Pale Demon (The Hollows #9)(38)
Author: Kim Harrison

"I’ll wait outside," I said, glancing at the door.

"Thank you."

It was short and clipped, and even through the door I could hear his irritation.

"Sorry," I said as I moved away. He hadn’t been flustered at all by my bursting in on him. But then again, he didn’t have anything to be ashamed of. The man was built like one of his horses. Not an ounce of flab on him.

What is wrong with me? I thought as I snatched my bag up from the bed and went out, slamming the door hard enough to shake the windows and let Trent know I’d left. Jenks had been kidnapped, and I was thinking about Trent naked in the shower?

Ivy was walking toward me, the trucker revving up his diesel engine behind her, and she turned and waved when he yanked the horn cord to send an echo of it across the flat desert. I had to content myself with trying to guess her news by her posture as she made her slow way to me, arms wrapped around her middle and her head down. My head started hurting.

"It’s pixies," she said when she got close enough, and my breath slid from me in relief.

"Are you sure?" I asked, hand on her arm.

She nodded. "He said they all had silver wings that made a lot of noise. The only noise fairies make is when they clank their swords against each other."

I looked back at the motel, wishing Trent would hurry. "He’s probably alive then," I said, my worry coming right back. Pixies wouldn’t kill an intruder wearing red, and Jenks had on enough to blind a horse. But why kidnap him at all?

The jingle of the restaurant door caught our attention, and we turned to see Vivian coming out, her head down as she looked at one of her amulets.

"Maybe she arranged it," Ivy said, her dark eyes getting darker. "To slow us down. If you don’t make it in time, your shunning is permanent."

Squinting at the slight but powerful coven member, I shook my head. "Not her style."

Vivian looked up, blinking as she saw us standing in the parking lot. Turning, she looked to the west, then down at her amulet, then up again, clearly confused. Steps slowing, she halted on the covered wooden walkway that connected the motel to the restaurant.

My pulse hammered, and sweet, beautiful adrenaline poured into me. "She’s got a tracking amulet," I whispered, knowing now how she’d been following us through the night.

"What?" Ivy said, but I was already moving to Vivian, arms swinging loose and free, my every motion full of intent. Vivian saw me, and her foot scraped as she took a step back.

"She’s got a tracking amulet tuned to Jenks!" I exclaimed without looking over my shoulder. "Like I made for Mia. That’s how she’s been following us!"

Vivian took another step back, her gaze darting from me to her Pinto.

"Rachel!" Ivy exclaimed. "Rushing a coven member might not be the best thing!"

I smiled at Vivian. That tracking amulet was mine.

Vivian’s eyes were wide. She swore, then turned and ran, her boots thumping on the walk running alongside the motel. She was headed for her car.

Instinct kicked in, and I bolted after her. Arms pumping, I gave chase, my boots hitting the dirt as I tried to head her off.

"Look out!" Ivy shouted, and my gaze shot to Trent, head down as he came out of the motel room. My pace faltered, and glancing at me, Vivian put on a burst of speed, turning her head just in time to smack right into Trent’s door.

The thunk of her head on the thick wooden door was loud, and I winced, slowing to a jog.

Trent scrambled, dropping his toiletry bag as he narrowly caught her. Her hand opened and the amulet dropped, going dark as it rolled off the raised wooden walkway and to my feet, falling on its side in a tiny puff of dust.

I snatched it up and looked at Trent, now holding Vivian as her head lolled and her feet splayed askew. "That wasn’t quite what I’d planned," I said, then turned to the waitress leaning half out of the restaurant and waved, shouting, "Can we have a bag of ice? I think she’s okay."

The woman ducked back inside, and I shifted to make room for Ivy.

"I missed the meeting, didn’t I?" Trent said, and I helped him ease her to the walk. She was breathing okay, and when Ivy lifted her lids, her pupils contracted equally. Given a little time, she’d likely be fine.

"Thanks, Trent," I said as I hefted the amulet, glowing again now that I was holding it. "You’re being useful today. I think you just saved me from beating up a coven member."

Ivy looked from Vivian’s Pinto to my mom’s car. "Now what?"

I looked at the amulet, my heart pounding as I saw how far apart the two little red dots were. I wondered if Oliver had made it. Looping the cord around my neck, I crouched beside Vivian. "You take her feet, I’ll take her hands."

Immediately Ivy shifted, and together we lifted her, me straining far more than Ivy.

Trent backed up a step, confused. "What are you going to do with her?"

"Put her in the car," I puffed, moving awkwardly to my mom’s car.

Trent scooped up his toiletry bag. "You’re joking, right? Rachel, she’s coven. We can’t take her with us."

"I’m not going to leave her here," I said, and Ivy’s eyes flicked to him as the unconscious woman seemed to gain fifty pounds with every step. "Will you get the ice?"

Frowning, he turned away, but I couldn’t help but be impressed as he gave the waitress a story about us traveling together and knowing her and her friends, and that we’d make sure she got home okay. Pace fast, he caught back up with us in time to open the back door.

"You can’t be serious," he started in again, his eyes pinched as he held the door open. "They want to kill you!"

"Maybe I’m trying sugar instead of vinegar," I grunted as I scooted backward into my mom’s car, hitting my elbow as I pulled Vivian in after me. Ivy wrestled with her feet as Trent stood behind her and watched, his toiletry bag in one hand, the ice in the other. He looked totally different in his black clothes, his hair slicked back, his expression worried.

"You should be tucking her away in that hotel room you rented," he said, "and throwing her keys into the desert. She’d never find us then."

"Maybe. Or maybe it would just tick her off," I said as I tossed my bag to the front seat and tugged Vivian farther in. My back hit the far door, and puffing, I opened it and backed out. Exhaling, I looked at him across the roof, tired. "I’m not leaving her unconscious in a hotel room a hundred miles from civilization to maybe wake up as someone’s desert-bunker wife. You put a zip strip on her, and she goes from coven to incapable. But frankly, the real reason she’s coming with us is that I’d rather have her tell the coven all our secrets than have a twenty-four-hour gap that they can use to invent stuff." Seeing Vivian laid out on the seat, I carefully shut the door and looked out over the desert. "I’m driving. Who has the keys?"