Black Magic Sanction

through her into myself and leaving her untouched. It was a lot, and I winced as she sagged, gasping for air with little whimpers. Al frowned at me from under pinched brows, redoubling the force running through her.

Again she screamed, falling into sobs when I took it as well. 'I like it here,' I said, dizzy from the energy, but handling it. 'I need your help. Are you going to help me or not?'

Knowing I was the one keeping her from pain, Brooke brought her gaze up, shocking me with her hatred instead of gratitude. Al saw it, and jerked her from me, but he'd stopped flooding her with force, and she only grunted from being yanked about.

'You want me to help you?' he sneered, but he was listening. 'For gratis?' Attention going to Brooke, he said, 'Let me jump you. Rachel can't save you. You're mine.'

I glanced at Bis, wondering how much longer his hissing and stalking back and forth was going to keep Vivian at bay. 'What is a favor owed without a mark worth to you?' I asked. 'One based on trust.'

At the last word, Al sighed. His goat-slitted eyes narrowed, and he looked at Brooke, growling. 'This one is mine. I need to make a living, or you're going to be stirring your spells on the surface in the shade of a sun shelter.'

I shifted to stand next to Brooke so he could see both of us. 'I need to find Nick. Like now. Yes or no?'

I could smell Brooke's sweat, almost taste her fear on the air, her anger that I was so sure of my station I could argue with a demon threatening her with a lifetime of degradation. This, too, I wanted the coven to see.

'You need to find Nickie, eh?' he asked, and I nodded. 'Are you hungry, itchy witch?' the demon said suddenly, a curious lilt to his voice. 'I'm feeling a bit peckish myself.'

Thunking Brooke's head hard into the wall, he tucked her under his arm and put his free hand on my shoulder.

I stared up at Al, an unreasonable fear coming from nowhere. Not the lines! I thought, frightened of being hurt again, but the enfolding warmth of a line soaked into me, and Loveland Castle vanished.

Twenty-seven

I was holding my breath, afraid it was going to hurt, and it seemed as if I could feel a sandpaper-like sensation across my mind despite the thick bubble I'd made around my thoughts. My lungs re-formed, and I breathed, feeling them expand as they filled again for the first time. Throat tight and eyes clamped shut, I stood braced, as if I was going to be smacked, hands in fists and tense. A heavy weight was on my shoulder: Al's hand. I could smell burnt amber and feel the lack of an echo. It was warm, too.

'Hell's bells, where are we?' Bis whispered, and I realized it wasn't Al's hand on my shoulder but Bis, his tail wrapped around my neck and the faint scent of iron lifting from him.

I cracked an eyelid, finding only rich browns, golds, and reds in a low-ceilinged room, no Al. I was standing on a raised circular area, my running shoes on thick carpet. The lighting was dim, a small puddle of light glowing on the arrangement of two tall chairs and a couch bracketing a coffee table before a stone fireplace. It was built into the curving wall, and a thick layer of coals radiated heat. 'Opulent' would be the word. There wasn't a circle in sight, making me think this was a spot of privacy where you would never need one.

'I've never been here,' I told Bis as I looked behind us into a lowered, large circular room filled with books. Lots and lots of books. My shoulders eased, and I reached to touch Bis's clawed feet, wishing he wouldn't pinch so hard. 'You okay?'

Someone breathed behind me, and I spun. The snap of Bis's wings brushed my ears as he found his balance. It was Al, and he ignored me as he stood before the fireplace and took off his green velvet coat and draped it over a nearby wing-back chair. Heart pounding, I dropped my hand from Bis, watching Al's considerable muscle moving under the thin white silk.

'This is my library,' he said, his voice preoccupied as he shifted his shoulders in the new freedom. 'I recently got it back.' He turned his head and smiled. 'Isn't it pleasant?'

I didn't like his mood, both satisfied and evil. 'Where's Brooke?' I asked, wedging a finger between my neck and Bis's tail.

Al took off his glasses and set them on the long table. His gloves landed beside them. 'I told you,' he said, squeezing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. 'I got my library back. Nothing is free, itchy witch, especially in the ever-after.'

Crap, he'd sold Brooke. In the time it took for me to catch my breath and turn around, he had sold her. I was going to get blamed for this. 'I thought you had to wait until sunset to sell someone,' I said, and he eyed me.

'Private sale. Prearranged.' Seeing me on edge, he smiled, worrying me more.

'You snagging Brooke is not going to help my situation,' I said, watching him move to the fireplace and crouch before it.

'It's helped mine.' Al dropped a piece of wood onto the flame, making sparks fly. A lick of flame rose, and the wood caught. 'This is what I do, Rachel. You need to worry about yourself, love. I want my conservatory next, and living things are always more expensive.'

My face blanched when he stood and turned. If he was calling me love, I was still in trouble. Brooke could wait. 'I didn't give Pierce my gun,' I said, moving to put one of those tall wing-back chairs between us. 'It's not my fault you didn't search him. I forgot he had it.'

Looking totally different without his coat, glasses, and gloves, Al rummaged in a basket beside the hearth. 'Make yourself at home. You and your gargoyle, Bis. Would you like something to eat?' His eyes met mine and I stifled a shiver. 'I'll make cake.'

I didn't trust this at all. His show of congeniality was more disturbing than if he were howling at me. But if I sat down, I might be able to get Bis off my shoulder.

Watching him, I went to sit. I didn't want to get smacked by sitting in his chair, but they both looked alike. The fireplace was to my right, and the dim library spilling out and down to my left. 'You okay, Bis?' I said, hoping he'd move, but the kid was terrified and-only nodded.

'No cake?' Al murmured with forced idleness—scaring the crap out of me. I'd gone to him for help, but now...

'I can't say how pleased I am that you're accepting your place,' he said as he filled a kettle from a pitcher and set it over the fire. Coming close, he seated himself on the adjacent couch facing the fire, his knee almost touching mine and his burnt amber scent pinching my nose. 'First a new vanity curse to hide your bite, and now asking for a curse when an earth charm exists. Bravo.'

I put a hand to my neck, glad that he couldn't see my hairy legs.

'Don't hide it,' he said, ignoring Bis's hissing as he took my hand and pulled it to him. 'Your skin is beautiful. None of those lowbrow vampire marks anymore. You're worth more than vampire teeth, itchy witch.'

Worry tightened my gut even as I nudged Bis to be quiet or get off my shoulder. 'I can't invoke a locator charm made from earth magic,' I said, remembering last winter when I'd stirred a batch to find a banshee, only to learn that my blood wouldn't invoke it. Marshal had done it. Seemed the more complex the magic, the more the subtle difference in my blood mattered.

'Neither can I,' Al admitted lightly. 'Welcome to the club.

I'm not a witch,' I admitted, scooting into the cushions to get some space between us.

'You're not really a demon either.' Al's eyebrows rose.

Forcing my jaw to unclench, I blurted out, 'I didn't give Pierce my gun. He took it when I was hopped up on that drug. I thought he had it to keep you from taking Lee or Ivy.'

'Which is why you're here, itchy witch, and not screaming in my bedroom.'

Fear came out as anger. 'Knock it off, will you? That doesn't work anymore.'

I had time for a breath, nothing more. Al was on me, pushing me into my chair, his face inches from mine, his arm under my chin. Bis fell back, wings flailing as he left my shoulder.

'I need to work harder at it, then,' the demon said, his words clipped.