Tears were falling from me, and I choked back a sob when her eyes opened. They were brown, and I rejoiced. She wasn’t dead, or undead, or whatever. White and pale, she looked up at me, eyes glassy and not seeing. In her grip was a faded purple ribbon with a coin laced on it. Her fingers gripped it as if it was life itself, holding on with a white-knuckled strength. “I got it back,” she rasped, victory in her vacant gaze. “She doesn’t deserve love.”
The building behind us was still making that awful noise, and I could hear men coming this way. Ivy took a breath, then another. “I need…Rachel?” she whispered, and then her focus on me cleared. “Shit,” she breathed, and I held her closer, rocking her and knowing she was still alive. She hadn’t died, and I wasn’t holding an undead.
“You’re going to be all right,” I said, not knowing if it was the truth. She looked so pale.
“I’m not. I have to have it,” Ivy said, and I looked at her, seeing the tears making tracks down her face and her fangs wet with saliva. It was obvious what she was talking about. Blood. She needed blood. Vampires were the banshee’s closest relative, and they had a way to replenish auras. They took them in when they fed. Ivy needed blood.
Unafraid, I pulled her farther up off the pavement, and she started to cry in earnest, knowing she couldn’t be the person she wanted and mourning the loss of a dream. “I wanted to be clean, but I can’t,” she said as I rocked her. “Every time I try to be someone else, I fail. I need it,” she said, eyes glowing black. “But not you. Not you,” she begged even as her eyes started to dilate and her hunger took hold. “I’d rather die than have you give me your blood. I love you, Rachel. Don’t give me your blood. Promise me—you won’t give me your blood.”
“You’re going to be all right,” I said, frantic. I could smell antifreeze from the busted Chevy, and the faint smell of hot engine was fading.
“Promise me,” she said, trying to touch my face. “I don’t want you to give me your blood. Promise me, damn it!”
Shit. I looked up, only now seeing the flashlights and the men behind them. My bag with my keys was across the aisle. “I promise.”
There was a crunching of boots on ice, and from behind me came an authoritative “Ma’am, get away from the woman. Lie down and put your face on the pavement! Keep your fingers spread and where I can see them!”
Face wet with tears, I looked up and behind me into the bright security lights, seeing a big shadow behind it. “Go ahead and shoot me!” I screamed. “I’m not letting go of her!”
“Ma’am,” the voice said, and the light dropped to Ivy, then back to me.
“She’s been hurt!” I exclaimed. “I was just in your offices, you idiots. Check your security tapes. You know who I am. You watched the entire thing. You think I ran that jack-shit car into myself!”
“Ma’am—” he tried again.
I started to get up, dragging Ivy with me. “If you call me that one more time,” I huffed, straining until I got her upright, leaning against the SUV.
“Down! Get down!” someone shouted.
A boom shifted the air, and I jerked Ivy closer, managing to keep both of us on our feet. The man with the light turned it toward the sound of the explosion. Men and women were shouting, and the guy with the light looked ticked off that he wasn’t involved. A purplish green haze of Tom’s aura covered a nearby decorated tree, and my stomach turned as the tree started to steam and dissolve. The holiday lights flickered and went out. Holy crap! What had Al taught him?
My keys were in my bag, three cars away. “Stay here,” I told Ivy, and after seeing her leaning upright, under her own power, I started for my keys. “That’s Tom Bansen,” I said as I walked between the man and the sight of the melting tree. “He did this. You want answers, go talk to him. I’m in a city parking lot. You have no jurisdiction, and I’m leaving.” I scooped up my bag and got out my keys. The lethal-amulet detector was a bright, shiny red. No kidding. “You want my ID?” I said as I headed back to Ivy. “It’s in your file. Have a freaking nice day and a happy New Year!”
Shifting my shoulder under Ivy’s arm, we started for my car. Her feet dragged through the puddle of antifreeze, and she was starting to pant. Leaving her leaning against the hood of my car, I opened it. She mumbled for her purse, and after helping her inside, I went back for it. I looked up at the click of a safety going off, but they couldn’t shoot me if I was just walking away.
“Ma’am!” the man tried again, and my blood pressure spiked. But a second voice intruded.
“Let her go. She’s been shunned.”
A bitter sensation filled me, but no one stopped me. “Hold on, Ivy,” I whispered as I got in my car and reached across to shut her door. “The hospital is right next door.”
“Rynn Cormel,” she said, eyes closed as tears coursed down her face. “Take me to Rynn. I don’t care about him. He’s just a vampire.”
Just a vampire? I hesitated, then fumbled with the key twice before I got it in the ignition and the car came to life. Around us, the security people were having fits. Apparently Tom had gotten away, and they didn’t have the authority to detain me.
“Rynn,” Ivy said, staring at me, her head propped up against the door. Her eyes were glassy, and hunger sent a shiver through me. It was starting to take hold. If not for her weakened state, she’d be having a much harder time.
“Okay,” I said, sniffing back my tears. I knew how she felt. She didn’t want to be this person, but to survive, she had to be. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
“Please hurry,” she said, shutting her eyes as they turned a full, hungry, vampire black. Her long pianist’s hand clenched on the door handle, and she pressed herself as far away from me as she could.
Lights on, I pulled out and headed for the exit. The speedometer crept upward, and I waited for a dizzy feeling, but it never came. Apparently Mia hadn’t taken enough from me to affect my balance, but a quick tap on a ley line told me I was still compromised and I dropped it before I threw up from the pain.
“Call him.” Ivy’s voice sent a chill through me. It was low and sultry, in wide contrast to her weakened state. “Use my phone.”
I was starting to see some traffic, and at a red light, I pulled her purse to me, finding her slim phone and opening it up. Five bars. How come my phone never has five bars? Eyeing the bright screen and the traffic light both, I scrolled through the numbers, then hit “RC.”
My heart pounded, and as the phone rang, the light changed and I pulled out into a snow-rimmed street. I didn’t get more than fifteen feet before the line clicked open and a cultured, interested voice said, “Yes, Ivy?”
Shit. I jiggled the phone closer, gunning the engine to make the next yellow light. “Ivy’s been hurt,” I said tersely. “She needs blood.”
Rynn Cormel made an odd sound. “Then give it to her, Rachel.”
Son of a bastard. “She doesn’t want my blood!” I said, looking at her and seeing her in pain. “She wants you. I’m bringing her to you, but I don’t know if she can make it.” I wiped my eyes when the streetlights went blurry. “That damn banshee got her. You’re going to keep her alive, or so help me, I’m going to kill you, Rynn Mathew Cormel. Don’t mess with me on this. I mean it! I can’t save her soul yet. I need more time.”
I didn’t care if I sounded like a demon, using all three of his names like that. Managing the icy roads, I heard the undead vampire take a slow breath he didn’t need. “Take the I-75 bridge. We’ll find you.”
The phone clicked off, and I tossed it in the direction of Ivy’s purse. Blinking furiously, I clamped my hands on the wheel and pushed down on the accelerator. Horns blew as I tore through town, but the FIB guys wouldn’t stop me and the I.S. didn’t care anymore.
“Hold on,” I said through gritted teeth as I took a turn too fast, having to push on her shoulder to keep her from falling into me.
Ivy’s eyes opened as my hand touched her, and fear plinked through me. “Hurry,” she panted. “Rachel
, I’d rather die than bite you now. Please hurry. I don’t know how long I can stop myself. It hurts. Oh God…She took everything.”
“It’s going to be okay,” I said as I saw a sign for bridge traffic. “He’s coming. We’re almost there.”
She was silent, and then a ragged “Are you okay?” came out of her.
Astonished, I looked across the car. She was worried about me? “I’m fine,” I said, beeping my horn to keep some guy from pulling out in front of me. He rocked to a halt, and after I swerved around him, I looked at her, brow furrowed. “Ivy, why did you do it? You should have let her go. She’s a freaking banshee!”
“This was my fault,” she panted, her eyes dropping to the coin, still clenched in her fist. “Mia, Remus, everything. It was my fault that Mia learned how to kill people with impunity. And she hurt you. I’ll take care of this. You can’t risk yourself anymore.”
“You’re going to take care of her alone?” I said, feeling distant and unreal inside. “This is as much my fault as yours. I gave you the wish in the first place. We’re going to get her, Ivy, but not apart. We have to do it together.” Who am I kidding? It would take a demon to take down a banshee. But then again…
She didn’t say anything, but her expression behind the hunger was determined. I flicked the heater on, and a blast of warm air billowed out. In the distance, I saw the lights of an oncoming car flashing. Relief so strong it hurt washed through me. I could tell it was a Hummer by the spacing of the lights. It was them. It had to be. “I see them!” I exclaimed, and Ivy tried to smile. Her teeth were clenched and her eyes were wild, and it twisted my heart to see her red-rimmed, pain-filled eyes as she struggled.
Fumbling, I put on my own flashers and pulled into a fast-food place. Two cars pulled in behind me, black in the streetlight. I came to a halt, not slamming on the brakes, but close. Before I could put the car in park, two men were at Ivy’s door. There was a crack of breaking metal, and the door swung open, the lock broken.
Vampire incense rolled into the car, and with a savage sound, Ivy lunged for the man stooping to pick her up. I turned away, tears falling. I heard a groan, and when I looked back, the second man with them was supporting the first as he carried Ivy back to the black Hummer. She was on his neck, blood slipping past her lips. The second man opened the door for them, and Ivy and the man she was clutching to her vanished inside. He turned to look at me, his expression unreadable, before he followed them in and closed the door.
The snow fell between us, and I sat there, my passenger-side door open, staring out my front window, hands on the wheel and crying. Ivy had to be all right. She had to be. This is so messed up.
A soft tap on my window jerked my attention away and I looked to see Rynn Cormel standing outside my closed door. His cashmere coat had the collar turned up against the snow and the hat on his head was just showing the first few flakes. He looked good standing there, but the memory of his callous treatment of me—me and Ivy, actually—was too new for me to be taken in. He was an animal, and now I understood what Ivy had meant when she’d said, “He’s just a vampire.”
Though wealthy, powerful, and attractive, he was nothing, not worth anyone’s love or affection. I wouldn’t allow Ivy to become like that.
Wiping my nose, I rolled down my window. I was numb inside.
Rynn Cormel bent over so our faces were closer. Seeing me in a state, he pulled a handkerchief from an inside pocket and handed it to me. “Why didn’t you let her bite you instead of all this drama?” he said, his gaze flicking to the unmoving Hummer. “All she needs is blood.”
Animal or no, I still needed to treat him with respect. “She doesn’t want that,” I said as I used his hanky and shoved it away. He might get it back after I washed it. Maybe. “She doesn’t want to lose her soul, and biting me brings her closer to that.”
He frowned and stood, dropping back a few steps so he could see me. “It’s what she is.”
“I know.” I took my hands from the wheel, placing them quietly in my lap. “She knows it, too.”
Eyebrows high, Rynn Cormel made a soft sound. Rocking on his feet, he made motions to leave. “Rynn,” I said, and he stopped. “She accepts what she is, and by God, I’m going to find a way to help her be who she wants to be.”
My heart was pounding, but his worried expression melted into one of his famous smiles, and I wondered if I had just saved my own life with my promise to find a way for her to keep her soul. If he thought I meant to find a way to keep it after she died, then that was his prerogative. I was thinking something a little more immediate. Something we could both benefit from.
“Good,” he said, hands in his pockets, looking harmless. “Enjoy your evening with your family, Rachel. Ivy will be fine.”
I sat straighter, hope making my eyes wide. “Are you sure?”
His gaze never moved from the Hummer. “Her aura will be replaced as she satiates herself, and her strength will return in time. It’s my people with her I’m worried about.”
I couldn’t help my smile at that, but it faded fast. She was out of control in that car, and she was going to hate herself when she came home. What she was pinning her sanity on now was that she hadn’t allowed her hunger to rule her and satisfy it by savaging me. Her vow to abstain from blood had lasted thirty seconds.
“Rynn, don’t push her,” I said. “Please? Just make her better and send her back to me. I’ll find a way for her to die with her soul. If it’s possible, I’ll find a way. I promise.” Damn it, I’m going to have to talk to Trent. He had a way to make the vampire virus dormant, but from there, he might find a way to remove it. I wasn’t sure if Ivy would agree to becoming human to lose her blood lust, but after tonight…she might.
The tall man inclined his head to acknowledge my words. Smiling, he jauntily returned to his second car. The driver emerged to open his door for him, and in a moment, both vehicles were gone.
I glanced at the clock, then noticed that Ivy’s purse was still with me. I picked it up off the floor and put it on the seat where she’d been, then reached across and closed my broken door. Ivy’s scent lingered, and I breathed it in, wondering how she was. My hands started to shake with the remaining adrenaline. I was late for my already postponed lunch. Robbie was going to have a field day.
Clearly I wasn’t ready to risk the road yet. I was deathly worried about Ivy, but that was probably fair play. Ivy had been worried about me when I was in the hospital. Rynn Cormel said she was going to be all right, and I had to believe it. A vampire was a banshee’s closest rival in terms of strength, having a fast way to rebound after an attack—blood to renew her aura, and Brimstone to revitalize her strength.
I slowly thunked the car into gear and crept up to the exit, turning my blinker on and sitting there, waiting for a break in traffic. As I sat there, it hit me that this was probably the turning point in our relationship. Ivy was a vampire who wanted to be more. Or maybe less. But she could never be who she wanted unless I could find a way to get the virus out of her. By magic or medicine, I was going to have to do that. I might not be able to be the person I wanted to be, but if I had to be a demon, I was, by God, going to make sure Ivy could be who she wanted to be.
Having to deal with stuff like this was just crappy.
Twenty-three
The scent of beef stew was heavy in my mom’s kitchen, but even that, combined with the homemade biscuits Mom had pulled out of the oven when I walked in the door, hadn’t blunted my worry for Ivy. Dinner might have been pleasant; I didn’t remember. I’d been there for over an hour, and still no one had called about Ivy. Just how long did it take to replenish an aura?
Adding to my state was the fact that somewhere in this house was an eight-hundred-level arcane textbook that my brother was hiding from me. My life was falling apart, and I wasn’t leaving without it. I should just tell my mom and have her make Robbie give it to me, but the last time I’d used it, I’d gotten into a lot of trouble. I didn’t need any more trouble t
onight. I’d maxed out on it. I was wound so tight a hangnail might have sent me over the edge.
I handed Robbie the last of the glasses and fumbled in the dishwater for the bowls. The shifting-eyed witch above the sink ticked, and from the back of the house, I heard my mom thumping around, trying to find something. It was odd standing here, like I had while I was growing up. I washed; Robbie dried. ’Course, I didn’t need to stand on a footstool anymore, and Robbie wasn’t wearing grunge. Some changes were good.
Heels clicking on the tile, my mom came in looking happy and satisfied. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was up to—she looked far too pleased with herself—though just having me and Robbie here at the sink like old times might account for it.
“Thanks for lunch, Mom,” I said as I slipped a plate into the rinse water before Robbie could take it. “I’m sorry for dragging it out this late. I really thought I’d get over here sooner.”
Robbie made a rude noise, but my mom beamed as she sat with her cold cup of coffee. “I know how busy you are,” she said. “I just threw everything into the slow cooker, figuring we could eat whenever you got here.”
I glanced at the ancient brown pot plugged into the wall, trying to remember the last time I had seen it, and if it had held food or a spell. God, I hoped it was food. “Stuff kept getting in the way. Trust me, I really wanted to be here earlier.” Boy, did I want to be here earlier. I hadn’t told them why I was late. Not with Robbie looking for a reason to needle me about my job. His mood tonight was bordering on smug, worrying me even more.
Robbie shut the door to the cupboard too hard. “Stuff always seems to happen to you, little sister. You need to make some changes in your life.”
Excuse me? My eyes narrowed. “Like what?”
“It wasn’t a problem, Robbie,” my mom interrupted. “I knew she was probably going to be late. That’s why I made what I did.”
Robbie made that noise again, and I felt my blood pressure rise.