“That’s why you got all them charms in your bag, eh?” he said. “I’ll get my bandana.”
Jenks zipped off, and the breath I took to protest sort of spilled away as his bright gold dust settled. “Okay . . .”
“And I thought Quen was overly protective.” Trent’s arm went around my waist, tugging me closer and starting more tingles. “But I’ve never said no to a third pair of eyes.” A loud, whooping cheer rose up from the church, and Trent winced. “Wow. How can you work in that?”
“Well, I was in the belfry,” I said sourly. I missed my quiet church, but really, I couldn’t kick them out. Not when it might all be over in four hours.
Trent pointed his fob, and his car started with a satisfying brumm of Detroit muscle. Hand slipping from me, he rushed forward to get my door, and I felt special as I got in, and carefully settled my bag on my lap. I watched his slim, quickly moving shadow as he went around front. The dark seemed to bring out the elf in him, and I smiled, thinking I was lucky.
I rolled my window down for Jenks as Trent slipped in with the delicious scent of cinnamon and wine, new leaves . . . and long, breezy nights. “Jenks!” I shouted, and the pixy darted in with his red bandana shoved in a back pocket.
“Tink’s tampons, there are people everywhere!” he said as he landed on the rearview mirror. “Rache, you should just snip the dead vamp so these people can go home.”
“I’m beginning to see the appeal,” I muttered as Trent put the car in drive and did a three-point turn in one tight move and headed to the waterfront. For one blessed moment silence filled the car—until Jenks dropped down to the console, his pixy curiosity getting the better of him.
“So, where are we going?” he asked as he checked out a sippy cup one of the girls had left. We were heading for the waterfront, and the options of where to eat were vast.
“Ah.” Trent’s lips quirked in the come-and-go streetlights. “I, ah, promised Ellasbeth that since I was in town I’d look in on her cat.”
Jenks sniggered as he messed about with a tube of lip balm nearly as tall as his waist.
I sat up, never having seen her apartment before. “Doesn’t she have a sitter?”
“She does,” Trent said quickly. “But she thinks the cat would appreciate seeing someone she knows.” Grimacing, he muttered, “That cat knows the UPS man better than me, but it’s easier to accommodate her than try to convince her of that.” His eyes went to the clock on the dash. “Perhaps it’s her way of reminding me she exists. Twenty minutes on her couch, and then we can grab something to eat. I’m thinking soup and sandwich?”
I’d prefer steak and ice cream for my last meal, but soup and sandwich wouldn’t weigh me down, and I nodded, wondering how I got here, in Trent’s car, checking on his ex-fiancée’s cat before going out to convince the city’s master vampire to go back to DC. At least the church is being fixed.
My eyes flicked to Jenks, now fiddling with the vents. “Hey, Jenks? About the church . . .”
His wings shifted, lighting his space in a bright glow. “It’s a mess, isn’t it,” he said, his dust shifting to an anxious orange. “Even so, I’m going to miss it when we move out.”
Chin in my cupped hand, I stared out the side window. “Me too.”
Trent made a tired sound, head shaking as he turned to go to the uptown waterfront. “You two are worse than a married couple. Each one so worried about what they think the other one wants that neither of them end up happy. Rachel, do you want to move?”
My lips parted, and I looked from Jenks to Trent. “There are too many bad memories there. It’s not fair to Jenks.”
“Okay.” Trent checked behind us before making a quick left to cross the bridge into the Hollows. “Jenks, how about you? You want to live in an apartment with flower boxes?”
The pixy sat on the sippy cup, wings drooping. “I don’t need more than that.”
Trent sighed, his eyes flicking behind us again. “Let me try again. Do you both really want to move, or are you making your decision on what you think the other person wants?”
“Do you know how many places we’ve looked at?” I blurted.
Jenks’s wings rasped. “We’ve been talking about it for months.”
A fond smile quirked Trent’s lips, clear now as we hit the main Hollows thoroughfare and the lights turned the street to noon. “Do you. Want. To move?” he said. “Honest now.”
Jenks slumped, wings going still. “Not really.”
I turned in the seat to face him. “But Matalina?” I fumbled. “The kids leaving. I thought . . . Sometimes it takes hours for your dust to brighten after you come in from the garden!”
A sad smile creased his young features. “If I leave, what will I have to remember her by?” he said. “But you need to be somewhere that hasn’t been blown up, where you haven’t had to fight for your life every three months. How do you sleep at night?”
Pulse fast, I flicked my gaze from Trent to Jenks. “I sleep because I know you’re there watching my back.”
A smile blossomed over Trent’s face. “There,” he said softly. “That’s better.”
“I don’t want to move,” Jenks said plaintively.
“Me either.” I cupped my hand around him, and he rose up, sparkles a brilliant white. “I’m getting used to working in the belfry, and once the mob leaves, we can take a corner of the sanctuary and put in a kitchen.” I smiled thinly. “If I’m not in jail in the morning, I want to talk to Finley.”
Jenks grinned and lit on my hand. “Me too.”
“Thank the Goddess,” Trent muttered, clearly relieved as he flicked on his signal and turned into a gated lot. The arm rose immediately, and I looked up at the modern residential tower two blocks off the river. “You want to come in?” he said as he pulled into a visitor parking spot. “Or you could stay here and talk to Doyle,” he added.
“Doyle?” I followed Trent’s gaze to the street, immediately recognizing the I.S. investigator easing to a halt in a curbside parking spot. My thoughts went back to Trent’s constant glances at the rearview mirror, and annoyance crossed me. The warrant. Was he serious? “Such a choice,” I said sourly.
“I’m in,” Jenks said, but I wasn’t sure which would be worse, telling Doyle to chill out until I settled with Constance, or dealing with Ellasbeth when she discovered I’d been in her apartment. So I just sat there until Trent noticed and slumped into his seat.
“Are you sure Ellasbeth won’t mind?” I said, and Jenks made a small burst of sparkles. “I’d be ticked if I found out you brought a nameless woman up to pet my cat while I was gone.”