Page 57 of Demon's Bluff
Okay, that last might have been a little bitter, but me taking the smut doing curses for their benefit was exactly her aim in trying to force me into the coven.Rachel, you are a fool.
Ticked, I pushed into motion, Elyse hesitating half a heartbeat before coming even.
“That’s what you used to glamour thatReader’s Digestinto looking likea demon text,” she said, and I eyed her, pretty sure what was going to come out of her mouth next. “I want that back. The deal was you look at it, not take possession of it.”
“You holding my book hostage wasn’t the deal, either,” I said, my steps pounding the sidewalk. “Or you upping the June deadline for me to uncurse Brad.Youbroke it, so Scott and I made a new one. I walk out of your apartment free and clear, and in return, I don’t retaliate for you trying to buy me with a curse that wasn’t worth troll spit.”
“You made him think the book on the table was mydemon text,” she ground out from between her teeth. “You tricked him. Do you have any idea how long it’s been in the coven’s possession?”
“You mean stolen?” I barked. “How about you disguising your grab for demon knowledge under a fake invite into the coven?” My fingers tingled, and I looked down, embarrassed at the flicker of energy wreathing my fist. Jaw clenched, I shook my hand out.Calm your ass down, Rachel. You are better than this.
“You think I’m stupid?” I said, softly now. “That I don’t know you’d shove me in a closet only to trot me out when you don’t want to get your hands dirty? That my aura would get more and more smutty while yours stays perfect, and then when you’re done with me, you throw me under the bus for it?” I ran a hand over my snarling hair to get it to lie flat. “Maybe you should count yourself lucky all I took was a book that never should have been in your possession and find something else to complain about.” I exhaled to relax myself. “Unless you want me to bring Dali into this?” I finished sweetly. “He’s generally the one who mediates the interpretations of a deal. But honestly, we specifically agreed that I walk out with my book, and you retained it.” I looked at her, daring her to protest.You feeling lucky, punk?
Her lip twitched. “Fine. Keep the book. It will be back in my library come June anyway.”
Right…I mused darkly.
“Scott said you could see through his curse with it,” she added as if to change the subject. “The glamour stone?”
“And?” I kept walking, trying to outdistance the thought that I’d accidentally pulled energy off the line in anger.
“That sounds like more than a glamour curse.”
“It is.” I flicked a glance at her as we paced quickly to the big bus depot at the end of the street. “It also sees past transformations when I look through it. It won’t work for you. I had to link it to my visual cortex.”
Elyse lurched to keep up. “And you just used it. A spell stored in the demon collective.”
“That technically makes it a curse,” I corrected her, and she waved her hand as if it was one and the same, and maybe to her, they were.
“That means you are linked to the demon collective. Right now. Are you telling me you’ve been in the demon collective for two years?”
I hesitated, then deciding it really didn’t matter, I nodded. Somehow her mix of horror and disbelief made me feel better. That she had agreed the book was mine didn’t hurt, either.
“Since Friday…I think,” I said casually, smug when her eyes went wide. And it was true. As of this morning, local time, I was in the collective with a brand-new summoning name in my effort to get Al from popping into reality to abduct me. And now that I thought about it, coming to this time might actually work better than my original five-year plan. Five years might have left me with fewer resources by far.
“I will not allow you to try to save Kisten. I know what day it is.”
I jerked to a stop, my breath catching as she yanked my heartache from my chest and stomped it into the ground. Blinking, I took a slow breath, focused on the crosswalk flashing a warning red. The sun was up, and I had to squint through the low light. “You know,” I said softly, carefully. “If you hadn’t assumed I was running away and stuck your big nose in my business, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be three more years down the timeline. I’m not here to save Kisten.” Because I couldn’t. I’d seen him die twice. That wasn’t changing.
Elyse scoffed. “I doubt that.”
“Yeah?” The light changed, and we stepped out together.
She peered up at me as we walked, arms swinging, her mood foul. “Yeah. It hurts too much. I’m not taking the pain on the way home.”
My heart is breaking, and she is worried about a little pain?“I don’t remember your ticket being round-trip,” I said, refusing to look at her, instead studying the downtown bus depot strung out along an entire city block. There was a lot of activity, even for early rush hour. “If you don’t want to take the long way home, you will stay out of my way and watch for when you can be helpful.”
My hands were shaking, and I made fists of them. Totally uncowed, Elyse huffed.
“I’m not here to save Kisten,” I said again as we stepped up onto the sidewalk. Though I wanted to. I ached to see him one more time. I wouldn’t warn him. Just tell him I loved him and always would. “I’m here to find a mirror.” Misery hit me with a cold slap. “That’s it.”
Elyse was tight at my heels. “I thought…Seriously? You don’t want to stop him from dying?”
I jerked to a halt when I saw Scott and three officers going through a bus.Looking for us…The Turn take it, I was wearing red.
Adrenaline washed through me, pushing my heartache into the hidden folds of my brain to keep me awake at night. “Ah, change of plans,” I said, taking her arm and turning us around. “Of course I want to stop him from dying. But anything I do would only put it off for another day. Piscary would give him to someone else, or Art would simply keep trying until he managed it. I’m not here for a rescue. I’m here to find a mirror and untwist Brad’s curse.”
My last words were bitter, and I didn’t think I had ever disliked her more than at that moment, chaperoning her wanted ass through Cincy. I had gotten her out of jail, and she hadn’t even thanked me.