Page 139 of Demon's Bluff
Elyse stood firm between me and the rest of her coven. “Scott, if there is one thing that I learned in the last three days, it’s that it’s better to have Rachel as a friend than an enemy. She might be able to untwist your curse. You ever think of that?”
Al tapped his cane three times on the earth, the thumps revibrating to make a distant car’s alarm go off. “But not when exiled to the ever-after, and certainly not from Alcatraz,” he said with a devilish smile as he peered over his glasses. “Surely we can come to some agreement,honorablecoven members.”
For a moment the coven held themselves still, exchanging knowing looks as they were faced with something they dearly wanted…and trying to decide if they could get it without paying the cost. Trent’s jaw clenched as he tightened his grip on the ley line, energy tinging over my skin like silk. Kisten took note of their silence. Ivy was still too shaken, but she perked up when Bis shifted to her shoulder and whispered in her ear. Jenks, of course, was ready.
“They aren’t going for it,” I whispered to Trent, his fingers in mine making a delicious path of promise in me.Damned vampire pheromones…
“Then we will convince them.” Trent’s other hand lay lightly against my back, and our energies rubbed together and became as one.
“Enough!” Elyse shouted. “Scott, Rachel is off-limits until we have a chance to talk this out. I am the lead member, and we will follow protocol!”
“You are only lead member because we voted you in,” Scott said, and my heart sank as Elyse saw her position crumble. “And we can vote you out.”
There it was, and I winced, seeing Elyse pale as she realized I’d been right.
The coven was moving, the four of them beginning a mumbled Latin as they dropped back, their fingers weaving in unison. Elyse stared at them, shocked by the betrayal, but I wasn’t surprised. They would kick Elyse out to get what they wanted. Desperate, I looked at Al’s stoic anger as he dramatically gestured to the nearby line. Bis took to the air, Jenks with him, and still I shook my head, even as I understood why he wanted me to leave. He had known the coven would lie, cheat, and steal to enslave me, just as the elves had lied, cheated, and stolen to enslave the demons.
“Elyse Embers?” Magic wreathed Scott’s hands, supplemented by the others: Orion confident, Yaz determined, Adan too scared to disagree. “It is the opinion of the majority of the membership that you have been compromised and are hereby—”
“Good God, Scott!” Elyse shouted over him. “Will you—”
As one, the coven members threw a net. Elyse yelped, invoking a protection circle as she tossed Slick into the sky.
“Enough!” Kisten exclaimed, pulling from Ivy with the quickness of the undead to backhand Scott and send him flying into Orion, knocking them both down. The net flickered and went out, spent.
“Kisten! Gentle!” I pushed forward, jerking to a stop when Ivy grabbed my arm. He was newly undead. He didn’t know his strength. “They’re just afraid!”
That he understood, and Kisten pulled himself to a stiff-armed, scary-ass halt. Like a thrown switch, he had become a true undead, and a chilldropped down my spine as the full force of his existence rippled over me, allure and threat twined together in a delicious promise of ecstasy.
Feeling his draw as well, Ivy yanked away from me, her eyes pupil black.
Scott looked up from the ground, his apparent ten-year-old self safe under his circle as the full allure and power of the undead hit him. My neck tingled, and I held my breath, hating that Trent and all the coven could see the connection that still lay between us. Bis’s ears were flat, Jenks cradled in his hands as the pixy was too heavy to fly well. Ivy was alight, her hands clasped so she wouldn’t touch me. She knew. Though newly risen, Kisten was a powerful undead. Constance would be safe. It was the rest of us I should be worried about.
“Okay, let’s all take a step back,” Elyse said, all but ignored.
“I know you now,” Kisten intoned, and Scott and the rest got to their feet, the protection circle humming over their heads. “You will leave Rachel alone, or I will find you.”
“You have no strength here, vampire,” Scott snarled.“Semper frigido!”
“No!” I shouted when his spell tore through his circle, gathering its strength as it headed for Kisten. I’d seen this before. It would tear him apart, shatter him like broken ice.
“Kisten!” Ivy exclaimed, and I pulled on the line, feeling it sing through me.
“Rhombus!”I shook as I dropped a circle around not Scott but Kisten.
The vampire jerked to a halt, his first look of betrayal at me crushing.
And then I groaned as Scott’s curse hit my circle, and my blood seemed to fragment.
I fell to a knee, gasping when Trent lurched to catch me. His hands were like hot daggers, and I shook as I tried to put myself back together before I fell apart. With a sodden crack, I took Scott’s curse, making it mine. Relieved, I sagged as the magic vanished into the ground with little curls of color.
“Scott, knock it off!” Elyse shouted, her voice sounding as if it was amillion miles away. “We need to talk this out, and we can’t do that with you slinging spells.”
I lifted my head, thankful for Trent’s support as I got to my feet. The coven was staring at me in surprise, but it was Kisten my gaze went to. I had taken Scott’s curse, but my bubble was a flat orange and red, the telltale aura that made it beautiful frozen in place, like a single snapshot of an aurora borealis.
“You froze her circle?” Concern pinched Al’s brow. “And you call that legal?” He turned to me. “Release it.”
But I didn’t think I could just yet. It wasn’t warm enough, and I shook with cold when Bis landed upon my shoulder, a gentle heat emanating from him. Kisten stood within my circle and used his finger as if he was leaving words on a misted mirror to write,Leave Rachel alone, or I will find you.