Pale Demon (The Hollows #9)(93)
Author: Kim Harrison

Vivian waved security back, and Pierce relaxed. From the audience rose a nervous murmur. Oliver, though, seemed too catty for my comfort. He looked to his left, then his right, to get everyone’s opinion and their nods, and sat back down with a magnanimous gesture.

Crap, it was all or nothing now. Apologizing wasn’t going to do it. I had to justify myself. Thanks, Pierce.

Vivian’s smile grew wide, as if that was a good thing, and I let out a breath, unaware that I’d been holding it. "The vacant coven membership remains in question then," she said, glancing back into the wings to someone on the support staff. "All in favor of exploring the validity of legalizing black magic in specific people for the intent of the greater good and using the case of Rachel Morgan as the cornerstone?"

As one, they all muttered their ayes.

"Opposed?"

It was simply a formality, but no one breathed as she waited to the count of five. Clearly pleased, Vivian looked down at me, and my heart stopped. "Rachel, is this okay with you?"

"S-sure," I stammered when Trent jabbed his elbow into me.

"Can we have two more chairs up here?" Vivian asked someone in the wings, and a skinny, tall man in black slacks and shirt emerged with two plain brown folding chairs.

"Well, get your ass up there," Jenks said, and I had a moment of panic.

"Wish me luck," I whispered as I set my bag on my chair and stood. I was feeling Jenks’s loss already as he stayed, perched on the back of my chair, beside Trent, where his dust sifted over a cooing Lucy, reaching for him with her little hands.

I felt unreal as I watched my steps, head down and looking at the red-and-silver pattern in the carpet as I made my way to the stage. The stairs had treads on them, but I still held the railing as I went up, my palms starting to sweat. Someone in the crowd hissed as I found the light. It was warm up here, but I shivered. Pierce stood beside the podium where the two new chairs waited. He wasn’t smiling. And I was so friggin’ scared.

"Come on, Rachel!" Jenks shrilled. "You’re a badass, not a bad witch!"

My head came up, jaw clenched. He was right, and I gave him a bunny-eared kiss-kiss. Someone laughed. I couldn’t see who it was through the lights, but I breathed easier.

Vivian’s Mobius-strip pin caught the glint of the spotlight, and wisps of her blond hair that had escaped her elaborate coiffure drifted in the heat as she approached me. Confident and sure, she looked miles away from the tangled mess in the back of my car. Handing me my amplification amulet, she gave my shoulder a squeeze to publicly show her support. It was a bold move on her part, and I appreciated it. She couldn’t be fired, but as Pierce had proved, you could be retired.

"It’s a ley-line charm," she said. "But you have to touch it for it to work. Good luck."

"Thanks." I looped the amulet over my head, making sure that the small disc wasn’t touching skin. I didn’t want anyone hearing my private words to Pierce.

He sat a moment after I did, and I tried to look attractive but not slutty in my leather dress. I had a moment’s thought for the cap I’d forgotten, on the couch back at the hotel, and then I turned to Pierce as he said, "Are you well?"

"I’m okay. Yourself?" I was going to puke. I knew it.

Pierce sent his gaze into the glare. "About the same. Having died once, the outcome of a public trial has lost much of its threat."

"I’d think it would be the other way around," I said, then jerked when Vivian called my name. She was back at the podium, waiting.

"Rachel? I think everyone knows why you’re here. Would you like to say anything?"

Some of the crowd muttered, and I thought I heard "black witch," but I stood, trying to gather everyone’s attention with a moment of silence. I picked out Trent through the glare, thinking he looked worried as he tried to keep Lucy quiet. I daren’t look at my mother or Ivy, and Jenks was too small. This would be tricky. If I lied, the silver bell on the table would ring. I had come here under the lie of having been forced into black magic to test Trent’s security systems. That wasn’t the issue anymore, and I’d have to be careful with what I said.

Finally there was silence. I took a breath. Feeling dizzy, I reached to touch my amulet. "I’m here because of manipulation by both the coven and outside forces, and I’m claiming my shunning should be permanently annulled."

You’d think I’d dropped a bloody vampire into a sweet-sixteen pajama party. The crowd burst into noise, and I felt sick when from up in the balcony, the chant "Burn her, burn her" drifted down.

"Steady, Rachel," Pierce said, his eyes narrowed as he sat beside me. "They’re ignorant and frightened."

"Yeah, but they can still kill me," I said, thinking longingly of my kitchen.

"Enough!" Vivian shouted. "You want me to clear the auditorium and do this behind closed doors?"

Fear tightened my shoulders, and I almost panicked. A private "trial" would be my end. The threat of my going public with our origins would be gone. I’d never even get my say, but would be shoved on a boat and be on my way to Alcatraz on the midnight run. But Vivian was only trying to get them to be quiet, and it worked. Still holding her frown, aimed at the crowd, she gestured for me to continue.

"I was forced into learning black magic in order to survive," I said truthfully, nodding to Trent, in the first row. That a hundred circumstances had forced me, not Trent, was beside the point, and I couldn’t help it if they thought I was talking about him. "I know black magic, but I’ve never hurt anyone but myself. And I’m not going to apologize for it." My eye twitched as I thought of the fairies, and from the coven’s table, there was a tiny ping of sound as the silver bell rang, giving evidence of my lie.

"No, that’s a lie," I quickly amended as the crowd stirred. "I killed fairies to keep them from burning down my church and massacring my partner and his family when the coven started taking potshots at me. But I’ve never hurt anyone who wasn’t trying to kill me first."

The crowd responded with an almost disappointed ferocity. I felt my face pale when I realized that these people, whom I counted as my own, were actually eager for my blood. They reminded me of Trent’s dogs, and my knees became weak.

"I’m sorry, Rachel," Pierce said, touching my hand. "I’m so sorry."

"Fairies aren’t real people!" Jenks shrilled, his familiar voice cutting through the noise. "That doesn’t count."

Oliver leaned forward to pour himself a cup of water, looking too satisfied to live. "But Rachel believes they are people, and she used black magic to kill them," he said as he touched his amulet. "I say it stands."