Black Magic Sanction (19 page)

He thought I was talking about the memory? "Not the horse!" I said, suddenly unsure. "Your spell! It almost killed me. The memory ended with me lying on the ground with the breath knocked out of me, and it froze everything. I couldn't breathe when the charm ended. I could have died! If you can't have me, no one will, huh? What in hell is
wrong with
you!"

"Be reasonable, Rachel," Trent said coldly. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't do it with a charm I helped craft that could be traced back to me."

"I think you would!" I exclaimed. "You want me dead!"

"There are at least five people I can think of off the top of my head who want you dead."

"Wanting
me dead is not the same as having the
resources to do it"
I reminded him.

I heard him take a breath to say something, then pause as if in sudden thought. "I have to go," he said abruptly. "You're okay? Right?" he asked, and I looked at Ivy, knowing she could hear both ends of the conversation as well as Jenks, on my shoulder.

He cared if I was all right?
And he hadnt called Lee hack either when he knew I was afraid of him.
"Don't you hang up on me, Trent," I said. "Don't you do it!"

"Good, you're okay. I'll talk to you later. I have to check on something. Ah, sorry about the charm."

My breath came in fast, and I sat up. "Trent!" I shouted, but the phone went dead. "He hung up on me," I said sourly, then flipped the phone closed and handed it to Ivy.

Jenks took off from my shoulder, and a shiver coursed through me. "That sounded like real surprise to me," he said, hovering before the tight-lipped vampire.

"Me, too," she said, looking worried as she leaned back against the
dresser.

"Even so, I wouldn't trust him," Pierce said. "His father was a devious sort, and I've seen nothing to convince me he's any different."

"Yeah. I know." Exhaling, I pressed my knees together so no one would see them shake.
Do I believe him, or not?
God! Why can't it be simple just once? I had invoked the charm to figure out why my gut kept telling me there was something good about this guy, and I was more confused than before. I'd give anything to know Trent's thoughts just before he'd hung up. "That was a complete waste of time," I said softly.

"I don't care if Rynn complains," Ivy said dryly. "I'm going to kill Trent. Slowly."

Pierce was nodding his agreement, but my damned intuition had me clenching my jaw in doubt. Trent had killed people before, one right in front of me. And once he had pulled out a gun and shot me with a subjugation spell, the decision made and acted on in a second. It wasn't that Trent couldn't kill me, but if he was going to do it, it would be over and done within an hour of his decision. Not like this. This smacked of cowardice. It wasn't his style.

I rubbed my wrist where he had grabbed me, feeling it as if it had just been today. He'd violated my person to see if I was as dangerous as his father had warned him—and I had thrown him into a tree the next day, proving it. He was good and bad all at the same time. God, I hated Trent. Or maybe I just hated that I didn't know if I could trust him or not.

"I opine it wasn't a curse," Pierce said as I fingered the smooth rope. "It was a spell crafted to not cleanly break. Death by something designed as innocent so as not to invoke your lethal-charm amulet. Powerful tricky. But you didn't make a die of it, and that's what matters."

My eyes went to his, and Pierce dropped his attention to the hat in his hands, his ears going a faint red. "Thanks, Pierce," I said softly. "I owe you. Big."

Jenks snorted and Ivy sighed, making motions to try to leave. Sheesh, Pierce had pulled a line through me to burn the malfunctioning charm to nothing. No wonder he was embarrassed.

His eyes met mine. "It was what any decent man would do. You owe me nothing," he said, and Jenks groaned from the overdone drama. But Pierce had probably saved my life.

Orange dust falling from him, Jenks dropped to my knee. "Well, what did you remember?" he asked, wings going full tilt. "Hope it was worth dying for."

Ivy crossed her arms over her middle to look both aggressive and pensive. "This was my fault. I convinced her to try the charm, thinking it might tell her if she didn't trust Trent because of a grade-school tiff or because he's a bastard."

"I think we can safely answer that now," Pierce muttered, but I wasn't sure, and it made me angry.

"It was just something from the Make-a-Wish Camp," I said, and Jenks buzzed his wings for more, but I wasn't talking. I was remembering all sorts of things now. Stuff like Lee being trapped in the cistern for three days shortly afterward. He was half dead when they found him, suffering badly—apparently Trent had taken my advice with an overly aggressive vengeance. And Jasmine finding flowers on her pillow every morning in contrast to the fox scat I kept finding in my shoes. I'd thought it was cabin razzing, but now I wondered if it had been Trent trying to get his hoof pick back. My stuff kept going missing that year, invariably showing up a few days later in the cabin toilet. Uncomfortable, I swung my feet to the floor, and Jenks took off. "Yes, he's a bastard all right," I said softly, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Tink's contractual hell, you still think he's telling the truth about the coven?" Jenks exclaimed at the whisper of doubt in my voice. "He just tried to kill you!"

"I know!" I shouted, and Jenks flew backward in surprise to Ivy. "Don't you think I know that? But I can't figure him out!"

"What's to figure out?" Nick said dryly. "He's a liar. He's always been a liar, and he will always be a liar."

Frustrated, I opened up the box and took out the hoof pick, looking at it like it was a puzzle box. "Trent was that same mix of ruthless bastard and sympathetic best friend at camp that he is now. And I think I helped make him that way. Apparently I won the bet, though."

I lifted the exquisite hoof pick and handed it to Pierce, figuring he'd be interested in it. I wondered if Trent sneaking in to take my ring last year was because I had stolen his pick. Maybe he wanted it back? He
had
given me my ring back—and not in my toilet.

Nick shook his head in warning and I gave him a mirthless smile as I rubbed my aching arms. It was as if my childhood fatigue had soaked back in and wasn't leaving. I was so messed up. And what was it with Trent's pattern of taking my stuff only to give it back?

Ivy picked up the empty plate and moved to the door. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, you were blue, Rache," Jenks chimed in.

Flexing my fingers, I felt the lack of strength. Cripes, she'd almost broken them.

Without warning, a high-pitched barrage of near-ultrasonic pixy voices rose, shrill at the front of the church. In a flash of silver dust, Jenks darted out. My eyes touched on Pierce's, and he was gone as well, his feet thumping on the oak flooring to the front of the church. Ivy was a step behind, almost shoving Nick out of the way.

Eyes wide, I stared at Nick, jumping when I felt two people tap into the ley line out back. This wasn't pixy mischief. We were being attacked!

Pierce's voice rang out from the front of the church, and then a crash of glass. Shit. He was yelling in Latin.

In a spurt of motion, I got to my feet, pushing past Nick to reach the hallway. It was empty, but a heavy thump from the sanctuary filled me with dread. "Ivy?" My knees gave a hard twinge, and my run turned into a shuffle. Breathless, I came to a halt at the end of the hall, leaning on the open frame. The bright glare of late-morning sun spilled into the empty sanctuary, stripped ages ago to walls and a wooden floor. The light over the pool table was swinging, and my heart seemed to stop when I saw Ivy flat out beside her grand piano, face turned away and hair spread.

Pixies were a dangerous cloud surrounding Vivian and Pierce, both of them standing on broken colored glass. Vivian's produce-stained coat gave her some protection from pixy steel, but blood was about her face and neck where she'd been nicked. She didn't look too happy about it. A red haze glowed around her hands, growing darker as her fingers manipulated magic and her lips moved to give it strength. I had no doubt that it would be both white—and deadly.

Pierce was grappling with her, holding her wrists with a black-and-green glow hazing out from his entire body. I had no idea what he was doing, but his face was creased with strain. The scent of ozone was heavy, and the morning air drifted in, almost too cool for the pixies.

With a cry, Vivian kicked out to shove Pierce off her. Pierce hit the floor, seizing when his magic backlashed into him. Angry, Pierce tossed his hair from his eyes and looked up at the ugly smile of anticipation coming over Vivian, widening as she finished her charm and held it, a glowing ball of who knew what.

"Hey, Strawberry Shortcake!" I shouted, pushing myself upright.

Vivian's pretty lips parted, and swearing, she shifted her aim to me.

Crap. When would I ever learn?

"No!" Pierce shouted from the floor, and I dove for the pool table, hitting the floor hard as I skidded under it. Pixies scattered as the glowing ball skipped across the felt and exploded within the arrangement of TV and chairs for interviewing potential clients. The leather couch started to melt, sending the reek of burnt flesh into the air.

"Set a circle!" Pierce shouted again. "Get yourself safe!"

Does he think I'm stupid!. "Rhombus!"
I exclaimed from under the table, my view of feet and legs useless. My protective circle sprang up through the slate over me, the smut-covered gold taking the hit as a second spell exploded against it and dripped evilly down the sides to pool on the floor like blood marking the rim of my circle.

And outside it, Ivy.

Fear galvanized me. I wasn't that good at ley-line magic, and all my earth charms were in the kitchen. Irate, I inched my way out from under the table, drawing heavily on the ley line when I passed through my circle and broke it. Ticked, I staggered to my feet. The line vibrated through me, and I let the energy gather in my hand. "Rachel, stay out of this!" Pierce cried.

"Clear!" I shouted, and the pixies harrying her scattered. "You come into my house?" I yelled. "You set my pool table on fire! What in hell is
wrong
with you?" I threw the unfocused energy at Vivian. The woman ducked, then dove out of the way when Pierce sent a black-colored spell after at her in a one-two punch.

"Break my window and hurt my
friend!."
I shouted, shambling forward like a zombie.

My second ball hit her protective circle, and she went down, her fashionable high heels costing her her balance. Pierce's second spell sailed over her with a shouted
"Interrumpere,"
slamming into the front door of the church to make it crash open. The pixies dusting the fire on the pool table shrieked, and from the floor Vivian gazed at Pierce in fear.

"You go tell the coven they just made mistake number two!" I shouted at Vivian, and the woman scrabbled to reach the door, breaking her own circle and tripping over Ivy. "There'd better not be a mistake number three!" I added. "Get out of my church!"

"Animam, agere, efflare."
Pierce spoke in slow, deliberate syllables, chilling me. He was wreathed in a sheet of ever-after, his entire body glowing as he summoned his magic, the black words spilling from him. He was powerful and determined, his stance firm and his hands moving confidently. The hair on my neck prickled, and a shudder rose through me. My lips parted, and even the pixies fell back. Oh my God. What was he doing?

From the floor, Vivian stared, transfixed. "Who the Turn are you?" she breathed.

Pierce smiled, his fingers stilling as a ball of black death waited in his hand. "Tell the coven that Gordian Pierce demands a powerful reckoning of their betrayal of one of their own. And if a body was smart, she'd leave while she still could."

"Get out of here!" I shouted, this time worried for Vivian's life, and she fled, clawing her way to her feet at the threshold.

"Pierce, stop! She's gone!" I shouted, seeing his blazing ball of blackness hiss through the air after her. It hit Vivian's back the instant she left the church. She shrieked as she fell down the stairs, but I didn't care what Pierce's magic had done. I was running to Ivy, hobbling to an awkward stop and falling to kneel beside her. Pain shot up my knees.

"Ivy? Ivy!" I called, picking her head up only to ease it back down. It hurt just to kneel. Pulling her head up onto my lap wasn't going to happen, and I brushed the hair from her face.

"She took a spell for me," Pierce said from the front of the church. He was poised at the door, pixies flowing in and out around him, standing with a ball of black magic in his hand and the wind shifting his dark hair as he looked out. His face was calm, and his eyes were hard.

"She stepped right in front of it and took it for me," he explained as he turned to me. "Even then, she kept coming like a caution until the harlot was obliged to use a ley-line sleep charm to down her."

"Is she okay?" I looked at Ivy, seeing her hardly breathing. "Can you break them?" I asked, scared, and he nodded.

"If I work directly upon it. The first was to slow her heart."

"That doesn't sound bad," I said, and Pierce looked up, his gaze worried under his bangs.

"Singly it isn't, but together? If I can't break them, she'll die," he said bluntly.

I felt myself go ashen. In the street, a car accelerated away. Vivian was gone.

"But they're white spells," I said, then thought about it. Alone, the charms were white, but together, the combination of low blood pressure and sleep could put her in a coma. "Pierce?" I warbled. Ivy couldn't die. I couldn't live with her if she was undead.

"Let me work," he said tightly, and I took a deep breath, feeling helpless. There was a red haze in the air that reminded me of the ever-after, and the shadow of the church's cross that once hung over the absent altar seemed to glow.

"Jenks!" I shouted, heart pounding as Pierce knelt with Ivy between us. The pixies were loud, and I wished they'd shut up. "Jenks!" I shouted again. "Get in here!" I knew I should be worried about his kids and Bis, but I couldn't leave Ivy.