Dead Witch Walking

The resonate tang of the pan hitting the coffee table was sharp as Keasley set it aside. He tucked a pink towel under my wrist, and I forced myself to look at it. The tissue looked more normal. A slow welling of blood rose to hide the damage, spilling over my wet skin to flow messily onto the towel.

'You made Jenks a partner,' he said as he ripped open a gauze pad and dabbed at me. 'He has more at risk than a job, he has a garden. Tonight you made it his for as long as he wants. I've never heard of leasing property to a pixy, but I would wager it will hold up in a human or Inderland court if another clan challenged it. You guaranteed that all his children have a place to survive until adulthood, not just the few firstborn. I think that's worth an afternoon of hide-and-seek in a room full of lunkers to him.'

I watched him thread a needle and forced my eyes to the ceiling. The tugs and pinches started up with a slow rhythm. Everyone knew pixies and fairies vied with each other for a good bit of earth, but I had no idea the reasons went so deep. I thought about what Jenks had said about risking death by a bee sting for a pair of measly flower boxes. Now he had a garden. No wonder Matalina had been so matter-of-fact about the fairy attack.

Keasley fell into a pattern of two stitches, one dab. The thing wouldn't stop bleeding. I refused to watch, my eyes roving over the gray living room until they fell upon the empty end table where Ivy's magazines had once sat. I swallowed hard, feeling nauseous. 'Keasley, you've lived here awhile, right?' I questioned. 'When did Ivy move in?'

He looked up from his stitching, his dark, wrinkled face blank. 'The same day you did. You quit the same day, didn't you?'

I caught myself before I could nod my agreement. 'I can see why Jenks is risking his life to help me, but…' I looked at the hallway. 'What is Ivy getting out of this?' I whispered.

Keasley looked at my neck in disgust. 'Isn't it obvious? You let her feed off you, and she won't let the I.S. kill you.'

My mouth opened in outrage. 'I already told you Ivy didn't do this!' I exclaimed, my heart pounding in the effort to raise my voice. 'It was a demon!'

He didn't look as surprised as I would have expected. He stared at me, waiting for more. 'I left the church to get a recipe for a spell,' I said softly. 'The I.S. sent a demon after me. It made itself into a vampire to kill me. Nick bound it in a circle or it would have.' I slumped, exhausted. My pulse hammered. I was too weak to even be angry.

'The I.S.?' Keasley cut his needle free and glanced at me from under his lowered brow. 'Are you sure it was a demon? The I.S. doesn't use demons.'

'They do now,' I said sourly. I looked at my wrist, then quickly away. It was still bleeding, the blood oozing from between the green stitches. I reached up to find my neck at least had stopped. 'It knew all three of my names, Keasley. My middle name isn't even on my birth certificate. How did the I.S. find out what it was?'

Keasley's eyes were worried as he blotted at my wrist. 'Well, if it was a demon, you won't have to worry about any residual vamp ties from your bites—I'd imagine.'

'Small favors,' I said bitterly.

He took my wrist again, pulling the lamp closer. He cupped a towel under it to catch the still-dripping blood. 'Rachel?' he murmured.

Alarm bells rang in the back of my mind. I'd always been Ms. Morgan to him. 'What?'

'About the demon. Did you make a deal with it?'

I followed his gaze to my wrist and went frightened. 'Nick did,' I said quickly. 'He agreed to let it out of the circle if it got me back here alive. It took us through the ley lines.'

'Oh,' he said, and I felt myself go cold at his flat tone. He knew something I didn't.

'Oh, what?' I demanded. 'What's the matter?'

He took a slow breath. 'This isn't going to heal on its own,' he said softly, setting my wrist on my lap.

'What?' I exclaimed, holding my wrist as my stomach churned and the chocolate threatened to come back up. The shower went off, and I felt a flash of panic. What had Nick done to me?

Keasley opened a medicated adhesive bandage and applied it over my eye. 'Demons don't do anything for free,' he said. 'You owe it a favor.'

'I didn't agree to anything!' I said. 'It was Nick! I told Nick not to let it out!'

'It's not anything Nick did,' Keasley said as he took my bruised arm and gently prodded it until my breath hissed in. 'The demon wants additional payment for taking you through the ley lines. You have a choice, though. You can pay for your passage by having your wrist drip blood the rest of your life, or you can agree to owe the demon a favor and it will heal. I'd suggest the former.'

I collapsed into the cushions. 'Swell.' Just freaking great. I'd told Nick it was a bad idea.

Keasley pulled my wrist to him and started winding a roll of gauze bandage around it. Blood soaked it almost as quickly as it went about my wrist. 'Don't let it tell you that you don't have a say in the matter,' he said as he used the entire roll, fastening the end with a bit of white medical tape. 'You can dicker about how to pay for your passage until you both agree on something. Years, even. Demons always give you choices. And they're patient.'

'Some choice!' I barked. 'Agree to owe him a favor or walk around like I've got stigmata the rest of my life?'

He shrugged as he gathered his needles, thread, and scissors on his newspaper and folded it up. 'I think you did pretty well for your first run-in with a demon.'

'First run-in!' I exclaimed, then lay back panting. First? Like there was ever going to be a second. 'How do you know all this?' I whispered.

He stuffed the newspaper in the bag and rolled the top down. 'You live long enough, you hear things.'

'Great.' I looked up as Keasley pulled the heavy-duty pain amulet from around my neck. 'Hey,' I objected as all my pains started back in with a dull throbbing. 'I need that.'

'You'll do fine with just two.' He stood up and dropped my salvation into a pocket. 'That way, you won't hurt yourself by trying to do anything. Leave those stitches in for about a week. Matalina can tell you when to take them out. No shape shifting, meantime.' He pulled out a sling and set it on the coffee table. 'Wear it,' he said simply. 'Your arm is bruised, not broken.' He arched his white eyebrows. 'Lucky you.'

'Keasley, wait.' I took a quick breath, trying to gather my thoughts. 'What can I do for you? An hour ago I thought I was dying.'

'An hour ago, you were dying.' He chuckled, then shifted from foot to foot. 'It's important you don't owe anyone anything, isn't it?' He hesitated. 'I envy you for your friends. I'm old enough not to be afraid to say that. Friends are a luxury I haven't indulged in for a long time. If you let me trust you, consider us even.'

'But that's nothing,' I protested. 'Do you want more plants from the garden? Or a mink potion? They're good for a few days more, and I won't be using them again.'

'I wouldn't count on that,' he said, glancing into the hall at the sound of my bathroom door creaking open. 'And being someone I trust might be expensive. I might call in my marker someday. Are you willing to risk it?'

'Of course,' I said, wondering what an old man like Keasley could be running from. It couldn't be worse than what I was facing. The door to the sanctuary boomed shut, and I straightened. Ivy was done sulking and Nick was out of the shower. They were going to be at each other again in a moment, and I was too tired to play referee. Jenks buzzed in through the window, and I closed my eyes to gather my strength. All three of them at once might kill me.

Bag in hand, Keasley shifted as if to go. 'Please, don't leave yet,' I pleaded. 'Nick might need something. He has a nasty cut on his head.'

'Rache,' Jenks said as he flew circles around Keasley in greeting. 'What the devil did you say to Matalina? She's flitting over the garden as if she's on Brimstone, laughing and crying all at the same time. Can't get a straight word out of the woman.' He jerked to a stop, hovering in midair, listening.

'Oh, great,' he muttered. 'They're at it again already.'

I exchanged a weary look with Keasley as the muttered conversation in the hall came to an intent but quiet finish. Ivy walked in with a satisfied look. Nick was quick behind her. His scowl melted into a smile when he saw me upright and clearly feeling better. He had changed into an oversized white cotton T-shirt and a clean pair of baggy jeans fresh from the dryer. His charming half smile didn't work on me. The thought of why my wrist was bleeding was too real.

'You must be Keasley?' Nick asked, holding out his hand over the table as if nothing was wrong. 'I'm