jumped when I realized she was next to me, clutching my arm. I swallowed my bile down before I emptied my stomach. "This is why I know how to do black magic," I whispered.

  Vivian looked at me as Ku'Sox finally ate enough of the woman to kill her. Vivian's eyes were wide, her mind not yet having found a way to believe what her eyes were telling her.

  "Even dead vamps remember pity," Ivy said, coming up on my other side.

  "He-he. . . ," Vivian stammered, white faced and unable to say it.

  "You think I know black magic for kicks?" I said harshly. "I'm trying to survive. " I shoved the sight of a demon in a silver suit biting a woman's throat out to the back of my brain to wake me in a cold sweat later. What can I do? I thought as I found Pierce throwing up behind a table. Burn him? Like the curse I almost did in the garden? Could Pierce, Vivian, and I kill a demon together? My heart pounded, and I took a step forward, feeling Ivy's hand take my bicep. I doubted we could kill him, but it was all I had. Killing Ku'Sox wasn't murder, it was survival. And if it made me a black witch, then so be it.

  My memory flicked back to Pierce crouched over Al and ready to end the demon's life for his freedom. Maybe there was no difference between us after all, and the reason I was mad at Pierce was because I was seeing reflections of myself in him, and I didn't like it.

  Ku'Sox looked to the ceiling as a cascade of red-tinted ever-after washed over him, rebounding at the outermost point of his aura and soaking back into him. Tucking the dead woman under his arm, he headed for the door. I could hear sirens out there, and my heart hammered. Black craft or not, I couldn't let him leave.

  "Are we letting him go?" Pierce shouted, angry as he wiped his mouth and came out from behind the table.

  I glanced at Ivy to tell her we weren't, then Vivian, who still didn't understand the reality of demons. "Yep," I lied, leaning back and crossing my arms over my chest and rocking back on one foot. "This is not my problem. "

  "What?" Vivian said, and I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "You can't let him walk out of here! He just killed two people!" she raged, her anger at her o
wn naivete, her fear, and her disbelief finding an easy scapegoat in me.

  I should have told her that this was all Trent's fault, but I held my tongue as Ivy slinked away to take up a defensive position. "What do you want me to do, Ms. Coven Member? You're telling me to do black magic? Huh? 'Cause that's the only thing that he's going to notice!"

  She licked her lips, clearly at war with herself. Ku'Sox, though, was almost to the door.

  "He'll notice this," Pierce said, and then, pulling on the line so heavily even Ku'Sox felt it, he threw a spell. Vivian gasped as it flew the distance, burning the very air as it passed. Ku'Sox spun, bouncing it back at us with a quickly instigated bubble.

  "Down!" I shouted, and I dropped to the floor. The curse hit the stage, and the amp exploded, sending sparkles of ozone over us. "Damn it, Pierce! Watch what you're doing!"

  "Mmmm," Ku'Sox said as he started back in our direction. "Curious accent to your spell work. Not at all like hers. Who taught you?"

  "We can't stop him!" Vivian exclaimed.

  "Duh," I said, trying to decide if Vivian was scared enough yet. If I could convince her that someone needed to know black magic, they might let me keep my mind when they shoved me back in Alcatraz. Sort of a plan B in case demons came visiting again.

  Pierce jumped onto a table, shouting Latin, and seeing that he had Ku'Sox's attention, I pulled Ivy and Vivian to me. "I have an idea," I said, silently thanking God that Pierce was here-even if he was a black witch. I needed him. Al was right.

  Vivian hesitated, but it was Ivy who said, "Like the fairies?"

  I nodded, even as my heart seemed to clench. I was going to burn Ku'Sox-and I wasn't going to stop the curse. "Vivian, we need your help. " Her face became more frightened, and I looked at Pierce, winding up and throwing another curse at Ku'Sox. Okay, the man not only knew what he was doing, but he looked good doing it.

  Pierce followed the first charm with a second, scoring on the demon when Ku'Sox didn't see the one hidden behind it. A black sticky something coated Ku'Sox, and the demon dropped the dead woman to claw his way out of the green aura covering him.

  "A casting," I said, watching Pierce flick his hair back as he caught his breath. "We have to do a casting. I doubt it will kill him, but he might go somewhere else to lick his wounds. Pierce?"

  His gaze never leaving the demon, Pierce raised his hand in acknowledgment.

  My heart gave a hard pound. Ivy. She'd be safe, but she'd have to stay with me.

  "That's-" Vivian began to say, starting to look aghast again, and I wondered what it was going to take to convince her.

  "Casting isn't illegal," I interrupted her. "Just the curse. And I'll twist it, not you. "

  "Down!" Pierce yelled, and I dropped, yanking Vivian with me and snapping a protection circle over us. A red-tinted ball of death exploded behind us, and the smoke alarm started going off. Outside, I could hear sirens. "We need a decision here!" Ivy said, looking shaken.

  "I can't do a black curse!" Vivian babbled, the last of the professional young woman dropping away as she pushed her hair out of her eyes. "I'm coven!"

  "Bloody hell paste!" Ku'Sox was shouting, still not altogether out of Pierce's last spell.

  "All you need to do is hold the inner protection circle against all creation," Pierce said, his blue eyes sharp with an old anger at the reluctance of uptight women. "You don't need to sully yourself-we'll do that. "

  I dropped my bubble so Pierce could join us, and he took a symbolic step forward. He knew the spell I wanted to use. "My outer circle won't hold him long. Pierce, you'll have to be quick in the casting. If he breaks it, the curse will incinerate half of Vegas. "

  Ivy looked scared. "Get it right, witches. "

  "'Scuse me," Pierce said with a grunt, throwing another ball of goo at Ku'Sox.

  This time, Ku'Sox absorbed it, the black mass dissolving in a cascade of sparkles. He had mastered the countercurse. We had to work fast. "I'm of a mind to see if you're as grand as you think you are," Pierce said to me, and I smirked back.

  "Same here," I said, exhilarated even as I was scared to death. "Okay! Let's do this!"

  "Look out!" Vivian shouted, and I jerked as Ku'Sox backhanded Pierce into Ivy. They slid across the floor in a tangle of arms and legs, the spell that Pierce had begun fizzling in a sparkle of green and red. Crap! When had he gotten that close?

  "Hey!" I shouted as Ku'Sox wrapped an arm around my neck and started dragging me away. I struggled, trying to break his hold as he headed for the door. Shit, shit, shit! I could still make the outer protection circle, but I wasn't ready to sacrifice myself to get rid of Ku'Sox. But then I remembered him tearing that woman's throat out and her silent screams as she tried to breathe. Burning would be better than that. I think.

  "You have the nicest hair," Ku'Sox said as he yanked me up and I felt him touch behind my ear. I stiffened when he ran his nose down my neck, and my breath sucked in as he found the vamp toxins sunk deep in my tissues. "Ohhh, you're flawed," he murmured. "How delightful. "

  "Oh shit," I whispered, scrambling for anything to slow us down.

  "Shit," Ku'Sox said speculatively, and he loosened his grip until my heels dragged on the floor again. "I've heard that several times now. Is that the word of choice? I do so like all-encompassing words. Verb, adjective, noun. Yes, you are shitted. "

  My heels thumped as he dragged me backward. "You'd better let me go!" I cried, reaching out to grab a post. Ku'Sox yanked me off it, pulling me another foot until I snagged a table. I wouldn't let go, and the added weight slowed him down even more. We were almost to the door, and I could hear radio chatter and yelling people in the street.

  "You know why my brethren didn't kill me?" Ku'Sox said as the table I was dragging hit a post and we stopped. "They couldn't. Even Newt, and she tried. They made me special, the wonder child of the future, now our ignoble past, designed to bridge the gap between demons and witches and bring us back into the sun, able to walk in reality and the ever-after both, and all of us capable of holding as much energy as a female. " He hesitated, yanking me until my grip slipped and we moved forward again. "You can understand why male demons might want to fix that unfair quirk of nature. I think I turned out quite nicely, don't you?"

  "You don't look special to me," I panted, seeing Pierce horrified and afraid to do anything. He was next to Vivian, and Ivy was at their feet. I have to get back to them.

  "But I am," Ku'Sox snarled, sounding almost unhappy. "You know why Newt killed her sisters? I told her to. Newt I could control, but the others? They were a danger and had to be killed. Females can hold more energy than males. They have to in order to hold a second independent field of energy inside them without absorbing it. "

  That was interesting, and my thoughts went back to what Ku'Sox had said earlier about my holding Al's energy, supplementing it. Had I been able to do it because I was female?

  "Two souls in one body," Ku'Sox said, shifting his hold on me and smacking my hand until it went numb. My grip slipped away, and he started forward again. "Two energy fields bound by one aura without the smaller being crushed or absorbed. That's where babies come from, Rachel, not cabbage leaves. And once I got Newt to kill all her sisters, there was no one left to tell me no, especially when all I needed to do was slide into reality to escape. And then I find you. Natural born. Unknown possibilities. Stronger? Weaker? Let's find out. "

  Crap, we were almost to the door. "I'm all for finding out who's stronger," I said, and then I reached for the line I'd never fully released, demanding all that Vegas could give me.

  Energy raced in, hot and electric, tasting of dust, sand, and lightning that beat on the desert floor, the power of the sun kept clean and unblemished, the sands storing it like a battery.

  I pushed it out through my pores, teeth gritted. It didn't hurt, but it burned like fire.

  Howling, Ku'Sox flung me from him.

  I arched through the air, gru
nting when I hit a table. I slid to the floor, hurting. Damn, it felt like my back was broken. "You're right," I slurred as I felt Ivy's hands reach under my armpits and drag me back to Vivian and Pierce. "I can hold more than you. "

  When I could focus again, I looked up to see Vivian, fear on her face for what she was about to do. Pierce took my hand, and I dampened the energy flowing through me so I wouldn't fry them. Vivian took my other, and when Pierce grasped her free fingers, completing our circle, I took a deep breath, feeling the alien-ness of them with me.

  "Fire in the hold," I whispered, opening my mind and gathering both Pierce and Vivian into my thoughts, now realizing that I could, like a mother with twins. It was akin to sharing a spell, as we had done in my garden, but there would be no will but my own here. For an instant, their souls were mine-my strength was lent to them, and they didn't know the difference, didn't know that I directed them. Mine.

  Vivian's bubble snapped up around us, coated with my smut. I felt Pierce's aura shift, melting with Vivian's so his magic could pass through her bubble. My outer circle was next, encompassing most of the restaurant's front room and a slice of the unseen back alley.

  Ku'Sox ran for us, his clawed hand looking like a bird's foot as he screamed and tried to break it, but Vivian's will was supplemented by mine, and he couldn't.

  "Celero inanio!" The words ripped from Pierce's throat, pushed by my will and his fear. I could feel Vivian's despair and shame, but fear for her life burned in her. I felt Pierce's pride, then wallowed in his shock when he realized I was holding him, holding them both.

  In slow motion, I felt the lava ribbons of the curse snake out from Vivian's bubble, moving like lightning as the energy darted to the edges of my containment bubble, snaking up the sides and running to the peak above us. As one, the six ribbons struck the apex. A flash of energy exploded from it, crisping everything in a burst of heat.

  "I pay the price," I whispered, gathering the rising smut to me as if it were a blanket. The black curse was mine. I deserved the price.

  Pierce's head was down, and Vivian was staring upward in amazement as more power than she knew existed spun through her. It wasn't that the dark side was stronger, but that everything was the dark side. All magic was inherently wrong, and it was only us fooling ourselves that some of it was good, some of it was bad. Magic. . . just was.

  And so it was only I who saw Ku'Sox's face go white in the realization that I might be as strong as Newt, but not insane and therefore not easily twisted. The cloud of burning molecules drifted to him in slow motion, sparking from one to the next as fast as an electron can spin-and in a bare second before the air in his lungs turned to flame, he vanished, snarling in anger.

  He was gone, and the air burned-empty of his flesh.

  I closed my eyes, and the sound of glass breaking sliced through my disappointment. We had missed. Damn it, we had missed.

  "God forgive us," Vivian whispered.

  The curse felt me weaken, and it broke upon itself, flashing upward and turning into real flame. With a snap, both my and Vivian's bubbles collapsed. Hands pulled from mine in haste, and I dropped to my knees. Ivy caught me-her hands gentle with compassion, tender with hesitation.

  I opened my eyes to find that the sound of breaking glass had been the lights. We were in the dark, lit only by real, honest fire, dancing at the ceiling. It grew even as I watched, the light becoming brighter, more dangerous. "The ceiling is on fire," I whispered. "We should go. "

  Disappointment made me slow, and Ivy helped me to my feet as the smoke detectors continued to scream and the water system clicked on. Ivy and I searched each other's expression in the dim glow of the flames, the water mixing with her tears, shining in the come-and-go light from the fire. She knew by my expression that he'd gotten away, and yet she thought nothing less of me, either, for failing to kill him or because I'd tried in the first place. Evil witch, black demon.

  "Let me help you," she said, and I nodded, thinking she was beautiful inside.

  "We-we. . . ," Vivian stammered, clearly in shock as the water misted down.

  Pierce started for the kitchen, turning when he realized no one was following him. "Time to pull foot," he said, yanking Vivian, not me.

  "We. . . ," she tried again, slipping, but at least we were moving. The floor was charred, slick under my steps, unseen in the dark. The air was heavy, a weird mix of heat and moisture. I glanced toward the front, glad I couldn't see the smoldering bodies of the people dead and left behind. I could smell them, though, and see the little puddles of wax burning on the tables still left standing.

  "Kitchen," I said, leaning heavily on Ivy, weary. Cops and firemen weren't coming in, which meant they were going to count the building as a loss. As soon as the right people arrived, they were going to circle the place and let it burn. We should probably get out before then.

  We hit the kitchen at a staggering run, Ivy grabbing a take-out bag in passing once we got past the arc of my circle that had contained the curse. I wasn't sure if she was supporting me or if I was supporting her when we hit the kitchen's service doors and a slice of harsh mercury lamplight from outside spilled in. My head came up as the air changed. It was still hot but now it had the stink of garbage. Ivy was first out, looking at Trent, waiting beside my mother's car, before taking the three-foot jump to the lower pavement and looking up at me.

  Vivian sat down to slide off, leaving a long, wet mark glistening in the streetlight. Pierce hesitated only briefly before he jumped, hitting the ground in a soggy splat. Ivy's hand was extended for me, and I took it, still shaky. Ku'Sox had left, sure, but now he knew I was a threat.

  "We got the devil," Pierce said, clearly in a good mood as we all limped for the car, just twenty feet ahead. It was running. Maybe Trent had learned something after all.

  "You think Ku'Sox is dead?" I said as I stumbled beside Pierce. "I didn't see a body in there. Did you see a body? Anyone see a body? I sure as hell didn't!"

  Pierce jerked to a stop, and Ivy left me with one hand on the car for support as she got in and slid to the driver's seat, water dripping from her. Vivian dived into the back, yelling at us to get in.

  "No one could survive that!" Pierce said, water flinging from him as he pointed at the burning building. I jumped when the city's fire codes clicked into play, and the building-wide circle snapped into place to contain the fire. Thank God we were out of it. We had only moments before someone would come back here and find us. They might have been waiting for us to get out. Maybe.

  "If killing that freak was that easy, don't you think that the demons would have done it?" I said, feeling Ivy's eyes on me. "He's still alive," I said as I slowly got in the car, numb.

  He was alive, but I might know how to kill him now, and I dropped my eyes, ashamed to even be thinking it. It was said that Newt had killed her lovers by running a line through them. Obviously I could do the same. Otherwise why had Ku'Sox convinced Newt to kill the female demons that the elves had missed?

  I looked at my hands, trying to see them shaking in the dim light. I had to talk to Newt. Great. Just friggin' great. Maybe she'd think I was a demon and decide to kill me, too.

  "Pierce, get in the car!" Ivy shouted from behind the wheel, and he shoved me to the middle as he got in, the car shaking as he slammed the door.

  A cop car's light played over our car, and swearing, Trent ducked. Ivy gunned it, bouncing my mom's car's fender off the bubble containing the fire as she spun in a tight circle. Pierce gaped behind us as Ivy drove like the devil himself was after us, jumping curbs and driving over the bare ground. Vivian and Trent cried out in protest from the back. There was a final, jolting thump, then the road smoothed as Ivy found the way to the interstate. No one followed.

  I closed my eyes, enjoying the smell of excited vampire on my left and the rich tang of witch on my right. The lights of oncoming traffic glowed through my eyelids, and I opened them when my phone started to
hum. Jenks's wings were a beautiful web of silk and diamonds as he held on to the rearview mirror's stem, watching our back. Always watching our back.

  "Everyone here?" I needlessly asked, my fingers shaking as I flipped open my phone to see that it was Bis. The last two calls were from him as well. He had to be feeling me pull heavily on the lines. He was waking up in the day, too. Maybe he was older than I thought.

  Jenks's wings hummed to life, turning as gray as my soul as they deflected the light, their beauty lost. "Yeah, everyone's here," he said, clearly not believing they were just going to let us drive away.

  I hesitated briefly before letting Bis's call go to voice mail and tucking the phone away. I couldn't talk to him right now. Vivian was sobbing in the back, trying not to be obvious about it. I thought it callous of Trent not to give her any comfort, but if she was anything like me, his show of compassion would only get his face bitten off and he probably knew it.

  The hum of the engine grew steady, never varying as we sped north on 95. I flexed my hand, trying to see it in the faint green glow from the dash. The memory of how much energy I'd channeled into Ku'Sox had left my body unmarked, but it had shaken me. It had been enough to fry anyone else to a cinder.

  My fist closed, and I saw Ivy look from it back to the road. Her eyes were worried. Taking a breath, she pushed her wet hair back, steadying herself for whatever I might do next. She looked too young, too beautiful, too perfect to put up with my crap, and when I touched her hand, she jumped.

  We'd gotten away, but my heart was like ash, as black as the coating on my soul. Vivian had seen the depth of it, taken part in it. Maybe she'd leave this part of the trip out of her report.

  "Hey," Jenks said, his thoughts clearly on the same path as mine, "is it true what they say about Vegas?"

  "No," Vivian said, and I caught sight of her red-rimmed eyes in the rearview mirror when the lights of a passing car lit up her misery. "I'm telling them. I'm telling them everything. "

  Trent shifted uncomfortably, and Jenks took a breath, a darkly glowing dust spilling from him. I calmed him with a soft nod. I wanted them to know. It might be the only thing that was going to keep my body and soul on this side of the lines. That and maybe Trent's testimony that I was a good person. I was in trouble if they ever found out Ku'Sox was his demon.

  "Double jeopardy," Trent whispered. "It's double jeopardy. " His eyes met mine when I turned to him. "It always has been. "