"Secrets?" the woman said good-naturedly, her red lips curving up in a smile. Nose wrinkling again, she glanced at me, then away. Oh God, I hadn't had a chance to shower since coming back from the ever-after. I probably stank. That was why Ivy had shoved the window open, not to get rid of the scent of her anger or my flash of surprise.
Ivy sashayed over to her, and startled, Jenks rose up, wings clattering. "Secrets," Ivy breathed as she leaned over Nina's shoulder, her lips inches from her neck. "Always and forever, Nina. It's what keeps us alive."
Her eyes on the screen, Nina reached up to touch Ivy's cheek, hardly noticing.
Embarrassed at my apparent stink, I unpacked the bag. Organic raspberries for an illegal doppelganger curse, white thread since the pixy girls had absconded with mine, a new coffeemaker . . . Ivy watched in question as I set it clunking on the counter. Her eyes went to the empty spot beside the toaster, and I shrugged.
A faint wish for hot chocolate lifted through me as I took the coffeemaker apart and squirted a splat of soap into it. Filling it with water, I realized my old scar was tingling. Suddenly a lot more awake, I reached for a dish towel and turned. The coffeemaker could wait. Having my back to two amorous vampires was not a good idea.
Ivy was still hunched over Nina, a pale finger tracing something on the monitor, and I felt a pang of loss when Nina smiled beautifully up at her. Nina was on top of the world. It was right about then when things usually fell apart.
"That's the school Wayde used," Jenks said, hovering between Nina and the wall as he pointed to a link on the search engine's list. "He said the rates were high, but the equipment was state-of-the-art, and that's what you want, right?"
Nina pulled back to see Ivy. "Well, Ivy? You, me, and fifteen thousand feet next Friday?"
I almost choked. "Skydiving?" Ivy hated taking unnecessary chances. "Like two days from now?"
Still bent over Nina, Ivy met my eyes. Maintaining our connection, she found her full height before turning to the fridge. "The week after. You want to come?"
Nina froze. Realizing I'd be a third wheel on a bicycle made for two-or whatever-I turned back to the sudsy coffeemaker. "No, thanks." It would be all over one way or the other by then. Ivy moving on was a good thing.
Ivy's motions were intentionally slow as she came out from the fridge, frowning at Nina. She'd caught that jealous stiffening as easily as I had. "We're out of orange juice," she said as the door shut hard enough to make the cookie jar rattle.
"We didn't expect you back this soon," I said as I rinsed the coffeemaker and set it to dry.
"They have juice at the corner store," Nina offered. "I'll run down and get it. I could use the fresh air." Her nose wrinkled again.
Because I'm stinking up the kitchen, I thought sourly.
Ivy glanced at Jenks with a pleading look, and the pixy brightened as Nina reached for her purse. "Hey, ah, I'll come with you," he said, making me more than a little curious. "I've got to, ah, stretch my wings. See if we're the only church on the block with gargoyles on it."
We were the only church on the block, period. That wasn't why he was going with her, but content to wait and see, I leaned against the counter and dried the coffeemaker as Nina gave Ivy a quick peck on the corner of her mouth. Ivy's hand was on her shoulder, the first softening of her mood showing. Whatever was bothering her wasn't Nina.
Nina strode confidently from the kitchen, Jenks right behind her, his dust a hot silver as he yelled to his kids that Belle had the conn. He's guarding her?
I put the coffeemaker back together as Nina's footsteps grew faint. Her voice rose pleasantly as she said something to Jenks, and then there was silence. The door boomed shut.
Ivy's jaw was tight and her head was bowed.
I exhaled long and slow. It had been a while since we'd been alone together. I hoped whatever it was, it wasn't too late. "Nina is in a good mood," I fished. If Ivy wanted to talk, she would.
Ivy pushed herself into motion. "She should be," she said, a hint of pride in her as she went to her stack of mail and began sorting. "On the way home from the airport, she shoved Felix out of her mind."
"No!" I put the coffeemaker back in its spot and levered myself up to sit before it. "I didn't think she had any say in the matter." Maybe this was why Jenks was with her. Felix would be pissed.
Ivy lifted a shoulder and let it fall, focused on her mail. "If he'd been conditioning her from adolescence, she wouldn't even think to try, but she grew up without him. Their relationship is only a few months old." She frowned at the duplicate catalogs from Vamp Vixen. "He's been relying on her willingness until now, and Nina has a very strong core of self," she said, smiling faintly. "It's the first positive step she's taken to become less dependent on him." Her smile faded. "He uses her too much."
Unease trickled down my spine. Though no was in a vampire's lexicon, it was only to give the other words like sex, hunger, and violence something to bump up against. "You encouraged her to do this?" I said, and a delicate flush crept over her cheeks. "Damn it, Ivy, do you know how dangerous that is? To flaunt your independence before a master?"
Her fingers faltered as they sorted, and I slid from the counter. "Yes, you do," I said, glad now that I smelled like burnt amber and that the window was open. "Fine. Play with the master vampire. But don't do it here. I put you back together once. I'm not going to do it again if you go out looking for it!"
Somber, Ivy turned to me, her hair swinging. "I-"
"Don't tell me you know what you're doing," I said, angry that she'd knowingly pushed Nina into something that might get Ivy hurt. "He's a master vampire, and he's not even yours!"
"Since when do you have anything to say about what I do!" Ivy exclaimed, her eyes flashing black.
I stood even with the center counter, measuring the space between us. Worlds, there were worlds there. "Since I am your friend," I pleaded, letting go of my anger so my concern could come forward. "I know I said to try to help her, but goading her master like this? Proving he doesn't have control? He's going to be furious. Cormel can't protect you from everything. He's pissed you left!"
Turning away, Ivy ripped open an envelope, sorting everything into keep and toss piles.
"Ivy . . ." I pleaded. "You've come so far. Why? Is it because you love her?"
"I don't know!" she said, her eyes black, not in fear, not in hunger, but in heartache. "It didn't work out between me and Glenn and Daryl, okay? We tried, and it all fell apart. Bad."