“How about it?” Jenks hovered too close, making Hodin frown. “You want to rent space in the garden? We need a doppelganger charm and ten minutes of your time.”
I cleared my throat to get Jenks to back up, but his pride that he was going to be what got my biscuits out of the fire kept him moving irritatingly back and forth between us. I managed a smile when Hodin arched his eyebrows. Technically he wasn’t helping me, seeing as I’d already downed Constance. But I was sure Al wouldn’t see it that way.
“It would be a curse, not a charm.” Hodin looked at Pike disparagingly. “And for me to pretend to be an undead woman, even for ten minutes, would require space in the church, not the garden.”
Damn it, he had been watching, and I winced, the pain in my wrist breaking through my amulet as I held it close. If Hodin lived in the church, Al would never believe I wasn’t taking instruction from him.
“You convincingly pretend to be her until Pike gets you back to Piscary’s and you get six months in the garden,” I said, and Jenks landed on my shoulder, content to let me settle the deal.
Hodin sniffed. “A year. In the church. The room with the window looking south. And I want the demon bell removed.”
Jenks’s wings rattled, tickling my neck. “That’s Ivy’s old room.”
Hodin’s gaze dropped to the pixy. “I like the closet.”
Pike shifted from foot to foot, and I nodded. “Ivy’s room. Six months. Stay out of my belfry. And my books. And my spelling supplies.”
Hodin grinned, looking like a different person. “Agreed,” he said, and I shivered when I felt a pulse of intent spill from him, dimming the lights as it passed to race over Cincinnati like an ill wind or promise. Great. . . .
There was a second tweak on my awareness, and he vanished to reappear looking exactly like Constance, all the way to her hair in disarray, and dirt on her dress. He even had her eyes, the red, goat-slitted orbs glamoured to a vampire black. “Be careful what you wish for,” he said as he draped her necklaces over himself, and Pike swore softly. Voice, too.
“Okay, Jenks. Bring us down,” I said, and Jenks vaulted through the torn screen to leave a blanket of falling sparkles.
Hodin was frowning at Constance’s shoe, and I wasn’t surprised when he picked it up, studying the diamond-encrusted heel for a moment before it vanished to reappear on his foot. From the mouse cage came a squeak of outrage.
“Welcome to the dark side, Rachel Morgan,” Pike said, and I looked up to see him holding out his hand. Head tilted, I fitted my fingers into his. His grip was warm and solid, and unwelcome, pheromone-based tingles raced through me when he let go and his fingers iced from mine.
“Welcome to the light, Pike Welroe,” I said to hide my unstoppable shudder. “Behave yourself, or I will throw you to the wolves. Literally.” The gondola gave a lurch, and I lost my balance. Pike caught my elbow to send another tingle of vampire pheromones through me, settling at my core before melting away.
“Don’t threaten me with empty words,” Pike whispered, and I tugged free of him.
“They aren’t empty, and you know it,” I said, uncomfortable with Hodin standing there, even if he did seem engrossed in the long-toothed mouse screaming at him.
Pike chuckled, his gaze going to my wrist and back again. “Deadly skills mean nothing when you bind yourself with words like honor and fairness,” he said. “All your knowledge is as useful as a twig if you’re afraid of the consequences of using it.”
“I’m not afraid. I just see more options than you,” I said as I watched the encroaching roofs. We were almost to the bottom, and Jenks was again at the broken mesh, hands on his hips.
“Rache, stow the vamp’s clothes,” Jenks said, but my reach faltered when Hodin muttered a word and they vanished. “You ready for the press?” the pixy asked as we neared the ground and the morass of noise focused into clear shouts and demands. “I think Trent called them in to keep a lid on the vampire/Were aggression. Edden wouldn’t stay back, either. Apparently he saw your gun go out the window, and that was it.”
“I’m good,” I said as I stood, feeling every coming bruise as I went to get my bag to stash Constance. “Hodin, keep your mouth shut. It will be more convincing if I do all the talking. Pike, you and Hodin go first.”
Jenks darted away as Pike and Hodin moved forward to the door and I retreated to the back, carefully stuffing an infuriated mouse into my bag. The gondola rocked to a halt, and I winced as the noise redoubled. Angry, frightened faces ringed us, coming and going in the moving light. Tattooed Weres and private security vamps in suits pushed them back until the landing ramp was clear apart from Doyle at the controls, locking the wheel down. Trent shouldered his way through, recognized by everyone. Jenks was with him, and two more pain amulets dangled from his grip. He found my eyes, his relief almost overwhelming.
My God, I think we did it, I thought, and Pike’s head snapped to me, clearly sensing the sudden wash of love coursing through me. My smile faded at the unexpected hint of vulnerability in the back of his eyes, and he nodded, knowing I saw it. The only thing more unpredictable and dangerous than an undead vampire was a living one who had given up on love—and then had the chance for it thrust upon them again in a bittersweet threat. Joni . . .
“You will see it through,” Pike said, and I nodded, eyes flicking nervously to Hodin/Constance when he delicately snorted.
Doyle barked at everyone to stay back as he opened the door. But his surly mood became uncertain as he looked in at Pike’s scratched everything, my weary slumped form holding my bag like a fig leaf, and Hodin/Constance’s haughty stance between us.
“Bring the car!” Pike exclaimed, and I breathed the fresh air as Jenks’s spent dust swirled in the corners and evaporated. “Then jump the curb!” he demanded at the sudden crush at the door. “I’ll make a statement before we leave, but I want some space!”
The news crews surged forward and, just as predictably, both David’s and Constance’s people forced them back. The noise swelled when Hodin/Constance stepped out, chin high as she hesitated before the door so Trent could slip in.
“Congratulations?” Trent said as he dropped the additional pain amulets over me, and I slumped in relief. “Jenks told me what happened,” he added, his eyes dropping to my tightly held bag. “I have your splat gun. David’s got that amulet you threw out. Damn it to the Turn and back, Rachel,” he said, frowning at Jenks’s merry grin before the pixy darted out to occupy the press. “We have to come up with something better than this.”
“Watch the wrist!” I almost hissed as he tried to pull me into a relieved hug, and he jerked to a halt, his indecision creasing his brow. “It’s okay,” I added softly as a sudden fatigue swam up, almost downing me now that the adrenaline was spent. All that was left was the news conference.