Both of them were frowning when I stopped dead still in the store and turned, coat bumping my calves. Al was smiling. "Jenks, you're so cold you're not dusting," I said, trying not to sound worried. "I need to get people out of here quietly, and you can do that. By the time I need you, you'll be warm." I hope. "Until then, let me know if Mia touches my aura."
I handed Pierce Jenks's coffee and added, "I'm giving you my phone. Ivy will probably call when the FIB is here. Let me know, and tell them not to barge in here, okay?"
"Jenks can do that," he said grudgingly.
I put a hand to my forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "If I'm right, ugly guy over there is going to have a hissy long before the FIB gets here. I'm going to need your help, and at that point, you can let your testosterone rip. Meantime, Jenks can brief you on what Remus has occupied his last twenty years with so you don't get smeared. 'Kay?"
I handed Pierce my phone, and when he looked at me wryly, Jenks's wings clattered to life. "Okay," the pixy conceded, laboriously making the flight to the wary man, eyeing him before landing on his shoulder and telling him to start at the front.
Two down. I turned to Al and the demon beamed. "Al, why don't you be a good boy and take the seat of the first people Pierce gets out of here."
"I want to be closer," he said, then looked over his glasses at the couple the next table over. Their chairs scraped as they beat a hasty path to the exit, and Al sat, taking meticulous care in arranging his coat.
Okay. Time to earn your rent, I thought as I exhaled heavily. I took a moment to loosen another button on my coat and feel for the comforting weight of my splat gun in my bag as I approached Ford, Mia, and Remus. Ivy would probably tell Edden to be circumspect, but it wouldn't surprise me that if in their zeal, six FIB cars pulled up with lights on and sirens going.
If Mia didn't behave herself, this was going to be over really quickly. She had tried to kill me twice, and I knew I should've been concerned when I said hi to Ford and sat down in the chair he had pulled up for me, but the only thing I was feeling was tired. That Edden had a warrant and I could shoot them now was a comfort. Eyes were heavy on me as I took the lid off my drink and sipped it. My shoulders relaxed as the hot, rich coffee slipped down. With a little effort, I could see the door and counter both.
Either Mia was going to sacrifice Remus and promise to be good, or this was a plot to see me dead, but I didn't think Ford would read the situation wrong. The door jingled when a couple left with frightened backward glances, and Jenks gave me a distant thumbs-up. Damn, this was good stuff, and I made a mental note of what it was in case I survived. Raspberry Italian latte?
My eyes rose over the rim of the paper cup. Remus's expression was both angry and frightened-a bad combination as his attention flicked from me to Al and back. Mia had an unsettling confidence about her as she held the sleeping Holly in her little pink snowsuit. One would never guess they were wanted for assault and possible murder. She was going to bail on him. I knew it. What did she know of love?
"Mia," I said, seeing that no one else was talking. "Did you set the fire?"
"No." Her voice was soft to keep Holly from waking, and the toddler's hands moved in her sleep. Mia's eyes were fixed on mine, trying to impress me with what I already believed was the truth. "The Walker did. She's trying to pit my own city against me. I told you she had the skill of a falling log." Her high voice held a shocking amount of hatred. "She wants Holly."
Mia held her daughter closer, and the child shifted into a more comfortable position, lips pouting in her sleep. Remus's hands clenched, and when he saw me notice their white-knuckled strength, he moved them out of my sight.
I put my hands under the table, keeping my elbows still while I pulled my splat gun out and set it atop my knees. "I didn't think it was you," I said to try to get them to relax. "I'm trying to stop Ms. Walker, Mia, but you were seen at the fire. The FIB isn't going out of their way to help anymore. You need to come in. Someone's going to get hurt." Like me.
Remus stood, and my heart jumped. "We need to go, Mia. People are leaving."
A faint, musty scent drifted from the angry man at his movement, tickling my memory. Fear pinged through me, and I froze. It smelled like cement. Cold and rough. Mia felt my fear, the woman going almost slack as my emotions puddled out from me. Ford did too, but his expression was of confusion, not satisfaction. He knew my fear didn't stem from Mia, but something else, and I shoved the emotion away. Kisten. It's from Kisten. I don't have time for this.
Mia moved Holly to a more comfortable position, ignoring Remus. The baby's eyes opened. Silently, she stared, and as I watched, Holly's pale blue eyes became the pupil black of hunger. "Did you tell the FIB to drop their investigation?" Mia asked me.
I jerked my attention from Holly, surprised. "Ah, yes, but someone needs to go to jail for the Tilsons. You were living in their house. You beat up an FIB officer." Tried to kill me twice. Jeez, what am I doing here?
Beside me, Ford swallowed hard, feeling everyone's emotions and having a hard time separating himself. He was better than a truth amulet, but something was shifting, and I gripped my gun, setting my free hand casually around my cup. "Mia, let me tell them you are ready to cooperate," I tried again. I didn't want to shoot her unless I had to. "The captain of the FIB knows you're sorry." Liar, liar. "He knows the lengths to which Ms. Walker will go to gain custody of Holly." Pants on fire. "He's angry about what happened to his son, but if you come in, as a sign of trust, he will look past it. We can keep you and Holly together."
Remus bent over his wife, hissing in her ear, "They lie to get what they want, then tell you you're a liar when you ask for it. I won't have my daughter pushed from foster home to foster home, sleeping on stained mattresses and beat up for not having a real mom or dad."
I doubted that would happen with Holly, and Mia reached up and touched his hand. "Remus, love," she said, eyes on mine. "I'm not turning us in. I'm finding out if the FIB is taking me seriously. She warned them, and if they come, I'll know their answer."
Oh. Shit. Heart pounding, I dropped my hand below the top of the table and gripped my gun with both hands. Show of lethal force or not, if you twitch, I'll down you both. "Think about it, Mia...You broke the law. You either live by society's punishments or live outside it in the abandoned stretches, off scraps. You said you made this city. You're really going to leave it? Killing me won't help you. It will tick them off."
Ford stood, and Remus tensed, held in check by Mia's hand on his, atop her shoulder. "You told me you weren't going to hurt anyone," the psychiatrist said. "I believed you."
Mia jiggled Holly as she fussed. "At the time, I thought the FIB was smarter than that. Clearly the FIB won't listen until scores of them are dead. But they will listen. The witch is shunned, dross I can kill with impunity."
She's nuts! She is freaking insane! Behind me, I felt Pierce turn. It was the eeriest thing I'd ever felt, but I swear, I felt him turn. In an instant, Jenks was before me, shedding hot sparkles. "I wouldn't say impunity," the pixy said, blade pointing at her.
"I'm of a mind to agree with the pixy," Pierce said from behind me.
I watched Remus assess them, but it was Mia who said, "What the devil are you? You don't even have an aura!"
"So I've been told, and if you're powerful smart, you'll pull foot and not look back."
Holly started to whimper, and Mia jiggled her, gaze rising up to Remus. Behind me, I heard the clatter of boots and the jingle of the door as someone left. They were going voluntarily now, and the place was almost empty. I turned to the counter. Junior was there, staring, frightened. "Call the I.S.," I mouthed. This was too much for the FIB. No way.
Remus saw, and in a bellow of rage, he ran at Junior.
I bolted upright, gun tracking Remus, but I didn't have a clear shot. Ford dropped, staying out of the way. A woman gasped and ducked under her table.
Junior's eyes widened at Remus. Shouting a word of Latin, made strong in his fear, he set a circle. Remus ran right into it as he tried to jump over the counter. Blood spurted from his nose as he fell back, bellowing as he hit the floor. Pierce grabbed his arm, and Remus smacked him with an unfocused blow that sent him reeling. Catching his balance, the small man licked his thumb and fell into a boxer's stance. He was going to get himself killed. Again.
"Git the blood out of your eyes and stand so I can row you up salt river," Pierce said, then made a face at me to get on with it. Jenks, too, was shrilling at me to shoot him. But it was too late. I couldn't hit one without hitting the other.
"Don't kill him, Remus," Mia was saying calmly. "I think I know the little man."
"Back up, Rache!" Jenks exclaimed, darting from one end of the shop to the other. "Before she starts sucking on you!"
And Al was laughing, almost choking on his grande latte as he clapped.
A chair scraped as Mia stood. The scent of cold cement and mold flowed from her and Holly. I backed up. My hand had crept up to my throat, as if I could feel cold fingers there. "Killing me isn't going to stop the FIB, Mia," I said, thinking this was a great time to be having a flashback to Kisten's killer.
Mia stood, the table between us, Holly holding tight to her as the baby howled. Behind me, Pierce grunted as he took a blow, and something crashed. "You're mistaken," she said, eyes on me, not the fight behind me. "Killing you will stop everything. Remus, quit playing with that dead man and hold the witch down. Holly is hungry."
Oh my God. That's why she hadn't touched me yet.
There was a thump and Pierce groaned again. I turned to see Pierce slumped against the wall among the remnants of a table. Grinning, Remus came at me with grasping hands. I shoved a chair aside for some room and kicked off my heels. Pissed, I swung the barrel up, and at the bottom of an exhale, I pulled the trigger.
"No!" Mia shouted, but the little blue plastic ball hit him square in the chest. Potion soaked his shirt and splashed up to his neck-and the man dropped. I danced back as he fell into the table, and from there to the floor. Coffee went everywhere. Thank you, God. Now for Mrs. Bitch.
The door jingled, and I turned. "Damn it!" I shouted as Mia's silhouette raced past the window. Ford was tight behind her. What in hell was he doing? "Pierce? Jenks?"
Pierce was getting up, shaking his head from Remus's blow. Jenks hovered over him, dusting heavily to stop the cut on his head.
"Jenks, stay put. Tell them to bring some salt water. I'm downing her."
"Rache! Wait!"
He couldn't come with me. My arm hit the door, and it crashed open. I raced after them in my feet, bare but for nylons, and my splat gun in my grip. To the left, a fast patter of heels drew my attention. I took a deep breath and ran through the snowy parking lot. In an instant, I'd passed the cars and was on the sidewalk.
The cold cement numbed my feet, and I ran faster. My breath puffed out, and my body fell into a rhythm I could keep up for an hour. My slit dress hiked up as I ran, and I was glad my stupidity in choosing fashion over functionality had stopped at my shoes. Ahead, the smallest movement in the light a block up told me where they'd gone. God, how had she gotten ahead so fast?
A toddler wailed, the odd cadence telling me she was being held in the arms of someone running. I couldn't help but gain on them. Ford's silhouette was clear in the light for an instant. Then they were past the light, and they were gone.
I gripped my splat gun as I followed, slowing so I didn't run into them. Coming to a stop under the light, I listened. It was dark in all directions. New Year's celebrations were going on all over the city, but here, on the outskirts of an old industrial park, it was dark.
A baby cried, and I heard the crack of cold metal.
Heart pounding, I spun. "Ford?" I called. He didn't answer, and I jogged to the end of the street. A small cement hut surrounded by a chain-link fence was the only logical option. Though the chain-link door was shut, I could see in the snow the track it had made when it opened. Footprints marked the otherwise-pristine snow.
Slower yet, I approached, my feet hurting from the cold. "Ford?" I whispered, then edged into the tiny fenced yard. It was no bigger than a dog run, and I guessed this was a switching house for the city's electric or phone lines.
But the small room was empty when I stood on tiptoe and looked in the high window, my fingertips numb from the cold. Two sets of prints had tracked in the snow. I licked my lips. Going in alone was really stupid. I looked back toward the coffeehouse. No FIB. No I.S.
I couldn't wait. "Dumb," I said as I started to remove my coat, then, shivering, hiked up my dress and stripped off my nylons instead, hanging them over the tall fence for them to find and know where I'd gone. "Dumb. You are a dumb witch," I muttered, and, shivering, I pushed the heavy metal door open and went in.