Black Magic Sanction

Past Tom's narrow face, I could see Pierce's determination, his soft confusion as he tried to fit in a world that had raced past him, and his frustration that he wasn't enough. 'Is that why you stayed?' I asked. 'You could have left.'

'No.'

My head hurt, and I looked away, but something inside me had felt the weight behind that one word. He had stayed, yes, but he used black magic with no shame, no reluctance. What was I doing here with him? This was a mistake, but what else could I do?

Chest tight, I looked over the coffeehouse noisy with conversation, only to jump when Jenks's phone rang. Ivy, I thought, then realized it was playing 'Ave Maria.' Maybe it was Matalina? When I flipped the lid, the name WARM FUZZY came up. Unsure, I tossed my hair from my face and thumbed the connection open. 'Hello?'

'Hi, Rachel.' Ivy's voice came clearly. 'Don't tell me where you are. Are you okay?'

I blinked in surprise at Jenks's nickname for the vampire, then felt a ping of worry as I got her message that the phone might be compromised. 'So far,' I said, looking past Pierce to scan the tables to see ordinary people doing ordinary things. My hair started to prickle, as if we were being watched. 'How's the arm?'

'Broken,' she said simply. 'By tomorrow, the cast will be hard enough to break heads.' I went to say something, and she blurted out, 'Rachel, I'm sorry. You can't go to Rynn's. I'm so angry I could rip someone's throat open.'

Pierce frowned, and the feeling of a storm gathering tightened. 'Why not?' I asked.

'He got a call from Brooke,' she said sourly.

Slowly my shoulders fell. Crap on toast.

'The coven knows you have connections to him, and they asked him to turn you in.'

'Nice,' I whispered, and Pierce leaned closer, though I knew he had a spell to hear at any distance.

'Rynn isn't happy either,' she finished tersely. 'He's not going to turn you in, but if you show up on his doorstep, he can't fall back on plausible deniability. I'm sorry. They've got him by the short hairs. He can't risk the coven turning against him. He uses witch magic as much as any dead vampire. If you can take care of this without him, he'll back you, but if you show up, he has to hand you over. You want to meet somewhere?'

My hand went to my head, and I stared at the table. 'No. I'm okay,' I said softly. 'Do you have David's number?'

'Uh,' she said, hesitating.

I exhaled softly. 'I'm not'calling David, am I.'

'He's in Wyoming,' Ivy said, apologetic. 'The Were muckety-mucks pulled your alpha position into doubt, and he had to go and file the paperwork in person.'

I glanced at Pierce, startled to see Tom. Never mess with a witch. Never. They fight with magic and red tape. David was probably upset, seeing as it was the new moon and he'd be at his personal ebb. The coven played hardball, chipping away at my support so I had nowhere to go. 'So what do I have?' I asked, my caffeine rush not enough to keep me feeling good.

'lust whoever's with you. Meet me at Sharp's digs?'

She hadn't said Pierce, which meant she didn't like him or she really thought our conversation wasn't private. Sharp's digs had to be Eden Park's Twin Lakes Bridge, and I shook my head even though she couldn't see me. 'No,' I said, glancing at Pierce. 'I'm fine, and I need you where I can fall back on you. Okay? And tell Jenks I'm sorry.'

She was silent, and my eyes fell from Pierce. I could do worse than be on the run with a black-magic practitioner on loan from a demon. Rachel, you really can pick them. 'Urn, if I don't call about three hours after sunset, will you call me?' I meant summon, and she knew it.

'How?' Ivy said, worry thick in her gray-silk voice. 'I don't know how to do a summons. You want me to storm Trent's compound for Ceri or search the city for Keasley?'

'Don't do that,' I said quickly. Keasley had vanished shortly after I'd found out who he was, and I didn't want to blow his cover. Going to Ceri would only give Trent the chance to wave his offer at me again, and I might be desperate enough to take it. Son-of-a-bitch elf. I didn't know any black witches who were still alive and out of jail. Except Lee, currently running Cincy's gambling cartel. I'd bet Pierce knew how to summon a demon, though.

My eyes shifted to his, and he reached for my free hand, cradling my bruised skin as if afraid to hurt me. 'I won't allow them to take you again, but if they do, I'll follow you through hell. And if you should slip my grasp, I will summon you home.'

Depressed, I pulled my hand from Pierce. A faint tingling seemed to slide from me, stretching between us until it broke with a snap that back-lashed to warm me. I shivered even as I stared at him. It hadn't been our chis naturally balancing out. It had been something else.

'Rachel, what do you want me to do?' Ivy asked, interrupting my thoughts.

Uneasy, my thoughts went to Ralph, sitting in the Alcatraz dining hall, showing me his lobotomy scar. From there, they went to my mom, two thousand miles away, but a mere jump from San Francisco. 'If I'm in trouble, call my mom, okay?' I said, jaw clenching. 'Tell her Al's summoning name. Tell her to be careful because it might be Al who shows up, not me.'

'Rachel.'

Her voice was worried, and the coffee churned in my gut. 'I know,' I whispered. 'This feels wrong.'

Her sigh was soft. 'Take it slow. Be smart.'

'You, too.' Unable to bring myself to say good-bye, I hung up. Five minutes, eighteen seconds, I thought as I looked at the tiny screen. How could my life shift so much so fast?

'It will be okay,' Pierce said, and I eyed him sourly, not sharing his enthusiasm.

'I feel weird,' I said as I looked at the ceiling and the turning fan. 'Empty, like I'm under a spotlight. I need to get some sleep.'

'It's because you've been dislodged from your diggings, your friends cut out,' Pierce said. 'I meant it when I said I will follow you if you're summoned. I'll follow at full chisel, should even hell's dogs be at my heels.'

He wasn't helping, but when I met his gaze, my words faltered. His eyes were the same, once I got past Tom's shorter lashes. My heart pounded, and I felt a quiver in me. I went to speak, and his smooth fingers touched mine, silencing me. I remembered him silhouetted in my front door, black magic still flickering at his fingertips, and then the miserable nights I'd fallen asleep clutching my pillow, aching for Kisten. Shit. I didn't want to do this again: I wouldn't.

'We need to talk, Pierce,' I said, and his fingers slipped away.

The chimes above the door jingled. Pierce looked toward them, and my gaze followed his when his expression went to one of surprise. My heart pounded, and I stifled the urge to run. The heavy-magic detection amulet was glaring a bright red, and a tingle came from my pocket where I'd stashed my own version. It was Vivian, pushing ahead of her a small but perfectly proportioned woman with a bright green spring hat and six-inch boots, looking eighteen fresh with snappy green eyes and a saucy step.

'Crap,' I whispered, and Pierce shifted to hide behind his paper cup.

'The strumpet has a new accomplice,' Pierce whispered, eyes alight with the need to act. 'We should've abandoned your mother's, uh, car elsewhere.'

'I don't think the car gave us away,' I said, hiding behind the advertisement for ordering bunny cakes for Easter. There were too many people in here. 'We need to leave.'

'She won't recognize us under our charms. Maybe it's of no circumstance.'

I glanced over the innocent, unaware people as Vivian limped forward, my muscles slowly tightening. 'All the charms in the world won't hide us if she's got a leprechaun.'

Pierce choked, and adrenaline surged as I worried that his coughing would attract their attention. 'A leprechaun?' he finally managed, hat down over his face. 'One of the wee folk? Walking the streets? There with her?'

I nodded, my heart sinking. Damn, the coven had deep pockets, because Td bet every last one of Ivy's dollars sitting at the bottom of my bag that buying a wish was how Vivian found us. Even worse, I think I recognized the small woman.

Licking my lips, I grabbed my bag. 'We're leaving through the kitchen,' I said softly, but the soft snick of a safety going off made me freeze. Halfway to a stand, I looked up to find a dirty white cashmere coat between us