A Perfect Blood (The Hollows #10)(127)
Author: Kim Harrison

Cordova jammed her weapon into Mark a little harder. "Charms on the table. Now!"

Eloy was touching the back of his head where he’d hit the floor. His gun was again pointed at Trent. Mark’s eyes were clenched closed, and his lips were moving. In a charm? I wondered, my heart pounding hard. Probably a prayer.

A part of me said the hell with it. Take a chance. But the fear of becoming careless with other people’s lives was stronger. I had to be more careful now, not less, and I angled an arm down to let my bag hit the floor. Trent’s charms spilled everywhere, and my phone slipped out.

"Rachel, wait."

It was Trent, and Dr. Cordova jammed the mouth of her weapon harder into Mark’s head, making him gasp. Eloy’s aim shifted to me, and I strengthened my hold on the line, ready to make a circle.

"Not now, Trent," I said. "It’s me they want."

"No, it isn’t."

Mark opened an eye slightly, and I risked a quick look at Trent, standing beside me in his loose-fitting, head-to-toe black, smelling of wine and broken wood as he lifted his chin and dared me to protest. He looked ticked, but not at me. "What are you doing?"

He shook his head, looking far too calm and in control. "This is not utilizing our skills to their fullest extent," he said softly, his hand on my shoulder, and then he sent his gaze past me to them. "I know how to stabilize the Rosewood enzymes," he said loudly, and I stiffened. "I’m the one you want. Not her."

"Trent!" I exclaimed, a thread of panic coming from out of nowhere to tighten around my heart, and he pushed me behind him, surreptitiously handing my magnetic chalk back. "What are you doing?"

"Something you won’t," he said, and then his eyes touched on mine. "You’re a good person. Don’t change because I’m a bastard." Anger and frustration filled him, and then . . . as he turned so they couldn’t see . . . I saw a thread of excitement running behind his thoughts, a desire to find justice, a need to prove to himself that he was not just his father, but that his mother lived in him, too. He had an idea – one he really liked and I probably wouldn’t.

Someday, you’re going to be glad I have that particular skill.

God save us. He was going to do something bad. Seeing my understanding, he leaned back, breaking eye contact as if it hurt. "Trent . . ." I whispered, and he handed me the battery pack and earbud.

"Improvise."

And then he turned away.

"Take me," he said boldly, his hands at his sides, his fingers spread wide, making his missing digits obvious. "I can cut your research down to days."

For three seconds, Eloy considered it. Dr. Cordova tightened her grip on her pistol, clearly reluctant to let Mark go. "He’s not a witch," the woman said, and Mark’s eyes met mine, looking for direction. I had none to give.

A slow smile began to spread across Eloy’s face, and my heart pounded. He had his gun again, and he motioned for me to move. "Back up, Rachel," he demanded, his voice dripping scorn, and Dr. Cordova shifted her feet, which made Mark stumble.

"He’s not a witch!" she said louder, and Eloy gave her a look that told her she was being stupid. "If we take him, the entire country is going to be on us!"

"Exactly right." Satisfaction in his every motion, Eloy gestured for Trent to put his hands on his head and come closer. "It will be on every news station in every U.S. city. Everyone will know that HAPA has struck back. They will know that we are no longer going to sit and hide, but that the animals that have enslaved and murdered us will again be hunted and slaughtered." He shouted at me, righteous anger slamming into me like a wall, "You will back up!"

Mouth dry, I retreated, slipping when my foot hit the charms spilling out of my bag. Was that why Trent had taken my place? Did he know my magic was faster? Was he going to distract them so I could do something? Improvise? Damn it, I wish I knew what he was doing!

Dr. Cordova shifted from foot to foot. A gap of air showed between Mark’s head and the gun in her hand. I found my balance, spooling line energy until my skin hurt. There was nothing from the earbud dangling down my front.

"Get rid of that useless witch," Eloy barked, and Dr. Cordova shoved Mark at me.

I reached out and caught him, keeping us upright as our feet scrabbled for purchase amid the spilled charms. He was a tad overweight, and we almost went down, even as he turned to face them, sweating and stinking of redwood.

I crouched to grab a charm, pulling to a stop when Eloy made a negative sound.

Hand reaching, I froze as I saw Dr. Cordova’s gun aimed at Trent’s middle. A shot there wouldn’t kill him right away, but it would kill him.

Trent just stood there, his lips pulled back from his teeth slightly, that same wild look I’d seen on him once before as Cordova’s arm wrapped around his neck, her gun pointed into his side. "I would have preferred Eloy, but this is acceptable," he said, and then I stiffened when I felt a circle go up. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t Mark. It was Trent.

"No!" I shouted, reaching out helplessly as the gold shimmer wove a net around all three of them. Behind the haze, Trent became boneless, his dead weight making Dr. Cordova tighten her grip on him. The gun went off, and Eloy cried out, the shot ricocheting off the inside of Trent’s circle and slamming into Eloy’s shoulder.

Swearing, the man fell back against the inside of Trent’s circle, one hand on his shoulder, the other pointing his gun at Dr. Cordova.

"Ta na nevo doe tena!" Trent shouted, Dr. Cordova’s arms holding him to her.

Dr. Cordova screamed as Trent’s magic hit her. I backed up, horrified as I recognized the curse, the same one that had mutilated Winona. Where did he get the blood? I wondered when Cordova let go and fell, pawing at herself as her body contorted, her shoes falling off as hooves formed. Her head hit the floor, her brow heavy and misshapen. Small horns scraped the tile as she screamed, her voice cut off in a strangled gurgle of terror as she looked at her hands, now thick and short fingered. Terrified, her voice came in high-pitched squeals as a curly red pelt wormed its way out of her skin.

Blood seeping from around his fingers, Eloy pressed against the wall of Trent’s circle. Gun forgotten, he stared in horror as Dr. Cordova turned into the mirror image of Winona. The woman’s thin tail lashed wildly, and he recoiled when it touched him. It worked on humans. The curse worked on humans . . .

"On the floor. Now," Trent said to Eloy. "Or I’ll turn you into what you really are, too."

His voice was cool and dispassionate, hard and unforgiving. I stared at him, seeing not a businessman out of place playing at something he was not, but the same man who’d perched atop a horse in the sunset, the world at his fingertips and justice waiting to be meted out – calmly, surely, and satisfyingly. Eloy dropped his gun, terrified.