A Perfect Blood

great,” he said, his hand out in what might have been a handshake, but it might have been half a hug, too.

I hesitated, and after a confusing moment, he awkwardly gave me a hug. I leaned into him, breathing the chlorine/redwood scent he had mixing with the damp dead-leaf smell of a cold November morning. Why had I asked him over? I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. They always tried to change me.

“You look good” rumbled through me, and I pushed backward. Jenks was scowling at me from the top of the door frame to the hall, and I ignored him.

The rims of Marshal’s ears were red, and he rocked back, his hands in a fig leaf. “I can’t tell you how glad I am you got your shunning rescinded,” he said, his words too fast, his eyes too reluctant to meet mine. “I read all about it. I knew you could.”

Then why did you leave? But I didn’t say it. He’d left when I’d been almost at my lowest point. I didn’t blame him, but to take up where we’d left off was stupid. He’d left once; he’d leave again.

My chest hurt, and I forced myself to keep smiling as I went to the coffeemaker. “How’s the job going?” I said, my back to him as I tried to make my voice even. This had been a mistake. A huge, friggin’ mistake.

“Okay. I’m not in the pool as much as I’d like to be. Too much paperwork.”

I nodded, and from the door Jenks said, “Yeah, that’ll kill you.”

I sighed, knowing why Jenks was being rude, but unable to fault it, either.

The soft tinkling of the bell Jenks had put on his orange cat jingled, and I looked to see Rex come in. I wasn’t surprised. The feline had liked Marshal. What surprised me was Belle astride the animal like a furry horse. I’d seen the wingless fairy using the cat as transportation before, but it still startled me.

Marshal’s lips parted at the sight, and I handed him his cup of coffee, saying, “Belle? This is Marshal, an old friend. Marshal, this is Belle. She’s staying with us now.”

“Um, hi?” he said, at a complete loss. Fairies and humans didn’t get along very well. Okay, fairies and any people didn’t get along very well, but Belle and I got along just fine. Maybe it was because we were both damaged and trying to make our way the best we could.

The six-inch fierce woman gave Marshal a quick look, probably assessing the chances of his stepping on her by mistake. Sliding from Rex, she came forward with a bundle of fabric over her arm. “Nic-ce to meet you,” she said, her voice hissing over the vowels. Her teeth were more savage than a vampire’s, given her carnivore diet. Standing two inches taller than Jenks, she looked odd wearing pixy silk in what was clearly a fairy style, the blue cloth draped about her to resemble a shroud. The effect of death-warmed-over was heightened by her sallow, gaunt face. Her hair, too, was thin and pale, coming to her midback in ragged strands. If they were people size, they’d be the scariest Inderlanders I’d ever seen. At six inches and wearing a scowl that would rock Ivy back, she was still pretty scary.

“Jenks-s-s,” she said, her lisp obvious. “I’m tired of waiting on you. Try it on. I have things to do.”

As one, Marshal and I looked at Jenks, and the pixy rose up on a column of red sparkles.

“Belle!” he exclaimed, flushed. “I was just coming. I’ll try it on in the hall.”

Her black eyes bored into him, and I heard his wings falter. “Get down here and fold your wings-s,” she demanded as the cat behind her fell over on her side and started to purr. “It will only take a moment.”

“Yeah, but—” he started, and she bared her teeth at him.

Making a little hiccup of sound, Jenks dropped to the floor. “Belle,” he pleaded. “Can’t we do this later?”

“Fold your wings!” she demanded, and I made a soft sound of appreciation when she shook out the fabric and it unfolded into a vibrant, extravagantly embroidered jacket. It looked small in her hands, but I could tell it would fit Jenks perfectly.

“Oh, try it on!” I exclaimed, handing Marshal my cup and dropping to sit on the floor before them. “Belle, did you make that?”

“I did!” she said angrily. “The pixy turd won’t try it on so I can size it properly!”

Jenks shrank into himself, and his wings drooped. “Aww, Belle,” he complained, and Marshal hid a laugh behind a cough when the taller fairy spun Jenks around and pretty much dressed him like a sullen little boy.

“Turn,” she demanded, and Jenks showed her his back, lifting his wings so she could do the ties in the back. “How does that feel?”

“Belle, it’s beautiful!” I said, seeing the golds and reds swirling in unfamiliar patterns. Clearly she’d woven the cloth herself.

“It feels fine,” Jenks grumbled, glancing at me like it was all my fault.

“Too tight?” she asked, and when he muttered that it wasn’t, she put a foot on his backside and yanked the ties again.

“Now it is!” Jenks shrilled, struggling to reach behind him and spinning in circles. “Damn it, woman! I can’t put my wings down!”

Belle was smirking, and I bit my lip so I wouldn’t smile as she caught his shoulder and loosened them again. “The goddess-s-s help you,” she said as she undid the ties altogether and Jenks shrugged out of it, throwing it back at her like it was a rag. “What is it with men and clothes? You think you’d rather go to war naked.”

“I don’t plan on going to war at all!” Jenks said, rising up an inch or so until he was looking her right in the eye. Behind him, Rex patted at his dangling feet, her eyes full and black. “And I can’t go to war in that. The tails are too long.”

“The tails are appropriate.” Belle shook it out and draped it carefully over her arm. “That is not a suit for going to war. It’s for celebrating. You won’t wear it until I say you can. I can tell you’re not planning on war. The lines are full of holes. I don’t know how you ever survived without me.”

Jenks spilled a red dust and sputtered, “I just spent all morning tending the lines. There’s nothing wrong with them. Rex, knock it off!”

But Belle only smiled. “If you like it, I’ll put the final trim on it and hang it in your clos-s-set. Thank you for allowing Jezabel to teach me that stitching for the wings. It’s more complicated than I’m used to, but it gives wonderfully where you need it. Would you take offense if I s-sshow my sister when I s-see her again?”

“Tink’s titties, I don’t care,” Jenks said sullenly. Belle stood there, waiting, and when I cleared my throat, he added, “Thanks. It’s nice.”

My mouth dropped open, and even Marshal shifted his feet uncomfortably. “Nic-c-ce?” Belle said, a pale green coming to color her face, a fairy’s version of a flush, perhaps. “You think this is nic-c-ce?” She squinted at him for a moment with her lips closed over her long teeth. “Thank you,” she said stiffly, knocking into him as she walked past the purring cat, her back stiff and her pace slow. With a little trill of sound, Rex got to her feet and padded after her.

I looked at Jenks, his feet on the linoleum as he watched her leave, then up at Marshal. “Wow, Jenks,” I said as I got up. “You’re a bigger ass than even me sometimes. Nice? That wasn’t nice. That was exquisite.”

His expression twisted up in annoyance and guilt, Jenks flew up to my eye level. “She keeps making me stuff,” he said plaintively. “And she keeps trying to plant things. Nothing has even come up. The kids are laughing at her.”

“Then maybe you should stop giving her bad seeds. She’s trying,” I said, not wanting to be too hard on him, but honestly, that had been a beautiful coat. “It must have taken her at least two weeks to make that, and you call it nice?”

Jenks looked at the hall when the cat door squeaked shut. “Actually, it was twice that if you count dyeing the thread. Um.” His altitude shifted up and down. “Could you excuse me?”

I nodded, and Jenks darted off. “Belle?” I heard him shout, and my frown eased. Her kin had killed Matalina. I had destroyed their wings. And now we were all learning to get along. What was wrong with me?

“Rachel,” Marshal said, and I looked up at the pure delight in his voice. “I’d forgotten how much fun you are to be around. That was a fairy, right? Why is she making Jenks clothes?”

I swallowed back a heavy sigh before it came out, wondering how this new wrinkle was going to iron out. No one could take Matalina’s place, but Belle had begun to see where there was a need and did what she could. “She’s keeping an eye on me,” I said. “She’ll murder me in my sleep if she thinks I’m going to betray her or her surviving family, now living with Trent.”

Still laughing, Marshal set his cup down. Slowly his smile faltered as he realized I was serious. “Is this them?” He looked at the charms, obvious on the counter between us.