Kim Harrison - Ever After

“Al . . .” I breathed, elated, and Trent stared at me. In my mind, Trent’s hatred for the demon rose up, anger for his missing fingers, his fear for having been helpless. It joined my memories of Al’s awkwardly given kindnesses when none was expected, and then my pity for the loss of his wife, his life, his love, being forced to live in a hole in the ground, an understanding found, a respect granted unasked, vulnerable and fragile.

“Al?” Trent said, and I blinked, not comfortable having shared that with him.

“I-I . . .” I stammered, then shut my mouth, unable to explain. Al was cruel, vindictive, angry, elegant, powerful. He gave me strength, he gave me wisdom, not only about magic, but about myself. He was a lot like Trent, only harsher around the edges.

Sensing my emotions, Trent turned away, head down and grimy hair shifting in the gritty wind. “I will never understand you. How can you forgive so easily?”

“Yeah? Well, that’s what’s going to save both our asses,” I said, hoping it was a prophecy, not a prayer.

“Take her!” Ku’Sox shouted. “Finish her!”

Heart pounding, I shifted my feet to find solid earth beneath the scree. My will strengthened our circle, and I felt Trent do the same, wild magic seeping up from the earth to send darts of gold through the black smut crawling over the barrier. “What’s the matter, Ku’Sox?” I mocked when Dali and Newt exchanged worried glances. “Since when do you need anyone’s help? I though this was between you and me? How come you called them? Can’t do it yourself?”

“You are hiding behind a stinking elf !” he snarled, gesturing wildly.

“He smells quite nice,” I shouted back, making Bis giggle. “And it’s not hiding, it’s using my resources to the fullest! You can use Nick if you want.”

Ku’Sox’s eye twitched. Next to me, Trent lifted his chin. “I stand with Rachel to fix the ever-after,” he said quietly, making a sharp contrast to Ku’Sox’s loudmouthed bullying. “I stand to save the demons. What do you stand for, Ku’Sox Sha-Ku’ru?”

Trent held up his mutilated hand, his ring glinting. Newt leaned to see and Al winced, dragged behind her as she came forward a step. “Al. Where did you get a working set of slavers?” she asked, and then she blinked in what had to be shock. “They’re using them backward! Is that even possible?”

Al slowly got to his feet, saying, “Apparently. And I didn’t give them to her, she made them herself.”

“No wonder she was able to strike me down,” Newt said smugly, but I didn’t think anyone believed her.

Ku’Sox limped forward. “You’re not going to help me finish her? She’s using an elf !”

“So?” Dali said, gesturing. “This is your issue. Your word against hers. If you can’t best her, then maybe she is right, and you are—wrong?”

“She ran away!” Ku’Sox said, gesturing, and I stiffened as I felt another demon show up. He was on the outskirts, listening. “It proves she’s at fault! I’d take her down now, but she’s grown inventive.”

“I think you mean powerful,” Newt said slyly, jerking Al closer to make his chains clink.

Dali crossed his arms, looking more confident as several more demons misted in beside the first. “Why should I help you? She fixed my line. My rooms won’t be shrinking when the sun comes up.”

“But she was the one who broke them!” Ku’Sox glanced nervously at the accumulating demons between us and the waning moon.

“Did she?” Dali’s head tilted, and the demons popping in one by one discussed.

Breath held, I did a mental count. Dali’s line was the one running through Trent’s compound? I looked at Trent, seeing his pale face as he figured it out as well. On my shoulder, Bis squirmed. He’d chosen what lines we jumped to with precision—mine, Newt’s, Dali’s . . . and Al’s?

“You are blind fools!” Ku’Sox paced in the fading light from Trent’s and my last joined magic. “If she doesn’t die before the sun rises and the energy tide shifts, you will lose too much, and the ever-after will fall regardless of whose lines get fixed.”

“Then kill her and let’s get on with it,” Newt said, making Al scowl at her pleasant smile. “I tried already, and she hit me.”

“Hey, would any of you mind if I go take care of a few things and get back to you in about an hour?” I said loudly, then ducked when Ku’Sox sent a token shot of energy at us.

It hit the barrier and was absorbed cleanly, making the surrounding demons buzz with interest.

Trent leaned close, whispering, “I think it’s funny how they keep trying to kill you when all you want to do is save them.”

“Happens to me all the time,” I said wryly, and he chuckled.

“Me too.”

A feeling of shared kinship darted through me, lighting both our thoughts, and Bis seemed to warm.

“I need your help,” Ku’Sox growled, pacing forward. “I can’t best her when she’s with an elf. The sun will be up soon, and by then it will be too late.”

The demons behind Dali didn’t like that, but Newt was undeterred. “Perhaps Rachel can.”

We had to get this done, and get it done now. Trent had the drive to kill Ku’Sox. I had the power, but neither of us had the skill to best a demon taught the arts of war. Blinking, I brought my head up, finding Al waiting, a devious smile on his face, his bound hands held out to me. Al did. My eyes went to his hands, and his gloves misted out of existence to show his wedding rings. Perhaps the three of us could actually do something.

“We need Al,” I whispered as Ku’Sox paced up and down, raging at us.

“Don’t be foolish. We can’t even get to him,” Trent muttered back.

“They aren’t going to help him,” I said, looking to the east and fidgeting. “They won’t help us. We need to forcibly take him.”

Trent frowned as Ku’Sox grandstanded, claiming another twelve hours of negative energy pressure would put the mass of the ever-after under a viable threshold. “We need Al,” I said again, and this time, Trent turned to me, his eyes flicking up to Bis’s as the gargoyle bobbed his head. “We can’t overpower Ku’Sox without the knowledge Al has. We need him!”

An ugly expression came over Trent, and I got into his face, mad. “Get over it, Trent!” I hissed, taking his arm. “You used me, and now I’m calling it in! What kind of world do you want your children to grow up in? One where they fear demons, or one where they understand them?”

Trent jerked away, angry and unwilling. Behind him, I could see Al waiting. “I am yours,” Trent said sullenly, and I swear, I saw Al’s lips move in tandem, his expression elated.

“Let’s get him!” Bis shouted, and I staggered as he sprang from me, our circle bobbling for a moment as he punched through, spinning madly to avoid Ku’Sox’s sudden curses.

“Bis!” I cried, feeling the broken glory of the lines vanish. Then I bolted to Al while Ku’Sox was staring at the sky. I knew Trent would get my back, and I felt him gather a spell, flinging it madly in the hopes of scoring on the distracted demon.

A thunderous boom behind me sent me stumbling, and I crashed into Newt. We went down, me on top of her. “Sorry!” I cheerfully cried as I grabbed my fist and swung my elbow into the side of her head. It met with a thump and my arm went numb. Breath hissing, I got off her, scrambling to find Al and drag him away. I’d broken three boards with that move before, and Newt was down—for a moment at least.

“Oh, you’re going to pay for that, itchy witch,” Al said, beaming at me, and I sketched a fast circle around us, catching quick glimpses of exploding fireballs and demons in white robes scrambling to find cover.