The Undead Pool (The Hollows #12)(47)
Author: Kim Harrison

Felix? Her voice had no inflection and her movement was vampiric fast as she jerked to a stop, stymied from tucking her knives away when she realized she was in silk pajamas, not leather pants.

Ivy turned, expression riven with grief. “He must have been there all the time, waiting for me to leave.”

“I’m so sorry!” the pixy girl wailed. “She looked okay. She talked to me and looked okay. She said she was going to get some ice cream to surprise you.”

Ivy stood shaking, one hand full of knives, the other holding her katana, her hair falling to hide her eyes. “I can’t let him destroy her. Not now.”

“She said it was a surprise!” the pixy cried, and Jenks hovered helplessly.

“It’s okay,” I said to the little pixy. “Go back to the lines.” But she didn’t, clearly upset. I gave Jenks a pleading look, and he darted down to take the crying girl outside.

“He’s going to kill her,” Ivy said in the new quiet. “I can’t lose her, Rachel. Not to that madness!”

Her head came up, and my resolve strengthened. “Give me five minutes to get dressed.”

“She could be dead in five minutes!” Eyes black, she ran for the hallway.

I stumbled out of her way. Fear hit me hard, and my heart gave a pound as I heard her throwing on clothes, her breath coming in quick, almost sobbing pants. Felix was awake? Ivy didn’t have a chance.

“Ivy.”

I found her in the hallway, katana in one hand, stakes in the other, the knives now tucked away.

“This is a vampire issue,” she said, then turned her back on me and walked steadily to her death.

“Do something!” Jenks shouted from the ceiling, and I ran at her.

Ivy gasped as I tackled her, and we slid into the sanctuary. “You are not going without me!” I shouted, and then the world spun as she shoved me off her.

“I can’t leave her to that!” she screamed, pinning me to the oak floor, straddling me with her sheathed blade under my chin and her hair mingling with mine. “Rachel, I love her!”

The hard leather was cold against me, and her hand on my shoulder warm. “Ivy,” I said softly, tears blurring my vision. “Look at me. He didn’t call her to him to kill her. He wants her alive. He needs Nina alive in order to see the sun.”

Ivy’s face twisted in fear, and the scent of vampire incense poured over me, making my neck tingle. I was losing her.

“Ivy!” I called, and her gaze came back to mine. “He won’t kill her unless by mistake. We have some time. We can get her back. Give me a chance to get dressed and grab my charms so I can come with you. You’re not alone. We’ll do this together.”

Fear showed in her eyes, and she took a heaving breath, the blade beginning to shake against me. Jenks’s dust glowed in her hair, and for some dumb reason, I felt more love—more loved, maybe—than I ever had before.

“He probably took her to Cormel’s,” I said to give her something to focus on so she could find herself. “That’s where Felix has been staying. You have to figure out how we are going to get in. That’s what you do.”

Her hand shook, and with a thump, the sword hit the floor and slid four feet. My breath came in a gasp as she spun away off me. Shaking, I sat up. She was huddled on the floor, her knees to her chin as she held herself together and cried great gasping sobs of heartache and frustration. “How can I save her?” she moaned. “How? It’s like heaven in his arms. Hell in his mind . . .”

I glanced up at Jenks, then pretty much crawled over to her, pulling her to me so she didn’t have to cry alone. She was real and solid, her fear and grief shaking in her. The world had shifted. I didn’t need her anymore. She needed me, and I wouldn’t fail her.

“We will get her back,” I said, my arms holding her against the tremors, my words a breath in her hair as she shook. “I promise.”

Eleven

Phone to my ear, I sat in the passenger seat of Ivy’s mom’s big blue Buick and listened to the background FIB office chatter as Rose, Edden’s secretary, looked for Edden. I hadn’t had any luck getting ahold of David, his voice mail full and his cell going unanswered. It wasn’t unusual for him to let it ring, especially when working, but I didn’t like that the last time I’d talked to him, he’d been investigating the Free Vampires.

We were parked outside of Cormel’s, Ivy fiddling with her scarf as she stared at the unassuming two-story tavern turned residence, filling the car with the intoxicating scent of frustrated vampire. As we waited for Jenks to return from his recon, the memory of our trip out west bubbled up from the recesses, pulled into existence by the faint scent of elf from the back. The two aromas were combining to make my libido run a tingling path from my neck to my groin and back again.

Vampire pheromones and curiosity once drew me into a possible lifelong path with Ivy, but we were truly better apart. She needed to be needed, and I couldn’t be that person anymore. I was too much a demon, and not enough witch.

A huge Free Vampire glyph had been spray-painted on the twin oak doors, making me wonder if it was coincidence or if the cult had fixed on Felix as something special, seeing as he was awake and no other undead vampire was. The sun would be up soon, and a bright glint hazed the pristinely clean windows on the upper floor. If he was still here, Felix would be trapped in the more elaborate underground apartments, making him more aggressive in his madness. I wasn’t about to ask Ivy to wait for reinforcements, though. I agreed that the longer Nina was there, the harder it would be to not only pull her out but separate their minds.

I stiffened when the chatter on the line turned into a woman’s tired voice. “I’m sorry,” Rose said, clearly distracted. “Captain Edden is in a meeting. Can I take a message?”

A message? I thought, then I exhaled, trying not to get mad. Ivy was tense enough. “Sure. Tell him that Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks are at Cormel’s rescuing Nina from Felix. Free Vampires might be involved, and any help the FIB could provide would be appreciated,” I said sarcastically. “But I realize you’re a little busy this morning. What with your meetings and all. I’m turning my phone off, but I’ll check my messages when we’re done. Bye-bye now.” Not waiting for a confirmation, I hung up.

Ticked, I hit the dash, then winced when I noticed Ivy’s eyes had dilated at my anger. “Sorry.” I needed David and the muscle he commanded. Why didn’t he answer his damn phone!