A Fistful of Charms (The Hollows #4)

I jerked when Nick suddenly appeared at the table. His long face was flushed, angry and frightened all at the same time - a dangerous mix. "What are you doing?" he hissed at Ivy, snatching the statue up and holding it close. "You brought it here? I sent it to her so no one would find it. I thought she was dead. They couldn't make me tell who had it if I sent it to a dead woman, and you brought it here? You damned fool vampire!"

"Sit," Ivy said, her jaw clenched and her eyes shifting to black. "Give it to me."

"No." Nick's grip tensed to a white-knuckled strength. "Save the aura shit for someone it works on. I'm not afraid of you."

He was, and Ivy's hand trembled. "Nicholas. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I don't give a crap about your stupid ass. My partner is in deep shit because of you. Give it to me."

Adrenaline pulsed, hurting my head. Nick was near panic. The karaoke machine started up with something sad and melancholy. Jenks was watching us, but the rest of the bar hadn't a clue that Ivy was about ready to lose it, pushed to the edge from stress and being far from home.

"Nick," I soothed. "It'll be okay. Give it to me. I'll put it away."

Nick shifted and Ivy jerked, almost reaching for him. Licking his cracked lips, Nick said, "You'll hold it for me?"

"I'll keep it," I assured him, fumbling for the lead-lined bag and extending it. "Here."

Hollow-cheeked face frightened, he carefully placed it into the pouch. His swollen fingers started curving around it, and I pulled it to me, tightening the drawstrings. It wasn't any magical hold it had on him; it was greed.

Hand shaking, Ivy grabbed her drink and downed it to ice. I kept an eye on her while I put the statue in my bag, then put the bag on my lap. It felt heavy, like a dead thing. From the corner came Jenks singing "Ballad of the Edmund Fitzgerald." The skinny guy at the bar was watching him, having turned completely from the game recap. Jenks could sing?

"Sit," Ivy breathed, and this time Nick did, taking Jenks's spot beside me and putting Jenks's coat on the chair beside Ivy. "Where did you find that?" she muttered.

"It's mine."

I shifted in my chair, smelling our food coming. The woman didn't look at anyone as she placed the food down and left. The tension was so thick, even she could sense it. I stared at my plate. There was my fabulous burger, oozing juice, with lettuce, onions, mushrooms, cheese, and, oh God, there was bacon on it too. And I couldn't eat it because we had to argue about Nick's ugly statue first. Well, to hell with that, I thought, removing the top bun and picking the onions off.

Ivy refilled her glass from the pitcher, a growing rim of brown around her pupils. "I didn't say whose is it. I said, where did you find it?"

Nick pulled his plate closer, clearly wanting to ignore her but making the healthy decision not to. "I can't believe you brought it here," he said again, motions jerky as he rearranged his pickles. "I sent it to Rachel so it would be safe."

Ivy glared at him. "If you use smart people in your takes without telling them, don't complain when they do the unexpected and ruin your plans."

"I thought she was dead," Nick protested. "I never expected anyone to come help me."

I ate one of Jenks's fries. There wasn't any ketchup on the table, but asking for some would get us thrown out. Humans blamed the Turn on tomatoes, but they were the ones who had done the genetic tinkering. "And why are they willing to pack up to get ahold of it?" I asked.

Nick looked ill. "I don't have to tell you anything."

My lips parted in disbelief, and I turned to Ivy. "He's still running his scam."

"I'm not." His eyes were wide in an innocence that couldn't reach me anymore. "But the Weres can't have it. Don't you know what it is?"

His last words were a hushed whisper, and Ivy glanced past me to the door as three underdressed, giggling women pranced in. Immediately Becky started in with a high-pitched chatter, her eyes tracking to Jenks. I think she had called them about fresh meat.

"I know what it is," Ivy said, dismissing the women. "Where did you find it?"

One of the guys at the bar was humming. While we sat hunched over our food and argued, Jenks had some guy at the bar singing about a tanker that had sunk forty-some years ago. Shaking my head in wonder, I returned my attention to Nick. "We're waiting," I said, then wrangled my burger to my mouth. My eyes closed as I bit into it. Sweet bliss, it was good.

His eyes stressed, Nick picked up one of his burgers, leaning his elbows on the table. "Rachel, you saw how there were three packs on that island, didn't you? All working together?"

I scrambled for a napkin. "It was freaking weird," I said around my full mouth. "You should have seen how fast their alpha Wered. And they were nasty too. Like alphas without the restraint. Cocky little bastards..." My words trailed off as I took another bite.

"That's what it does," Nick said, and Ivy swore under her breath. "I found it in Detroit."

"Then it's the focus?" she whispered, and I waved a hand for their attention, fry weaving between the two of them, but they weren't listening to me. "That thing can't be the focus," Ivy added. "It was destroyed five millennia ago. We don't even know if it even really existed. And if it did, it sure as hell wouldn't be in Detroit."

"That's where I found it," Nick said, then took a bite. A small moan came from him. "You can't destroy something that powerful," he mumbled. "Not with rocks and sticks. And not with magic." He swallowed. "Maybe with a car crusher, but they didn't have them back then."

"What is it?" I insisted, only marginally aware of the flirting going on across the room between the stanzas of men dying on the waves. Get a clue, Jenks.

Ivy pushed her untouched plate with her burger away. "It's trouble," she said. "I was going to make him give it to the Weres, but now - "

"Damn it!" I shouted, and the three women ogling Jenks giggled and jiggled - in that order. I lowered my voice. "Someone tell me what I have sitting on my lap before I explode."

"You're the professor," Ivy said bitingly to Nick, taking a fry from Jenks's plate. "You tell her."

Nick washed a bite of his first burger down and hesitated. "Vamps can either be born or bitten, but the only way to become a Were is to be born one."

"Duh," I said. "Witches are like that too, along with most of Inderland."

"Well..." Nick paused, his eyes flicking everywhere. "...the Were holding that thing can make a Were by a bite."

I chewed and swallowed. "And they want to kill you for that?"

Ivy brought her head up. "Think about it, Rachel," she cajoled. "Right now, vampires are at the top of the food chain."

I made a telling face at her as I took another bite, wrangling a piece of bacon.

"What I mean is we have more political power than any other Inderlander species," she amended. "Because of how we're structured, everyone looks to someone else, the top vampires owing so many favors that they're as effective as a political house member. It's a tight web, but we generally get what we want. Humans would get itchy with their trigger finger except that our numbers are held static by only the undead being able to infect a human with enough virus to make it even possible to Turn them."

I stole another of Jenks's fries, wishing I had ketchup.

"Weres, though," Nick said, "don't have political power as a group because they won't look to any but their pack leader. And their numbers can't increase any faster than their birthrate." Leaning forward, Nick tapped the table with a swollen finger, his entire mien changing as he became the instructor.

"The focus makes it possible for the number of Weres to increase very quickly. And the multiple packing you saw on the island is nothing to what will happen when it gets out that the focus is intact. Everyone will want a part of it, merging their pack into the one that holds it. You saw what they were like. Can you imagine what would happen if a vampire ran into a pack of Weres acting like that?"

Jenks's half-eaten fry dangled from my fingers, forgotten. Slowly it was starting to sink in, and it didn't look good. The problem wasn't that the focus would allow Weres to pack up. The problem was that the focus would keep them packed up. Worried, I glanced at Ivy. Seeing me understand, she nodded.

The island Weres had been together for days, maybe weeks, and that had been with only the promise of the focus. If they had it, the round would be permanent. I thought back to the ring of Weres surrounding me on the island, the three packs united under one Were holding the strength of six alphas. Their cocky, savage attitude had been shocking. Walter had not only drawn his dominance from them, but also channeled it back into every member without the tempering calm and moral strength that all alphas had. That wasn't even bringing up how fast they could Were if they muted each other's pain. Add to that their new aggressiveness and a resistance to pain?

I set Jenks's fry down, no longer hungry. Weres were fairly submissive in Inderland society, the alphas the only ones having enough personal power to challenge the vampires' political structure. Remove that submissive posture, and the two species were going to start clashing. A lot. That's probably why the vamps had hidden the focus in the first place.

Crap, if the vampires knew about it, they would be after me too. "This isn't good," I said, feeling ill.

Making a puff, Ivy leaned back. "You think?"

From across the bar, Jenks finished his song, immediately falling into a sleazy version of "American Woman," gyrating his hips and making the three women and one of the truck drivers cheer and whistle. Jax was above him, making sparkles. I wondered if anyone had any inkling the world was changing, starting right here in this little bar.

Wiping my fingers clean, I reached for the bag on my lap. "It can shift the balance of Inderland power," I said, and Ivy nodded, the tips of her hair swinging.

"With the explosive destruction of dropping a tiger into a dog show," she said dryly. "It's believed that Weres used to have a political structure very similar to that of the vampires. Better, since Weres never betrayed another as vampires are known to do for blood. Their hierarchy revolved around who held the focus, and eliminating it shattered the Weres' social structure, politically castrating them and leaving them squabbling in small packs."

Nick started on his second burger. "They were going to forcibly convert humanity, according to the demon texts," he said, taking off the top bun to eat it like an open-faced sandwich. "Those who wouldn't voluntarily become a Were were killed. Entire families whelped or murdered in the name of Were conquest over vampires. They would have had a good chance of succeeding but the witches crossed from the ever-after about that time and sided with the humans and vampires. Using witch magic, we beat them back."

Nervous, I slipped my flip-flop off and on to make a popping sound. I wondered what he had given a demon for learning this. I'd never heard it before, but Ivy had, so maybe I just hadn't taken the right class. I couldn't help thinking that perhaps witches were really at the top of the food chain, our independent ways and lack of political structure aside. Every earth spell on the market, whether used by human, vampire, or Were, was made by a witch. Without us, their little political wars would be fought with sticks, stones, and nasty words.

"The focus was destroyed," Ivy said, her voice low and her eyes thick with worry.

Nick shook his head. Gulping down a swig of soda, he said, "It's demon made, and only a demon can destroy it. It has been passed from vampire to ranking vampire for generations."

"Until you sold a piece of your soul for it," I whispered, and Nick went white. Stupid-ass human, I thought, then hid my own wrist.

Jenks finished his song amid cheers and friendly shouts. He bowed and blew kisses, stepping off the stage and making his light-footed way to us. A camera flashed, and I wished I had remembered mine. Jax flitted over the ladies at the bar, charming them thoroughly and helping his dad avoid them. The mood of the bar had shifted dramatically thanks to Jenks; now even the looks our way from the truckers had a touch of daring voyeurism.

"Food's here?" Jenks said, handing me my wallet before dropping down and grappling with the first of his burgers with the enthusiasm of a starving adolescent. Jax stayed with the women, distracting everyone and staying safely out of the adult conversation. "What'd I miss?" Jenks added, taking a bite.

I sucked at my teeth and gave Ivy a wry look. "Nick swiped a Were artifact that can tip the balance of Inderland power and start a vampire-Were war," I said, putting my wallet away next to the Were statue. I needed to call David and get his take on this. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't.

Jenks froze, his cheeks bulging with food. He met everyone's eyes to figure out if we were joking, but it wasn't until Nick nodded that he remembered to swallow. "Holy crap," he said.

"That's about it." I sighed. "What are we going to do with it? We can't give it to them."

Nick picked at his fries. "I'm the one who started this. I'll take it and disappear."

In a smooth motion of grace, Ivy reclined in her chair. She looked calm and possessed, but I could tell by her fingers searching for her missing crucifix that she wasn't. "It's not that simple now, professor. They know who Rachel is. Jenks they might give up on, but by saving your ass, Rachel put her own on the line. She can't go back to Cincinnati as if it never happened. They will follow her through hell for that thing." Putting the flat of one arm on the table, she leaned forward, her face threatening. "They will hurt her just like they hurt you to get it, and I'm not going to let that happen, you dumb little shit."

"Stop it," I said as Nick reddened. "We can't give it back. What else do we have?"

Ivy picked a sesame seed off her burger, looking sullen. Nick, too, had a chip the size of Montana on his shoulder. Jenks was the only one whose face was creased in thought, not anger. "Can you make everyone forget about it?" he asked as he chewed. "Or at least forget about us?"

I pushed my plate away. "Too many people. I'd miss someone. Not to mention it would be a black earth charm. I'm not doing it." But I'd twist demon curses? No accounting for tastes, I guess. But Ceri's curse hadn't involved hurting people other than me.

Jenks chewed slowly. "How about putting it into hiding again?"

"I'm not putting it back," Nick protested. "I spent a year's income getting it."

Ignoring him, I frowned. Was he still running his take?

"They'd still come after Rachel," Ivy said. "If you can't make everyone forget," she said to me, "I can only think of one thing to get your life back after crap for brains screwed it up."

Nick took an angry breath. "You call me that again and I'm going to - "

Ivy moved. I jumped, managing to keep my reaction to a small hop when she sent her arm forward and grabbed Nick under his chin. Nick's eyes widened but he didn't move. He had grown up in the Hollows and knew that moving would only make things worse.

Ivy's eyes were almost entirely black. "You'll what, crap for brains?"

"Ivy..." I said tiredly. "Stop it."

Jenks looked from me to Ivy, his eyes bright and his face worried. "Lighten up, Ivy," he said softly. "You know she always sides with the underdog."

Jenks's words penetrated where mine hadn't, and in a flash of brown Ivy's pupils returned to normal. Smiling beatifically, she let go, catching Nick by the collar of his sweatshirt before he could rock back, pretending to adjust it for him. "Sorry, Nickie," she said, her pale fingers patting his hollow cheek a smidgen too hard.

As I tried to purge the adrenaline from me, Nick scooted his chair away, cautiously rubbing his throat. Moving a shade too fast, Ivy refilled her glass from the pitcher. "There's only one solution," she said, bending her straw exactly upright. "Professor here has to die."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed, and Nick stiffened, his face red in anger. "Ivy, that's enough."

Jenks pulled his plate of fries closer. "Hey, I'm right there with you," he said, his eyes roving the bar, probably for the nonexistent ketchup. "It would solve everything." He hesitated, wiping his fingers on a napkin. "You grab him, and I'll get your sword from the van."

"Hey!" I shouted, angry. I knew they weren't serious, but they were starting to tick me off. I lowered my voice when the giggling women at the bar looked at us. "Nick, relax. They aren't going to kill you."

Snickering, Jenks started on his fries, and Ivy took on a confident, almost seductive stance, slouching in her chair and smiling with one side of her mouth. "All right," she said. "If you're going to get bent out of shape about it, we won't kill him. We'll stage his spectacular, public death along with the destruction of that thing."

Nick stared at Ivy's confident figure. "I will not let you destroy it," he said vehemently.

She arched her eyebrows. "You can't stop me. It's the only option we have to get those Weres off Rachel's tail, so unless you have a suggestion, I suggest you shut up."

Nick went still. I eyed his brow furrowed in thought, then slid my gaze to Jenks. Jenks was watching him too, his mouth full but his jaws not moving. We exchanged a knowing look. Someone who endured a week of torture wouldn't give up that easy. Ivy didn't seem to notice, but Ivy didn't know Nick like I was starting to know Nick. God, why was I even trying to help him? I thought, jiggling my foot to make my flip-flops pop. Depressed, I reached for my soda.

"So you stage my death and the destruction of the focus," the apparently subdued human said, and Jenks returned to eating, pretending ignorance. "I think they're going to notice when the ambulance takes me to the hospital instead of the morgue."

Ivy's eyes tracked someone headed our way. Glass in hand, I turned to find Becky with three drinks holding umbrellas and cherries on sticks. My eyes went to the flirting women, and I cringed. Oh...how nice. They were trying to pick him up.

"I can get us a body," Ivy said into the silence.

I choked on my drink, coughing at the string of thoughts that remark engendered, but Becky had come forward and I couldn't say a word - even if I could catch my breath.

"Here you go, hon," she said, smiling as she set the drinks squarely before Jenks. "From the ladies at the bar."

"Oh, wow," Jenks said, apparently forgetting what accepting drinks from strangers meant when one was over four inches tall. "Look, pixy swords!"

He reached for the cherry picks, eyes glinting, and I interrupted with a quick, "Jenks!"

Ivy exhaled, sounding tired, and Jenks glanced from one of us to the other. "What?" he said, then reddened. Wincing, he looked up at Becky. "Hey, um, I'm married," he said, and I heard someone swear from the bar. It wasn't the trucker, thank God. "Maybe," he said, pushing them reluctantly to her, "you should return them to the ladies with my, uh, regrets."

"Well, shoot," Becky said, smiling. "You just keep them. I told them a hunk like you would be already hooked, landed, filleted, and cooked." Her smile widened. "And eaten."

Ivy exhaled, and Nick didn't seem to know whether to be proud or embarrassed for his species. Jenks shook his head, probably thinking of Matalina as he pushed them away.

"Did you say you had pie?" Ivy asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Becky smoothly took up the drinks, pixy swords and all. "I have butterscotch or apple. I'll bring out a wedge of apple, seeing as you're allergic to butterscotch."

Ivy blinked but her smile never faltered. "Thank you." She pushed her untouched hamburger at her, and the woman obligingly took both it and my plate. "Put a scoop of ice cream on it?" she asked. "And coffee. Everyone want coffee?" She looked inquiringly at us, smiling in a way that made me decidedly nervous, especially after that "I can get us a body" remark, and I nodded. Coffee? Why not?

"Sugar and cream," Jenks added faintly, and Becky sashayed away, loudly proclaiming to the three women at the bar that she had known it all along.

Ivy watched her go, then looked at me with a questioning scrutiny. I suddenly realized Becky must have talked to Terri from the grocery store. Feeling another one of my stellar, embarrassing moments coming on, I hunched forward and took another sip, hiding behind the glass. No wonder the entire bar was being nice to us. They thought I was a nympho who liked doing it with three people and pudding.

"Why am I allergic to butterscotch?" Ivy asked slowly.

My face flamed, and Jenks stammered, "Ah, Rachel and I are lovers with a thing for foursomes and pudding. Apparently she thinks you and Nick are Alexia and Tom. You're allergic to butterscotch, and crap for brains likes pistachio."

"Stop calling me that," Nick muttered.

Ivy let her breath out. Her eyebrows were arched, and she looked bemused. "Okay..."

I set my drink down. "Can we get back to how we're going to kill Nick? And what's this about a dead body? You'd better start talking quick, Ivy, 'cause I'm not going to play hide-and-seek with a dead guy in my trunk. I did that in college, and I'm not going to do it again."

A smile quirked Ivy's mouth. "Really?" she asked, and I flushed.

"Well, he wasn't dead," I muttered. "But they told me he was. Scared the crap out of me when he kissed my ear when I tried to lug him into - " I stopped when I felt Becky at my elbow, a tray of coffee and pie in her hand.

Smirking, Becky gave everyone their coffee and set a piece of pie Ȥ la mode in front of Ivy. Humming "American Woman," she took Jenks's and Nick's empty plates and left.

I eyed the ice cream and then my fork. "You going to eat all that?" I asked, knowing from experience Ivy rarely finished anything.

Glancing at me for permission, Ivy took my coffee cup off its saucer and put the ice cream in its place. I pulled it closer, feeling the tension start to ease. I didn't have a spoon, but my fork worked, and I wasn't going to ask Becky for one.

Ivy carefully cut the point from her pie and pushed it away to eat last. "I propose we pull a Kevorkian," she said, and I went cold from more than the ice cream.

"That's illegal," Jenks said quickly.

"Only if you get caught," Ivy said, eyes on her pie. "I have a friend of a friend - "

"No." I set my fork down. "I'm not going to help a vampire cross over. I won't. Ivy, you're asking me to kill someone!"

My voice had risen, and Ivy tossed her hair from her eyes. "He's twenty, and he's in so much pain he can't use the can without someone helping him."

"No!" I said louder, not caring people were starting to look. "Absolutely not." I turned to Jenks and Nick for support, appalled to see their acceptance of this. "You guys are sick!" I said. "I'm not going to do that!"

"Rachel," Ivy said persuasively, brown eyes showing an unusual amount of emotion. "People do it all the time."

"This people right here doesn't." Flustered, I pushed the ice cream away, wondering if it had been part of her plan to get me to accept. She knew I was a sucker for ice cream. I scowled at the laughter from the bar, turning to see Becky gossiping to the truck drivers, bent over with her rear in the air. It occurred to me they probably thought I had just been propositioned for something even a redheaded nympho would say no to. Crossing my arms in front of me, I glared at Ivy.

"He'd do it himself," Ivy said softly. "God knows he has enough courage. But he needs his life insurance check to set himself up, and if he kills himself, he loses it. He's been waiting a long time."

"No."

Ivy's lips pressed together. Then her brow smoothed. "I'll call him," she said softly. "You talk to him, and if you still feel the same way, we'll call it off. It will be up to you."

My head hurt. If I didn't say yes now, I would look meaner than Satan's baby-sitter. "Alexia," I said loud enough for the bar to hear. "You are one sick bitch."

Her smile widened. "That's my girl." Clearly pleased, she picked up her fork and ate another bite of pie. "Can you make a charm to make someone look like little professor here?"

Nick stiffened, and Jenks chuckled, "Little professor..." as he dumped a fourth packet of sugar into his coffee. I felt like I was in my high school lunchroom, plotting a prank.

"Yeah, I can do that," I said. Sullen, I pushed the melting ice cream around on my plate. Doppelganger charms were illegal, but not black. Why not? I was going to freaking kill someone.

"Good." Ivy speared the last of her pie, going still in thought before she ate the point, and I knew she was making a wish. And people thought I was superstitious? "Now all we have to do is find a way to destroy that thing," she finished.

At that, Nick stirred. "You're not going to destroy it. It's over five thousand years old."

I sent my flip-flops popping. "I agree," I said, and Nick shot me a grateful glance. "If we can substitute a fake Nick, then we can substitute a fake statue."

Ivy leaned back in her chair with her coffee. "I don't care," she said. "But you..." She pointed a finger at Nick. "...aren't going to get it. Rachel is going to put it into hiding, and you - get - nothing."

Nick looked sullen, and I exchanged that same knowing look with Jenks. This was going to be a problem. Jenks stirred his coffee. "So..." he said, "how are we going to knack Nick?"

I thought his verbiage left something to be desired, but I let it pass, ignoring my melting bribe. "I don't know. I'm usually on the saving-your-butt end of things."

Blowing across his mug, Jenks shrugged. "I'm partial to crushing their chest until their ribs crack and their blood splatters like Jell-O in a blender without a top." He took a sip, wincing. "That's what I do to fairies."

I frowned, appalled when he added two more packets of sugar.

"We could push him off a roof," Ivy suggested. "Drown him, maybe? We've got lots of water around here."

Jenks leaned conspiratorially toward Ivy, his green eyes darting merrily between mine and hers. "I'd suggest jamming a stick of dynamite up his ass and running away, but that might really hurt whoever is taking his place."

Ivy laughed, and I frowned at both of them. The karaoke machine had started up again, and I felt ill when "Love Shack" began bouncing out. Oh my God. The skinny trucker was up on the stage with the three bimbos as backup.

I looked, then looked again. Finally I tore my eyes away. "Hey," I said, feeling the weight of the last twenty-four hours fall on me. "I've been up since yesterday noon. Can we just find somewhere to crash for the day?"

Immediately Ivy grabbed her purse from under her chair. "Yeah, let's go. I have to call Peter. It will take him, his scion, and his mentor a day to get up here. You sleep, Jenks and I will come up with a few plans, and you can pick the one that your magic will work the best with." She glanced at Jenks, and he nodded. Both of them turned to me. "Sound okay?"

"Sure," I said, taking a slow breath to steady myself. Inside I was shaking. I wasn't too keen on picking any plan that involved killing someone. But the Weres wouldn't give up on Nick unless he was dead; and unless there was a body, they would know it was a scam.

And I wanted to go home. I wanted to go home to my church and my life. They would hound me to the ends of the earth if they knew the focus was found and in my possession.

I stood, feeling as if I was slipping into places that I had once vowed I would never go. If we were caught, we would be tried for murder.

But what choice did I have?