The Witch With No Name (The Hollows #13)(130)
Author: Kim Harrison

I held my breath as Dali sighed, eyes averted as he balanced what was at stake and what it might cost. Pride was his fulcrum, unfairly shifting the weight so that one side had greater force than the other to make a wrong decision more than possible, but likely. We were going to doom the world to another wave of needless violence because of pride, I thought, already trying to find a way to make this work without the demons’ help. Perhaps the dewar would be enough.

But Dali stood, looking down at himself, stuck in the form he was in when the lines closed. “No one likes this helpless muck we wallow in. I’ll ask them. They will decide.”

My heart leapt, and Trent’s fingers tightened on my shoulder.

“Excuse me,” Newt said as she beamed, reaching for Al gracefully. “There might be some dissent that needs to be addressed. Al, will you accompany me?”

Silent, Al picked up his bottle. Not looking at me, he stomped past, his shiny cop shoes catching the light and his pace holding an amazing amount of determination and bad attitude. He yanked the door open, his steps audible on the carpet as he went to the great room.

“Dali?” Newt asked smoothly, her hand now extended to the more powerful, slightly overweight demon.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” Dali grumbled as they left together.

“Nonsense.” Newt looked over her shoulder at me and winked. “You got them to let her into the collective as a student. You even got them to stand up to Ku’Sox when she and Al and that elf of theirs stood up to him. And they didn’t kill Trent because of you,” Newt was saying as the door eased shut. “Getting them to practice elven magic will be nothing,” came through, muted, and then Dali’s bitter laugh.

My skin tingled where Trent’s hand traced across it as he moved to the wet bar. “Trent?”

He was silent as the enormity of what we were going to try to do fell on us. Still not saying anything, he brought me a glass of water. “Here,” he said as the cool glass filled my hand. “You need to keep your fluids up.”

“Trent . . .”

“Drink it,” he said, and I obediently took a sip, the room-temperature water bland as it slipped into me. Sighing, he sat down beside me, his brow furrowed and his gaze hard on nothing. “I want to say that it’s going to be okay,” he finally said.

“But you don’t know.” Ribs ached as I leaned to set the water on the floor. “Trent, the Goddess is looking for me. She’s better equipped for a mental battle and she knows how to fight me off. I don’t want to kill her, which means I’ll have seconds to wrestle control away, and then I’ll be fighting to get free before I infect her too deeply for her to shake it off. And then what? I’ll be hiding from her the rest of my life.”

Trent’s eyes touched on mine and he reached for my hands. “You don’t know that.”

My fingertips tingled where they rested against his aura. I started to pull back, and he gripped me harder. “Don’t move,” he said sheepishly. “You’re getting rid of my headache.”

Damn it, I was coated in them even now. No wonder Dali was looking at me like I was a leper. “You too, eh?” I said, giving up on trying to hide them anymore.

“I was so scared when they hauled you up onto that stage,” Trent said suddenly, and I held my breath as he carefully pulled me into him. “I saw my entire life with nothing. My money gone, my power stolen. I couldn’t reach you and no one listened to me. I thought they were going to kill you.”

I could hear his heartbeat as I rested my head on his chest. It felt good to do nothing. “So did I,” I whispered, unable to say it louder lest I start to cry. I’d been terrified for him. For Jenks.

“And now you’re going to do it again.”

His hand gently stroked my hair. I didn’t want to move for anything. “Probably.”

Trent made a rueful sound. “You were right. As usual. This is hard. But I’m going to do it anyway.”

He kissed the top of my head, and I tilted myself so I could find his lips with mine. A faint tingle spread between us, warming and healing even as my leg throbbed.

His eyes were glistening when our lips parted. I wished that this was over and it was tomorrow, and we were having coffee at Mark’s before taking the girls to the zoo. “You should stay here with the girls,” I said, and his hold on me tightened.

“Just try to stop me.”

He was looking at my mouth again, but my besotted smile faded at the sudden rap of a thick knuckle at the door.

“Ivy and Nina . . . ,” I whispered, fear causing a spike of adrenaline in me.

“Quen?” Trent said, his brow furrowed as he carefully helped me to sit up while the door opened. His hands were gentle, but I was still grimacing when I looked up to find it was Al, not Quen, standing there—staring at us with the memory of his own loss so clear on him it hurt. Seeing my pity, his face hardened.

“I wanted to let you know that Quen has found word of the ambulance driver and paramedic who picked your . . . friends up. They’re both in intensive care with internal injuries.”

“No.” I fell back into the couch after trying to stand. “What happened?”

“They’ll both make it. It helps that they were living vampires,” Al said dryly. “But as for Ivy and Nina . . .” He shrugged. “There is no sign of them.”

“Cormel.” My heart pounded as I turned to Trent. “He wanted to talk to you. He took them!”

Trent rose, pace fast as he went for the phone on the desk. Al cleared his throat to stop him dead in his tracks. “It wasn’t Cormel who injured the paramedic and the driver,” Al said. “It was Nina.”

Tension pulled my shoulders tight as I figured it out. Nina had died on the way. The sun had set and she’d never lost consciousness. She had freaked out, and Ivy had tried to contain her. Shit, where would Ivy have taken her to try to bring her under control? Somewhere safe where Cormel couldn’t touch her?

Heart in my throat, I grabbed the arm of the couch and pulled myself up. “I have to go.”

“But the demons and the lines . . . ,” Trent started, and then he changed his mind, bending to pick up the crutch Newt had thrown, bringing it to me with a sad, determined look.

“Al, tell everyone I’m sorry. I have to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” The crutch fit under my arm, painful as I hobbled to the door. Al stood and did nothing, making me wonder if he’d told me this knowing I’d leave. He knew better than most how close I’d come to losing myself the last time I’d fought the Goddess.