Black Magic Sanction (The Hollows #8)

The cadence of Pierce's breath shifted, and I woke. Eyes flashing open, I searched the dim confines of the hole. It was silent, a soft glow of natural light showing where the ventilation hole was and that the sun was up. Pierce's stubble, too, said it was tomorrow. I was still lying beside him, his arm over me protectively and one of my legs atop the blanket. It had gotten warm. Pierce was awake and listening, and when he made a soft sh-h-h-h of sound, adrenaline shocked through me.

"Morning," he whispered, eyes on the ceiling. "Someone's in the woods."

My breath came fast. Stiffening, I stared at the ceiling, remembering my panic last night and trying to relax. "Trent?" I whispered back, and he shook his head, not moving.

"No dogs or horses. I think it's..."

The hum of dragonfly wings grew from a muffled hesitancy to a full clatter, and Jenks dropped in from the far corner of the ceiling, shedding glittering sparkles to double the light. "Rache! Glad you're... Tink loves a duck!" he said, wings clattering. "It stinks of sex in here. God, woman. I leave you alone for one night, and you're humping the ghost."

I sighed, and Pierce finished sourly, " ...it's a pixy."

"Jenks, show some class," I said as Pierce sat up.

The pixy flew over the confines of the hole in three seconds flat as he took inventory. "You know me, Rache. I ain't never been to get no schoolin'. I don't have class."

Pierce got to his knees to reach for his clothes. He was still naked, as was I, and seeing him, Jenks shot to the ceiling, gold sparkles falling from him to make a puddle of light. "Oh! God! Naked witch!" Then he hesitated, his altitude slipping. "Hey, dude, I'm sorry about that."

He was laughing, and I frowned, seeing where Jenks was looking.

Pierce snatched his underthings, sitting on the corner of the blanket as he put them on. "He's just tired, little man. He had a busy night."

This was so not how I envisioned my day starting. Wincing, I sat up, blanket held tight to me. I was a mess. "Jenks, in this case, it's truly what you can do that matters."

Jenks was waving his hands at me, hovering backward. "Oh God! Shut up!"

"Then you shut up," I said, eying my clothes, abandoned in the corner. I didn't want to put my leather pants back on, but I didn't want to walk out of here in a blanket either. Stretching, I reached for a sock, feeling its stiffness before dropping it. No way.

Pierce looked at Jenks with a dark expression and, rubbing his thicker stubble, said, "Can we get out of this hole, master pixy?"

Clearly in a good mood, Jenks dropped to alight on the peg holding Pierce's still soggy coat. "Yeah, the woods are clear. Ivy's in lockdown at Cormel's - "

"What?" Suddenly I was a lot more awake.

"She's fine," he soothed, his glow dimming as his wings quit moving. "The coven's on the scout for you, and Rynn won't let her out for her own safety. She is so pissed."

"I can imagine." I glanced at the ceiling as Pierce, now wearing at least his thin shirt and trousers, grabbed his hat and crab-walked to the far end. Good thing I kept the elven porn. I'd never get it back from Rynn Cormel and not get caught. How we were going to run the end of this without Ivy might be tricky. Plans were going to have to change.

With a sifting of earth, Pierce slipped the locking bar out of the trapdoor and opened the hatch, carefully shifting it to the side to keep the moss from being damaged. Sun and noise spilled in, shocking after so long a silent existence. Birds were singing, and a flickering sun made shadows on the earth floor. I had to get out. The fresh air only highlighted how nasty it was down here.

Pierce stood up through the opening, eclipsing the light until he levered himself out and the sun beamed in again, unimpeded.

"Don't worry about it, Rache," Jenks said as I gathered myself to move. "There's something about a hole in the ground that just turns a person into an animal. Every time I got Mattie alone in one of the back tunnels - " He hesitated, then smiled, his head down and his wings still. "Tink's titties, I miss her."

I could only smile sadly with him, but I wished I could give him a hug. I was surprised he was talking about her already. Maybe the pixy psyche was like that, live hard and fast.

Jenks darted out and away as I wrapped myself in the blanket and shuffled to the opening. Standing creakily, I blinked in the sun, relishing the fresh air and being upright. Pierce was under a huge oak, hands on his hips and doing some kind of nineteenth-century exercise that looked stiff and about as effective as toast, though seeing him doing them in his un-derthings had a certain appeal. The chatter of the unseen river was obvious. Jenks was a hum of noise beside me, and gazing at Pierce, I whispered, "Don't drive him away. He's a nice guy."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jenks perched on a fern, looking like he belonged, his bright red bandanna catching the sun. "Did he make sparkles sift from you before or after he told you his lies?"

"Sparkles sift from you" was nicer than "porked you," or "boinked you," or "had crazy monkey sex," and I smiled. "After. Not that it's any of your business." Jenks's wings dropped, and I added, "I know he uses black magic. So do 1.1 like him even if he's a pain in the ass, and he makes me feel less evil, okay? I'm not going to be stupid. I know it's not forever." My thoughts flashed to Kisten, and I sobered.

The pixy didn't say anything, just looked sad as Pierce approached, looking rejuvenated and a little less rumpled. He extended a hand to me, and with his help, I scrambled out. My bare feet touched the moss, and it was as if I was reborn, new again with hope.

"Thank you," I whispered, meaning about six dozen things. Thank you for last night, for thinking I'm worth sacrificing for, for holding me when the dogs came, forgiving me hope, for not leaving...

His hand fell from mine. "You're welcome. You're a sight in the morning sun, Rachel."

I put a hand to my hair, knowing it was matted and that I stank of river and dirt. "I must look awful."

"You're grand," he affirmed, blue eyes delighted. "The sun is in your hair, and it's all over in a most comely fashion."

"Yeah," Jenks said, interrupting. "Rachel looks good after she gets boinked. It's the only time she relaxes."

Ignoring him, I shivered as the leaves shifted in a gust. It looked about nine. We didn't have much time, and I was almost naked in the woods, miles from Cincinnati and no transportation back. "Jenks, do you know if Trent filed a police report?" I asked, anxious to find out what had happened while I'd been... preoccupied.

Jenks's grin eased my worry. "Nope. He doesn't want anyone to know he lost it, which puts you in twice the danger since Trent is going to take care of you himself There's a message on the church phone to call him, which I think is funny. He's increased his security by the looks of it. You'll never get close enough to him without a disguise."

A disguise that I didn't have time to make and couldn't buy because I was shunned. "Good," I said, very relieved. Maybe the hoof pick had been enough to get him to trust me to give it back. If Trent had filed a report, then there was no chance this was going to work.

His wings dusting an odd shiny purple, Jenks hovered before me. Angular features creased, he said, "I don't know. How are we going to do this? Ivy's out of the picture and you're in the middle of the woods in a blanket. Bis is asleep, and I can carry only so much."

Smiling, I looked at Pierce - who was grinning. "Pierce can jump the lines."

Jenks's wings stopped for a second, and he quickly caught himself. "Not without Bis," he shot back, "and he's asleep."

Pierce took my fingers carefully, as if he wasn't sure where we stood. Something in me jumped, and I squeezed his fingers. I wasn't embarrassed about last night, but I wasn't an idiot to think that this was going to be easy. Eventually he was going back to Al - unless I remained just stupid enough to require a babysitter. Maybe we could do this...

"He can't jump without Bis," Jenks insisted.

"Thank you for not leaving me last night," I said, my thoughts returning to my terror.

"Never, Rachel," he said, a new, soft expression on his face. "Besides, Al would have skinned me like a cat."

Jenks darted up between us, his hand on his sword hilt and his wings clattering. "What the fairy farts is going on? You'd better start talking, or I'm going to pix someone!"

I dropped back, putting space between us. "Pierce can jump lines without Bis," I told Jenks. "He needed Bis only when he didn't know what line the coven summoned me through."

The pitch of Jenks's wings shifted. "Oooo," he said. "You can jump to the church."

Pierce was nodding, running his hand over his hair, stiff and untidy from the river. "What do you want me to bring back?"

"Ivy's tub," I said dryly, feeling gross. "A bucket of water? Soap? Paper towels? New jeans, a shirt, shoes and socks."

"Underwear," Jenks interrupted. "I'll show you where she hides her sexy ones. How about a contraception charm. You got any of those in your cupboard, Rache?"

My expression blanked. Shit. Yve got to get to a convenience store. My gaze went to Pierce, who was three shades lighter. Good. The feeling was mutual.

"Uh, no," I stammered, trying to remember how long I had before I was going to ovulate. Twenty-four hours? Crap, I didn't have time for this. "I'll stop at an apothecary," Pierce said, clearly worried. "A gas station would have it," Jenks offered.

I stiffened. "I'm not going to trust a gas station charm!" I protested, and Jenks hovered backward, laughing. "Pierce, I know they have them at the grocery store three streets down."

His blue eyes were relieved when they met mine. "The one where you get your emergency ice cream?"

My lips parted that he knew, but then he would if he'd been lurking at the church for a year as a ghost. "Yes," I said slowly, wondering what he thought about Marshal. God, I must look like a whore. First Nick, then Kisten, followed by Marshal, and now him, all in the span of two years.

"I'll pick one up," he said firmly, not a hint of recrimination in his body language.

"Thanks."

"Okay," Jenks said snarkily, hands on his hips. "Now that we got the baby thing taken care of, how are you going to get close enough to give Trent his statue back without him or the coven taking a potshot at you? Rynn Cormel isn't going to help. That's why I flew all the way out here. Trent knows something is up. He's got more security going into place than when the last presidential hopeful came through trying for the vamp vote."

I turned to the unseen river, assessing what we had. "Is David back yet?" I asked, looking for a tree. There had been a deep hole in the ground in the hidey-hole that neither of us had used, and a tree would be a big improvement.

Jenks's wings hummed. "No, but he is on the way."

My head was bobbing. I had to get Trent and the coven together at the same time or this wouldn't work. The FIB was going to be my neutral ground. "We can work with this," I said as I spun around to them and pulled my blanket back where it belonged before it could slip any farther. Ivy was out, Glenn was in, David was on the way... and Pierce was here to help. I was sure his protective instincts had been ratcheted up because of last night, and I hoped it wasn't going to cause more problems than he might solve. But as I listened to the wind in the trees and felt the warmth of the sun on my feet, all of the fatigue and terror of last night shifted to the background of my existence. If I worked this right, the next few hours might bring a return of my honor, vindication in my beliefs... and freedom.

"Jenks," I said, feeling the wind find its way under the blanket. "Did Ceri leave that charm to go small that she made for Ivy?"

I glanced at Pierce as Jenks darted up and down in the sun like a yoyo. "No way!" he shrilled. "Rache, you going small again?"

Tugging the blanket tighter, I nodded. "Yup. Just to get close, and then I'll untwist it. It's a demon curse, so it won't trigger any charm detectors. Pierce can carry us in looking like Tom Bansen. The guy was in the I.S. Jenks, you can fly me up the rest of the way to Trent, and then pow! I give Trent his statue."

"Pow, you'll be naked!" Jenks exclaimed, sifting a bright gold dust. "On camera, in front of a couple thousand people."

It wasn't the thousands of people I was worried about - it was Trent, and I winced at Pierce's aghast expression. "It will be all over the news across the country," I said, feeling uncomfortable under his stare. "I'll probably make the late show. And because of it, the coven won't be able to kill me and hide me in a hole." I looked down at my dirty, cold feet, showing from under the blanket. "At least not for a week and they find something else to sensationalize," I finished softly.

God, my mother would be mortified, but then maybe not. She had grown up in the sixties. She'd probably call her friends.

Pierce still hadn't said anything, and I felt a quiver of worry. I had too many exes, and now I was going to go naked in front of local TV, sure to be syndicated around the country. But if I was naked, they probably wouldn't shoot me. "You okay with this?" I asked Pierce, hating that my voice went up.

The rims of Pierce's ears were red, and he flicked his gaze to me and away. "Remind me to tell you about my aunt Sara someday," he said, the words deep in his throat.

My eyebrows went up, and Pierce exhaled, seeming to settle himself. "It sounds like an almighty good scheme. And when you are naked in front of all creation, how will you give Kalamack the statue?"

"I thought you could throw it to me?" I said hesitantly, and Pierce laughed.