Pale Demon (The Hollows #9)(116)
Author: Kim Harrison

My anger fanned to life, and I frowned. "You think I want Trent as a familiar?" I said over their raised voices. "Take him into the ever-after with me and make him twist curses? Punish him for the curse he put on me? I just wanted to talk to the man. Funny how you all thought I wanted to drag him back with me or kill him outright. Thanks a hell of a lot. I appreciate that."

Oliver’s pudgy cheeks quivered. As his broken-voiced harangue echoed into nothing, he turned. Vivian, too, stopped yelling, and I crossed my arms over my middle and frowned, wondering what they’d do if I simply walked out of here. Would I be pulled back to the ever-after when the sun went down? I honestly didn’t know. When Trent cursed me, he hadn’t said anything about being pulled back. Since I was out of the circle, maybe I could stay?

His head down, Pierce edged away from them, his shoes grinding the grit from the ceiling reminding me of the salt on my kitchen floor. "I never thought you were going to take Kalamack," he said softly, and as his gaze darted from me to them, he asked, "You have a plan? You need Trent for it? I can find him."

I stifled a quiver at a surge of adrenaline. "I have an idea," I admitted, "but Ivy’s the planner. Where is she?"

Oliver and Vivian looked at each other, then me.

"If you can get rid of Ku’Sox, you will be reinstated as a white witch," Vivian said, not answering my question. "You’ll be pardoned for the black magic you have done up to and including what you perform to get rid of Ku’Sox," she added. "The coven will leave you and your family alone. We don’t know the magic to get the demon curse lifted from you."

"Trent does," I said, seeing no need to tell them that I knew how to get rid of it myself. Mostly. The Turn take it, I hoped I wasn’t being stupid again. I didn’t mind being stupid once, but twice with the same person was getting old. "But I’m not a white witch," I said, forcing my teeth not to clench. "I am a demon, and I want it to be official. Other than that, we have a deal. Oh, and I don’t want to be responsible for the damage I do trying to get rid of him. Okay?"

Vivian looked scared, but Oliver gestured with a sarcastic motion that it was okay with him. Pierce closed his eyes as if pained. The arrangement wasn’t anything I could hold them to, and I didn’t expect them to honor it. Right now, all I wanted was a shot at getting the curse shifted from me back to Ku’Sox.

"So where is the little genetic designer dump of a demon?" I said, liking the insulting moniker that Al had given Ku’Sox. I had no idea how I was going to do this, but knowing where he was would be a start.

Vivian looked to the closed, locked double doors. "Just follow the screaming."

A quick breath slipped in and out. "And Ivy and Jenks? I’m going to need their help."

No one said anything. My heart seemed to stop when they both looked at Pierce.

"Ku’Sox has them," he said, and I quivered, fear sliding through me. "I opine he’s not killed them outright, but is keeping them intact to call you out."

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The vivid maroons and contrasting golds of the carpet had dulled to a gray smudge under the choking dust from broken concrete. It didn’t help that the light was almost nonexistent as I strode through the hotel lobby, the ambient sun not able to reach deep enough into the large building to make a difference. Everywhere around me, people were quietly crying, whispering, or staring blankly as they huddled under yellow blankets pulled from hotel rooms, sitting against the walls or in informal groups in the middle of the floor. It was quiet. There were no more decisions to be made. They were down to just existing, shocked into a blank state, their minds as dull as the carpet, coated with the remnants of destruction. It stank of cracked rock and terror that had lost its ability to motivate.

But as I headed for the sun past the glass doors, a head lifted, awareness seeping in to show their individual fears and thoughts, like my feet pulling the dust from the carpet, leaving a bright and shiny trail of where I’d been. My jaw set and my arms swung a little harder. Demon witch. Clearly I’d been recognized, and I squared my shoulders. So I was a demon. Suck it up and deal with it. I was going to save their asses.

"Don’t pay them any mind," Pierce said as he paced beside me, his dusty coat almost the same color as the carpet, the sooty gray fading as it rose until it regained its original brown at his shoulders. "They’re scared."

"So am I," I admitted, staring straight ahead. I was scared and angry that Ku’Sox had been holding Ivy and Jenks for three days, hurting them to ensure I’d come to him. At least my mother was okay, having been in jail when Ku’Sox destroyed a huge chunk of San Francisco. She was still there, thank God, but at least now she knew I was back in reality. For a while.

Al, too, knew what I was up to. I don’t know why I made them give me my scrying mirror so I could tell him I was okay, except that he had seemed worried, and that was a new emotion from him-at least where my welfare was concerned. I had sneezed for five solid minutes after I told him I wasn’t waiting until dark to confront Ku’Sox and hung up on him, but that had been an hour ago, and he’d given up.

My scrying mirror was now in Vivian’s care, but my magnetic chalk was tucked in my jeans pocket along with a couple of zip strips. I also had one of the coven’s splat guns, its hopper full of charms I doubted would work at the beach we were headed to, but maybe Ku’Sox ducking them might buy me some time. Other than that, I didn’t have much, having turned down the bits and bobs that Oliver grudgingly laid out for me. I didn’t need his magic. Didn’t trust it. Ku’Sox could take everything Oliver had and bathe in it. My intent wasn’t to kill Ku’Sox. My intent was to hold on to him long enough to shift the curse. And survive. I wanted to survive, too.

My jaw ached, and I forced my teeth to unclench as I headed for the bright doors. Behind me, Vivian and Oliver trailed, creating a wake of whispers of their own. Why they were coming was obvious, but they were going to be little help other than as cannon fodder. I didn’t care about Oliver, but I didn’t want to be responsible for Vivian.

Pierce hustled to open the door ahead of me, but I stiff-armed the panel next to it. The door flung open, and a blast of sunshine hit me. It was like a smack, and I stood there, blinded, almost crying. The sun. I could hear sirens in the distance, and helicopters thumping, but I turned to the sky and smiled, blinding myself. Why had I ever wanted sunglasses to block this out? It had been only three days. Only a few hours if you considered that most of that time I’d been unconscious. But the warmth soaked into me as if I’d been in prison for years.