Chapter Four
Someone had left the kitchen window over the sink open a crack, and after turning the water off, I leaned over and shut the old wooden frame with a thump, sealing out the chilly, damp air. It was closing in on midnight, but the kitchen, bright with electric lights, was soothing. Turning, I dried my fingers on a dish towel as I leaned against the stainless-steel counter and listened to the sound of pixies at play in the front of the church. Theyd moved in last week, shunning my old desk that held memories of their mother, and instead finding individual hidey-holes all over the church. The separation seemed to be doing them good, and Id already noticed a marked decrease from last year in the amount of noise they made. Maybe they were simply getting older.
Smiling faintly, I draped the dish towel to dry and began wiping down the counters with a saltwater-soaked rag. I loved my kitchen with its center island, hanging rack, and two stoves so I didnt have to cook and stir spells on the same surface. One might think that my herbs and prepped amulets, hanging in the cabinet from mug hooks, would made an odd statement given the modern feel of the rest of it, but somehow their dried simplicity blended in with the gleaming counters and shiny cooking utensils. Ivy had updated the original congregation kitchen before Id moved in, and she had good taste and deep pockets.
Ivy was across the kitchen at the big farm table shoved up against an interior wall, the report shed taken from Nina unstapled and set in careful piles so she could see everything at a glance. The table was Ivys, the rest of the kitchen was mine, and right now, I was getting ready to use every last inch of it to prep some earth-magic, scattershot detection charms. I hadnt wanted to get involved in this, but now that I was, Id go all out. I didnt need to tap a line to do earth magic.
Ivy was sleek and sexy as she stood leaning over the table, her long hair, no longer in a ponytail, falling to hide her face. Rain spotted her boots, and she moved with a marked grace as she tried to piece together three weeks of shoddy investigation. The I.S. relied on scare tactics and brute strength to get things donenot like the FIB, who used data. Lots of data.
You sure know how to attract the powerful dead, Rachel. Taking a pencil from between her teeth, she straightened, head still angled to the table as she added, God help me, hes old. Turning a photo sideways, she tilted her head to evaluate the difference.
I dropped the rag on the counter and reached for my second-to-smallest spell pot from the rack over the center island counter, setting it on the rag so it wouldnt wobble. Walkie-talkie man? I asked idly since I knew she wasnt talking about Nina. I liked it when we were both working in the kitchen, her with her computer and maps, and me with my magic. Separate but together, and Jenkss kids as a noisy backdrop.
Giving me a coy look, Ivy said, Mmm-hmm. Walkie-talkie man. Who do you think he really is?
Besides psychotic? I lifted a shoulder and let it fall, then hesitated as I looked at my spell library on the open shelves under the counter. Locator charms were out. They worked by finding auras, which existed only on living bodies. An earth-magic detection charm was an option, but all the ones the I.S. had on the street were coming up blank. I was going to try a scattershot detection charm. They were normally used to find lost people when there wasnt a good focusing object, pinging on minuscule bits of stuff that we left behind when we stayed somewhere, things too small to wipe down and clean out. It was a very complex spell, and I was worried it might not kindle from my blood, seeing that it contained higher than normal amounts of the demon enzyme that tended to interfere with the more complex witch charms.
Youre not liking him, are you? I said as I pulled one of my spell books out and dropped it on the counter.
Ivy was silent, and I looked up, blinking. Hes going to make me take the blame for this if we cant find them, and you like him? I asked again, and she winced. The more dangerous a vampire was, the more Ivy liked him or her, and Nina was channeling a very old, very powerful one. Ivy . . . I prompted, and her sigh made my brow furrow. Im the one who makes bad life choices, not you.
No, Im not interested, she said as our gazes touched and she looked away. Its just been a while, thats all. Nina, though . . . Lip twitching in a rare show of unease, Ivy sat at her keyboard. The woman is in trouble and she doesnt know it, Ivy said softly, her long pianists hands shifting papers as she concentrated. She reminds me of Skimmer, in a lot of ways, but shes utterly oblivious and unprepared for what he is doing to her, to her body. Helping her survive it isnt my job. Shell figure it out, or die trying. Her head came up and she stared at the wall, probably remembering something she would never share with me. But I feel bad for her. The highs let you touch the sky, and the lows give you no way out.