Ever After

Chapter Sixteen



Wild elven magic coursed through my mind, electricity tasting of wine and music sparkling to my fingertips. The usual welcoming hum was a screeching din, and my stomach gave a heave when a wave of dizziness hit me, evidence of an unbalanced line. I was in a freaking ley line! Bring Trent to me! I wailed, promising the goddess that Trent didn't believe in everything and anything.



He needs you more than you need him tinkled through me, alien and wild, and I was shoved out of the line.



Arms flailing, I skidded on a white tiled floor. It shimmered under a cold electric light, and my nose wrinkled at the bitter bite of brimstone mixed with the acidic stench of burnt amber. I stood from my crouch, turning from the bank of electronic equipment and lab benches lining both the three sides and a short peninsula of the room to look behind me toward the muffled sound of crying babies. A glass wall stretched from waist height to the ceiling, showing what looked like a hospital nursery, complete with rolling bassinets and young women in uniforms tending them. There was no door. The women looked okay, and I wondered if they knew where they were or if they were borrowed familiars.



"Trent?" I whispered, glad that Ku'Sox hadn't felt me arrive. He had to be here somewhere. Stupid rings. I hated wild magic. It wasn't that there were no rules. I just didn't understand them.



My heart pounded when the familiar sound of a pen hitting the floor and a chair rolling joined the humming of machinery and Trent rolled backward out from behind the peninsula of shoulder-high machines. Shocked, he stared at me.



He was haggard, wearing a lab coat over his expensive slacks and linen pinstripe shirt as if it was a uniform. His usual tie was absent. Red-rimmed and haunted, his eyes blinked numbly at me. His hair was mussed, and his posture as he sat in that chair gave the impression of his insides caving in. He looked as if he'd been gone a year, not four hours. "What are you doing here?" he rasped, the music entirely gone from his voice. "Are you crazy?"



He needs you more than you need him echoed in my memory. "Maybe." I held up my hand with the pinkie ring on it. "I'm trying to get your ass back to reality. I thought we had some sort of understanding." Understanding. That wasn't like an agreement-which had definite expectations. Understanding was more nebulous, more dangerous. What was I doing, trusting Trent with an understanding?



His expression cleared somewhat, and Trent frowned. "I'm not leaving." He stood, so fast that his chair rolled backward. Lab coat furling, he scooped up his dropped pen, proving he could do businessman, playboy, and lab rat equally well. "You need to leave," he said as he jotted something into a lab book. "Go. Now. Before Ku'Sox finds you."



Go? Now? I wasn't a dog, but seeing as I had no easy way of leaving other than Jenks summoning me back, I crossed my arms and stared at him. Ku'Sox wouldn't know I was here unless he walked in the door or I tapped a line. My eyes went over the assembled machinery, all humming and clicking. Obviously he and Ku'Sox had come to some understanding. Damn it, I thought we had a plan. Must be the cost analysis had finally tipped the scales.



"Is that it?" I said, and Trent looked up, still standing hunched over his book, his back almost to me, stiff and cold.



"Is that what?"



I gestured at the instruments. "The machine that saved my life?" It was as close as I would go to an outright accusation of his helping Ku'Sox, and his ears reddened.



"No, it's better by about three generations," he said, still making notes. "Once I get the strand of DNA I want, I incorporate it into a mild-acting virus that targets the mitochondria. I'm not entirely happy with the strand I'm currently using. I didn't have a chance to clean it before proliferation." His pen stopped. Slowly he straightened and looked down at his lab book. "It has a seventy-seven percent perfection, which will cause problems in some of the subjects, but Ku'Sox is a butcher, and if twenty-three percent of his children die, then he will be happy with the seventy-seven remaining."



I blanched, turning to look at the empty bassinet and the rows of babies-eating, sleeping, crying. There had to be at least a dozen out there. "That's inhuman."



Trent gazed at the nursery, a lost expression on his face. "He would've been happy with twenty percent."



My lips curled. "You're helping him," I accused, and Trent's eyes narrowed. "You told me you'd never give him what he wanted!"



His eyes bore into mine. "Is that what you think I'm doing?"



"Hey, if the lab coat fits."



Making a low sound of discontent, Trent hunched back over his book. Thinking that might have been harsh, I went to the nursery window, my hand cold when it touched the glass. It was obvious that the women could see us, but they went about their business with a blind furtiveness that told me they knew they were alive on sufferance-until Ku'Sox didn't need them anymore. "He took their nurses, too?" I asked in guilt. I couldn't save everyone.



"In some cases."



His words had come from the back of his throat, and the hidden tight disgust in it made me take a second look. All the women had red hair. "Oh," I said, feeling uncomfortable. "Is there another way out of here?"



"I said I was not leaving."



The anger in his voice turned me back around. "Stay here?" I said, hand on my hip. "I thought we had a good plan. Thanks for nothing. Where's Bis? Have you seen him?"



Snagging his rolling chair with a foot, Trent expertly wrangled it around until he could sit. "He's fine," he said, so low I could almost not hear it. "The older gargoyles are very keen on talking to him when Ku'Sox isn't watching."



"Maybe they're teaching him the resonances of their lines," I said, wondering if there might be something good in this after all.



His head bowed, Trent kept writing. Ticked, I came to see what he was doing, and he looked up. "Bis knows the line in the garden," I said. "Where's Ceri and Lucy?" His jaw quivered, and I added, "Bis can jump us all out."



What in hell is his problem? I thought when Trent ran a slow hand over his face, almost ignoring me. "You keep saying you want to work together; well, how about accepting a little help? Trent, pay attention to me!"



Finally he looked up, anguish flashing behind his eyes before he whispered, "Ceri is dead. And Pierce."



My heart seemed to stop. I took a faltering step, my face cold. He had to be joking! But Trent's face was pale and his red-rimmed eyes had new meaning as I staggered back against a bank of machines. "Ceri and Pierce?" I whispered, looking through the wall as if I could see Pierce. I'd just seen him. Just talked to him. "Why?"



But then I figured it out. I'd just seen him. Just talked to him. Oh God, this was my fault. I'd talked to Pierce, rekindled his belief that he was a demon killer. Ceri would help him . . . Hand to my stomach, I tried to find something to say, my mind blank.



Seeing my understanding, Trent turned back to the lab book as if it was the only thing real left to him. "What happened?" I breathed. I already knew the why for everything: why Trent was here doing what Ku'Sox wanted, why he'd left with no warning, breaking the only easy way for anyone to follow, why he was closed and distant. Ku'Sox had called Trent's bluff. "What. Happened!"



My hand shook as it landed on Trent's shoulder. He didn't move, either to acknowledge my touch or shake it off. "She and Pierce got it into their heads they could overpower him if they worked together," he said flatly, and I closed my eyes against the heartache. This was my doing. Oh God. Quen. Ray.



"Ku'Sox told me they tried to kill him in his sleep and that in retaliation he had every right to burn Pierce alive with their own joined curse," he said, his tone frighteningly empty. "I have no reason to doubt that's exactly what happened. If Ceri thought she could take him, she'd try. Especially if he had been threatening Lucy. Ceri died several hours later. As best as I can gather."



I could hardly breathe, my chest hurt so badly. I wanted to rage that he was wrong, that Ku'Sox was tricking him into giving him what he wanted. But the memory of Ceri and Pierce working together to twist a black curse to kill fairies in my garden rose up, making my stomach sink. She'd been impressed with his skill, and Pierce had been trying to kill demons half his living existence and all of his dead. It had been all I could do to keep Pierce from trying to attack Ku'Sox yesterday. Had it only been yesterday? I thought, gazing at my burned fingers.



A tear brimmed and fell, splashing on them, and I made a fist. I didn't love Pierce, but it still hurt, still ached. And Ceri. She had been so happy, so alive. She finally had the family that she thought she never would. Now it was gone? She was dead?



My grief began to shift to anger. I could do things when I was angry.



"Ellasbeth didn't tell me any of this," I said, and Trent looked up, blinking as if he was rearranging his thoughts.



"Ellasbeth doesn't know," Trent said, his chest heaving with a sudden breath.



"Quen?" I asked, my voice rising at the end into a squeak. "Does Quen know?" Ellasbeth said he was in the basement trying to get the vault door open. If he managed it, he would be cut down in seconds, helpless without his magic.



Trent was writing in that book again, his numbers careful and precise. "Quen removed her body from my office," he said dully. "Ku'Sox left her there for me."



I thought I was going to throw up. Trent was calm, but I could see the rage underneath. Lucy had to still be alive. "Lucy? Bis?" I asked, and his writing hand faltered.



"Alive," he said, and my rapid breathing sounded harsh. "For the time being. You should leave before he finds you. Our plan can still work. You'll have to do much of it alone, though."



My anger bubbled over, and I pushed up from the machine, shaking. "Our plan?" I shouted, and he looked up, his expression horribly blank. "How can you sit there making notations! They're dead!"



Trent looked down at the book, his mutilated hand showing strongly on the lined paper. "He has a book mirroring mine. If I don't keep writing, he'll know something has captured my attention, and he'll come and see. You need to leave." Numb, he wrote the time and initialed it. The pen hitting the paper sounded loud, and he turned to look at me straight on.



Numb. He was numb, but there was a seething anger fueled by helplessness underneath. My mouth went dry as I realized he was on a knife's edge. He could do anything. He had vowed to keep his daughter and Ceri safe, and now Ceri was dead.



"Trent, I'm sorry," I whispered, and his eye twitched. "This is not fair."



"Fair?" he said, his anger showing. "When has fair ever entered into my life?"



I backed up as he struggled to take one careful, deliberate breath after another. "When fate levels the field," he said flatly, "the rich man finds himself struggling to survive while the man plagued with bad luck his entire life is ironically strong enough to prosper. I'm both, Rachel. I'm both." He hung his head, his fine hair hiding his eyes. "I wanted to believe that love could survive that which fate decrees, that love could remain when all is taken from you. But now . . . The Goddess has surely left me."



"I didn't think you believed in her," I whispered.



His eyes were empty when they met mine. "Chance can't build such a pit as I'm in. Only a god."



Trent rocked forward, and I jumped, startled. "There's no reason you can't carry on with our plan," he said suddenly, his voice holding a frantic determination. "I can't help you, even after you find something to bind multiple strengths together. I have to stay here and keep Lucy safe." He took my shoulders and gave me a shake. "I will not leave her. I'm going to do everything he tells me to. You have to find what you need, get it, and make it work. Understand?"



His resolve scared me, and I nodded. "Yes."



He let me go, and I breathed again. "Quen maybe," he said. "He will protect you when you move the imbalance, show the demons what Ku'Sox has done, and if they do nothing, I will be here to kill him."



I blinked fast. "K-kill him?" I stammered, my thoughts flashing to Pierce. "Trent, you are not a warrior poet. If Ceri and Pierce couldn't do it, what makes you think you can!"



Trent turned, looking furious. "Don't-" he shouted, a finger pointing to make me drop back, and he lowered his voice, his eyes still virulent. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do," he whispered. The scent of spoiled wine and broken fern grew strong.



Frustrated, I rallied my courage. "No one else will! I know you're upset. I'm upset. But you can't kill Ku'Sox!"



He walked to the nursery wall and stood looking out at his handiwork. "Your morals are going to be the end of two worlds."



Morals? I could not believe I was hearing this, and I got in his face, standing between him and the nursery. "This has nothing to do with my morals, and everything to do with how strong he is! You were there! You saw! I don't care if the one ring to rule them all is in that museum, we can't overpower him. You don't have a plan, you have an obituary! Ceri tried with the help of an experienced, powerful witch, and now Ray has only one parent!"



Trent's hands clenched. "You don't think I know that?" he shouted, and I could hear babies crying through the window. "Why do you think I burned out the fuse to the vault? You shouldn't be here, either. Why are you here?"



He was going to try to kill him. He was going to dump the task of proving Ku'Sox's guilt onto me, and if the demons turned a blind eye, he was going to sacrifice everything to save Lucy. Ceri's death and Lucy's vulnerability had tipped him over the edge. "Please," I said, taking his hand and forcing him to pay attention to me. "Promise me you won't try to kill him. You're right about everything you said last night. Give me a chance to make it work. Trent, you came to me asking for trust. It goes both ways."



Trent grimaced, his head down to look at my hand in his. His fingers moved against mine, his delicate touch skirting my burned fingertips. "You don't know how powerful he is," I whispered, pity surging in me, and he brusquely pulled away.



"I'm sorry," I said, trying again, and this time, he let my hand stay on his shoulder. It was rock hard with tension. "I'm sorry. I loved her, too. Just . . . breathe," I continued, and listening, he took a ragged breath, holding it. "It's going to be okay." I moved closer, the bitter scent of burned cinnamon mixing with the burnt amber stench and making me ill. "Stay here and do what you need to do to keep Lucy safe. I'll find something to allow us to work together. It's a good plan, and it won't get us killed." I hope.



For a moment, he stood before me, and then he slowly went back to his book, brushing his hair from his eyes before he made a hasty notation. "I thought I could do this," Trent whispered to the uncaring pages. "I thought I could sacrifice anything to save my species." He looked up, shocking me cold. "I can't. She's my child, Rachel. I can't. If I can't find a way to make Lucy safe, I will do everything he tells me to. I will fail everyone and everything. I will sacrifice even my species for her well-being. It's upside down, and I . . . I can't change it."



My heart went out to him. He had changed, and everything was painfully new. Now . . . he might understand me. "You aren't doing this alone," I said. I knew the anguish of knowing what to do but not wanting to pay the cost for it.



Heartache showed in his eyes. Behind that was a desperate need to believe. "No?"



There was the barest hint of air movement, and Trent's eyes shifted over my shoulder. His expression went ugly, and heart pounding, I spun.



Nick. At least I thought it was Nick. My relief was short-lived, adrenaline shoving it out for my hatred. "You!" I exclaimed, sure it was him when I saw his smug expression. He was in jeans and a casual tee, slippers on his feet, looking thin but satisfied, with a clean-shaven face and a haircut that showed every one of his scars. "Did you know Ku'Sox killed Ceri and Pierce?"



Nick leaned back against the window, his ankles crossed confidently. "Who do you think helped cover Pierce's absence from Newt long enough for them to attack Ku'Sox?"



My jaw dropped. For three seconds, I took that in, the awful truth sifting through my brain. He had . . . Nick had lied to Pierce? Pretended he was helping them kill Ku'Sox and then left them in the lurch? "You son of a bastard!" I screamed, launching myself at him.



Nick put up a hand to ward me off, shifting at the last moment to shove me into the wall.



I floundered at the change of direction, snagging Nick's shirt. I yanked him down with me. I had time for one good breath before his elbow landed on my middle.



We were a tangle on the floor, and my abdomen felt like it was on fire. Struggling to breathe, I grappled with him, slamming his back into the floor and straddling him. He pushed at me, and I pinned his arms with my knees. Grabbing a handful of hair, I thunked his head into the floor.



"You betrayed Pierce?" I wheezed, hearing babies start to cry, muffled from the glass. "He killed them! You helped him kill them! Ceri is dead because of you! Ceri and Pierce are dead, and I could have loved him!"



Twisting, Nick shoved me off, a nasty snarl on his face. "You could have loved me, too."



He jumped at me, and I rolled, my back crashing into one of the machines. I shook my head to get the hair from my eyes. Nick was still coming right at me, and I braced myself. We went sprawling again. Nick hauled me into a sitting position, slamming my back up against the machine. "This is for bringing that putrid witch of yours into my apartment."



My eyes widened and I gasped in pain as his open hand met my cheek in a slap that sent stars through my vision. Trent was yelling, the babies were crying, and my eye felt like it was going to explode.



"And this is for the hell of it!" Nick whispered.



I put a hand up to stop him, and he grabbed it. His other hand was coming at me, and I struggled, trying to get him off!



But before his hand could connect, he was yanked backward and up. Knees going to my chest, I tossed the hair from my eyes at the sodden thunk of fist meeting flesh. Nick reeled into the counter, his feet slipping on the tile floor until he went down. Trent stood between us, his back hunched and shaking the pain from a bleeding hand.



"Son of a bitch." Touching his bleeding lip, Nick got to his feet. I could feel him begin to gather power, slowly but gaining momentum as a weird keening from the damaged line he was pulling on grew in the back of my head. I stood, so frustrated that I was almost crying. Nick had lied to Pierce and Ceri both. Told them he was helping when he was really setting them up. How could I ever forgive that?



"Rachel!" Trent shouted as he dived in front of me. I jerked my attention from him to Nick. A ball of green-tinted aura was headed right at us. Without thinking, I flung up a hand.



"Rhombus!" I shouted, and Trent stooped as Nick's spell struck and slithered down to the floor where it bubbled into nothing.



Nick was grinning when I brought my attention back up, and I felt sick. Now I'd done it.



Trent was holding my arm. "Are you hurt?"



I shook my head. "I just rang the doorbell," I said, then added, glowering at Nick, who knew exactly what he'd been doing, "I tapped a line. Ku'Sox knows I'm here."



Trent stiffened, and then he spun as Lucy's childlike voice rang out in delight. "Daddy!"



Trent went down on one knee as if he'd been shot, his breath a quick gasp as he stared at Ku'Sox, Lucy on his hip. His expression was fierce with love and desperate hatred, and I don't think I despised Ku'Sox more than at that moment. He was going to pay. Neither Ku'Sox nor Nick had ever loved anyone, and they would pay.



My pulse thundered in my ears, and I forced my arms to remain at my sides as I backed up to stand by Trent. Dressed in a casual black kimono, Ku'Sox had misted into the room beside Nick before the nursery window. Lucy's dress mimicked his, and her hand reached for Trent, delight in her eyes. Bis was with him, too, and my jaw clenched as the little guy launched himself toward me, only to be snagged by Ku'Sox and tossed behind him like a kite.



The gargoyle spun through the air out of control, his eyes bright and cheerful as he found the wind in his wings before hitting the wall. I'd swear he was having fun as he changed his out-of-control spiral into a snappy landing on top of one of Trent's machines where he perched, glowing a bright black. He was all right. He was all right!



Guilt rose, and I shoved it away. I would not feel bad that I was happy for Bis when Ceri and Pierce were dead. Nick had betrayed them. Why? What had he gained?



"You, stay where you are," the psychotic demon said lightly to Trent as he rose, face awash with heartache. "I already took your second child's mother. Make a move I don't approve of and we will explore what else you hold dear. Understand?"



The scent of cinnamon became strong as Trent struggled with himself. He had admitted that he couldn't sacrifice his daughter. It made him both strong and weak. He knew what it was to love. Maybe he'd always known, and I had been too blind to see it.



"Down!" Lucy demanded, looking sweetly petulant in her Asian kimono, and Ku'Sox shifted her into a football hold, her little feet kicking behind her and her hands pushing at his arm as she made a face and squirmed. "Da-a-a-ddy-y-y!" Clearly not liking Lucy's frustration, Bis curved his tail around his feet, his ears going flat against his skull.



Nick's feet scuffed as he edged even with Ku'Sox, and the demon gave him a disparaging glance. "Wait your turn, Nicholas Gregory Sparagmos," Ku'Sox said as he shoved Nick behind him with one hand splayed on the man's chest. "You can beat Rachel when I'm done with her. Besides, I want to hear why she's here. She might, I don't know . . . want something?" Bis spread his wings, and Ku'Sox looked at him until the gargoyle eased back. "A cup of sugar? An egg, perhaps?" Ku'Sox said, struggling with an increasingly vocal Lucy. "Are you doing a little cooking this afternoon, love?"



My eyes narrowed. "There was no need to kill Ceri and Pierce."



A hint of a smile lifted Ku'Sox's thin lips. "Simple enjoyment." He glanced at the nursery. "What a marvelous woman she was. Al taught her so many, many things. She lasted the entire morning. I didn't even have to be careful. Ahh, that's so rare, so invigorating."



Trent's jaw was clenched, and my stomach twisted. Lucy had both hands out, craning her neck to see Trent as her fists opened and shut, struggling to reach him, little whines of frustration punctuating her loud demands. "You should have left," Trent said. I could see parts of him starting to reassert themselves, assessing the situation, deciding what would be cast aside as unrecoverable and what might be salvaged. I wondered which side of the scale I was on.



"Ku'Sox won't kill me," I said, my insides shaking as I shifted my feet to find my balance. "If he does, the demons will start looking at him to fix the line."



Ku'Sox's expression twitched. "Just so. Unless you give me provocation, it's best to leave you alone. For a few days." Now he smiled, and again my loathing fought with my fear. "Which begs the question of what you are doing here, Rachel? Rescuing your familiar?"



Ku'Sox was moving. My heart pounded, and I backed up. Trent, though, didn't move.



"As he has probably told you, he is here of his own free will," the demon said, stopping to keep Trent just out of Lucy's high-pitched, angry reach. "We're good friends," Ku'Sox said as he smacked Trent's cheek. "The elf freed me, and in return, I'm going to free him of everything that binds him, no ties to anyone at all. Aren't we, little Lucy?"



Trent was almost panting as he stood inches from his daughter, afraid to reach out.



Laughing, Ku'Sox turned away. Under his arm, Lucy cried her frustration.



"I'm not leaving here without Bis and Lucy," I said, and Nick, leaning against the window and nursing a swollen lip, made a noise of derision. "Lucy is my godchild, and Bis lives with me. I think that comes under 'not harming me and mine.' I get ignoring the me part since you're an ass, but you will not harm them."



Sure enough, Ku'Sox smiled. "Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, I have no intention of harming you-unless you attack me first, of course. No one will fault me for defending myself. Please, do try. Then I can drop this charade and we can all move on with our lives. That's what this is all about, you know. Getting others to kill you for me. But interpretation of the law is so-o-o difficult," he drawled. "As I told you before, get the proper papers filed, and I will gladly hand Lucy over."



I slumped where I stood, the machines clicking behind me to mark time in this nightmare. Trent's face was ashen as Ku'Sox struggled with Lucy. "Down!" Lucy cried. "Down, down, do-o-own!"



Giving the girl a little shake, Ku'Sox shifted her to his other side, and her cries went from frustration to hopelessness. Behind him, Bis was waving me off, his gray-skinned hands making the pixy signal to go to ground. He wanted me to leave? Standing at the outskirts, Nick saw the gesture, but Trent didn't, his attention on Lucy as he became more and more agitated.



"They know you're lying," I said so the demon wouldn't notice Bis talking to me.



"Of course they do." He turned to Nick, growling, "Get me that chair." His expression again pleasant, he smiled at me. "Is it not deliciously ironic? My lie is far more attractive than your truth. If they subscribe to my lie, they don't have to do anything about me-leaving it for you to handle or die. Which you will do if you persist."



His motions furtive, Nick darted between Trent and the machines for the chair. He looked like a bug, and my lip curled. "I know demons better than you do, Ku'Sox Sha-Ku'ru. They always bite the hand that feeds them." Nick trundled the rolling chair back to Ku'Sox, and it was all I could do to not reach out and kick him.



"Daddy! Down!" Lucy demanded, her eyes wet as she stared at Trent as if betrayed.



Ku'Sox held Lucy in front of him, looking scornfully at the little girl as she howled. "You've noticed that as well?" he said dryly as he sat with Lucy on his lap. She began squirming, her little feet kicking as she struggled. "My God," Ku'Sox said, his patience clearly wearing thin. "This child is intractable! I should have taken the younger one."



"Honor our agreement!" I said. "Or I will drag your ass before Dali right now!"



"Of course I will honor it. Go file the papers. Come back in three months." Ku'Sox's eyebrows were mockingly high. "Unless you want to settle this a different way?"



Trent paled, and in the corner, Nick shifted to make himself look smaller. If I could free Lucy, then Trent might be free to act when I got that line cleared of the sludge in it. "I'm a reasonable man," Ku'Sox said, bouncing Lucy, which made her cry even harder. "I'm sure we can come to a mutually agreeable arrangement. I want my freedom, Rachel. Now."



I backed up, remembering the feel of Ku'Sox's breath on my skin, his grip on my body, the way his eyes touched me. I shook my head, and Ku'Sox smiled knowingly.



"Down, down, down!" Lucy raged, and his gaze never leaving mine, the demon let her slip from him. Immediately she got to her feet, running awkwardly to Trent. My heart seemed to break as Trent dropped down to meet her, holding her tight as his eyes closed, his hand covering the back of her head and his arm around her, lifting her to him. His eyes opened, and I saw his fervent surety that nothing short of death would ever convince him to let go of her again.



Son of a bitch, I thought, looking at Ku'Sox's soft smile of satisfaction. We were his playthings, dancing to his whim. To say no now would start a bloodbath none of us would survive. Trent would never let Lucy go back to Ku'Sox again. "What do you propose?" I said flatly, having a pretty good idea. He had killed Ceri and Pierce. I wouldn't give him the chance to kill Lucy.



"Rachel!" Bis complained, wincing when Ku'Sox raised a hand.



Trent looked up, his arms still about Lucy. The little girl was complaining fretfully to him, her words unclear but serious. Behind Ku'Sox, I could see the women and children beyond the glass. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I can't save you all.



"I want my freedom," Ku'Sox said with a disturbing lightness. "I want that putrid elven curse you put on me lifted, and I want it lifted now."



"I want Bis and Lucy, and a trip home," I said, and he laughed, wiping a spot of baby drool from his sleeve.



"What horrid things babies are. Leaking from every orifice."



"You said what you want; well, I want Bis and Lucy!" I demanded again as Nick fidgeted behind Ku'Sox. Trent held Lucy tighter, standing up with her as if he would never let her go. He'd do anything for her. Anything. Kisten had looked at me that way once, and it had killed him. Ceri's death was both Trent's awakening and his downfall. He loved, he knew loss, and he would fight to keep what was dear to him, the rest be damned.



Ku'Sox told Nick to stop fidgeting with a sharp look. "Both? No. Trent is a nasty little elf. With Lucy gone, he will become most intractable. See? He's sullen already. And Bis? Well, that's obviously no. With him, your chances of preventing the end of the ever-after slip into the double digits."



Bis seemed to deflate in relief. I didn't like the way Nick noticed, and I cringed when Ku'Sox half turned to look at the gargoyle. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing, flying worm. You're talking to everyone's gargoyles and learning the lines because I see fit. When the demons die, their gargoyles go with them, and I will want someone familiar with the old lines so I can reinstate them."



Reinstate the lines? The words hit the pit of my being with a cold certainty. He was intending nothing less than complete destruction. This wasn't just to get the demons to kill me then return to business as usual. Ku'Sox was aiming at genocide.



"Then I guess we ought to just duke it out now," I said as I reached out with my thoughts and tapped the line. It filled me, screaming a discord that melded with my thoughts and flashed through me like grief. God, please give me another way out.



"I would consider giving you Lucy, though," Ku'Sox said, glancing at Trent's pinkie ring, and I froze, not believing I'd heard him right. Trent looked up, hope so deep in his eyes it hurt.



Nick stiffened in his corner. "L-Lucy?" I said, a part of my mind realizing that the scum bucket was afraid of me. He was afraid! My air came in with a rush, and I dropped the line, pulling myself straight and seeing Ku'Sox's fear in the way he held his head, squinted at the light. Lucy for his freedom? Two days ago I would have spit in his face, but now . . .



My gaze shot to Trent, his grip on his child almost frantic.



Smiling as if giving benediction, Ku'Sox inclined his head. "I will give you Lucy," he said softly, but his hem was shaking. "That is"-he looked at Trent, silent across the room with Lucy in his grasp-"if Trenton Aloysius Kalamack agrees to take the place of his daughter as my familiar, and you take that curse from me so I might see the sun again. I do so miss the color yellow."



Trent stood ashen-faced as Lucy softly complained of nothing. He knew what it was to be a demon slave. I had rescued him from it, and he had saved my life. Now he was going to give his own again to save his daughter, to save two worlds.



"Done," Trent rasped, his expression riven with grief as he pushed Lucy into my arms. "Take her, Rachel," he said, his arm stretched out to touch his daughter's hand as he stepped back, his eyes fixed to the little girl reaching back to him. She leaned toward him, whining, and I held her close, smelling the clean scent of her hair under the stench of burnt amber.



Take the curse from him? He could go anywhere . . .



"I say, done!" Trent shouted. "Send them home!"



Ku'Sox seemed shocked. I know I was. Things were moving too fast, and I jiggled her weight, settling her to me until it felt natural. "I thought elves were known for their patience," Ku'Sox said, and my gut twisted when he looked at me. "Rachel, is this acceptable to you, providing the elf holds to his end and I have him, body and soul?"



Crap on toast. If Trent was his familiar, he couldn't help me. That wasn't even considering that Ku'Sox would have access to everything on my side of the lines. But with Nick, he had that anyway. Torn, I jiggled Lucy. Oh my God. I was going to do it, and I felt light-headed.



"Take her, I beg you." It was Trent, and I took in his hope, his grief. "Take her," he whispered again. "I need to know they are safe, my girls."



"Oh, they will never be safe," Ku'Sox said, and Trent stiffened.



"They will, or I will not agree!"



Eyes rolling to the ceiling, Ku'Sox idly pushed his rolling chair back, gesturing lightly. "As long as you serve me faithfully, why not?"



Trent's grip on my shoulder tightened, his breath coming fast in the moment of success, but I was having doubts. My eyes slid to Nick, sullen in the corner. I took a breath to answer. Ku'Sox waited, poised. Nick was tense behind him, looking like a spider. Trent was energy chained-frantic. And Bis . . . I held my breath, trying not to be obvious as I watched him signal me to fly, go, flee . . . no, I think that particular motion meant fall back and circle around.



My heart pounded. Bis was learning how to line jump. And with Lucy safe with me, there was only Trent's life in the balance. He clearly was ready to sacrifice it. The question was, did I trust him enough to give him a chance to kill Ku'Sox? I needed help with my plan, and Quen and Al were still out of commission. I didn't know who to ask.



"Throw in a trip home for Lucy and me, and you have a deal," I whispered, and Ku'Sox clapped his hands, springing to his feet to make me drop back several steps, awkward from Lucy's weight. "But you will stay out of my church and the environs. Swear to it, Ku'Sox."



"Capital! I agree! I swear!" Ku'Sox said, looking amused, but seeing a black haze blossom on his hand, I bubbled us. Lucy and I weren't his target, however.



I spun as Trent hit the floor, choking as he grasped his throat. "Hey!" I shouted, backing up with Lucy, the little girl frightened and growing heavy. "You kill him, and all your demon babies are going to die!"



Ku'Sox strode over, and I backed up, breaking my circle. "That is my foot you feel across your neck," the demon said, leaning over Trent as he gasped. "Serve me without elven trickery, or it will crush your throat, and then I will move on to your children, your family, and everything you hold dear. Do you understand?"



Sprawled, Trent nodded, hatred burning in his eyes, his hand splayed out to show the missing digits that Al had taken from him. "If you harm them, nothing will save you," he rasped, and Ku'Sox straightened his kimono with a soft hush.



"Good," he said, looking down at him. "You have spirit. I'll enjoy it after the ever-after no longer occupies me." Making a sudden puff of distaste, Ku'Sox reached down, yanking Trent's pinkie ring off. My eyes widened when he made a fist, opening it to let a shapeless mass of black char ping dully on the tile floor. He'd melted it. Two in a row. "Get up."



His attention shifted to me, and I held Lucy closer, turning her so she couldn't see her dad pick himself up off the floor. My feet moved uneasily. I still needed to get home.



"My freedom?"



My eyes flicked uneasily between Trent and Ku'Sox. Lucy felt heavy in my grasp as she cried for Trent. It wasn't as if I could just pop out and conveniently forget to free him. The curse had been embedded into his DNA and wouldn't lift easily. The best I could do was modify it. Swallowing hard, I reached out and tapped the line again. I could feel the collective, hovering just outside my awareness, and I let a small portion of myself slip into it. I'd need the strength of them to make any changes, and I was disgusted when I found them waiting, quiet and still in a watchful unease. The sons of bitches knew. They knew.



My head began to throb behind my right eye as the discordant twang the collective had absorbed from the broken lines soaked into everything. Lucy's crying stopped, and I wondered if she was picking up more than she should. "Si peccabas poenam meres," I whispered, the faint memory of a beating drum and stomping feet drifting through my memory as I began the curse anew. Tingles of wild magic sparked through me, and a hazy lassitude dulled my headache. There was an odd pulling sensation as the curse gathered itself within Ku'Sox.



Ku'Sox stiffened, his shoulders twisting as if something had struck his back. His eyes were alight, and his hands in fists. "Finish it. Free me!"



I licked my lips, my heart pounding. I couldn't look at Trent. He had taught this curse to me, learned it from Ku'Sox. It could not be untwisted, but it could be given away or modified. "I curse you, Ku'Sox Sha-Ku'ru, to be free of restraint, that you may freely travel between reality and the ever-after at your will for as long as you leave me and mine alone!"



The demon's breath sucked in, and he leaned forward, grimacing at the added restraint.



"That means you stay out of my church, you bastard," I said, relishing his anger. "You break it, and you'll find out how the Goddess rewards liars," I barked at him, heart pounding when a sleepy-eyed presence seemed to swirl through me, laughing languorously before dulling back to slumber. Crap on toast, elven magic was slippery stuff, and I gave a little jump to shift Lucy to a more comfortable position and hide my shudder.



Ku'Sox lifted his chin as if to denounce me. But when he nodded with very bad grace, I sealed the curse. "Facilis descensus Tartarus."



The curse was in Latin, but I knew it was elven magic by the tiny laugh of wicked delight echoing in my mind. It hadn't come from the collective, and Ku'Sox shuddered as the wild magic slipped reluctantly from me and onto him, the last bit twanging from my outstretched hand. My headache came back, pounding, and before I dropped the line, I felt the souls of the demons in the collective withdraw. They were somber and still, unusual for the usually vocal and self-assured demons. They'd agreed to this, but it had the transparent feeling of ambiguity.



Ku'Sox breathed slowly, and in the corner, Nick hunched into a small shadow of fear. "It will do," Ku'Sox said, and then his eyes became slate gray. "Leave. You smell like baby shit."



Lucy was starting to fidget, and I glanced at Trent. He looked crushed and beaten. "I told you I wanted a jump home. Al can't do it," I said, deciding he would refuse unless I gave him a reason. "He burned himself at the bottom of your purple sludge."



Ku'Sox looked me up and down in surprise. "And he got out? How?"



He wasn't wearing the smile I expected, and I patted Lucy, rocking like I'd seen parents in the grocery store line do. "Through his wedding rings." Ku'Sox's eyes went wide in amazement, and I shook my head, backing up. "Send us home," I demanded. "Now."



Trent's eyes closed, and I saw his lips move in a silent "Thank you," but if he was thanking me or the Goddess he didn't believe in, I didn't know.



"Go," Ku'Sox said curtly, and I tensed, slapping a bubble of thought around Lucy and myself as I felt his broken, slimy presence enfold us and push us from his reality. For a moment, I thought he might leave us halfway there and I'd have to chance shifting my aura myself, but then the stink of ever-after fell away, and the ground grew firm under my feet. The late-morning sun spilled through the new spring leaves, and I shivered, feeling winter in the spring damp.



"Home again, home again, jiggity jig," I said, patting Lucy.



"Aant achel!" the little girl said, laughing as she patted her middle. "Tickles!" I could only assume she meant the sensation of the line through her, but then her eyes widened as she saw the sleeping gargoyles perched everywhere. "Shhh," she said. "Biz-z-z-z nap."



I shifted her weight, not wanting to put her down and risk her trying to touch one. "That's right," I said as I headed for the church. "Bis is napping. Let's go call your abba." Oh God. Quen. Trent had been fond of Ceri, but Quen had loved her with the depth reserved for one who thought he'd never love at all. For once, I was glad he was injured and unable to do magic. If he had been otherwise, he'd likely be dead by now, too, having pitted himself against Ku'Sox.



"Abba!" Lucy crowed, wiggling in delight before she went still in thought. "Cookie?" she added hopefully, and my eyes filled as Lucy patted the dandelion fluff tattoo on my neck.



The sun was shining and I was home, but the reality of what had happened was falling on me anew. Ceri had died protecting Lucy. I'd make sure that Lucy knew that when she was older. "And a cookie," I said miserably as Jenks's kids found us, distracting the little girl and making her stretch for their clattering wings and bright voices.



I slowly trudged to the church through the pixy dust, wondering if the kitchen, at least, was baby proofed. I'd have to move my splat gun, bare minimum.



What had I been thinking? Ku'Sox was free. Ceri and Pierce were dead, Trent was a demon slave, again, and the son of a bitch was free.