Dead Witch Walking

coat.

'We're in a basement,' I protested. 'There's no sun down here.'

Nick ripped the lining from my coat and pressed it against my neck. I cried out as a pulse of ecstasy shot through me from the lingering effects of the vampire saliva. The bleeding had slowed, and I wondered if it was from Jenks's pixy dust. Apparently it could do more than make people itch.

'It's not sunlight that pulls a demon back to the ever-after,' Nick said, clearly thinking he had hurt me. 'It's something about gamma rays or protons… Damn it, Rachel. Stop asking me so many questions. It was taught as an aid to understand language development, not to learn how to control demons.'

The demon was Ivy again, and I shuddered as it licked its red lips with a bloodstained tongue, taunting me. 'What grade did you get, Nick?' I asked. 'Please tell me it was an A.'

'Uh…' he stammered as he covered me with my coat. Looking frantic, he gathered me up in his arms, almost rocking me. My breath hissed in as my wrist throbbed in time with the pulses from my neck. 'Easy,' he shushed. 'You'll be all right.'

'Are you sure?' came a cultured voice from the corner.

Nick's head came up. Cradled in Nick's arms, I stared at the demon. It was back to wearing a gentleman's frock. 'Let me out. I can help you,' the demon said, all congeniality.

Nick hesitated. 'Nick?' I said, suddenly frightened. 'Don't listen to it. Don't!'

The demon smiled over its smoked glasses, showing flat, even teeth. 'Break the circle and I'll take you to her Ivy. Otherwise…' The demon's brow furrowed as if it was worried. 'It almost looks as if there's more blood outside of her than in.'

Nick's gaze darted over the blood splattered on the walls and books. His grip on me tightened. 'You were trying to kill her,' he said, his voice cracking.

It shrugged. 'I was compelled to. By binding me in your circle, you rubbed out the one that was used to summon me. With it went any compulsion to do his bidding. I'm all yours, little wizard.' It grinned, and my breath came in a quick, fear-laced pant.

'Nicky…' I whispered as my blood-loss induced stupor was stripped away. This was bad. I knew this was bad. The remembered terror as it savaged me rose high. My pulse faltered as my heart tried to beat faster.

'Can you get us back to her church?' Nick asked.

'The one by the small ley line?' The demon's outline wavered as its expression turned startled. 'Someone closed a circle with it six nights ago. The ripple it sent through the ever-after shook the cups on my saucers, so to speak.' It tilted its head in speculation. 'That was you?'

'No,' Nick said weakly.

I felt ill. I had used too much salt. God help me. I didn't know demons could sense it when I drew on a ley line. If I lived through this, I'd never use them again.

The demon gazed at me. 'I can take you there,' it said. 'But in return I want no compulsion put on me to return to the ever-after.'

Nick's grip tightened. 'You want me to let you loose in Cincinnati for the entire night?'

A power-filled smile edged over the demon. It exhaled slowly, and I heard the joints in its shoulder crack. 'I mean to kill the one who summoned me. Then I'll leave. It smells over here.' It looked over its smoked glasses, shocking me with its alien eyes. 'You won't ever call me—will you, little wizard? I could teach you so much that you want to know.'

Fear fought with the pain in my shoulder as Nick hesitated before shaking his head.

'You won't hurt us,' Nick said. 'Mentally, physically, or emotionally. You will take the most direct path and do nothing to endanger us afterward.'

'Nick Nicky,' the demon pouted. 'One might think you didn't trust me. I can even get you there before her Ivy leaves if I take you through a ley line. But you'd better hurry. Rachel Mariana Morgan seems to be failing fast.'

Through the ever-after? I thought in panic. No! That's what had killed my dad.

Nick swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. 'No!' I tried to shout, squirming to get out of his grip. The stupor from its saliva was almost gone, and with the return of movement came pain. I welcomed the hurt, knowing the pleasure had been a lie. Nick was white-faced as he tried to keep me un-moving and hold the lining of my coat against my neck.

'Rachel,' he whispered. 'You've lost so much blood. I don't know what to do!'

My throat was too parched to swallow. 'Don't—Don't let it out,' I insisted. 'Please,' I pleaded as I pushed his hands off of me. 'I'm fine. The bleeding has stopped. I'll be all right. Leave me here. Go call Ivy. She'll pick us up. I don't want to go through the ever-after.'

The demon's brow furrowed as if it was concerned. 'Mmmm,' he mused gently, touching the lace at his throat. 'Sounds like she's going incoherent. Not good. Tick-tock, Nick Nicky. Better decide quick.'

Nick's breath hissed in and he tensed. His gaze roved over the pool of blood on the floor and then me. 'I've got to do something,' he whispered. 'You're so cold, Rachel.'

'Nick, no!' I shouted as he set me on the floor and lurched into a stand. Reaching out with a foot, he smeared the line of blood.

I heard a frightened wail. I covered my mouth as I realized it was coming from me. Terror pulsed through me as the demon shuddered. It slowly stepped across the line. It ran a hand across the bloodstained wall and licked its finger, never taking its eyes off of me.

'Don't let it touch me!' My voice was high-pitched. I could hear the hysteria in it.

'Rachel,' Nick soothed as he knelt beside me. 'It said it won't hurt you. Demons don't lie. It was in every text I copied.'

'They don't tell the truth, either!' I exclaimed.

Ire flickered behind the demon's eyes, smothered in a wave of false concern for me before Nick could see. It came forward, and I struggled to push myself back. 'Don't let it touch me!' I cried. 'Don't make me do this!'

The fear in Nick's eyes was for how I was acting, not from the demon. He didn't understand. He thought he knew what he was doing. He thought his books had all the answers. He didn't know what he was doing. I did.

Nick gripped my shoulder and turned to the demon. 'Can you help her?' he asked it. 'She's going to kill herself.'

'Nick, no!' I shrieked as the demon knelt to put its grinning face next to mine.

'Sleep, Rachel Mariana Morgan,' it breathed, and I remembered no more.

Twenty-six

'What happened? Where is Jenks?' Ivy's voice penetrated my daze, close and worried. I could feel myself moving forward in a rocking motion. I had been warm, and now I was cold again. The smell of blood was thick. The memory of something more foul lingered in me: carrion, salt, and burnt amber. I couldn't open my eyes.

'She was attacked by a demon.' It was terse and soft. Nick.

That's right, I thought, starting to piece everything together. I was in his arms. That's what that one good smell was, all masculine and sweaty. And that was his bloody sweatshirt pushing against my swollen eye, rubbing it even more sore. I started to shiver. Why was I cold?

'Can we get off the street?' Nick asked. 'She's lost a lot of blood.'

There was a warm touch on my forehead. 'A demon did this?' Ivy said. 'There hasn't been a demon attack since the Turn. Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have let her off the grounds.'

The arms about me tensed. My weight shifted forward and back as he stopped. 'Rachel knows what she's doing,' Nick said tightly. 'She isn't your child—in any sense of the word.'

'No?' Ivy said. 'She acts like one. How could you let her get mauled like this?'

'Me? You cold-blooded vamp!' Nick shouted. 'You think I let this happen?'

My stomach clenched in a wave of nausea, and I tried to pull my coat over me with my good hand. I cracked my eyes, squinting in the glow of the streetlight. Couldn't they finish their argument after they put me to bed?

'Ivy,' Nick said slowly. 'I'm not afraid of you, so save the aura crap and back off. I know what you're up to,