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Vivian looked at h of the woman to kill her Vivian’s eyes ide, herfound a way to believe what her eyes were telling her

"Even dead va up on my other side

"He-he," Vivian stammered, white faced and unable to say it

"You think I know blackto survive" I shoved the sight of a de a woman’s throat out to the back of my brain to wake ht as I found Pierce throwing up behind a table Burn hiarden? Could Pierce, Vivian, and I kill a deether? My heart pounded, and I took a step forward, feeling Ivy’s hand take my bicep I doubted we could kill hi Ku’Sox wasn’t murder, it was survival And if it made me a black witch, then so be it

My memory flicked back to Pierce crouched over Al and ready to end the demon’s life for his freedom Maybe there was no difference between us after all, and the reason I wasreflections of myself in him, and I didn’t like it

Ku’Sox looked to the ceiling as a cascade of red-tinted ever-after washed over hi back into hi the dead woman under his arm, he headed for the door I could hear sirens out there, and my heart hammered Black craft or not, I couldn’t let hiry as he wiped his lanced at Ivy to tell her eren’t, then Vivian, who still didn’t understand the reality of deback on one foot "This is not my problem"

"What?" Vivian said, and I lifted a shoulder and let it fall "You can’t let hied, her anger at her own naivete, her fear, and her disbelief finding an easy scapegoat in me

I should have told her that this was all Trent’s fault, but I held ue as Ivy slinked away to take up a defensive position "What do you wantic? Huh? ’Cause that’s the only thing that he’s going to notice!"

She licked her lips, clearly at ith herself Ku’Sox, though, was almost to the door

"He’ll notice this," Pierce said, and then, pulling on the line so heavily even Ku’Sox felt it, he threw a spell Vivian gasped as it flew the distance, burning the very air as it passed Ku’Sox spun, bouncing it back at us with a quickly instigated bubble

"Down!" I shouted, and I dropped to the floor The curse hit the stage, and the a sparkles of ozone over us "Da!"

"Mmmm," Ku’Sox said as he started back in our direction "Curious accent to your spell work Not at all like hers Who taught you?"

"We can’t stop hi to decide if Vivian was scared enough yet If I could convince her that soht let me keep my mind when they shoved me back in Alcatraz Sort of a plan B in case deain

Pierce ju that he had Ku’Sox’s attention, I pulled Ivy and Vivian toGod that Pierce was here-even if he was a black witch I needed hiht

Vivian hesitated, but it was Ivy who said, "Like the fairies?"

I nodded, even asto burn Ku’Sox-and I wasn’t going to stop the curse "Vivian, we need your help" Her face beca up and throwing another curse at Ku’Sox Okay, theit

Pierce followed the first char on the demon when Ku’Sox didn’t see the one hidden behind it A black sticky so coated Ku’Sox, and the dereen aura covering hi Pierce flick his hair back as he caught his breath "We have to do a casting I doubt it will kill hio soaze never leaving the deave a hard pound Ivy She’d be safe, but she’d have to stay with hast again, and I wondered what it was going to take to convince her

"Casting isn’t illegal," I interrupted her "Just the curse And I’ll twist it, not you"

"Down!" Pierce yelled, and I dropped, yanking Vivian witha protection circle over us A red-tinted ball of death exploded behind us, and the s off Outside, I could hear sirens "We need a decision here!" Ivy said, looking shaken

"I can’t do a black curse!" Vivian babbled, the last of the professional young wo away as she pushed her hair out of her eyes "I’, still not altogether out of Pierce’s last spell

"All you need to do is hold the inner protection circle against all creation," Pierce said, his blue eyes sharp with an old anger at the reluctance of uptight women "You don’t need to sully yourself-we’ll do that"

I dropped my bubble so Pierce could join us, and he took a symbolic step forward He knew the spell I wanted to use "My outer circle won’t hold hi If he breaks it, the curse will incinerate half of Vegas"

Ivy looked scared "Get it right, witches"

"’Scuse oo at Ku’Sox

This ti in a cascade of sparkles He had mastered the countercurse We had to work fast "I’rand as you think you are," Pierce said to me, and I smirked back

"Same here," I said, exhilarated even as I was scared to death "Okay! Let’s do this!"

"Look out!" Vivian shouted, and I jerked as Ku’Sox backhanded Pierce into Ivy They slid across the floor in a tangle of ar in a sparkle of green and red Crap! When had he gotten that close?

"Hey!" I shouted as Ku’Sox wrapped an arled, trying to break his hold as he headed for the door Shit, shit, shit! I could still make the outer protection circle, but I wasn’t ready to sacrifice et rid of Ku’Sox But then I re that woman’s throat out and her silent screa would be better than that I think

"You have the nicest hair," Ku’Sox said as he yanked me up and I felt him touch behind my ear I stiffened when he ran his nose down my neck, and my breath sucked in as he found the vamp toxins sunk deep in htful"

"Oh shit," I whispered, scra to slow us down

"Shit," Ku’Sox said speculatively, and he loosened his grip until ain "I’ve heard that several times now Is that the word of choice? I do so like all-enco words Verb, adjective, noun Yes, you are shitted"

My heels thuo!" I cried, reaching out to grab a post Ku’Sox yanked ed a table I wouldn’t let go, and the added weight slowed him down even more We were al people in the street

"You knohy my brethren didn’t killhit a post and we stopped "They couldn’t Even Newt, and she tried They noble past, designed to bridge the gap between de us back into the sun, able to walk in reality and the ever-after both, and all of us capable of holding as rip slipped and we ht want to fix that unfair quirk of nature I think I turned out quite nicely, don’t you?"

"You don’t look special toPierce horrified and afraid to do anything He was next to Vivian, and Ivy was at their feet I have to get back to the almost unhappy "You knohy Newt killed her sisters? I told her to Newt I could control, but the others? They were a danger and had to be killed Fey than males They have to in order to hold a second independent field of energy inside thehts went back to what Ku’Sox had said earlier aboutit Had I been able to do it because I was fe his hold on rip slipped away, and he started forward again "Two energy fields bound by one aura without the s crushed or absorbed That’s where babies coot Newt to kill all her sisters, there was no one left to tell me no, especially when all I needed to do was slide into reality to escape And then I find you Natural born Unknown possibilities Stronger? Weaker? Let’s find out"

Crap, ere al out who’s stronger," I said, and then I reached for the line I’d never fully released, dey raced in, hot and electric, tasting of dust, sand, and lightning that beat on the desert floor, the power of the sun kept clean and unble it like a battery

I pushed it out through ritted It didn’t hurt, but it burned like fire

Howling, Ku’Sox flungwhen I hit a table I slid to the floor, hurting Daht," I slurred as I felt Ivy’s hands reach underme back to Vivian and Pierce "I can hold ain, I looked up to see Vivian, fear on her face for what she was about to do Pierce took h me so I wouldn’t fry theers, co the alien-ness of the hts, now realizing that I could, like aa spell, as we had done in arden, but there would be no will but th was lent to them, and they didn’t know the difference, didn’t know that I directed them Mine

Vivian’s bubble snapped up around us, coated withwith Vivian’s so his h her bubble My outer circle was next, enco most of the restaurant’s front room and a slice of the unseen back alley

Ku’Sox ran for us, his clawed hand looking like a bird’s foot as he screamed and tried to break it, but Vivian’s as supplemented by mine, and he couldn’t

"Celero inanio!" The words ripped from Pierce’s throat, pushed by my will and his fear I could feel Vivian’s despair and shame, but fear for her life burned in her I felt Pierce’s pride, then ed in his shock when he realized I was holding hi them both

In slow motion, I felt the lava ribbons of the curse snake out froy darted to the edges ofto the peak above us As one, the six ribbons struck the apex A flash of energy exploded fro in a burst of heat

"I pay the price," I whispered, gathering the rising smut to me as if it were a blanket The black curse was mine I deserved the price

Pierce’s head was down, and Vivian was staring upward in ah her It wasn’t that the dark side was stronger, but that everything was the dark side Allourselves that soicjust was

And so it was only I who saw Ku’Sox’s face go white in the realization that Ias Newt, but not insane and therefore not easily twisted The cloud of burningfrom one to the next as fast as an electron can spin-and in a bare second before the air in his lungs turned to flaone, and the air burned-elass breaking sliced through my disappointive us," Vivian whispered

The curse feltupward and turning into real flame With a snap, both my and Vivian’s bubbles collapsed Hands pulled froht entle with compassion, tender with hesitation

I opened lass had been the lights We were in the dark, lit only by real, honest fire, dancing at the ceiling It grew even as I watched, the light beco is on fire," I whispered "We should go"

Disappointment made me slow, and Ivy helped me to my feet as the smoke detectors continued to scream and the water system clicked on Ivy and I searched each other’s expression in the di in the coht frootten away, and yet she thought nothing less ofto kill him or because I’d tried in the first place Evil witch, black de she was beautiful inside

"We-we," Vivian stammered, clearly in shock as the waterwhen he realized no one was following hi Vivian, not , but at least ereThe floor was charred, slick under my steps, unseen in the dark The air was heavy, a weird lad I couldn’t see the s bodies of the people dead and left behind I could s on the tables still left standing

"Kitchen," I said, leaning heavily on Ivy, weary Cops and fire to count the building as a loss As soon as the right people arrived, they were going to circle the place and let it burn We should probably get out before then

We hit the kitchen at a staggering run, Ivy grabbing a take-out bag in passing once we got past the arc of my circle that had contained the curse I wasn’t sure if she was supportingher e hit the kitchen’s service doors and a slice of harsh ht froed It was still hot but now it had the stink of garbage Ivy was first out, looking at Trent, waiting besidethe three-foot ju up at listening in the streetlight Pierce hesitated only briefly before he juy splat Ivy’s hand was extended for me, and I took it, still shaky Ku’Sox had left, sure, but now he kneas a threat

"We got the devil," Pierce said, clearly in a good mood as we all li Maybe Trent had learned so after all

"You think Ku’Sox is dead?" I said as I stumbled beside Pierce "I didn’t see a body in there Did you see a body? Anyone see a body? I sure as hell didn’t!"

Pierce jerked to a stop, and Ivy left ot in and slid to the driver’s seat, water dripping froet in

"No one could survive that!" Pierce said, water flinging fro I jumped when the city’s fire codes clicked into play, and the building-wide circle snapped into place to contain the fire Thank God ere out of it We had only moments before soht have been waiting for us to get out Maybe

"If killing that freak was that easy, don’t you think that the de Ivy’s eyes on ot in the car, nuht kno to kill hi it It was said that Newt had killed her lovers by running a line through them Obviously I could do the same Otherhy had Ku’Sox convinced Newt to kill the female de to see theht I had to talk to Newt Great Just friggin’ great Maybe she’d think I was a deet in the car!" Ivy shouted froot in, the car shaking as he slaht played over our car, and swearing, Trent ducked Ivy gunned it, bouncingthe fire as she spun in a tight circle Pierce gaped behind us as Ivy drove like the devil hiround Vivian and Trent cried out in protest fro thump, then the road smoothed as Ivy found the way to the interstate No one followed

I closedthe s of witch on h my eyelids, and I opened thes were a beautiful web of silk and diamonds as he held on to the rearviewour back

"Everyone here?" I needlessly asked,as I flipped open my phone to see that it was Bis The last two calls were froup in the day, too Maybe he was older than I thought

Jenks’s wings huray as ht, their beauty lost "Yeah, everyone’s here," he said, clearly not believing they were just going to let us drive away

I hesitated briefly before letting Bis’s call go to voicethe phone away I couldn’t talk to hi not to be obvious about it I thought it callous of Trent not to give her any co like et his face bitten off and he probably knew it

The hu as we sped north on 95 I flexed low froy I’d channeled into Ku’Sox had left h to fry anyone else to a cinder

My fist closed, and I saw Ivy look fro a breath, she pushed her wet hair back, steadying herself for whatever I , too beautiful, too perfect to put up with otten away, buton my soul Vivian had seen the depth of it, taken part in it Maybe she’d leave this part of the trip out of her report

"Hey," Jenks said, his thoughts clearly on the saas?"

"No," Vivian said, and I caught sight of her red-ri car lit up her "

Trent shifted unco dust spilling from hiht be the only thing that was going to keep my body and soul on this side of the lines That and ood person I was in trouble if they ever found out Ku’Sox was his demon

"Double jeopardy," Trent whispered "It’s double jeopardy" His eyes met mine when I turned to hile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>