For a Few Demons More

Trent looked at the gray suede couch and chairs and turned away, glancing at my desk before moving on to Ivy's piano, where interest pulled his eyebrows high. 'I'll stand,' he said.

Rex strolled in from the dark foyer and headed right for Quen. Much to my surprise, the older elf crouched, fondling the orange cat's ears to make her flop onto her back to show her white belly. Quen rose with Rex in his hands, and the cat's eyes slitted in pleasure as she purred.

Stupid cat.

Trent cleared his throat, and my gaze shot to him.

'Rachel,' he said, setting his gift on top of the closed piano, 'do you make a habit of showering in your clothes? '

My back-and-forth motion stopped. I tried to think up a lie, but that the power was out didn't lend itself for me to be damp. 'I… uh, slept in the graveyard,' I said, not wanting to tell him my neighbor had downed me with my own spell, hoping Trent might think it was dew.

A smirk came over him, and somehow he made it look good. He knew I was afraid of Piscary. 'You should have killed Piscary when you had the opportunity,' he said, his wonderful voice filling the open space of the sanctuary with the sound of grace and comfort. Damn, the man had a beautiful voice. I had almost forgotten. And yes, I could have killed Piscary and probably gotten off with a plea of self-defense, but if I had, the vampire wouldn't be around to hide the focus for me. So I said nothing. Trent, though, apparently wanted to talk.

'That doesn't explain why you're soaking wet,' he prompted.

My jaw clenched, but then I forced myself to relax. Hell, if Ivy could do it, I could, too. 'No,' I said cheerfully. 'It doesn't.'

Carefully lowering himself to sit on the piano bench, he inclined his head. 'Having trouble with your charms?' he said, fishing for an answer.

'Absolutely not.'

Quen let Rex drop to the floor, and the cat shook herself, making the little bell Jenks had put on her jingle. I watched Trent fidget subtly, reading in his slightly elevated color and his crisp enunciation how nervous he was. My thoughts went to his anger when he had asked me to work security for his nuptials, his blaming me for Lee's capture and installation as a demon's familiar. A twinge of guilt took me, quickly suppressed. But if I got Lee free of Al, Trent would owe me a big debt of gratitude. One big enough that he might leave me alone?

'Ah,' I said hesitantly into the pixy-giggle-laden air, and Trent looked at me, green eyes interested. Someone in the rafters shrieked when he or she got shoved off the beam, and Trent's eyelid twitched.

Feeling a smidgen of sympathy, I stood and clapped my hands at the ceiling. 'Okay, you've all stared enough. Time to go. There's waxed paper behind the microwave. Go polish the steeple.'

Quen started when Jenks's kids dropped down in a swirling maelstrom of silk and high-pitched complaints. It was Jhan who took control, and with his hands on his hips in a painful reminder of Jenks, he browbeat them all into the hallway.

'Thanks, Jhan,' I said. 'I heard blue jays earlier. Be sure to watch for them.'

'Yes, Ms. Morgan,' the pixy said seriously, then darted out, Rex trailing under him. There was a crash and a shriek from the kitchen, then nothing.

Wincing, I moved to lean against the back of Ivy's couch. Quen looked at me expectantly, and Trent said, 'Aren't you going to see what they broke? '

My head shook. 'I… uh, wanted to thank you again for interrupting Al yesterday,' I said, and my face warmed. God! Al had practically pulled me into an orgasm, right in front of every body.

Trent's attention flicked to the pixies in the side yard, blurs through the stained-glassed windows, and then his gaze came back to me. 'No problem.'

Uncomfortable, I crossed my arms over my chest. 'Really. You didn't have to, and I appreciate it.'

Quen shifted his weight and settled in, and, seeing his relaxed posture, Trent found a less-stiff position. He still looked like a male model, sitting at Ivy's baby grand. 'I don't like bullies,' he said simply, as if embarrassed.

I grimaced, wishing Ceri would hurry up. A beep came from the kitchen, and the whine of electronics hit my middle ear. The lights winked on, invisible in the bright sun, and from behind me the TV slowly blossomed into noise. Scrambling for the remote, I clicked it off.

Embarrassment sprang up from nowhere, and I got mad at myself. I could feel Trent evaluating me and my life—my little TV, Ivy's living room set, my plant-strewn desk, the two-bedroom, two-bath church we lived in—and it ticked me off that I was coming in so much shorter than his huge living room, his big-screen TV, and his stereo system that filled a wall.

'Excuse me,' I muttered, hearing the washer start to fill. I bet Trent didn't have to entertain with the chug chug of a Whirlpool in the background.

Flicking off the overhead lights as I went, I stopped in my bathroom to open the washer's lid. It could soak. Then I did a quick check in Ivy's bathroom in case Trent wanted to rifle through her medicine cabinet under the excuse of using the can. It was neat and tidy, the incense-and-ashes scent of vampire a dim hint under the orange-perfumed soap she used. Depressed now, I headed to the kitchen to see if the lights were on.

My cell phone rang, the electronic music blaring out to startle me. Scrambling for it, I cursed Jenks. I usually had it on vibrate, but someone—aka Jenks—had monkeyed with it, changing my ring tones. Fumbling to the tune of 'I've got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts,' I finally wrestled the thing out of my damp pocket. Real funny, Jenks. Ha, ha.

It was Glenn's number, and after a moment's hesitation I leaned against the kitchen counter and flipped it open. I had a bug to put in his ear.

'Hi, Glenn,' I said tightly; he knew I was usually sleeping right about now. 'I hear Piscary's out. It would have been nice if someone had told me the undead vampire I put in jail was free!'

___

I could hear keyboards and a loud argument in the background. Glenn's sigh was heavy over it. 'Sorry,' he said by way of greeting. 'I left a message on your phone when I heard.'

'I never got it,' I said, only slightly mollified. Then I grimaced. 'Look, I didn't mean to bark at you. But I spent the night in my graveyard, and I'm a little cranky.'

'I would've called again,' Glenn said, and I heard papers being shuffled. 'But when your demon burned down The Warehouse using their bouncers as kindling, we got swamped.'

'My demon!' I yelped, phone pressed tight to my ear. 'Since when is Al my demon?' I said softly, remembering how well Trent and Quen could hear.

'Since you called him up to testify.' The FIB officer covered the mouthpiece. I heard something muttered, and I stewed until he returned.

'That doesn't explain why Piscary is out,' I snarled.

'What do you expect?' Glenn said, sounding annoyed. 'Neither the I.S. nor the FIB is equipped to deal with a demon who can walk under the sun. You weren't doing anything. There was an emergency meeting of the City Council, and they let Piscary out to deal with it.' He hesitated, then, 'I'm sorry. They gave him a full pardon.'

City Council? That meant Trent had known. Hell, he'd been in on it. What a total ass. I had risked my soul to put Piscary behind bars for killing ley line witches. Apparently that meant nothing. It made me wonder why I'd even bothered.

'This isn't why I called,' Glenn said. 'Another body has turned up.'

My thoughts were still on Piscary, apparently free to do whatever he wanted to my roommate. 'And you want me to come down?' I said, my hand to my forehead and my head bowed as I got angrier. 'I told you. I'm not an investigator, I'm a haul-them-in person. Besides, I don't know whether I want to work for you anymore if you're just going to let murderers out when things get rough.'

'Rough!' Glenn exclaimed. 'We had sixteen major fires last night, five riots, and a near lynching of some guy in a dress reading Shakespeare in the park. I don't think they even know the number of fender benders and assault charges. It's a demon. You said yourself you spent the night hiding in your churchyard.'

'Hey!' I snapped. That was unfair. 'I was hiding from Piscary, not Al. Al's burning things up to get me to go to the ever-after with him. And don't you dare sit there and call me a coward because I don't want to.'