A Perfect Blood

“Rachel?” came Ivy’s voice from her room. “Where’s my sword?”

The gray dimness of the hallway was soothing as I headed to the kitchen and my charms. “In the foyer where you left it last week when the evangelists were canvassing the neighborhood,” I said as I passed her open door. Boots and leather jackets were strewn on her bed, and what looked like a new knife set. She’d taken a class last winter and was dying to try them out legally on someone.

I eyed Wayde when he paced into the kitchen behind me. “Have you given any thought to the fact that HAPA doesn’t know your bracelet is gone?” he said, and I flung open my charm cupboard, intentionally almost hitting him.

“Yes, I have, actually. If they make a try for me, they’ll be in for a surprise.” And I hope they do go for me. “Ivy, where are we going?” I shouted, hands on my hips as I looked over my stash. Pain amulets, yeah. I always needed one of those.

Jenks zipped through the kitchen, Rex and Belle under him, the cat watching him with her tail up straight. “I’ve got some of that new nectar crap in the fridge,” he said. “If it gets late and I’m not back, just warm it up. And you have to warm it, or it drops their core temp.”

“I got this!” the irate fairy said. “I spent three years tending younglings before I became a warrior. That they’re pixy brats instead of fairy fry don’t mean troll turds.”

Ivy walked in, intent on reaching the blade oil she kept in the pantry. She was in her working leathers, and I suddenly felt underdressed. “Damn, you look good,” I said, ignoring Wayde beside the archway with his arms crossed over his chest.

Ivy looked down at herself, an oil-soaked rag in her hand. “Thanks. You wearing that? You’re going to leave skin on the pavement if you have to run.”

Jittery, I grabbed three pain amulets by their cords, then a couple of disguise charms just in case. I wanted them to recognize me, but someone else might want to use them. My gaze slid to Trent’s charms on the table, and in a surge of decision, I shoved them in there, too. “If we have three minutes, I can get my leather on.” I should have called Trent about that ring. Too late now.

She nodded. “We can wait that long. Glenn is sending a car. Jenks, get your kids to shut up, will you? I can’t think with them yammering like that!”

He rose, his wings a bright silver I’d not seen in almost a year. “Where we going?” he demanded. “Cold? Warm?”

Wayde cleared his throat, and I stiffened. “I don’t think you should go,” he said, and the kitchen became silent.

A pixy giggled. Belle made a weird lisping whistle, and the kids followed her out, teasing Rex by flitting almost in front of the cat’s nose. Ivy gave Wayde a look, then turned on her heel, leaving the kitchen and shouting over her shoulder, “Five minutes!” Jenks trailed behind her, still wanting to know if he needed his cold-weather gear.

Alone in the kitchen with Wayde, I closed my charm cupboard. Amulets clanking as I dropped them into my shoulder bag on the table, I turned to face Wayde. “You’re not my alpha,” I said, then brushed by him headed for my room. Five minutes would give me just enough time. I could even put on some makeup.

“If David was here, he’d tell you to stay,” Wayde said from behind me.

“All David said was for me not to be alone,” I said, then stopped on the threshold to my room. I was never going to have another boyfriend. Ever. “Look, if you want to come along, come along. But I can tell you right now that Glenn won’t let you on-site.”

Ivy brushed past us on her way to the back living room, her unsheathed katana in her hand, and Wayde pressed back to get out of her way. “Ivy? Where we going?” I called, my thoughts on my closet, not the questionable smarts about going after a militant hate group again. This time, though, I had my magic. I had Ivy and Jenks with me, too—as well as a bunch of I.S. and FIB guys.

“Library” came from the back room, and then Wayde pressed back again when she came out. “Downtown Cincy. The one you broke into a few years ago.”

My eyes widened, and I took a step back into my room. “No way!” I said, remembering the locked rooms down in the seldom-visited basement. Trent had said they were downtown. How had he known?

“Yes way,” Jenks said in passing as he zipped over us, a whining preteen following him.

Ivy sent her gaze into the kitchen, shocking the hell out of me when she asked, “Can I have one of your pain amulets? Just in case?”

My mouth literally dropped open and I nodded. It was the first time she’d ever asked for my magic, and I wondered what it meant. “Sure,” I said, and she vanished into the kitchen.

“Two minutes!” she shouted from the kitchen, and the pixies squealed from the sanctuary. She brushed past me in a swirl of vampire incense, and I looked at Wayde.

“I gotta go,” I said, hand on my door to shut it in his face. “If you’re coming, you might want to change.”

“This is not a good idea!” he said loudly, and I closed the door.

No, riding behind you on a bike wasn’t a good idea, I thought sourly. God! You show one tiny slip of softness, and they think you’re a damsel in distress. At least Pierce let me fight my own battles, even if he did mess them up royally. Man, I hoped he was okay. Being Newt’s familiar was not a good thing. At least he was alive. And probably having the time of his life trying to kill her, now that I thought about it.

From the other side of my door came Wayde’s exasperated voice, saying, “You’ve already been targeted by them once. You think Glenn is going to let you out of the car?”

I stripped down to my sports bra and socks, then dropped to my hands and knees to look under my bed for my running boots. Low heel, good traction, supple leather. Ivy had gotten them for me for my birthday last year.

“Rachel?”

Grimacing, I threw the boots onto the bed and rose, snatching up my leather pants and shoving my feet into them. My fingertips touched the mended part where the bullet had gone through, and I sobered. “If I’m not there,” I said loudly, “they’ll get away. I know it!” I said, believing it to my core. “They’re just too lucky to be believed.”

A sparkle of dust slipped under my door, and I gasped. “Jenks, get out of here!” I shouted, grabbing my shirt and covering myself.

“Hurry up, Rache! Let’s go!” he said, not caring I was still half naked.

“Get out!” I shrieked, and he blinked, wings becoming red when he saw me.

“Oh, crap,” he murmured. “Sorry. The car is here . . .”

“I still have one minute,” I said, adrenaline making my motions jerky as I gave up on modesty and put my shirt on. What could he see around a sports bra anyway? I felt like Cinderella as I jammed my boots on and opened the door to find Wayde still there, fidgeting.

My boots were still unzipped as I shoved Wayde out of my way and clomped through a cloud of cheerful pixies. Ivy was waiting at the front door, looking like a sexy predator with her leather jacket and sword, and she handed me my shoulder bag, already stocked with my charms, splat gun, and a slew of sleepy-time potions.

“You got your phone?” she said as I looped the bag over my shoulder.

“Yes.” I patted my back pocket and hopped on one foot to get my boot fastened.

“Got minutes on it?” Jenks asked snidely.

“Yes!” I exclaimed, getting the other boot zipped. “Let’s go!”

Ivy reached for the door, took a breath, and opened it. The late sun spilled in around me, and I headed out after her, waving to the pixies that wreathed us, thinning to nothing as we reached the curb. A black FIB van waited, and I looked up when Wayde ran down the steps and reached for the door’s handle. “I’m coming,” he said, and he shoved the wide sliding door open.

“ ’Bout time he figured it out,” Jenks said as he zipped in ahead of me, and accepting Wayde’s help, I got in, settling myself on the far end. Ivy was already sitting next to Glenn, and I smiled at the FIB guy driving us.

Downtown, I thought as Wayde got in and slid the door to a firm, definite shut. How had Trent known?