into her wake. A pause at the head of the shelter the two semis made, and we started for the restaurant, my flip- flops noisy next to her vamp-soft steps. Behind us, I could hear Nick. By all rights, as the most vulnerable member of the group, he should have been between us, but I didn't feel like protecting him, and the danger was minimal.
'Your hair is longer,' Ivy said as we crossed the paved lot to the low wood-slatted building snuggled in among the pines. Squirrel's End? How…redneck.
'You aren't kidding,' I said, wincing at the memory of my legs. 'You didn't happen to bring a razor with you, did you?'
Her eyes widened. 'A razor?'
'Never mind.' Like I was going to tell her I looked like an orangutan?
'Are you okay?' she asked again, her voice heavy with concern.
I didn't look at her. I didn't need to. She could read my emotions on the wind easier than I could read a billboard at sixty miles an hour. 'Yeah,' I said, knowing she wasn't asking about the run, but about Nick.
'What did he do?' she said, her arms moving stiffly. 'Did he make a pass at you?'
I glanced askance at her, then back to the nearing door. 'Not yet.'
She snorted, sounding angry. 'He will. And then I'll kill him.'
Annoyance sifted through me, the jolts from my steps going all the way up my spine. 'I can take care of myself,' I said, not caring that Nick was listening.
'I can take care of myself too,' she said. 'But if I'm making an ass out of myself, I'd hope you'd stop me.'
'I am handling this,' I said, forcing my voice to be pleasant. 'How about you?' I asked, turning the tables. 'I didn't think you could leave Cincinnati.'
Her expression went guarded. 'It's only for a day. Piscary will get over it.' I was silent, and she added, 'What, like the city will fall apart because I'm not there? Get real, Rachel.'
My head nodded, but I was still worried. I needed her help planning how to get out of my latest fix, but she could do it by e-mail or phone if she had to.
'We should be safe enough here for a while,' she said, her eyes canvassing the building as we slowed at the door and Nick came even with us. 'It's all humans.'
'Good,' I replied faintly, feeling out of place and vulnerable. Paper sack crinkling, Ivy opened the door for me with her free hand, leaving Nick to handle the swinging, blurred-glass door by himself. I had shifted back to witch with absolutely nothing in my stomach at all, and starved, I breathed deeply of the smell of grilled meat. It was nice in there: not too bright, not too dim, no smoky smell to ruin it. There were animal parts on the walls and few people, seeing as it was Tuesday afternoon. Maybe a tad too cold, but not bad.
The menu was on the wall, and it looked like basic bar food. There were no windows but for the door, and everyone seemed willing to mind their own business after their first long look. The short bar had three fat men and one skinny one, each sitting on green vinyl stools torn to show the white padding. They were shoving food in their mouths as they watched a recap of last week's game, talking to a matronly woman with big hair behind the bar.
It was only three in the afternoon—according to the clock above the dance floor whose hands were fishing poles and numbers were fly lures. A dark jukebox filled a distant corner, and a long light with colored glass hung over a red-felted pool table.
The bar had Northern Redneck all over it, which made me all warm and fuzzy. I didn't like being the only Inderlanders in the place, but it was unlikely anyone would turn ugly. Someone might get stupid after midnight with seven shots of Jäger and a room of humans to back him, but not at three in the afternoon and only five people in the place counting the cook.
Jenks and Jax were at a table in the rear, a bank of empty booths between them and the wall. The large pixy waved for us to join them, and I felt a moment of worry that he had his shirt open to show his scent amulet. I was guessing he was proud he was big enough to have one and wanted to show it off, but I didn't like flaunting my Inderland status. They had an MPL—a Mixed Public License—posted, but it was obvious that this was a local human hangout.
'I'm going to the restroom,' Nick muttered.
He made a beeline for the archway beside the bar, and I watched him, the idea flitting through me that he might not come back. I looked at Jenks, and after I nodded, the big pixy sent Jax to follow him. Yeah, I was stupid when it came to matters of the heart, but I wasn't stupid.
Ivy's presence hung a shade too close for comfort as we wove through the empty tables, past the pool table and the gray-tiled dance floor. Jenks had his coat off and his back to the wall, and Ivy took the chair beside his before I could. Peeved, I put my fingers on the worn wood of the chair across from her, twisting it sideways so I could see the door. The guys at the bar were watching us, and one moved down a stool to talk to his neighbor.
Seeing that, Ivy frowned. 'Stand up, pixy,' she said, her low voice carrying an obvious threat. 'I don't want Rachel sitting next to crap for brains.'
In a heartbeat Jenks's amusement turned to defiance. 'No,' he said, crossing his arms. 'I don't want to, and you can't make me. I'm bigger than you.'
Ivy's pupils swelled. 'I would have thought you'd be the last person equating greater size with greater threat.'
His foot under the table jiggled, squeaking. 'Right.' With an abrupt motion he pushed his chair out, snatching up his coat and edging from behind the table to take the seat next to mine. 'I don't like sitting with my back to the door either,' he grumbled.
Ivy remained silent, the brown returning to her eyes quickly. I knew she was carrying herself carefully, very aware that the clientele wasn't used to vampires and voluntarily putting herself on her best behavior. That Jenks had moved to suit her hadn't gone unnoticed, and I fixed a cheerful smile to my face when the woman approached, setting down four glasses of water with moisture beading up on them. No one said anything, and she fell away a full four feet, pulling a pad of paper from her waistband. What she wanted was obvious. Why she hadn't said anything in greeting was obvious too; we had her on edge.
Ivy smiled, then toned it down when Becky, by her name tag, paled. Putting the flat of my arms on the table, I leaned forward to look brainless. 'Hi,' I said. 'What's the special?'
The woman darted a glance at Ivy, then back to me. 'Ah, no special—ma'am,' she said, reaching nervously to touch her white hair, which had been dyed blond. 'But Mike in the back makes a damn, uh, he makes a good hamburger. And we've got pie today.'
Nick silently joined us, with Jax on his shoulder, looking uncomfortable as he took the last seat next to Ivy and across from Jenks. The woman relaxed a notch, apparently realizing he was human and deciding the rest of us were probably half tamed. I didn't know how they did it since they couldn't smell Inderlander on us, as we could on ourselves. Must be some secret human finger motion or something.
'Hamburger sounds good,' Ivy said, her eyes down to look meek, but with her stiff posture it only made her look pissed.
'Four hamburgers all around,' I said, wanting to be done with it and eating. 'And a pitcher of Coke.'
Nick scooted his chair closer to the table, Jax leaving him for the warmer light hanging over the table. 'I'd like two hamburgers, please,' the gaunt man said, a hint of defiance in his voice, as if he expected someone to protest.
'Me too,' Jenks chimed up, bright eyes wickedly innocent. 'I'm starved.'
Nick leaned to see the menu on the wall. 'Does that come with fries?'
'Fries!' Jenks exclaimed, and Jax sneezed from the lamp hanging over the table. Pixy dust sifted down along with the mundane type. 'Tink-knocks-your-knickers, I want fries too.'
The woman wrote it down, her plucked and penciled-in eyebrows rising. 'Two half-pound burgers with fries for each of the gentleman. Anything else?'
Nick nodded. 'A milk shake. Cherry if you have it.'
She blew out her breath, taking in his gaunt frame. 'How about you, hon?'
Becky was looking at Jenks, but he was eyeing the jukebox. 'Coke is fine. Does that thing work?'
The woman turned, following his gaze to the machine. 'It's busted, but for five bucks you can use the
