My bag smacked the taillight of the car I was passing, and I followed Ivy’s footprints into the frozen slush of the aisle. The sliding sound of a van’s door opening brought my head up. Ten feet from my car, a man lurched out of a white minivan beside Ivy. She wasn’t paying attention, her head down and looking vulnerable. Shit.
“Ivy!” I exclaimed, terrified by the glint of a pistol in his hand, but it was too late. The man shoved her, and she was pushed into the side of a nearby SUV parked half a car away. “Hey!” I shouted, but then I spun at the soft sound of snow compacting beside me. My instinctive crouch put me eye to eye with Mia.
“Witch,” she said, lips blue with cold, and then she reached out.
Adrenaline pounded, and I flung myself backward, my right foot slipping out from under me when I hit the bumper of the car I’d just passed. I went down, arms flailing and purse falling from me. The banshee grabbed my wrist, where my glove and coat parted, and I froze, kneeling before her. Her baby had almost killed me. Shit, shit, shit!
Mia’s hood had fallen back, and her eyes were wisps of blue under the spotlights. Cold fingers encircling my wrist, she leaned closer. “Who did you talk to today?” she asked, her voice precise and angry.
Heart pounding, I looked past her. Ivy had her face against the window of the SUV, her arm twisted and a gun to her head. There was a baby car seat in the open van, and the happy babble of a baby drifted out. Why in hell hadn’t I brought my splat gun? “You’re wanted for questioning,” I said, thinking one swift kick and she’d be off me. “If you come in, it will look good.”
The words sounded stupid the moment they left my mouth, and Mia squinted, making the skin around her eyes tighten. “You think I care?” she said imperially. “Who did you talk to?”
I tensed to smack her, and Mia’s eyes, almost white in the dim light, dilated to pupil black. My breath hissed in, and I almost collapsed. A scintillating flood tingled through me, rising up my arm. Cold followed close behind it, and the feeling of being pulled inside out turned my stomach. Like a puppet with cut strings, I sagged, my arm stretched out with my wrist in Mia’s grip.
“S-stop,” I stammered, head bowed as I struggled to just breathe. Damn it, what was I doing? I never should have taken this case. She was a freaking predator. A top-of-the-line, ancient predator, like an alligator. As I knelt there, going cold and thick, I could feel myself dying in stages, watching, and unable to stop it.
I gasped as the pulling sensation quit. Warmth eased back, but it was less, settling like a sloshing tub over my soul. Haggard, I brought my head up to find Mia’s blue eyes waiting. They were cold and uncaring. Reptile eyes. Behind her, Ivy watched. Her cheek was against the tall vehicle, and her jaw was clenched, making her look helpless, frustrated, and really mad. We were in front of a freaking jail—the woman had enough guts to rule the world. Maybe she thought she already did.
“Someone is following me,” Mia asked coldly. “Who did you talk to?”
My knee had gone wet, and my arm hurt. An ache was spreading from it to my back. Mia withdrew a step, drawing me into the slush-rutted aisle, and I rose to my feet like a pull toy. Her other hand went around my throat, her wedding band catching the light. “Wait,” I blurted in panic when the first threat of my aura leaving lifted through me again.
Seeing my understanding, Mia smiled. She was beautiful in the falling snow, smaller than me, but cold—so cold and uncaring. “That’s me taking your life, witch,” she said, snow melting on her upturned face. “The more you struggle, the stronger I am. Who did you talk to? Someone is following me. Tell me or you die right here.”
A cold sweat broke out on me. The woman was like a slipknot. I was a rabbit in a raptor’s talons.
“Rachel, just tell her!” Ivy shouted, then grunted when Remus encouraged her to keep her mouth shut.
“Don’t hurt her!” I called out, eyes fixed on Ivy, helpless against the SUV. My fear grew worse when I remembered what Remus had done to Glenn. Son of a bitch. Why shouldn’t I tell Mia? I licked my lips, and Mia tightened her grip. A soft ache pulled through me, and I said, “A banshee named Ms. Walker. It was another banshee, from the west.”
Mia’s eyes widened, and her grip almost fell away. “In my city? That…thing is in my city?” she said, her high voice carrying a shocking amount of hatred. Her eyes had gone vampire black—clear in the lights from the parking lot—and I wondered if the two species were related.
“I think she’s going to kill you for Holly,” I said, wondering if a quick palm thrust to her chin while she was distracted might break me free, but I was too scared to try. She didn’t have to touch me to take my aura. “You and Remus both. Your only chance to keep her is to come in now. The FIB will take her temporarily, but you’ll get her back. Let me go.” Please, let me go.
Her focus returned to me, hatred making her look like a wronged queen. “You brought The Walker here,” the slight woman accused, and I felt myself go weak, sparkles showing at the edges of my sight. “You’re working with her!”
“I didn’t bring her here!” I cried, and I heard Ivy grunt in pain. “You did,” I panted. Damn it, how do I get into these situations? And don’t they monitor their parking lot? “She heard I survived a banshee attack and thought it was because Holly had gained control. I told Ms. Walker it wasn’t Holly but the dark banshee tear in my pocket, but she still wants Holly. Mia, I can help you if you let me go.” Though only God knows why I’m doing this. Survival?
Mia’s breath steamed as she gauged my words. In a quick burst of motion, she let go of my throat and took two steps away. I gasped and fell back against the trunk. Weight supported on an elbow, I held a hand to my throat and looked at the small woman, trying to decide how much aura I had left. It didn’t feel like a lot, but I was able to stand up and move without becoming dizzy. She didn’t need to touch me to kill me, but at least I had some room now.
Behind her, Remus took the gun from Ivy’s head and backed up out of her reach. His weapon was still pointed at her, though. I watched Ivy visually measure the distance between them, and knowing the gun would beat her, she fell into a tense pose. Behind Remus, Holly gurgled, excited by the emotions reaching her.
Mia stood in the falling snow, disgust clear in her expression. “I would have stayed to make sure you were dead if I’d known The Walker would find out about Holly.”
“We all make mistakes,” I said, knees weak. “You mean Ms. Walker?”
“The Walker,” she corrected me. I could almost hear the capital letters, and Mia’s disgust grew. “She’s an assassin who kills with the grace of a falling log. If she’s east of the Mississippi, in my city, your assessment that she wants Holly is correct.” Her delicate jaw clenched. “She won’t have her. Holly is special. She’s going to give us back our power, and I’m not going to let that bitch take the credit.”
The whining complaint of a tired Chevy trying to start in the snow broke the stillness. At the far end of the lot, a pair of headlights lit up and a big engine roared to life. Suddenly nervous, Remus called out, “Mia?”
I shook my head, trembling. The cold was eddying about my feet, telling me Mia was still sucking in my aura, but at least she wasn’t actively taking it. “I’m sorry, Mia,” I whispered as Holly started fussing in the open van. “We know it’s Remus who’s special, not Holly. We know it’s a wish that lets him hold her. Ms. Walker doesn’t care. She wants your daughter, and she’s going to kill you to get her.”
Ivy shifted from foot to foot, probably blaming herself. No one moved as the car drove past, two aisles over, headed for the exit. An idle thought drifted through me. Why hadn’t I seen anyone come out of the building? Remus, too, wasn’t liking it. “Mia…,” he prompted, the security light showing his worried features.
Mia watched the car’s taillights as they hesitated at the street, then slowly drove away. The banshee brought her attention back to me, her expression shifting to show an inner excitement. “Holly is special,” she insist
ed. “And you’re going to make sure I keep my daughter, Rachel Morgan.”
“Why would I help you?” I said dryly. “You’re a freaking parasite.”
“Predator, not parasite, and you need me,” she said, reaching out.
“No!” I cried out, backpedaling until I found the car behind me again. Panic grew at the soft pop of a gun, muffled in the snow. “Ivy!” I shouted, then jerked when Mia found my throat again. “What have you done?” I whispered, seeing her inches away.
“Don’t move,” she demanded, eyes wild. “Or Remus will kill her.”
She’s alive? I squirmed, and my energy left me. I didn’t care. “Ivy,” I panted. “I can’t see her. Let me see her, you cold bitch!”
Mia’s face grew ugly, but from behind her I heard Ivy say, “I’m okay!” followed by a soft “Ow,” and then an aggressive “Hurt her, and you’ll find yourself worse than dead, human!”
Mia’s cold fingers never leaving my throat, she sent her gaze to the van, where Holly was now crying. My heart pounded when her attention returned to me. Hand still around my neck, she reached out, her palm coming for my forehead. “Don’t,” I pleaded, thinking she was going to kill me. “Please, don’t!”
Smiling wickedly, Mia put her cold hand to my cheek in an almost loving gesture. “This is why you’re going to help me, witch. This is what I can give you.”
Tiny pinpricks exploded in my cheek, and I gasped, stiffening, as I reached for the car behind me. Warmth was spilling into me, familiar and soothing. It was my aura returning, filling the cracks and making me whole. It spilled in with the pain of a healing scab, and my eyes flashed wide as I looked into Mia’s clear blue ones. I exhaled, thinking it sounded like a sob, and I held my next breath so I could taste the incoming energy better. She was giving it back. The energy wasn’t coming from a ley line—it was coming right from her soul. She was giving me back my life’s energy. Why?
The tingles quit with a surprising suddenness, and I realized that I was pressed up against a car in a cold parking lot, a small woman holding me hostage with the power of my soul.
Mia made a fist of her hand and backed up, hunched over and looking tired. “That’s what Holly taught me,” she said proudly. “Because her father cannot be harmed by a banshee, Holly was born knowing how to push energy into a person, not just take it. I learned by example.”
“So?” I said, still not understanding. God, it felt good, and I suddenly realized I could tap a line. Relief spilled into me as I did, taking in a huge amount of ley line force, spindling it in my head. At the end of the lot, a car pulled in, its lights dim in the falling snow. Moving slowly, it crept down the aisles, looking for a space.
“Mia?” Remus called, clearly nervous.
“Be still,” the woman said. “I’m impressing upon the witch the reason she’s going to convince the FIB to back off.” She wore a smile when she turned back to me, but it was the smile of someone who thinks they control you, and my mood hardened. “I’ve fed extremely well these last few months,” Mia said with an unremorseful satisfaction. “Humans are stupid, trusting animals, and if you give a little, they think you love them, and then it’s a simple matter of taking what they give you. Natural causes,” she said coyly, “heart attack, brain aneurysm, simple fatigue. We have fasted for forty years since the Turn, but Holly will give us back our strength, the cunning to take what we want with impunity instead of this thin tracing the law allows us. Those who protest will be silenced. The I.S. knows it. I’m charging you to impress upon the FIB the error of their thinking.”
Behind her, Ivy shook with anger, Remus’s hold tight on her. “You monster,” she seethed. “You’re making them think you love them, then killing them? That’s not why I gave you the wish!”
“Shut up,” Remus said, and Ivy grunted in pain. My face paled and the cold night seemed darker. That’s how she had been feeding herself and her child. Damn it, how were we supposed to tell the banshee-induced deaths from the natural ones? “You think I’m going to help you?” I said, appalled. “Are you nuts?”
The car drove slowly past, following the path of the one that had just left, tracks upon tracks, and my skin started to tingle. It was going too slowly. And it looked, no, sounded familiar. Early model, dripping rust. It turned at the end of the lot, and the lights shown on Ivy and Remus. In the van, Holly cried, her hands reaching up for someone.
“Mia!” Remus shouted. “We have to go!”
“Help me is exactly what you’re going to do,” Mia said, and a second wave of warmth filled me as she moved closer. “Tell the FIB I’m gone. Tell them aliens came down and abducted me. I don’t care, but if they don’t leave me alone, I’ll kill you, right here if need be, then start on that man’s son, and move on from there.”
“Touch Glenn, and you’ll find yourself dead!” Ivy snarled, and Mia eyed her in disgust.
“Don’t presume to threaten me,” she said condescendingly. “I watched your Piscary set foot in my city, and I watched him buried in it. Keep that in mind.”
I shook my head. “I won’t help you, Mia. If you don’t come in, you and your daughter will be forever living outside society and on the run.”
Mia’s pale eyebrows rose. “Witch, I made this society. If they touch me, I won’t live outside it. I’ll bring it down.”
I felt the strength of the line in me, and it made me bold. “Then you can go to hell.”
A sigh lifted through Mia. She turned to Remus, who was fidgeting, wanting to leave. “You can lead a pig to water,” she said, then turned back to me. “I’ll ask the vampire to pass on my words, then.”
My breath caught as I realized she was going to kill me. “Wait!”
Panicked, I scrambled back among the cars, but she followed. Still not touching me, she reached out a hand, and eyes glistening in rapture, she ripped my aura away. Everything she had given me, she took back.
Mouth open, I fell to my knees as the ley line in me became a ribbon of fire, and screaming, I shoved it at her, unable to hold it anymore. Mia swore delicately, and I had a moment of respite, but then cold avalanched in behind it, and my arms and legs went numb. The force of the line hadn’t slowed her at all. She was taking my aura slowly, painstakingly, making me suffer so there would be more to feast on.
Ivy was shouting, a savage sound against Holly’s piercing cries. Behind it was the roar of a car. I couldn’t think, kneeling on the snow as Mia stripped me bare. I looked up as a brilliant white light grew. I’m dying, I thought, and the light shifted and the car that was making it smashed into the front corner of the van.
Metal groaned and plastic shattered. Mia’s attention was diverted, and the pain of my aura being ripped from me vanished. I looked up, on my hands and knees, sucking in air as if it might coat my soul. “Look out!” I called in warning as the van slid on the ice, toward Ivy. Crap, it was going to pin her between it and the SUV.
Ivy jumped straight up, landing on the hood of the SUV. Remus dropped to roll under it. Holly howled as the van jolted to a halt. In the aisle, an ugly green, rusty Chevy steamed. Radiator fluid poured out, but the engine still ran. The thing probably weighed more than the van and the SUV put together and would take an atomic bomb to kill.
“Holly!” Mia screamed, running to her daughter.
Pulling myself up to lean against the car, I stared as Tom emerged from the Chevy. Son of a bitch! It hadn’t been Ms. Walker Mia had felt following her, it had been Tom.
With an ugly snarl, Ivy launched herself from the top of the SUV, landing on Mia.
“God, no,” I whispered. I was shaky, hardly able to walk, and I staggered forward. Mia had a grip on Ivy’s throat, her face savage as she started to kill her. The light from one headlamp threw everything into a stark light. Ivy was fighting back, teeth shining as she struggled.
The harsh sound of Holly screaming continued, and my eyes jerked to Remus and Tom. The ley line witch’s fist was smothered in a purple haze, but the incensed man had grabbed it and sq
ueezed until Tom screamed in pain. Giving him a solid kick in parting, Remus left Tom kneeling over his broken hand. I moved, and Remus’s head swung up to me. Black eyes fixed me where I was, warning me to not move. They were the eyes of a wolf, and I froze. He turned away. From the jail, a loud claxon started hooting, and the lot was suddenly bathed in a harsh glow of blue krypton bulbs. Where in hell have they been?
Calm and soothing, the mass murderer coolly got his screaming child from the ruined van. Singing a lullaby, he looked to his wife.
“Ivy,” I breathed, seeing her down and unmoving. Mia was kneeling beside her with her back to me, her blue coat spread, looking like the wings of a bird covering her prey. Staggering, I started for them, yelling, “Get away from her!”
Remus got there first, and with one hand, he yanked Mia up.
“Let me go!” the woman yelled, fighting him, but he dragged her to Tom’s running car, opening the passenger-side door and nearly throwing her in. Holly’s crying competed with the jail’s alarm system, but her cries became faint when Remus handed her to Mia and slammed the door. Giving me a sour look, he paced to the other side and got in. The engine roared. Tom rolled out of the way as Remus gunned it, headed for the road. Frozen slush pelted us, and they were gone.
Feeling as if my heart was going to explode, I got to Ivy, and fell to kneel in the pressed snow. “Oh my God, Ivy. Ivy!” I exclaimed, turning her over and pulling her upright, against me. Her head lolled, and her eyes were shut. Her skin was pale, and her hair was in her face. “Don’t you leave me, Ivy! I can’t live with you being dead!” I shouted. “Ivy, you hear me?”
Oh God. Please no. Why do I have to live like this?