"No," I said firmly, and then said to Trent, far more nervously, "Can you stop that, please?"
Immediately the line in me fell to nothing and he let go. "Sorry. It's not supposed to hurt."
"It didn't," I said, not wanting to admit that it had felt pretty damn good.
Al snickered, and again I blushed, lifting my chin. "I'm a demon," I said. "I admit it, the world knows it, but I belong here, in reality. I'm not going back to the ever-after under duress."
Al's posture lost the brief glimpse of indulgent amusement. "I beg to differ, Rachel Mariana Morgan," he intoned, his eyes flicking from me to Trent, reassessing the situation.
"You can beg all you want," I said boldly, my heart pounding. "Trent's been working to get legislation through to make me a citizen again, with rights and responsibilities. If I'm lucky, I'm going to have to pay taxes next year, right, Trent?"
"Ah . . ." he faltered, inching back a bit more.
Thoughts were whirling behind Al's eyes, the possibility of a demon having rights in reality having distracted him. I think it bothered him that he wasn't accepted as a person, much as he'd deny it. Hands on his hips, he eyed me up and down, his gaze lingering on my hurt leg. "Why did you break that bracelet? To fix your leg?"
His tone was bitter, and I shook my head, the motion quick with nervousness. "I have to twist some charms."
"You mean curses," Al said, almost leering.
"Curses," I affirmed, wishing I hadn't shoved the chair out of the line. "I have to find HAPA or I'll get blamed for several murders. But I broke the charm so that I could fix Winona."
Al looked up from where he'd been analyzing his fingernails. Like magic, his glove ghosted back into existence. "Winona? A new friend of yours?"
I shook my head, remembering Winona's courage. She was braver than I was. "They cursed her, Al, with my stolen blood. I can't hide behind what I want to be anymore. It's hurting too many people. I'm a demon, and I won't let fear keep me from being a demon anymore. She needs my help," I whispered. "It's my fault she's the way she is, and no one is going to fight my battles anymore." I looked up. "Even if it scares me."
Trent cupped a hand under my elbow, supporting me in such a way that Al wouldn't readily see. "HAPA has a vial of her blood," Trent said. "Once they get done analyzing it, they're going to try to duplicate it and use it to eliminate Inderland one species at a time."
Al turned to face us fully, his eyebrows high. "Let's all hope they start with the elves," he said drolly. "How very careless of you, Rachel, giving out free curses."
"It wasn't my idea."
Taking off his hat, Al wiped a gloved hand over his hair before replacing the hat and squinting into the sun. "Demon," he scoffed. "You may be a demon, but you don't have two curses to rub together to protect yourself. You're coming with me where you will be safe."
I shifted my weight, and we backed up a step, to the edge of the line. "No."
Al stepped forward, and Trent put a hand out between us, stopping him cold. "She doesn't want to go with you."
Al's eyes narrowed. "Rachel can't protect herself," he said as if I wasn't standing there. "You know it better than she does. If you truly care about her, let her go. I'll keep her safe. Fill her with curses until she can stand on her own."
I blinked. Care about me? Boy, did Al have it wrong.
Trent leaned forward over my shoulder, our heads almost touching, his front to my back. "Safe? The same way I kept her safe by hiding her? I nearly killed her trying that, and hiding with you will do the same. No. She will have the sun and shadow both."
Sun and shadow both? I'd heard that before. It was an elf thing, and I suddenly felt uneasy. Things were spiraling out of control. I pulled away from Trent to see him better. He looked grim, squinting in the bloodred light, his hair blowing in the fitful wind like the tall grass around us. His jaw was clenched. Determined. He looked determined, and something in me twisted. Not again. I didn't want his death on my soul.
Al smacked his walking cane against a large rock standing like an island in the sea of grass. "Sun and shadow. Sun and shadow!" he shouted, and Trent's grip on me tightened. "There is no both. There is one or the other, and you will come with me now!"
Al reached, and I pulled the line into me. Like a flood it burst into my soul, raging through the hard-won, already desensitized channels, and racing to my hands. Feeling it, Al jerked his hand away, and Trent got it instead. The man grunted as the full force of the line burned him, and I winced, dampening the flow immediately. "Oh, crap. I'm sorry, Trent!" I said, and he frowned as he straightened from his pain-instilled crouch.
"My fault," he said as he found his full height. "It's okay."
Al leaned forward, and Trent grasped my shoulder, ready to yank me away. "It's down to pride, Rachel," the demon said, so close that I could see myself reflected in his goat-slitted eyes. "Even if I could get the rest of them to accept that you are sun and shadow both, there's the undeniable fact that you broke the balance of the ever-after. I'm paying Ku'Sox through the ass to keep it quiet. I need a source of income, and you're it."
Pride. That I could fix. "What if I sign the income from my tulpa over to you? You can pay him from that until I fix the line," I said breathlessly.
Al jumped as if startled, and even Trent made a questioning noise. "Tulpa?" Trent breathed, his words tickling my ear.
"I'll tell you later," I said, distracted as Al frowned, a calculating squint to his eyes. "That might buy a few groceries until I can work out something with Trent in lifting that elven curse," I offered, and sure enough, he twirled his walking cane in wide circles as he thought about it. If I could satisfy him, give him something he wanted, he'd let me do what I wanted for a little longer.
"And you think you're not one of us," Al said, his tone flat but with a trace of pride.
"Oh, but I do," I said, my jaw clenching against the pain in my leg. I had taken off the bracelet. I had gotten Al to listen. I had Trent as an ally. Three impossible things before midnight. I began to shake, the limits of my flagging endurance reached.
For a long moment, Al eyed us. "Sun and shadow," he grumbled, and Trent jumped when the demon snapped his fingers dramatically and a piece of paper floated down, flashing into existence from a space three feet over Al's head. The demon reached for it as it fluttered, his gaze never leaving mine, a hint of a smile about his lips. "Sign it," he said, extending it.