I didn't know what my fist connected with, but he dropped me. I got a gasp of breath in, and then the pavement hit me hard. The chalk was still in my hand, and I refused to open it. Ku'Sox's slippers were inches from my eyes, and my knuckles were bleeding, scraped open when I fell. I still had my chalk. Damn it, I still had my chalk.
I could hear Ivy yelling at Vivian, and I prayed she'd keep her circle closed. "Let me handle this!" I warned everyone, pulling my head up to see Ivy ready to throw Vivian into her own circle and risk all their lives. "Please," I begged Ivy, and with a pained expression, she let Vivian go. The coven witch hit the car and slid to the pavement, shaken. Trent was a silent observer, and Jenks...
I looked away. Jenks was beside himself.
Ku'Sox only laughed, but he looked cross as he felt his ribs. "You'll be my first in a long time," he said, bending down to look at me with his hands on his knees. "Do you have anything in particular you're not fond of?"
"Shove it up your ass," I panted.
Ku'Sox straightened. "Lady's choice," he said, then reached for my shoulder.
"Owwww!" I howled as he flooded me with energy. Pissed, I rose up under his hand, shocking the hell out of him as I spindled the force and flung it right back at him. "Knock it off!" I shouted as he staggered back, his silver clothes seeming to shift to black in the sun.
Ku'Sox caught his balance eight feet away and blinked, amazement on his thin face. "Who the hell are you, witch who dresses like a man?"
I took a breath to tell him to screw himself, my words going unsaid as my head seemed to explode. Gasping, I fell to my knees. He was in my head. Oh, God, he was in my head! I was seeing snatches of my life with him standing in the shadows: an orderly at the hospital when I was thirteen, his blue eyes mocking my pain as my dad lay dying; then he was at camp on the horse behind mine; then he was at the park, walking the dog I'd seen when I'd made the deal with Al. He hadn't been at any of those places in reality, but now, as I lived it again, he was there, learning everything, missing nothing.
"Get out!" I shouted, hands on my head as I tried not to hammer my forehead into the pavement.
"Rachel Mariana Morgan," Ku'Sox said, flinging a hand out; I heard Ivy fall back with a grunt. The circle was down. No. Please no.
"Who has been teaching you such dangerous tricks?" Ku'Sox said, and there was a touch on my shoulder, soft and hesitant.
"Go to...hell," I panted. No, not that memory, I thought in anguish as I saw his reflection in the mirror while I held Kisten as he died.
"Algaliarept?" The stitching in Ku'Sox's sleeves glinted in the sun as he threw magic at Jenks, and I felt tears form, falling hot on my knees. They were trying to fight him as I sat crumpled on the hot pavement, living my life for the demon. "Why is the dullard letting you wander about here in the sun, little familiar?"
"Get out of my head..." I breathed as I tried not to remember that I wasn't a familiar but almost an equal. "Get out!"
"Oh!" he exclaimed suddenly as a memory of Trent grew strong. Jonathan was there, his face having Ku'Sox's eyes. And then I was gasping, my fisted hand scraping the pavement as I tried to get up, alone again in my thoughts. Panting, I bowed my head as the heat soaked into me. Oh God, it had been awful. My life. He'd seen my entire life.
"You can invoke demon magic?" Ku'Sox said softly, bending over me with the faintest hint of burnt amber between us. But if it was from him or me, I didn't know.
My breath came in fast as I felt arms go around me. Head lolling, I tried to focus, failing. He was holding me, and I was too tired to even protest. I'd lived my entire life in eight heartbeats, and the heat washed out of me as I fell into shock.
"S-stop," I managed, jerking when Ku'Sox murmured a word of Latin, and Vivian cried out in pain. The only reason they were still alive was because he was interested in me.
My hand was in a fist, and he brought my bleeding knuckles up to his mouth, licking my blood. Working at it, I managed to focus on him. He had a scar on his eyelid, like Lee. He'd be minus an eye if I could move my other arm.
"You're a link," he said, grinning at me like he'd won a doll at the fair. "And you have red hair and wear pants. I adore red hair. I once gave an entire generation of witches that color. That was before they locked me in the ground."
"Put me down," I demanded, and he did, holding me until I got my balance, but when I tried to escape, his grip tightened about my waist.
"Seems as if I got out just in time," he murmured, looking me over again. "Why are you dallying with Algaliarept? He's a hack. But then, he's probably the best they have now. Unless Newt is still alive. I've been gone for..." Squinting, he looked up at the sun in evaluation. "Somewhere in the vicinity of two thousand years?" Frowning, his gaze dropped to me. "Two thousand years and you have red hair. How's that for a legacy!"
He seemed happy about it, but I was still trying to stand on my own feet. I didn't like what I was hearing, and I was sure Vivian was even more pleased than she had been. Ku'Sox was indeed a demon. In. The. Sun. I needed answers, but I wanted them from Al, not...Cute Socks here.
Vivian was ashen faced, standing in front of the car with a bit of chalk in her hand. There was an uninvoked circle around Ku'Sox and me, and her intent was clear. Ivy was next to her, and Jenks. The wild pixies still with us were under the car. I met Jenks's eyes, and he shrugged, pantomiming slugging him. Might work, I thought. I'd have a better chance of holding him in a smaller circle than keeping him out of one as large as a car. My heart pounded, and I pulled my foot back and slammed it into Ku'Sox's shin.
The demon howled, his grip easing just enough.
"Roll!" Jenks shouted, and I dove for the pavement, feeling Vivian's circle lick my heels as I made it through. A grunt slipped from me as I hit the parking lot again, finding my feet a little more slowly. Hand still clenched around my chalk, I turned, panting. The demon was in a circle-a coven-made circle-and it wasn't going to hold.
Sure enough, Ku'Sox was pushing at it with a determined expression, smoke rising from where his fingers touched. The familiar scent of burnt amber grew obvious, and I scrambled into motion. Hunched, I crab-walked around Vivian's circle, praying that the magnetic chalk wouldn't skip, wouldn't leave a gap. It had to be perfect. And it still might not hold.
"Rhombus." I inhaled as I finished, sitting back on the hot asphalt as the circle formed.
"Son of a Were whore!" Ku'Sox shouted as his smoldering fist broke through Vivian's barrier only to smack into mine. Yanking his hand back, he shook it as if stung. His washed-out eyes dropped to mine, and I scooted back. It was perfect. It would hold. It had to.
"I couldn't hold him," Vivian panted, and I looked to her, haggard and slumped against the car.
I jumped at Ivy's touch, then relaxed as she helped me up. "You okay?" she asked, and I nodded. Slowly her touch slipped away, and I took a deep breath as if trying to find myself. Trent was leaning against the car, avoiding everyone's eyes. Bastard.
I exhaled, scooting back a little more before I got up and wiped the grit from my palms. "Thank you," I said to Vivian as I tucked the chalk in my waistband, then glanced at Trent, wondering what the hell his game was. Idiot summoned a demon he couldn't control. What did he expect to happen?
"I couldn't hold him!" Vivian said again, and I shuffled to her, tired. The upside? At least now the coven had proof that demons could be in reality while the sun was up. Al had done it once while in Lee's body. But I didn't think Ku'Sox was possessing anyone. This was something different. Swell.
"I couldn't hold him!" Vivian said a third time, and I frowned.
Pierce might have been able to make a circle to hold him. But he wasn't here. "He's a big guy," I finally said, glancing at Ku'Sox and away. "Everyone okay?"
Much to my relief, Ku'Sox didn't start spouting threats or monologing, and the chorus of pixy shouts brought back memories of Jenks's kids, memories that Ku'Sox had now. I didn't like that. If he knew my history, then he knew what I was going to do to him.
"It wasn't even a very big circle." Clearly shaken, Vivian sat sideways in the open front seat, dejected and weary.
I looked back at Ku'Sox patiently waiting, and Vivian's useless scratchings on the pavement. "It's a tough world." Limping to Ivy, I leaned back against the warm car. "I don't know this one," I said, talking to Vivian but accusing Trent. "He's nasty."
"Nasty?" Ku'Sox said, and my eyes jerked to his at the hidden threat his words held.
"If you ever touch me again," I said softly, "I will explode your 'nads. Got it?"
Trent had his head down in thought, worrying me. If I wasn't so darn tired, I would have barked at him, too. "Demon," I started, and Ku'Sox grinned in anticipation, making me shiver. He wanted to be released.
"Wait!" Trent said, his hand outstretched.
"You will leave this place and return to the ever-after, not to bother us again," I finished.
Trent slid to a stop, turning away to hide his disgust, but I'd seen it.
"For now," Ku'Sox said, his eyes going from Trent to me. They vanished first, then his body, until finally all that was left was a black obsidian feather, making me shudder when it finally melted in the sun.
My eyes shut, and I heard Ivy sigh. "I really hate demons," she said. I agreed.
"Okay, everyone smaller than a teapot, get out of the car!" I said loudly. "Jenks, you stay. And I swear, if you feral pixies give me any trouble, I'm going to jam you all in a box! I'll send you your syrup by mail, and you'll be happy with it. Clear?"
Without a protest, the pixies began to leave in threes and fives, their excited chatter making my already pounding headache hurt all the more. The head pixy wasn't around, and I didn't care. Like he'd ever say thank-you. My headache throbbed when Trent walked stiffly past me, sweat matting his pale, baby-fine hair.
"Letting him go like that was a mistake," he said in passing, and I lashed out, spinning him around to a shocked, angry halt against the car.
"You think we could have used him?" I shouted, and Ivy, putting my scrying mirror away in the trunk, hesitated. "Maybe traded a jump to Seattle for his freedom? Stick to helping with your checkbook. We'll all live longer."
Jaw clenched, Trent held his ground as Jenks joined me. "I'm just saying-"
"Nothing!" Okay, I was shouting, but I had a lot of adrenaline to burn before I got back in that car and drove out of here as if nothing had happened. "That was a demon! One in the sun. You think you're smarter than him? You're not! You mess with demons, and you die!"
His gaze flicked to Vivian. "You work with them," he said. "Think you're special?"
That had been barbed and pointed, and it made me angrier still. "I wish I wasn't, Trent," I said, managing not to shove him. "I'm so special it's going to kill me. That one..." I pointed to my empty circle. "That one is bad. Banishing him might cause a problem tomorrow, but nothing like keeping him around and trying to harness him would, and the sooner you get that through your thick skull, the longer we all will live. It was my decision to banish him, and you will sit down, shut up-"
"And enjoy the ride," he finished, the last of his suave businessman exterior vanishing as he bent at the waist and smoothly slipped into the car. He slid to the opposite side and slammed the door shut, waiting.
Ivy gave me an unreadable look, scratching her neck as she got in the backseat beside him and rolled the window down. I was hot and sticky, and Vivian slid across the bench seat to put herself behind the wheel, freeing me to weave my way through a passel of pixies and ride shotgun.
I got in, feeling Trent's glare on the back of my neck, the heat of the sun on the fake leather seats warm under me. My neck itched, and I realized that we'd been pixed somewhere along the way. Damn it, this was not my day. "I thought you were tired," I said as I looked across the seat at Vivian, and she frowned.
"I'm awake now." Saying nothing more, she cranked the engine over, and I fiddled with the vents, aiming them at me. I felt awful, not having showered two mornings in a row.
The pixies were gone, and I whistled for Jenks. He zipped into the car without his usual flair, almost falling as he latched on to the stem of the rearview mirror. His long curly hair swung as he dusted heavily, and I wondered where during the last 150 miles he'd lost his hair band.
"Thanks for driving, Vivian," I said, and she carefully pulled out onto the road, actually using her turn signal.
The young woman was silent, pensive as she rolled her window up while the air-conditioning took over. "He pushed through my circle like it was nothing," she said, gaze flicking to me and back to the road, looking embarrassed. "And what was he doing in the sun?" She looked at me, scared. "Did you call it?"
I rubbed the blood off my knuckles, stiffening as I forced myself not to turn and glare at Trent. My blood looked like anyone else's, but everyone who had blood like mine died unless they'd had three years of illegal genetic tinkering disguised as summer camp.
"Did you?" she asked again, frightened, and I shook my head, staying silent. Jenks's wings clattered, and I couldn't meet his eyes. Trent's voice might be all that stood between me and an Alcatraz jail cell, and I wasn't going to get him labeled as a demon summoner-yet. Jenks would be quiet, too. And Ivy.
"Demons are coming, Vivian," I said as I rolled my window up and angled the vents to me. "They're finding ways around the rules. The genetic checks and balances have been broken, and the demon genome is going to repair itself. We're going to become who we were. Maybe not this generation, maybe not the next, but when it happens, the witches can either be ready, or they can be pixies being eaten by giant birds."
Vivian stared at the road, her thoughts on my words. "I have to get to San Francisco. I have to talk to the coven."
"Me, too."
Leaning back, I turned my face to be in the light, seeing the bloodred spots of sun even behind my eyelids. I didn't want to be labeled a black witch and imprisoned, but I was giving the coven a very clear picture of what might happen if they let me live.
And I couldn't stop myself.