"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.