“Stop them! Make them answer to us!” the man on the stage shouted, and I gasped as hands reached out.
Instinct kicked in. I pulled heavily on the line. Someone cried out a warning, and I sent it through them, the power of the line arching from one to the other.
“Rachel!” Jenks shouted as it had no effect and I went down under a wash of arms and hands. There were too many of them, and my strength was diluted. Hands grasped and tugged, and I couldn’t breathe. Someone pulled my hair, and I hit the pavement. I couldn’t set a circle—there were too many bodies crossing the line and it couldn’t form.
“No!” I shrieked as a hand clamped over my wrist, and then I cowered as I felt the snap of lavender strike through me as if in protection.
“Corrumpo!” my mother shouted, and I cowered again as a wave of energy pulsed forward, ripping the grasping hands away so the sun could beat down on me again.
Stunned, I looked at the one hand still on me. “Mom?” I questioned, and she yanked me up as if I was still fourteen and couldn’t walk a block without panting. “Where did you learn that?”
“Get your hands off my daughter!” she shouted, her color high and her hair wild.
Jenks dropped down, and my mom let go of my wrist. “Jeez, Rache. Your mom kicks ass.”
I took a breath. We weren’t out of it yet. They were wary, but that guy on the stage was still yelling at them to attack us. “She needed to be to keep me alive,” I said, edging forward and seeing people grudgingly begin to part. “She once took an orderly out with a bedpan so I could go home for the solstice.”
“Move!” Ivy’s voice came, and I turned. “Get out of my way!”
The man on the stage pointed, distance making him brave. “Stop them! She’s a demon! She took their souls! If you act together, she can’t stop you!”
“The hell I can’t,” my mother muttered, and hearing her, the people pressed back to make a path.
Ivy finally broke through. Her head snapped up at the harsh claxon that suddenly rang out. “Son of a bitch,” my mother muttered, staring at the sky. “They’re going to seal the circle. Run!”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but after seeing her blow a lynch mob off me, I wasn’t going to question her. “Come on!” I shouted, grabbing Ivy’s hand and running at the people circling us.
They screamed, parting in panic as we came at them, and we plowed through. Elbows hit me, and the scent of fear. My grip on Ivy never faltered as I followed my mom and Jenks’s dust. Adrenaline was cold fire as I felt the prickling of a rising field. It was just before me, and I lunged, dragging Ivy behind me as I dove for the rising shimmer.
“No!” I cried as it licked over me, hesitating a heartbeat as it decided what side of me it would form on, and then I was through, Ivy in tow. We hit the ground together, and she spun to her feet with unreal grace.
Shocked, I sat on the pavement and stared at the purple-and-green shimmering field behind me. It was so thick, I couldn’t see past it. My palm was scraped, and I rubbed at it as I tried to decide what hurt and what didn’t. I hadn’t known they could close the square like that.
My urge to rise vanished at the new pain in my shoulder. Hissing, I took my weight off my hand, then yelped when some guy smelling like vampire hoisted me up. “Hey! Let go,” I shouted, then looked for my mom, even as the man got a tighter grip.
“It’s a containment field,” she said, smiling as an I.S. officer wrenched her arms behind her and zip-stripped her. “Donald and I got stuck in it once during a protest and they let us sit there for five hours before dropping it.” She looked up at the man trying to haul her off. “Hey! I’ve a right to assemble!”
Jenks was grinning, darting back and forth to avoid a man with a net. “Your mom could write a book, Rache.”
They were arresting us? “Dude, I’m on your side!” I exclaimed, then gasped when the guy who’d picked me up off the sidewalk shoved me at a car and wrenched my arms back. “Ow! Watch the shoulder!”
“Nina is still in there!” Ivy was screaming, and I heard the familiar thumps and pained grunts that happened when you told Ivy no. The man let go of me, and I spun, wrists bound as I leaned against the car to watch. I kind of worked for the FIB. We’d get this sorted out as soon as we found Edden.
“Ohhh, that’s going to hurt for a week,” Jenks said in admiration as he hovered beside me, and I winced.
“Jenks, go find Edden, will you?”
“You got it!” he said cheerfully, and darted away.
Ivy was backed up to the shimmering barrier, keeping everyone a good eight feet away with her attitude. They knew who she was, and I thought it dumb they persisted. She was magnificent with her streaming hair and dark eyes, motions clean and sharp as she beat off two more agents who dared to try her.
I.S. officers in specialized vests were going in and out of the barrier as if it didn’t exist. I hadn’t even know they had this kind of thing. Ivy spun when Nina’s voice carried as she was brought through, subdued in a straitjacket as they bundled her to an I.S. van. The zealot was right behind her, and I hoped they put them in separate vehicles. What is taking Edden so long? This strip is too tight.
“Nina!” Ivy called, and then I gasped as a man in a vest came through the barrier right behind Ivy and took her down.
Ivy struggled wildly, and my mom inched to stand beside me, eyes wide in admiration as my roommate wiggled, twisted, and finally succumbed to a martial arts grip that would snap her wrist if she continued, her free hand slapping her thigh in a show of submission.
“Good girl, Tamwood,” the vampire who had downed her snarled. “Get me a restraining harness!” he shouted, louder.
“Hey!” I exclaimed, pissed. He was the same guy who’d zip-stripped me, clearly pleased with himself as Ivy was bundled up by his buddies. “I’m Rachel Morgan, and that’s Ivy Tamwood. What are you doing? We’re here to help!”
The vampire’s smile chilled me, but his charms fell flat as I lifted my chin and stared him down. “Rachel Morgan,” he drawled as he took his field harness off and handed it to a subordinate. “Resisting arrest? You’re going to be locked up for a long time.”
“I did not!” I said indignantly. “I did not do one thing to resist arrest. If I had, I wouldn’t have been arrested! Where’s Captain Edden?” But as the vampire continued to smile at me, I was starting to have doubts. I hadn’t done anything wrong except fudge a little on why I was down here, but once you went into I.S. custody, they could make you sit in a room for over a day before they had to charge or release you.
And here I stood, my magic gone because I played by the rules. I could almost hear Al laughing at me, telling me I deserved to be locked up if I expected a demon to get a fair shake.
“Cormel wants to talk to you,” the vampire whispered.
“Back up, fang breath,” I said, and his nasty smile faltered because he hadn’t scared me. The reality, though, was a little different. Cormel? Great. He wouldn’t accept that this was madness. I couldn’t help him, and even if I could, I wouldn’t.
“You’re making a mistake,” I said softly, gaze flicking to Ivy being hauled up from the pavement, sullen and angry.
The vampire looked back at her. I didn’t like the way his lips curled in satisfaction. “Cormel wants you to fix this. Give him his soul.”
“And be blamed for it when he commits suncide?” I snarled. It was starting to thin out this side of the barrier, though it would probably be at least an hour before traffic would be allowed to resume.
“That way,” the vampire said, shoving me into motion. My mother was behind me, and Ivy in front. The I.S. van was dead ahead, and I wasn’t going to get into it. Once you went into the I.S. tower, the law didn’t seem to matter anymore. And they are afraid of demons? I asked myself, heart pounding. What did they know that I didn’t?
“He wants his soul,” the vampire said, pinching my shoulder as he pushed me along. “You either get it for him, or Ivy dies.”
My pulse raced. I looked at Ivy, then the van. I tensed to do something, spinning when Edden’s voice echoed out, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing, Uric? These are my people!”
My knees almost gave way, and the vampire, Uric apparently, stopped, hands scrabbling to catch me as he suddenly had my entire weight to hold. “Edden,” I breathed. “Thank God.”
Uric hauled me back up, and the entire group of us came to a halt, mere steps from the I.S. van. “Since when?” he said boldly, and I jerked when he twisted the band around my wrist to make it hurt. “She can’t work for you. She’s Inderland.”
Edden bulled his way forward, six uneasy but big officers behind him. “She’s a demon,” Edden said, gesturing. “There are no restrictive labor laws for demons. She’s mine. Let her go.”
The scent of angry vampire grew, and the man holding Ivy grunted as she jabbed an elbow into him. “She was resisting arrest,” Uric muttered.
“I was not!” I went slack in his grip to keep him from hauling me off, then stood up when he tried to scoop me into a carry hold. “Edden, I made no move to resist arrest, or I wouldn’t be here now and you know it! This is an abduction. Cormel wants me, and if I go in, I’m not coming out.” I hesitated as Edden chewed his lip, making his mustache bunch. “Edden!”
Edden’s eyes narrowed. He reached for me and Uric pulled me back. “Do the paperwork,” Uric said, and Edden’s eyes narrowed. Jenks hovered, unsure and uneasy.
“Hit me,” Edden said, and Uric’s hold on me tightened.
“E-excuse me,” I stammered, then exclaimed, “Ow!,” when Uric yanked me back a step.
“Hit him, Rache!” Jenks shrilled.
Uric gestured, and the men holding Ivy began wrestling her to the van.
“Rache!” Jenks shouted, and my mom pursed her lips.
“Hell, I’ll do it,” she said, and flung out her foot, kicking Edden square in the balls.
Clutching himself, he groaned as my mother muttered that she hadn’t hit him that hard.
Everyone was looking at him, and it suddenly dawned on me what he was trying to do. “Let go!” I shouted, wiggling out of Uric’s grip and doing a soft, barely there crescent kick at Edden’s jaw as he froze, clutching his privates.
“Get her down!” someone screamed, and my eyes widened. They were all coming at me. Both sides.
“Look out!” Jenks shrilled, and I was suddenly trying to breathe as three men pretended I was a loose football and fell on me. The pavement hit hard, and I think I blacked out for a second. Oh God, I couldn’t breathe, but it was Edden who hauled me up, a little rougher than he needed to as he shoved me at his men. I fell into them, gasping for air. Shit, I’d broken something, and his nose was bleeding. From the outskirts I heard a wolf howl rise, and a shiver ran up my spine.
“She’s mine!” Edden yelled at Uric, inches in front of him and angry as Edden had to peer up at him around his watering eyes and bleeding nose. “She hit me, and she’s mine! You hit an FIB officer, you go to the FIB. You can have her when I’m done with her. Got it?”
Breath fast, I looked for Ivy, not seeing her. She’d used the distraction and gotten free. From behind the crowd I heard a bang and the van holding Nina shook. Another howl rose. David? I hadn’t seen any Weres in the crowd, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t been there.
My mom was grinning as she landed next to me against the cop car. “God, I love protest rallies.” Her gaze went past me to the crowd. “Yoo-hoo! Donald! Come bail me and Rachel out, will you, sweetheart?”
Oh God, the news crews were here, and I hung my head as my birth father grinned and waved his checkbook. He had a couple of groupies with him, and I figured he’d get a ride to the FIB building with no problem.
“They’re Inderland. They’re to be in my custody!” Uric was shouting, eyes black and face red, and Edden shoved his chest right back at him.
“That woman assaulted me,” Edden said, pointing at me. “She’s mine unless she assaulted you first. Did she assault you?”
Uric’s lips curled back, and I thought I saw the fear of self-preservation in him. “No, but Tamwood did,” he snarled, and then his expression became even uglier when he saw the bleeding faces and cradled arms of the men who had been holding her. “Find Tamwood!” he shouted, and everyone scrambled into motion, even the one with the bad limp. My good feeling died as Uric focused on me for a long moment before turning on a heel and striding away.
“There’s got to be an easier way to do this,” Edden said, dabbing at his bleeding nose.
“Crap on toast, Edden. I’m sorry,” I said, heart pounding. “I owe you big.”
He put a hand on my shoulder and led me away with a quickness that told me he wasn’t quite sure he had the legal authority on his side. “Don’t think I won’t call this in someday,” he said, leaning so close I could smell the coffee on his breath. “Ivy just better keep that girlfriend of hers quiet.” He glanced back over his shoulder, then dropped his head. “Damn, Rachel, don’t you know how to pull your punches?” Edden dabbed at his lip. “I bit right through my lip.”
“Sorry,” I said, then gestured for Jenks to see if he could find Ivy. Knowing her, she was probably safe already. Humming his approval, he darted off.
“How is the investigation on my church going?” I asked, hands still tied behind my back. There was an FIB car up ahead, and I guessed that’s where we were headed.