Ever After th-11

by Kim Harrison

  “Bis?” the old gargoyle said, and I sighed at the interruption. “Yes. Ah. Can I talk to you?”

  “Sure . . .” Confused, I stuffed my hands back in my pockets, not knowing what was going on anymore. This wasn’t what I had expected.

  “There seems to be some confusion,” Etude said, gesturing to the gargoyles surrounding us. “Everyone seems to think Bis is going to do this great thing. But this is my son we’re talking about. We all know the mistakes he’s made, the errors he sings.”

  The gargoyles watching nodded, their eyes showing impatience. Not liking their attitude, I cocked a hip. “He’s saved my life more than once.”

  “All I’m saying is that it’s a lot to put on someone so young,” Bis’s dad said. “He’s only forty-seven.”

  “He told me he was fifty!” Jenks exclaimed.

  Etude’s wings opened, and I backed up in alarm, but he was only making the jump to the flat slab of cement. My expression blanked as he came forward on widely spaced toes. My God. He was huge. I froze, and Jenks darted away when the gargoyle put a sinewy, lightly furred arm over my shoulders, towering over me. “You and I both know that Bis is a good kid, but he’s just a kid,” he said softly, shifting his wings to block the other gargoyles’ sight of us.

  Unnerved, I let him move me forward back onto the softer ground and away from the others. “They’re calling him the world breaker,” I prompted, and Etude snuffed, his pricked ears going flat for a moment. He smelled like an iron bell, and somehow it made my teeth hurt.

  “He’s my son,” he said. “He’s bonded to you—a demon. I can see it in your aura. This isn’t what I wanted for him. Everyone wants their child to grow up a little better than they are,” Etude continued. “Settle down, raise a few goyles. Sing songs that resonate with the universe.”

  “That’s not what I want for my kids,” Jenks said.

  “I accept his choices,” Bis’s dad said, far too reasonably to make me comfortable. “Even if it means that he might have to live in the ever-after and never see the stars again.”

  “I wouldn’t make him do that,” I protested, and his hand on my shoulder tensed, his claws pinching me for a bare second in warning.

  “But you and I both know that Bis is not a great hero. He is a lob-winged klutz.”

  My mouth dropped open, and I pulled out from under his wing. “Etude, I think you have sold your son short,” I said, facing him squarely, not liking that I had to look up at him. He was the size of a small elephant. “Your son, at the tender age of forty-seven, found and pulled my soul out of the ley lines when I had hardly a scrap of aura left to find it.” I jabbed a finger up at Etude’s bare, well-sculptured chest, and the gargoyle took a step back. “He jumped me to the only person possibly able to keep me alive,” I said, following him, chin raised as I got into his face. “He sang me two resonances that exist in one line so I could repair it!”

  “Ah, Rache?” Jenks said, hovering over Etude’s shoulder, looking worried.

  “That line right there,” I said angrily, pointing. “The one that you are all clustered around like it’s the last fire on a never-ending night! Right now, Bis is in the ever-after playing patty-cake with a psychotic demon who is trying to destroy the ever-after. He’s trying to learn all the lines in an ungodly short amount of time so we can save your fuzzy asses!”

  “Rache?” Gargoyles were winging in from all over, their black shadows landing menacingly in a large circle.

  “If your son is the world breaker, I’m going to see him through it!” I shouted.

  Shaking, I dropped back, suddenly aware that glowing red and gold eyes watching me were backed by strong muscle that could wring dust from a rock like water from a sponge. But I wasn’t done yet. “Now you all can stay in my graveyard because I know the lines suck right now, and if they are giving me a headache, you must be in agony. But if you ever call Bis a lob-winged klutz again, I’m going to hunt you down at noon and chip your ear off!”

  “Ah, Rache?” Jenks warbled.

  “What do you want, pixy?” I snarled, my knees shaking as I stood with my hands on my hips.

  “Never mind.”

  Etude was eyeing me, his big red eyes assessing, and my arms somehow got tangled up over my middle. I knew it made me look afraid, but I was trying for pissed. I was both. “Perhaps,” Etude rumbled, his ears perking forward at me, “my son made a wise decision after all in his choice of weaponry. Can you keep him alive?”

  His voice had changed, becoming respectful. I took a breath, hearing it shake as I exhaled. “I intend to,” I said softly, believing it. Everyone wants me to protect someone. Who’s going to protect me? “Down to my last breath.”

  Etude looked me up and down again. Rising to his full stature, he gestured to someone behind me. I couldn’t stop my instinctive half step back, but Etude was smiling a savage black-toothed grin at me when he looked back. “In that case,” he said, shifting his wings behind him, “what do you want us to do with these two? We found them skulking about and think they’re up to mischief.”

  “No fairy-farting way!” Jenks exclaimed, and I felt my face flash hot.

  “Nick,” I said, not surprised, all my bile and anger distilled into that one word. I couldn’t help my smirk as I looked at Nick hanging between two gargoyles, his toes inches from the soggy, chill earth. Jax was sitting on the palm of another gargoyle, his wings tattered and his back to us, clearly wishing he was somewhere else. The hand of the gargoyle holding him was radiating a visible gentle heat, and seeing him, Jenks swore loud enough to make his son’s shoulders come up to his ears.

  I didn’t care if Nick could read the emotions on my face. None of what I was feeling was particularly nice: satisfaction, maybe, that we—well, someone, anyway—had caught him; anger that he had slapped me; hatred that he had betrayed Ceri and Pierce to their deaths. That Ivy and I had downed him in the museum was only a minor consolation.

  He was here to steal the rings, and I felt my pocket to reassure myself they were still there. Thank God the garden was full of bright eyes tonight. Jenks’s wings were turning blue from cold, but he hovered before Nick, looking as ticked as I felt. “Nick, Nick, Nick,” I said, hands on my hips. “I wish I could say it was a surprise.”

  Sullen, Nick grimaced from the pain in his shoulders. His face had a swollen bruise, and I wondered if Ku’Sox had beaten him because he hadn’t gotten the rings from us. He said, “Are you going to let me explain, or just assume you know what’s going on?”

  The corner of my eye twitched. “Hold him,” I said curtly. “Keep him on holy ground. Jenks, get a strap, will you?”

  “Holy crap!” the pixy said as he realized the danger Nick could turn into, then darted to the church, leaving an unsettlingly thin band of dust to show his path. Hearing his wing hum fade, Jax went scarlet. His wings were tattered beyond belief, but the main lines were undamaged. He’d recover. For all his anger, Jenks had been careful.

  The surrounding gargoyles moved their wings, whispering in elephant tones as they chuckled at my precaution. “He won’t evade us,” Etude said, his voice holding a mocking assurance, and I tapped the line to make every single gargoyle’s ears prick.

  “That demon I told you about?” I said, pulling in the clean energy and filling my chi. “The one that has Bis? He can drop into this piece of crap like he’s an old slipper.”

  Etude’s tail curved up into a question mark, and Nick grunted as the sharp claws holding his shoulder pinched.

  “So you don’t mind if I strap him, do you?” I added, walking a sodden heel-toe, heel-toe toward Nick over the grass. “Simply being on holy ground won’t stop Ku’Sox from taking over Nick. A strap, though, will at least prevent Ku’Sox from using a line if he should feel the need to drop in and see how his favorite human is doing. Our agreement to leave me alone aside.”

  “Ku’Sox isn’t possessing me,” Nick said, and I shrugged.

  “Things change.” I stopped before him, feeling confiden
t with my belly full of energy and fifty gargoyles backing me. “Are you telling me you don’t do-o-o-o that anymore, Nicky baby? Forgive me if I don’t believe you.” Maybe I shouldn’t be so cocky, but I was so angry at Nick that I was beyond caring.

  The gargoyles had hoisted him up, giving me the impression of him being crucified. Nick squinted down at me, clearly hurting. “You were right,” he said, his words thready from the pain in his back and shoulders. “Ow. I’m here to help. Will you stop hurting me?”

  The grinding sound of rocks had to be laughter, and a tiny thrill of anticipation dove through me. Oh, please . . . “I’m right, huh?” I said as I cocked my hip. “Right about what? I’ve said so many things about you.” Hurry up, Jenks. I’m no good at monologues.

  Nick’s feet twitched, and a gargoyle hissed. “Trent is licking his boots,” Nick said, unable to meet my eyes. “You were right. Ku’Sox doesn’t need me anymore. I want to help you.”

  I leaned in, ready to smack his feet away if he tried to kick me. With two gargoyles holding his arms, it might be a really bad life choice. Because of him, Ceri and Pierce were dead. My eyes narrowed. “We don’t need you either, Nick.”

  The door to the back of the church slammed into the siding, and I turned, backing up out of Nick’s reach. A silver sparkle arrowed to us leaving a bright trail; the time inside had warmed Jenks up as I had hoped. It was too cold for him to be out here. Tomorrow wasn’t going to be any better. How was I going to convince him to stay home? He would see through any excuse.

  Ivy was behind him, moving fast until she found herself among the hulking shapes and she slowed to a respectful pace. One of her katanas was in her grip, and she lowered the tip, becoming a slow-moving shadow as the gargoyles responded to her with pricked ears.

  “Strap the fairy louse,” Jenks said as he dropped the flexible band of silver-cored plastic into my hand.

  I swung my hair off my shoulder to give Jenks a warm place to land, but he went to Etude instead, looking tiny on the giant’s shoulder. A wave of heat was coming off the gargoyle. My eyes went to Nick, and I hesitated. I didn’t want to touch him. He might jump me out.

  “Allow me,” Etude said after Jenks buzzed discreetly into the giant’s ear, and I gratefully gave the plastic strip to him. His clawed hands moved dexterously, and with a finger gesture, the two gargoyles holding Nick set his feet on the ground so they could strap his hands before him.

  “Thanks,” I whispered softly, and Etude’s ears flicked back.

  Nick grunted, shifting his shoulders in relief as the band tightened over his wrists with a sound that made me shiver. “I understand why you don’t trust me.”

  “Oh, I doubt that.” I backed up to where Ivy waited, not trusting him when there was no one ready to rip his arms out of their sockets if he did so much as sneeze. “If you did, you wouldn’t be here.”

  Free of his guards, I looked him over, seeing the wear and tear of living with a demon. His eyes darted. Stubble was thick on his cheeks. The suit was gone, and he was wearing a pair of black jeans, black shirt, dark sneakers, shivering in the cold. Scars covered his neck and wrists and had turned his ear into a soft mess of scar tissue. If I didn’t know he’d gotten his scars as a rat in Cincinnati’s illegal rat fights, I’d say he was a vampire junkie. Either that, or a brimstone addict. “Where’s your suit?” I asked, and his eyes met mine, blue and haunted.

  He didn’t answer me, and Ivy sidled close, whispering, “Did you get them fixed?”

  Nodding, I touched my pocket. “Is that what you came for, Nick-k?” I said, and Ivy’s eyes went black. “Trying to buy your way back into Ku’Sox’s good graces? Might be expensive. More than a thief like you is willing to pay.”

  “Ku’Sox will kill me if he sees me again,” Nick said, and Ivy sashayed closer, the tip of her sword making a soft hush in the spring-long grass.

  “So will we,” she murmured.

  I couldn’t help my smile. She was always so honest with her emotions. It was truly refreshing. Even better, Nick was falling for it. It didn’t matter if he was lying to us and Ku’Sox has sent him to sabotage. It didn’t even matter if he was telling us the truth and he really wanted to help—which I didn’t entertain for a second. What mattered was Nick believed us, that we thought we had the strength to stand up to Ku’Sox. If he believed, Ku’Sox would, too. My ifs were disappearing, and Bis was a freaking world breaker. How could we lose?

  I glanced at the church, wondering why none of them had perched on it, clearly a more comfortable place for them than a cold stone a foot off the ground. “Let’s go in,” I said, shivering in the damp. “Everyone who fits, that is. It’s cold out here.”

  “You want to take Nick inside?” Ivy asked, and Jenks’s dust turned an ugly red.

  “He’s lying,” the pixy said, looking severely at Nick and Jax.

  I couldn’t help my snort. “I know. But it’s cold out here. We can do this inside.” Leaning toward Ivy, I whispered, “Besides, I want to see how far this goes, and we can’t when we’re standing around out here in the garden.”

  “It’s going right to Ku’Sox, that’s where,” Ivy said.

  Shifting foot to foot, I winced. “Ivy, I’m cold. Jenks is cold. As soon as Jax gets off that gargoyle’s hand, he’s going to be cold. Nick is strapped and the risk is minimal. Can we please go inside? I have to save the world tomorrow, and I don’t even know what I’m going to wear yet.”

  Ivy eyed me, then pointed at Nick with her sword. “Move,” she said, and Nick blew his breath out in a long sigh before he started walking. Jenks clattered from Etude’s shoulder, shedding a thick dust over Nick as he followed him. I hoped he wasn’t pixing him. I didn’t want to have to deal with a sullen, itchy Nick. A sullen, tricky Nick was bad enough.

  Seeing them headed for the church, I turned to the gargoyle who had Jax, hesitating when I realized Etude had taken the pixy and was extending him to me as if he was a gift.

  “Thank you,” I said as I held out a hand, and Jax made the short, wobbling walk, his head down and clearly ashamed. “For everything,” I added, so Etude would know I wasn’t just talking about the pixy.

  Etude grimaced, his long canines making him look fierce. “Bring Bis home,” he said, and then his wing circled around me as if in protection. “He might be the world breaker, but he was my son first.”

  I looked up at the craggy face, wishing things were different. Al had once told me that the demons were responsible for the beginnings of the gargoyles. They were a young race, nearly as young as witches. We’d been created as magically truncated demons, twisted and lied to until we believed what the elves told us. The gargoyles had been created to serve demons, shaped to the demon’s needs. Both smacked me wrong.

  “I will,” I said, then curved my free hand over Jax when he sat in my palm. “If you’d like to perch on the church, that would be okay.”

  Etude looked at the steeple. “This is my son’s home. I need his permission.”

  I had no idea what to say, and still holding Jax, I turned away. The gargoyles shifted to let me pass, and I hastened to catch up with Ivy. I could hear Jenks berating Nick long before I reached them, and I hoped he wouldn’t be so harsh with Jax. The pixy still hadn’t said anything, and I was torn. “You know your dad loves you,” I said, not knowing why.

  “He has a funny way of showing it,” the pixy muttered.

  “So do you.”

  Jax’s head came up. “Yes but,” he started, then seemed to deflate. “I’m sorry, Ms. Morgan,” he said, his long hair shifting to hide his eyes.

  I waited another moment, then realizing he wasn’t going to say anything more, I curved my fingers around him to try to keep him warm.

  “You want me to lock them in my closet?” Ivy said when I caught up, her sword tip never wavering from Nick’s kidneys as she stepped over the wall. “It’s soundproof.”

  I hadn’t known that, but I shook my head. I didn’t know what to do with them, but I was cold, and
I wanted to get inside.

  “We should just stake them.” Jenks darted back to us, and Jax shifted against my fingers. “Right here in the garden. Let the spring fairies make nests in their insides.”

  That was just nasty, understandable but nasty. I replied, “Not that I want to spend time with Nick, but I’d rather know where he is, wouldn’t you?”

  Ivy frowned, her concern clear in the porch light as we went up the wooden steps. “He makes one move I don’t like, I’m going to give him to Nina to bleed dry, even if it will set her back a week.”

  It was the best I could hope for, and I hung back on the bottom step as Nick opened the back door and went in, Ivy tight behind him. “Shoes off,” I heard her bark, but it was more to put him off balance than to keep the floors clean.

  Then again . . . I mused as I came in to find her scowling at Nick, the man leaning against the wall to wedge his shoes off without using his hands. I debated whether to change the zip strip for one encircling one wrist, not two—then decided not to. I was sure he was Ku’Sox’s ace in the hole. Otherwise, he’d be dead by now.

  “Okay, we’re inside. Sit,” Ivy said tightly, and Nick dramatically fell into the soft leather sofa to send up a puff of vampire-incense-scented air.

  “I came to help!” he protested when she poked her sword tip at him to move down, and I set Jax on the top of the couch so I could take my coat off. It smelled of ever-after, and in a splurge of motion, I tossed it out on the back porch to air out.

  “Help?” Ivy leaned forward, stinking of angry vampire, her fangs showing as she gripped his shoulder and put her head right next to his. “You want to help yourself.”

  She shoved him into the cushions, and Nick flicked a nasty look at me for not stopping her. He was a big boy. He could take care of himself. “I was coming to talk to you when the gargoyles grabbed me,” he said. “I was on the front walk. I wanted to tell you I was sorry.”

  “But you’re not.” Jenks nearly spat it, his wings transparent as he hovered at eye level.

  Nick turned to face me as Ivy pointedly sat in the chair across from him. “I made a mistake. I’m trying to fix things,” he said, but his tone was too hat-in-hand.