Pity sifted through me as Nina’s hands slowly unfisted. How many times have I seen Ivy do that? I wondered when Nina looked at the sky and closed her eyes as if in prayer—just like Ivy coming back from the edge of control.
The goons at the end of the parking lot had gotten out, shouting at everyone that the park was closed and to leave, but I think it was Nina shaking silently in the middle of the street that made the most impact. No one wants to be around when a vampire loses it. Sure, there’s compensation and apologies, but that doesn’t go very far if you get bitten. A vamp scar is forever, fading in time but able to flair into full potency if properly triggered.
Trent slammed his door, and I yanked my hand from my neck, not even realizing I’d covered it. My head jerked up when Bis flew overhead, wings flashing as he awkwardly slid to a halt on one of the shadowed picnic tables. His eyes glowed red as they found me, and the cat-size gargoyle resettled his leathery wings. His skin had gone entirely black in embarrassment for the ungraceful landing, and the white tuft of fur on the tip of his lionlike tail stood out like a beacon as it flicked nervously.
Pleased, I ambled over, smiling as his skin returned to its usual pebbly gray. If Bis was here, Jenks wasn’t far behind.
“Nice of you to wait for me, snot breath,” Jenks snarled, clearly out of breath as he dropped heavily down onto my shoulder in a wash of silver dust.
Bis shrugged, touching his wing tips together over his head and flushing again.
“I see we got a posse,” Jenks added, tugging on my ear as he settled himself. “Bis, I’m more tired than a pixy on his wedding night. You check around. See if we got vampires hiding under that lame bridge.”
Grinning to show his black teeth, Bis took to the air. I pulled the hair out of my face and looked to see Nina and Trent, the woman nodding at his soft question. There was a whiff of honey and pollen as Jenks replenished his energy, the scent mixing with the more earthy smell of ducks and the nearby barrel of garbage. He’d probably tried to impress Bis by flying the entire way instead of hitching rides.
The vampires had begun throwing stones at Bis. I took a breath to yell at them, only to snicker when Bis caught one and threw it right back, making them scatter and swear.
Nina’s steps slowed to a stop, and when Trent continued on, I rocked into motion, respecting her need to be alone. Three more steps, and Trent came along my side. He looked like a businessman on holiday with his briefcase and shiny shoes peeping out from under his slacks. A pinch of worry marred his attempt at a smile, and I slipped my arm around his waist as we crossed the footbridge. I slowed, wondering if Sharps was around. He’d been a big help last time. But the ripples on the surface were only from the wind and current, and tension began to wind its way up my spine and give me a softly throbbing headache.
“I think I’m going to puke at all this sweetness,” Jenks muttered, and I tossed my hair to get him to leave. I didn’t care anymore who saw us together, but Trent was tense.
“You’ve done this before,” I said, thinking he was stressing about the charm. “No sweat.”
“Your soul wanted to be saved,” he said as our steps became one at the apex of the bridge. “You gave me permission to take it. I doubt that is what’s going to happen here.”
“It’ll be fine,” I said. “It has a containment circle, right? Then all we need to do is lure him into it.”
He nodded, but he still didn’t look convinced.
“Hey, ah, Rache?” Jenks said, dropping down in a column of gray dust. “We’ve got company.”
Bis whistled from twenty feet up, pointing at two cars roaring into the park, one at either end to block anyone from going in or out. Cormel’s vampire thugs had turned, shouting at them as, like a clown car, the vehicles began to empty of more men than could possibly have fit in there. All of them looked eager for a fight—all of them were headed our way.
“How dare they . . . ,” Nina whispered, her hiss making my skin crawl.
Trent slowed, his gaze on the footbridge and Al’s line beyond it. “I don’t think those are Cormel’s people,” he murmured.
“Hang close, Jenks,” I said, and he alighted on my shoulder. Everyone had slowed, the original vampire guards making a front at the base of the bridge. I didn’t like that half of the second group was jogging around the small lake to encircle us. Worried, I scanned for Bis. “Come on. Let’s get into the line before they make it around the pond.”
Trent nodded. What did they think I was doing out here? Having a picnic? “Stop her!” one shouted. “She’s almost at the line!”
Okay. That was enough for me, and I grabbed Trent’s elbow to run for it. Nina, though, had turned to face them, shaking in anger.
“You fools!” she shouted, feet spread wide. “She isn’t fleeing. She could have done that from her church. Interfere, and Cormel himself will tear his revenge from your skin!”
“We don’t work for Cormel,” one shouted back, and I heard a crack as someone broke a tree branch for a makeshift club. “Stay out of that line, Morgan, or Ivy dies!”
Suddenly it was making a lot more sense. Great. We were right in the middle of a freaking vamp war. Apparently Trent wasn’t the only one who thought giving the undead their souls might be a bad thing. “Come on,” I whispered, tugging at him. “We have to get into the line.”
“And I thought the press was bad,” Trent muttered as he started to jog beside me. “What is the line doing over there? I thought the tail of it was in the water.”
I flushed, looking up for Jenks. “I accidentally moved it.”
“You moved it? How?”
“By accident,” I said again, not wanting to talk about it. “Nina!” I shouted. “If you’re coming with us, let’s go!”
The soft give of the grass became the hard thump of concrete, and I spun as the warmth of the line cascaded over me. Trent slid to a halt beside me, eyes bright and a smile lifting his lips. Nina was slower, backing up as she glared at the vampires jogging to a slow stop before us. Bis landed on the statue of Romulus and Remus. At the bridge, a pitched fight had broken out, but some were wading across the shallow pond to join the few who’d run around it.
“Don’t do it, Morgan,” a vampire threatened, dripping from the pond and stinking.
More cars were driving up, angled to light the brawl with their headlights. This was going to either make the international news or be buried so deep the lost-dog-found would get more hits. Nervous, I looked at Trent on my right, then Nina on my left, her eyes a worrisome black. I quashed the sudden fear that she might betray us all. We were in the line. The vampires hung back a safe eight feet, but that wouldn’t last. I didn’t care if getting their souls back would kill them or not.