Page 14 of Demon's Bluff
Grimacing, I took Lucy’s backpack off and lifted her into the back, where she scrambled into the second car seat. Ray was next, silent as I helped her in and buckled her up. Lucy, as she loudly informed me, could do it herself.
“Laker isn’t FIB, but he does have jurisdiction to serve warrants and bring in bail jumpers,” Glenn added, and I moved the girls’ things into the car.
“Good to know.” I didn’t mean to be short with him, and I tried to soften my tone. That Trent was basically a prisoner in his own estate grated on me.
“Let me know if he harasses you,” Glenn said as he waved to the girls. “Not to say you can’t take care of it yourself,” he added. “Good-bye, Ray and Lucy.”
My lips parted when he lurched forward, leaning into the car to give them little sticker badges. “That makes you official FIB deputies,” he said as the girls giggled and kicked their feet. Then to me, somewhat embarrassed, “It’s a community outreach thing.”
“Elves working for the FIB?” I questioned as I got into Trent’s SUV and started it up. “I like it.”
Glenn grinned, and I rolled the windows down so the girls could say good-bye again, but worry dogged me as I drove off. When I had seen Laker, I had assumed he was coming for me. That he was after Trent wasn’t a surprise, really.
Sparkle magic lady. Run, run, run.
Chapter
4
“Tink’s titties, it’s colder thana troll’s toe,” Jenks swore as I pushed through the narrow revolving door at the corner of Carew Tower.
“You could have made the trip in my bag,” I said, and the pixy snorted, the noise loud, as he was sitting under my ear.
“I can’t keep your ass above the grass from a purse,” he muttered, but I thought it was more about the demon book that he’d be sharing space with than any worry he had over my safety. Once inside, I slowed, breathing in history. Carew Tower had been built during the thirties, when people lavished style and art onto their city structures. That Trent had bought it meant that the crumbling art deco building would be restored.That is, if he ever gets access to his money again.
Mood faltering, I worked my way through the general outflow of foot traffic to the elevators, stifling a shudder when Jenks plastered his wings against my neck to warm up. The pixy had insisted on coming despite the chance he might get stuck here. He couldn’t fly when the temps got below forty-five degrees, and if the coven didn’t let me walk out, he’d be living off French fries and pesticide-contaminated pollen from the flower shop until someone could come get him. November was too cold for pixies.
Chances were good that wouldn’t happen. Not with my shoulder bag heavy with that demon book and my middle full from the Skyline chili I’d had for lunch. After dropping off the girls, I’d taken some time to prep. My boots were now scuff-free and my slacks roomy enough to kick ass in. Mydark green jacket did double duty, both fashionable and spell-proof, as potions couldn’t soak through the leather. I’d taken the time to wind my spell-straightened hair into a bun to hide a zip-strip clipper. As long as my hands weren’t behind my back, I could get free.
“You good, Jenks?” I said, worried that he hadn’t said much of anything. The sun was shining, but it was still cold.
“I need a minute,” he answered, a thin dust of orange sparkles sifting down my front.
Angst flickered as I flashed Elyse’s card at the security guy and was pointed to a smaller set of elevators. Thirty-third floor. Not so far up that reaching the ley lines would be hard, but not so low that you wouldn’t have a view. Boots thumping, I jammed the card into a pocket and hoisted the book-heavy bag higher up my shoulder. Apart from the obvious, I had my splat gun, zip strips, and vials of salt water to break earth charms. My go-to, though, were the ley lines. That, and Jenks—soon as he warmed up.
I hit the button for the elevator, surprised when one was immediately available.
“Hold that, will you?” someone called, and I stuck my hand out and stopped the door from closing. Huffing, the woman hustled into the small, art deco–appointed lift. She had four cups of coffee in a tray, and I breathed in the scent of roasted beans as the doors closed and she hit the button for the sixteenth floor.
“Thanks so much,” she said with a sigh, and I nodded and used my knuckle to light the button for the thirty-third. “Coffee run,” she needlessly said, and then her nose wrinkled, and she sniffed.
I lifted my bag to explain where the faint scent of burnt amber was coming from. “Coven contraband,” I said with a toothy smile.
“Oh.” The woman’s gaze flicked to the elevator panel, and she hit the button for the next floor. “Um, have a nice day.”
The lift stopped, and she bolted when the doors opened, stumbling out to stand in the hall and stare at me until the doors closed and the lift continued on.
“Wow,” I said sourly, and Jenks snickered.
“Relax, Rache.” The pixy’s dust was a bright silver as he took to the air, warm again. “You got this. It’s a bunch of teenagers. How bad could it be?”
“Bad,” I said. “My decision-making sucked until I hit twenty.” I frowned, thinking. “Twenty-three. Maybe.”
Jenks chuckled, wings sparkling with dust as he landed on the raised detail of the elevator’s walls.
Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…The lift eased to a halt, and the doors opened to a busy hallway. The woman at the distant reception desk didn’t even notice us, and the silver doors closed and we continued up. “Do you think the coven really has a spell that can bring the undead back as a ghost?” I said, fidgeting. “A lot of everyday curses and spells are bastardized from heavy hitters, but she wasso smug.”
“Elyse?” Jenks sat, feet dangling as he ate a wad of pollen he’d brought with him. “My guess is there’s a reason she’s trying to up your June deadline to uncurse Brad. They won’t let you look at the spell unless you’re coven, meaning you’d have to abdicate your subrosa position. Rachel, you don’t need them. You don’t need anyone.Theyneedyou. Remember that.”