Kim Harrison - The Witch with No Name

“No, it wasn’t.” Crap on toast, I was shaking, and I tucked the phone into my back pocket, thinking it felt unfamiliar. “Excuse me. I have to leave Trent a note.”

The pixy was grinning as I opened my door, warning him to stay out as I shut it. Trent’s feet had shifted, and I pulled the afghan up over him, smiling at his face, relaxed in sleep. “Thank you for keeping Jenks safe tonight,” I whispered as I reached for the notepad beside my clock.

“Don’t go.”

His whispered voice slid through me. Warm and content, I sat on the edge of the bed. “I talked to Ellasbeth,” I said as I pulled the afghan up even more. “You can crash here. She’s going to call in four hours.”

His hand came out to find me, and the blanket fell away. “I heard,” he said. “Don’t go.”

He slid to the far edge of the bed, afghan raised for me to join him. “I need a shower,” I said, eyes on my closet, and he pulled me down, arm going over me as he gentled me to him.

“I like the way you smell.”

A quiver shook me as he sighed and spooned closer. It was warm where he’d been, and the scent of him was everywhere, the hint of burnt amber almost not unpleasant. My shoes felt funny on the bed, and I felt him sigh. “I have stuff to do,” I protested, not moving.

He tugged me closer. “I like that you care about Ellasbeth,” he said, shocking me. “She’s a hard woman to understand. Her heart is good, though.”

“Um, yeah.” He was falling asleep again. I could stay until he did.

“Promise you won’t leave me,” he whispered, my hair moving in the breath of his words.

“I already did that,” I said, but I was looking into the future, and I saw myself alone. Why was I even pretending? But I knew why.

“No, you almost left me tonight.” His words were slurring. He was drifting off, not really awake. “You almost became shadow. I saw it. Promise me you won’t go. Don’t leave me. I won’t know what is right and what is wrong if you do, and I like doing the right thing.”

Becoming shadow. I lay there unmoving, suddenly very much awake as I recalled the blackness of nothing. It had been real, and he and Jenks had pulled me out of it. “I’m here,” I breathed, needing to feel him behind me.

“I’ve not done anything really wrong in a long time . . . ,” Trent said, words trailing into nothing. “Thank you.”

I couldn’t move, the warmth between us comforting. Slowly Trent’s grip eased as he fell asleep. I listened to him breathe as I wondered how it had gotten so complicated.

Falling in love was the easiest thing in the world to do. Why was it always so hard for me to survive it?

Something had changed. I froze, even as my eyes opened and my fingers clenched on the top of my afghan. The warmth behind my back was gone. I could see little in the predawn gloom of my room. I fell asleep, I thought, not surprised. Trent had been spooned up behind me, and we’d both been tired, the stress of meeting Cormel’s demands bringing me down long before I’d usually fall asleep.

The sound of breathing drew my attention. Trent was a dangerous shadow at my propped-open window. My pulse pounded. I’d done this before—waking up to an approaching threat—but Trent being with me was new. We’d both fallen asleep, still dressed and with our boots on—probably a good thing in hindsight. “What’s going on?” I whispered.

Trent gestured me forward, his gaze fixed outside. “There’re people among the stones.”

Crap on toast. I pushed the afghan off and stood. He looked as scary as all hell hunched at my window, and I felt queasy from lack of sleep. “Where?” I tucked my hair behind an ear and leaned closer to find the scent of spoiled wine amid the lingering burnt amber. He wasn’t happy. Neither was I.

There was nothing to see in the predawn murk, not even a pixy sparkle. “I don’t see anyone,” I whispered as I tucked my shirt in. I needed a shower in the worst way.

“Me either, but they’re out there.” Trent squinted out the window. “Hear the birds? I’ve been listening to them for the last half hour, and something is wrong.”

Chilled, I held my arms around myself. He’d been tucked in behind me, wide awake as he held me and listened to me sleep. Otherwise, how would he have heard the change in the birds? A robin chirped an alarm call, answered by another. There’re people among the stones.

“Cormel promised. He promised to leave us alone!” I protested as I drew back.

“He promised that you no longer look to him for protection.” Trent took his hand from the window. “It might not be him.”

My thoughts zinged back to the vampires at Eden Park. Swell. Not six hours ago I’d told Ivy that it would be okay. Damn it, how could I have just fallen asleep? Worried, I reached my awareness out and tapped the line out back. Energy slipped in, and my skin tingled where it touched Trent. He was already tapped into it, and feeling almost shy, I slipped my hand into his.

His grip was warm, his fingertips slightly rough. They’d raise goose bumps should he trace them over my skin. He took a slow breath as we both eased our respective holds on our energies, and with a swirling back-and-forth tide of tingles, our balances equalized.

“This is not what I wanted to do today,” I said, hands still intertwined as we looked for the first hints of the intruders.

Trent’s grip tightened at the sudden sound of pixy wings. Hands clasped, we turned as Jenks slipped in through the crack under the door. His dust was a dull silver, and he stopped in shock when he saw us looking at him.

“You’re up!” he said, a thread of brighter gold slipping from him. “And dressed. Tink’s titties, you were sleeping? Seriously?”

Trent’s fingers left mine. “Who’s in the garden?” he asked.

“Oh yeah.” Humming closer, Jenks landed on the sill, hands on his hips in his best Peter Pan pose. “Jumoke and Izzy are doing a count, but it’s vampires. None of them is Cormel’s.”

My teeth clenched. “Son of a bastard,” I whispered as I reached for my phone, only to remember I’d left it in the kitchen. I had Trent’s, though, and I handed it to him. “Where’s Ivy?”

“Out,” Jenks said, bringing both Trent and me up short. “She and Nina took Buddy to a vet-in-a-box to get him checked about an hour ago.”

“She left?”

“Yeah. That’s when the vampires showed up. I wasn’t going to bother you unless they moved. Hell, if I’d known all you were doing was lying next to each other with your clothes on, I would’ve told you right off. Tink’s diaphragm, you were sleeping ?”

Ivy isn’t here. My first flush of fear shifted to an ironic relief, and I sat on the edge of my bed so I could pull up my socks without taking off my boots. “They aren’t after Ivy. Why?”

“I’m more concerned with who.” The dim light from Trent’s phone made his face severe. “No calls, not even a text,” he muttered. “I suggest we leave the church, circle around back, pick off one at the outskirts, and find a quiet place to chat. Mark’s is open, isn’t it?”

My lips parted. “And let them have the run of the church? I just got it cleaned up!”

Jenks bristled. “We can take them, cookie bits.”

Trent glanced up, a hard, I’m-down-to-salvage look to his face. “No doubt. We can stay and fight them off, but we’ll leave significant damage to the church and we might never find out who sent them or why.”

Allow them access to everything in the hope that they don’t damage or steal it all? It hadn’t worked in World War II, and I didn’t expect any difference now. “I need my splat gun,” I said breathily, and I walked out into the dark hallway.