I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth, but it was true. Their morals might not match ours, but demons did have them. Demons had them . . . These humans did not. What is wrong with this picture?
"Demons enslave people," Wayde said. He was taking bowls out of an adjacent cupboard, but hungry was the last thing I was.
"Not as many as you think. And they don't snatch innocents, only people who have made themselves available." My head hurt, and I opened my charm cupboard for a pain amulet. "I need to call Trent."
Jenks flew over from Ivy's monitor, and his sparkles seemed to make my headache worse. "Why? You think he might side with you?"
My headache eased as my fingers touched the amulet, and I shut the cabinet, Jenks darting out of the way with time to spare. "Yes, I do, actually," I said calmly as I tucked the amulet underneath my shirt. Trent played in the genetic pool like a lifeguard. He might be able to shed a little light on the situation, maybe give me an idea as to how close HAPA might be. Besides, I wanted to know if he was missing any equipment and if he had an antimemory charm.
Wayde shoved a bowl of chili at me, his eyes down and his back hunched. "Here," he said as I fumbled to take it. "If you're going to fight bad guys, you might want to eat."
I looked down at the bowl, then up at him, reading his distress. He wasn't happy about me working this run - hell, I wasn't happy about working this run - but he'd help me now instead of hindering me. "Chili? On a stakeout? I'm going to smell like - "
"The back side of a fairy's outhouse?" Jenks supplied, and I shifted my fingers on the warm porcelain so I could take the spoon Wayde was handing me.
"Thanks," I said, grateful that Wayde finally understood.
He shrugged, and I wrangled the phone into the hand already holding the spoon. Chili in the other, I crossed the dark hallway to the dimly lit, pixy-noisy living room. Ivy had decorated it, apart from the holes in the couch from Belle's family trying to kill me last summer. The entire room was in soothing shades of gray and slate, the occasional splash of color keeping it from being bland and depressing. Someone had lit the fire and it was pleasant, even with the shredded pieces of toilet paper drifting down like snow.
"Okay, everyone out!" I said loudly over the pixy shrieks. "Take your fake snow and go! I've got to make a call."
They were good kids, and one of Jenks's eldest girls corralled the youngest, ushering them out the door. I set the bowl of chili down and plopped morosely into the overstuffed chair. Vampire incense and bits of toilet paper snowflakes rose up. A pixy buck darted in, gathered them up before they could move more than an inch . . . and was gone.
"You going with her?" I heard Jenks say from the kitchen, and I put my heels up on the coffee table and made myself comfortable.
"As far as the parking lot," Wayde said. "They won't let me accompany her on an official action, though I might sneak in. You want some of this?"
"Does Tink wear little red panties?"
I smiled at Jenks's enthusiasm, and I wasn't surprised when a streaming flood of pixy kids flowed past the living room and into the kitchen at Jenks's wing whistle. Punching in Trent's number, I listened to it ring as I ate a bite of chili. "Oh God, this is good!" I shouted around my full mouth, then swallowed when someone picked up the other line.
"Hello, Rachel," Trent's voice eased out, sounding both professional and annoyed.
I could hear the sound of babies in the background, and a high-pitched, angry wailing. They were still awake? It was almost midnight. Elves napped around midnight and noon.
"Trent?" I said, surprised. "Since when do you answer your own phone?"
"Since we got a new switchboard," he said tiredly, and I think he almost dropped the phone. "It recognizes your number and shunts you to whatever phone I cleared you for."
"Really?" I sat up straighter, surprised again. Trent irritated me like no other person on either side of the ley lines, but I trusted him - most days. Seeing him casual like this meant a lot to me. It was so rare he showed anyone anything other than a professional veneer. Two baby girls in his house were doing him worlds of good.
There was an expectant pause, and Trent said in a bored, formal voice, "You ready to take the bracelet off?"
"And have Al take off my head three seconds later? No." Though truthfully, I was more worried about Al forcing me to stay in the ever-after than anything physical he might do to me. In the background, someone started to cry. "Did I get you at a bad time? I'm sorry, but this is important. Ah, is this a secure line?"
Immediately I felt his entire mood shift, even through the phone line.
"Ceri," I heard him say over the receiver. "Could you . . . thank you. It's Rachel. She's fine, amazingly enough. At least I think she is."
I brought my knees to my chin, enjoying the little bit of his home life coming over the line. It seemed weird that Trent was a dad. Clearly he was taking his duties seriously, but after seeing the love in his eyes for his daughter, I wasn't surprised.
"You are okay?" Trent asked, repeating off the phone that I was when I said yes.
There was another moment of rustling and baby complaints, and then it grew quiet. "So what's not making the news?" Trent asked. "My usual sources are not saying anything."
Interesting, I thought as I tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder. "We found another body hidden at the Underground Railroad Museum," I said. "She was even worse than the one at the park. Lasted an hour maybe." The chili wasn't sitting well, and I set the bowl on the table at my feet, my knees bent. "She looked halfway to what I think the demons might have originally looked like," I added, and Trent made a small noise. "Glenn tells me that all the victims were carriers for the Rosewood syndrome."
Trent made another deep-thought sound. "They have some rare computers down there."
"Not anymore, they don't. The curator almost had kittens. Trent, the victim's hair at the park pinged on the body at the museum with a scattershot detection charm. They had it hidden under a demon curse I could see through because I'm disconnected from the lines."
The phone at my ear beeped, and I jerked my attention from the band of silver around my wrist, glinting in the firelight. "Ah, I've got another call coming in."
"Don't switch over," Trent said, his voice rushed. "You'll compromise the security. Your amulet pinged on a body unrelated to the one you took the sample from?"
"Yes," I said, feeling uneasy. "That's what worries me. I think they layered the woman's modified genetic structure over the man to change him down to his genetic level, enough so that a charm designed to detect minute amounts of a person found her. She was a mess," I said, unable to keep the distress from my voice. "If the genetic mutilations didn't kill her, she might have died from Rosewood. She lasted only a few hours by the look of it, but the men so far have lasted nearly a week. I think HAPA is trying to make demon blood."
There. I'd said it again, and it still made me queasy. "I thought you ought to know."
"This isn't good," he finally said, having followed my thoughts to the ugly conclusion faster than Wayde had, and I laughed mirthlessly.
"You think?"
"Two of my more sensitive machines went missing last week." Trent's words were clipped and short. "Apparently they're more portable than I thought."
"What did they take?" He didn't say anything, and I stared at the wall, waiting. "What did they take, Trent?"
"Two machines my father programmed for a branch of genetic research that has been outlawed. This is the second time I've been broken into in less than a year. Damn."
I could count on one hand the number of times I'd heard him swear. In the background, Ceri called faintly for Trent. "She's okay," Trent said, his voice muffled. "I'll tell you in a moment." When he came back to me, concern was heavy in his voice. "Rachel, maybe you should sit this one out," he said, and I flopped my head back against the top of the chair. "Let the I.S. and FIB handle it."
"Not you too," I almost moaned. "I thought you of all people would understand why I have to stop these guys!"
"If they're trying to duplicate demon blood, where is the sense in putting yourself within their reach? Let me put Quen on it. Actually, I'm going to do that anyway, so . . . wait, will you?"
I exhaled, tired, then jumped when my cell phone began humming from my back pocket. "Good. If anyone can help, it's Quen," I said as I twisted, trying to reach my cell. "But I can't sit here when Nina has promised to make me the scapegoat. We both know the FIB is in over their heads. I have to be there. Me, Ivy, and Jenks."
"You'd be more effective without that band of silver around your wrist," he said, and my lips pressed. I hated it when he was right.
"I'm the only person this side of the ley lines who knows anything about demon magic," I said as I put my feet on the floor and used two fingers to wiggle out my cell phone. My eyes went to the screen and my shoulders tightened. "Crap on toast. Trent? Glenn is on my cell."
"Rachel, we need to talk."
I couldn't wait anymore, and I flipped my cell phone up. "Glenn?" I said before it went to voice mail. "Hey, can you hold on a sec? I'm on the phone with Trent."
Glenn made a choking cough. "Mr. Kalamack? Rachel, leave the man alone. He's not responsible for HAPA's activities."
"I know!" I said, trying to talk to both men at the same time. "Can you hold on a sec?"
From my other ear, Trent cleared his throat. "As entertaining as this is, Ceri and I would like you to come to tea tomorrow," he said dryly. "I'd like to talk further with you about the safeguards I've developed to make taking that charmed silver off your wrist safer."
I took a breath to say no, then exhaled, rubbing my forehead. "You think we can overpower Al? Find a way to keep him from taking me to the ever-after? Trent, I can't live there. I can't!"
"And I know Ceri would love to see you. The girls as well," he continued as if I hadn't said anything, but I'd rescued him from the hell of the ever-after, and he of all people would understand my fear.
"Rachel!" Glenn shouted into my other ear. "This is important."
"Tomorrow, say three?" Trent asked. "They'll be fresh from their naps."
It was more likely that he'd have the charms he wanted to contain Al prepped by then. I stifled a shudder. Maybe together we could keep Al off us long enough to explain, but caging him would only piss the demon off even more. "Tomorrow at three. I'd like to talk to you about a block for memory charms, too. And, Trent? I'm sorry about the park."
He grumbled softly. "Don't worry about it. Watch yourself in the meantime. Everyone knows who you are."
I couldn't help my smile. I might almost think he cared. "See you then," I said, and I clicked off the phone.
"Glenn?" I said, setting the landline phone down and shifting the cell phone to my ear. "Why didn't you call Ivy on her cell?"
"You are unbelievable," the man said, his irritation obvious. "Get your good boots on. I don't want to see you in garden shoes and grubby jeans anymore. Now Nina thinks we don't pay you enough. The amulets you gave me pinged. We've found their current base."
I sat up, adrenaline flowing. "Ivy! Jenks!" I shouted, then turned back to Glenn. "Where are you?"
"Five minutes from the church," he said, and I heard a background of radio chatter. "We have them triangulated at an abandoned industrial park. FIB and I.S. We're waiting for you."
They were waiting for me. I almost friggin' cried.
Jenks darted in. "We're on?" he asked, a bright silver dust slipping from him.
I eyed him, worried. He was flying well, and his winter clothes from last year were over his arm. "We're on. You'll need those. And anything else Belle has come up with for the cold."
"Tink's little pink dildo!" the pixy shouted, and he darted out, as excited as I was.
"We'll be ready," I said into the phone. "Thanks, Glenn."
"Don't thank me until it's over," he muttered. "You're staying in the car."
I snapped my phone shut and sank back into the cushions. Car? I doubt it. My eyes touched upon my band of charmed silver, and a flash of worry went through me. "That's why I've got the sleepy-time charms," I whispered as I stood. I was going to kick some serious ass, and I didn't need demon magic to do it.