The tow truck finally moved out, and Vince waved us in.
I held my bag with its distracting magic paraphernalia tighter as Pike backed into the parking spot. If this didn’t go well, I was going to be up a creek. They might douse me in salt water. They might knock me unconscious. I might have done something wrong in stirring the spell and end up inside out. Trust yourself, I reminded myself. Jenks is with you. But it was hard not to jump when a second vampire in security black tapped my window.
“Last chance to make this real,” Pike said, and when I shook my head, he slipped my keys in over the visor in case they needed to move the car. Pulse fast, I opened the door, gaze rising up a seriously stone-faced man.
“Hey!” I yelped when the vamp grabbed my elbow, yanking me up and out while simultaneously taking my purse. “I came to you,” I said, then gasped when he shoved me against the car, then shoved me again, holding me there as he slipped a band of charmed silver over my wrist, snicked it tight, and patted me down.
Fear was an unhelped spike in my heart as my contact with the lines severed. I’d been made helpless so many times in the past, and I’d survived them all. But each had left its mark, and I stared across my car’s low top at Pike and Vince grinning at each other.
“Vince!” Pike gave the powerfully built man a fist bump. “Good to see your ugly face.”
“Welcome back, Pike.” Hand on Pike’s shoulder, Vince gestured to the tower’s door. “Finally got your bitches in line, eh?”
Pike laughed. I stared at him, ignoring the man behind me, his fingers a little too exploratory as he did his job. “So how are you and Veronica?” Pike said, standing in the street with Vince. “Still getting the ice cube?”
“Nope.” Vince smiled to show his short fangs. “We be as warm as sunshine now.”
Good God, it’s only been a day, I thought, seeing their obvious pleasure in each other’s company. But that was how vampires were. Ties of found family and loyalty were all that kept them alive when their master went too far—a shared misery their masters heaped upon them that they all told each other was love. My focus blurred as I thought about Pike’s probable deep-set, aching need for family, trust, and unquestionable loyalty, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he had found that here or if it was just surface.
“So,” Vince said, and I stiffened when his eyes landed on me. “Is it true what they say about redheads?”
Pike rubbed his jaw, squinting. “Get me drunk enough, and I’ll tell you.”
Vince guffawed, and I yelped when the man searching me spun me around, shook my bag into the street, and handed it back to me empty. Pike had my phone, wallet, and splat gun, but everything else was in the gutter. Good thing I hadn’t put anything in it I’d really wanted.
I stumbled when the guy who’d searched me gave me a push to follow Pike and Vince. The windows were up in the car, but that had never stopped Jenks before. People were watching, and I didn’t like that they thought I was leaving them to Constance’s tender mercies even as I tried to find a mix of nervous anger and beaten-down shame for having given in to her.
“You need to let go,” I said when the vamp took my elbow to escort me in as if I was a criminal. “You like being able to pick things up with that hand? Scratch your ass?” I said. “Then take it off me.”
“Don, let her walk on her own,” Vince said, and Don backed off, his gaze full of promise.
“Is she strapped?” Pike said, and when Vince nodded, Pike slowed to a stop, right there in the middle of the sidewalk, his hands at his waist and the wind from the river in his hair. Don settled in behind me, his presence heavy as I stared at Pike, wondering why we weren’t going in. Behind him, a street vagrant was picking through what had fallen out of my bag. A hint of pixy dust glimmered, but there was no other sign of Jenks. And still Pike hesitated, eyes narrowed as he calculated something I wasn’t privy to.
Finally Pike nodded as if having made a decision. “Morgan is here on pretense,” he said, and my jaw clenched, not surprised. “She’s a distraction as Kalamack, FIB captain Edden, and at least one other unidentified male try to liberate the Brimstone you intercepted yesterday. But since she’s here, we’ll get that promise to submit to Constance regardless.”
My face warmed as Vince chuckled. Chin high, I held Pike’s gaze.
“Then it’s a good thing it’s not in evidence but at Piscary’s loading dock waiting for distribution,” Vince said.
It’s where? I thought, shock making me pliant when Don grabbed my arm and propelled me to the doors. At Piscary’s? Across the river? Son of a fairy-farting whore!
Jenks, I thought, scanning the sidewalk. He was probably inside already and hadn’t heard. I had to get a message to Trent. They were walking into a trap, and though we’d expected Pike would tell them about our plans, we hadn’t known that the Brimstone had been moved and their efforts would be for naught.
My bootheels thumped as I was propelled to the door, Pike, Vince, and Don behind me. People were getting out of our way, their expressions fearful. It wasn’t my vampire security. It was me, giving up, capitulating. Shaking out my hair, I lifted my chin and felt the splat ball under my tongue. Zack. I had to concentrate on Zack. But it was hard knowing that two men I cared about were risking their lives and freedom for something that wasn’t even there.
Pike leaned forward to get the door as I reached for it, and I dropped back, hating his smug confidence. “Where is Constance?” he said softly as we went in.
“Tormenting the boy,” Vince said with a grimace. “She wants Morgan’s confession on the six o’clock news. She’s hoping it will convince him to capitulate in time for the late news.”
Not happening, I thought. I would have looked at my phone for the time, but it was still in Pike’s jacket along with my splat gun and wallet. My mood worsened as we crossed the lobby and I scanned the surrounding people, picking out the plants among the innocents by their misplaced, sly confidence. Where are you, Jenks?
“Thank God you’re back,” Vince said as I was pushed to the front of the security line and shoved through the spell monitor, which glowed a dull green. Uninvoked potions and charms never showed, which was why there was a visual inspection as well. “She’s been an unholy terror the last twenty-four. Kip took one for the team last night to keep Joni alive until she forgets about her, but—”
“Is Kip okay?” Pike interrupted, and Vince’s gaze slid to me, a flicker of fear dropping down my spine.
“If we can keep her out of Constance’s thoughts for a few days.”
“Days!” Worry crossed Pike, and he seemed to slump into a different person. Cockiness was replaced with unease, confidence with concern for someone else. It reminded me of Kisten, this other side I was catching a glimpse of.