For a Few Demons More

tossing my hair behind my shoulder. 'We got it covered.' I have to get to that class. This is really getting old.

'Rachel?'

I halted my motion to leave, turning to arch my eyebrows at him.

'Take it easy,' he said, a hand in the air in surrender. 'Call me if you need bail.'

My smile deepened. 'Thanks, Glenn,' I said, glad the ugly scene about the focus had been averted. 'I'm going to class tonight. Really.'

'Do that,' he said, then turned back to his team, calling for some guy named Parker.

I felt funny walking across the grass between the grave markers to the car, plodding in Jenks's lightning-fast wake. My steps were small as I trudged up the hill, my head down to look for those flat markers. I swung my bag around and dug for my zebra-striped car key, but when I came around the corner of the large marker my car was behind, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Someone was messing with my backseat.

Sixteen

'Hey!' I said belligerently, and the jeans-clad man looked up from where he'd been leaning into the backseat, messing with Glenn's salsa. It was Tom, and my jaw dropped. 'What are you doing?' I came forward, wobbling on one of those flush grave markers.

Tom stepped from the car, and I halted before him, puffing. There was a hint of anger and a lot of distain in his blue eyes. I was looking into the sun to see him, and it ticked me off.

'I've been asked to talk to you,' he said, and I snickered. Now he wants to talk? He was standing before my car, though, and didn't look like he was going to move without a little encouragement. But when I saw Jenks unconscious on the dash with his dragonfly wings splayed out in the sun, I was more than ready to apply said encouragement.

My pulse leapt, fueled by anger and fear. 'What did you do to Jenks? '

The man started at the threat in my voice. Moving back a step, he almost got out of the way. 'I didn't want him to overhear our conversation.'

My stomach clenched in fear. 'You knocked him out? You knocked Jenks out to get rid of him?' I took a step forward, and Tom retreated. 'You son of a bastard.'

Yeah, I was mixing my phrases, but I was really mad.

Eyes wide in surprise, Tom took another step back.

'He's a person, you know!' I said, my face hot. 'He would have left if you asked.' Worried, I leaned into my car and carefully edged Jenks into my palm before his wings burned from the hot dash. His small body was limp and felt far too light. I remembered him carrying me when I'd been weak from blood loss, and a panicked fear slid through me. Horror joined it when I saw that he was bleeding. 'What did you do?' I exclaimed. 'He's bleeding from his ears!'

The ley line witch stood before me, three feet back with his hands behind him. 'Rachel Morgan, I would like to ask—'

Tension pulling tight through me, I held Jenks close. 'What did you do to Jenks! Do you know how dangerous it is for a pixy to lose blood?'

'Ms. Morgan,' Tom interrupted, 'this is more important than your backup.'

I couldn't seem to get enough air. 'He is my friend!' I exclaimed. 'He's not a tissue!'

I stepped forward, and Tom retreated. 'Don't touch me,' he warned.

But I got in his face, shouting, 'I care more about this pixy's hangnail than your whole stinking life, you sanctimonious little prick. What did you do to him?'

'Stay back,' he said, backing away even farther with his hands in front of him.

'I'll touch my foot to your face if you don't take off that spell!' with Jenks held carefully to my middle in my cupped hand, I took another threatening step. The hair on my arms pricked when Tom tapped a line, and before he could say or do anything, I lunged forward, betting he was setting a circle. A circle can't form through a person coated in an aura but will slide to either the front or the back of him or her. I had a fifty-fifty chance. I would either make it into his circle or crack my nose open running into it as Minias had.

I jolted, the electric taste of tinfoil stabbing through my teeth. Gasping, I hunched over Jenks. Tom's power iced through me, and for an instant the world went black. My chi filled from him to me in an eerie sensation of wrongness. It overflowed, the excess running to spindle in my mind, rolling the power of the line into storage. I jerked, tying to break the connection.

It snapped with a twang that felt so sharp it had to be audible. I opened my eyes, finding Tom staring at me. I was inside his circle. It wasn't that big either.

The witch's eyes narrowed. His fingers moved, and I shot my fist out, smacking him in the gut. Good going, Rachel, I thought, seeing the breath explode from him as he fell, his butt landing on the grass and his back hitting the wall of the circle. He'd probably file charges for assault now, but he had threatened me with ley line magic first.

'You can tell Denon he can shove his falsies up his ass,' I said, feeling that something was wrong but unable to stop and think about it. 'He can't scare me off this case!' I remembered my splat gun in my bag—somehow still on my shoulder—but it would look really stupid if I hit him with blanks. Besides, it was hard to do anything with Jenks in my hand.

'Not Denon,' the witch gasped, his face red as he tried to catch his breath.

I drew back, the strength of his circle humming over my head. He wasn't speaking for the I.S.? What in hell is going on?

I tugged my shirt to cover my middle, suddenly wary. Tom looked at me from the ground with his back pushed against the circle, his pained grimace making me retreat a step so he could stand. Looking shaken, stirred, and ticked, the witch got to his feet and brushed the grass clippings off. But then his face went still, and he looked at the arch of ever-after over him. That sensation of wrongness in me strengthened, and I followed his gaze to the ugly blackness.

His circle hadn't fallen when I pushed him into it. That wasn't right.

'You took it,' Tom whispered, his eyes tracking the come-and-go, knifelike slices of gold glimmering through the demon smut. 'You took my circle!'

My gaze jerked to the arc of power over our heads in fearful recognition. It was my aura reflected there, not his. I took his circle? Newt had taken Ceri's, but it had required some effort. I'd simply walked into this one. That was it, I mused. It had been still forming and vulnerable.

Frightened, he backed up until he hit the slice of ever-after. 'They told me you were an earth witch. Damn it, you took my circle. I never would have,' he stammered, his cheeks pale. 'I mean… God, you must think I'm an idiot for trying to best you.'

Scared at how fast he had gone from cocky to frightened, I said, 'Don't worry about it.'

Tom's attention ran over the inside of the bubble. 'I didn't mean to hurt your pixy,' he said, watching Jenks, still cupped in my hand. 'He's fine. I stunned him with a high frequency. He'll wake up in an hour. I didn't know he was important to you.'

My pulse had yet to settle, and I didn't like how fast his attitude had changed. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it was sort of flattering, though. At the very least, it had calmed my anger. I mean, how can you be angry at someone who thinks you're a stronger witch then he is?

'I didn't mean to take your circle, okay?' I said. Uneasy, I touched the circle I hadn't invoked, shivering when it broke and the energy someone else had tapped flowed through me and away. I was too distracted to unspindle the excess in my head, so I let it stay.

Tom swayed to catch his balance when the circle fell. He was clearly glad to be out of the circle, but he was still white under his brown hair.

'What did you want anyway?' I said, feeling Jenks's weight light in my palm.

'I…' Hesitating, he took a deep breath. 'You have experience in summoning demons,' he said, and I cringed.