A Perfect Blood (The Hollows #10)(105)
Author: Kim Harrison

"Library" came from the back room, and then Wayde pressed back again when she came out. "Downtown Cincy. The one you broke into a few years ago."

My eyes widened, and I took a step back into my room. "No way!" I said, remembering the locked rooms down in the seldom-visited basement. Trent had said they were downtown. How had he known?

"Yes way," Jenks said in passing as he zipped over us, a whining preteen following him.

Ivy sent her gaze into the kitchen, shocking the hell out of me when she asked, "Can I have one of your pain amulets? Just in case?"

My mouth literally dropped open and I nodded. It was the first time she’d ever asked for my magic, and I wondered what it meant. "Sure," I said, and she vanished into the kitchen.

"Two minutes!" she shouted from the kitchen, and the pixies squealed from the sanctuary. She brushed past me in a swirl of vampire incense, and I looked at Wayde.

"I gotta go," I said, hand on my door to shut it in his face. "If you’re coming, you might want to change."

"This is not a good idea!" he said loudly, and I closed the door.

No, riding behind you on a bike wasn’t a good idea, I thought sourly. God! You show one tiny slip of softness, and they think you’re a damsel in distress. At least Pierce let me fight my own battles, even if he did mess them up royally. Man, I hoped he was okay. Being Newt’s familiar was not a good thing. At least he was alive. And probably having the time of his life trying to kill her, now that I thought about it.

From the other side of my door came Wayde’s exasperated voice, saying, "You’ve already been targeted by them once. You think Glenn is going to let you out of the car?"

I stripped down to my sports bra and socks, then dropped to my hands and knees to look under my bed for my running boots. Low heel, good traction, supple leather. Ivy had gotten them for me for my birthday last year.

"Rachel?"

Grimacing, I threw the boots onto the bed and rose, snatching up my leather pants and shoving my feet into them. My fingertips touched the mended part where the bullet had gone through, and I sobered. "If I’m not there," I said loudly, "they’ll get away. I know it!" I said, believing it to my core. "They’re just too lucky to be believed."

A sparkle of dust slipped under my door, and I gasped. "Jenks, get out of here!" I shouted, grabbing my shirt and covering myself.

"Hurry up, Rache! Let’s go!" he said, not caring I was still half naked.

"Get out!" I shrieked, and he blinked, wings becoming red when he saw me.

"Oh, crap," he murmured. "Sorry. The car is here . . ."

"I still have one minute," I said, adrenaline making my motions jerky as I gave up on modesty and put my shirt on. What could he see around a sports bra anyway? I felt like Cinderella as I jammed my boots on and opened the door to find Wayde still there, fidgeting.

My boots were still unzipped as I shoved Wayde out of my way and clomped through a cloud of cheerful pixies. Ivy was waiting at the front door, looking like a sexy predator with her leather jacket and sword, and she handed me my shoulder bag, already stocked with my charms, splat gun, and a slew of sleepy-time potions.

"You got your phone?" she said as I looped the bag over my shoulder.

"Yes." I patted my back pocket and hopped on one foot to get my boot fastened.

"Got minutes on it?" Jenks asked snidely.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, getting the other boot zipped. "Let’s go!"

Ivy reached for the door, took a breath, and opened it. The late sun spilled in around me, and I headed out after her, waving to the pixies that wreathed us, thinning to nothing as we reached the curb. A black FIB van waited, and I looked up when Wayde ran down the steps and reached for the door’s handle. "I’m coming," he said, and he shoved the wide sliding door open.

" ‘Bout time he figured it out," Jenks said as he zipped in ahead of me, and accepting Wayde’s help, I got in, settling myself on the far end. Ivy was already sitting next to Glenn, and I smiled at the FIB guy driving us.

Downtown, I thought as Wayde got in and slid the door to a firm, definite shut. How had Trent known?

Chapter Twenty-three

The van was one of those big ones, with half the seats turned to look backward. Glenn and Ivy were sitting next to each other with their backs to the front of the vehicle. There was a faint tension between them, a hesitation that hadn’t been there before, and I wondered if my capture had been the straw that tripped the camel. Or whatever. Wayde sat at my left, currently gripping the chicken strap and looking ill. I couldn’t blame him. The revolving lights were on and we were running red lights and swerving a lot.

A blueprint of the subbasement at the library was spread across our collective laps. It was laid out like a fortress with nested rings connected by the occasional passageway. Not what you’d expect under a city library, but Cincy was one of the oldest cities in the U.S., and she had more than a few surprises under her skirts. The money for the failed subway had gone somewhere after all.

Jenks hovered over it all as if nailed to the air as we bounced and swerved. "I didn’t know that was there," he said, his hands on his hips and lighting a small circle of schematic.

The paper rattled as we took a turn and Glenn’s grip on it tightened. "It’s an abandoned military post from the Turn," he said, leaning so close I could smell his aftershave. "They mothballed it shortly after, but if you know your history or think to look for it, you can find it."

He looked up when Ivy bumped his knee, and she said, "That was good thinking, Glenn."

"Thanks." He didn’t look at her, and she met my eyes and shrugged, her expression sad. Jenks’s wings hummed as he noticed our exchange, and I made a mental note to ask his opinion of Glenn’s attitude when this was over. He was better than a lie detector in finding discrepancies between words and body language. I knew he liked Glenn, but he had liked Pierce, too. Man, I was glad I didn’t need to feel guilty about the man’s death.

The car began slowing, and I looked out the front window as the driver stiffened. "Sir?" the man said without turning around. "We’re at the outside perimeter. I was going to go straight to the drop point, but we’re being flagged down." His voice shifted, and he added, "It appears to be I.S. personnel bumming a ride."

Glenn looked over his shoulder, and Jenks darted to the front, stopping just short of hitting the windshield. "It’s Nina," he said, his wings turning a particular shade of orange that meant he had mixed emotions. Ivy, too, looked uncomfortable.