Pale Demon (The Hollows #9)(95)
Author: Kim Harrison

Oliver leaned forward, eager for the kill. "And now…," he drawled.

She hesitated, took a breath, then let it out. "Oliver, we’re in trouble," she said, her voice heavy with concern. It was as if she was speaking to him alone, and I felt a stab of alarm for what might come out of her mouth. "Rachel wasn’t the reason the arch fell," she said, then, for all the good it did, held up a hand against the rising crowd.

"It fell because of salt-dissolving adhesive?" Oliver muttered, but his voice was completely overwhelmed by the crowd’s noise. Beside me, Pierce grimaced, trying to look positive but coming across as ill. To my other side, Trent was stone faced. I couldn’t tell if this was part of his plan or not. On his lap, Lucy was falling asleep, the bright lights and heat hitting her hard.

"Silence!" Vivian yelled without the aid of her amulet, and most of the crowd shut up. "Let me tell you what happened."

My foot quivered, and I looked down, then up into the faceless crowd.

"I traveled first behind Rachel, then with her," Vivian said, only to be interrupted by Oliver.

"And you expect us to believe that you are seeing things clearly?"

Vivian spun to him, her tie-dyed robe furling. "You know I’m not spelled, Oliver," she said tartly. "Disagreeing with you does not equal having one’s judgment impaired, and if the rest of your bootlickers would grow a pair, we might have some justice here and maybe save our asses! We are in dire danger, and it’s not from Rachel!"

The crowd became silent. Pierce leaned over to me, and with his pinkie just touching the amulet, he whispered, "I like her."

Someone laughed, and Vivian shot me an encouraging glance. "I stand before you in the sphere of the coven’s truth charm, and I say that I traveled with Rachel, drove her car after she fought off a demon. A day-walking demon," she said loudly when the noise rose. "She didn’t call it, it came of its own volition. I stand here now because she bested it. It was beyond me."

Not a sound came from the audience as they took that in. "A day-walking demon?" someone shouted. "That’s impossible!"

Trent scuffed his feet to pull eyes to him. "They exist. A demon possessed one of my associates and was able to stay on this side of the ley lines, in the sun. It was Rachel who banished the demon and freed my friend. Day-walking demons are here. Your safety is severely compromised. The rules are evolving!"

He had to shout the last, and Vivian looked worried. I could well imagine the fervor going on past the doors, where this was being piped out. Vivian twitched her dress to gather the crowd’s attention. "Unfortunately, Mr. Kalamack is correct. Demons are finding ways around the rules. Something has changed, and they can walk in daylight unsummoned. As we are now, we can’t stand against them."

Oliver cleared his throat nervously. "Of course you couldn’t stand against a demon, Vivian. You may be coven, but you were also alone."

"That’s what I’m saying, Oliver," she said sarcastically, anger at her own lack of ability bleeding through. "I was alone, but so was Rachel, and she beat him back. My drawn circle fell as if it wasn’t there. Rachel’s didn’t. It held firm. I’m not saying that black magic is stronger. But her magic has the strength of earth magic with the speed and flexibility of ley-line charms, and by continuing to ignore all of it because of the fear of some, we will condemn ourselves along with a good woman."

I was going to cry. Pierce took my hand, and I squeezed it. Even if I didn’t make it out of here, someone had said I was a good person. It was worth the two thousand miles of bad food, dirty restrooms, and two nights without a bed just to hear someone say it.

"Vivian, stop inflaming the issue," Oliver stated when he could be heard again, and Vivian turned to the crowd, talking to them.

"I have seen my skills brushed aside as if nothing, and I am scared. Ignorance and denial will get us enslaved or dead. Don’t let fear blind you. Don’t let fear cause you to destroy someone who can stand against them. Rachel fought off a day-walking demon that was released when the arch fell, and you want to shun her?"

She was shouting, but most people were listening. "We all saw the news!" she said, gesturing. "We all felt the tragedy, saw the lives ended. I can’t stop it! The coven can’t stop it. She can!"

"I think she freed it!" Oliver shouted, standing to point a finger at me. "She was there!"

The crowd held its breath, and in the silence, I sat straighter. "I didn’t release the demon from under the arch," I said, and there was no ping of the bell.

Oliver grimaced as his trap sprang with me safe outside it. The auditorium quieted beyond the haze of the lights, and Oliver’s chair squeaked as he leaned back.

"What scares me," Vivian said, softer now that she had everyone’s attention, "is that my circle, well drawn and able to handle anything, was nothing to him. This day-walking demon brushed through it. Rachel saved my life at great risk to herself-knowing that I had been sent to spy on her."

"With black magic," Oliver muttered.

"Are you that stupid, Oliver?" Vivian belted out, and I realized that most of my trial was going to be a fight for power between these two. The rest of the coven would vote with the winner. My life hinged upon a narrow-minded man and his fears.

"Of course she used black magic!" Vivian said. "Demons are laughing at us for our self-imposed ignorance. Rachel used black magic against a demon. It hurt none but herself and saved my life. I have a hard time finding wrong in that."

Vivian dropped back a step to let people think about it.

"What about Las Vegas?" Oliver stated, too confident in himself to get up. "Property damage and lives ended. The same demon, yes? The same black magic."

Vivian nodded. "Yes. It took both Pierce and Rachel that time, and the curse they used unfortunately set the building on fire. The bodies found therein were ended by the demon before they could banish it. I can truthfully say that Rachel and Pierce both used restraint in twisting curses. Rachel uses more restraint, actually," she said as she glanced at me. "And while the demon was not destroyed, it was successfully banished."

Oliver chuckled. "To do more mischief."

"Hey!" I blurted out, making Lucy jump in her sleep. "We were trying to survive!"

"And the demon just showed up?" Oliver asked, looking from me to the bell.

"The demon just showed up," I said clearly, daring the damn bell to ring.

"You are a menace," Oliver said loudly when it didn’t. "I say we give you to this demon, and maybe it will go away."