Black Magic Sanction

"We've got people in the road," Ivy said. "And a big gate. What do you want to do?"

Shifting to the middle, I looked. The front gatehouse was all lit up with big lights to look like day. There was a new, much more substantial gate, and a big sign warning cars to stop to avoid tire damage. Swell. Trent had gotten a new gate. I should have guessed. "Urn, stop?" I said, heart pounding as I shoved my belt pack in place.

Coming to a slow halt, Ivy rolled down the window. Nick sat quietly beside me, thinking, which was worrisome all by itself. Jenks and Jax had hidden themselves, but I knew Jenks, at least, could react in an instant. Jax was still recovering. Maybe he, at least, had learned something. The guard on duty, flanked by two more officers, came forward, each taking a door. The tension wound tighter.

"Dr. Anders?" the approaching man asked in surprise, the usual clipboard absent.

"We're going for a drive," she said imperially, sounding a lot like the distasteful woman. "Ceridwen needs a plant to stop her labor."

"I'm not in labor!" I said, earning a quick glance. Jenks buzzed a hidden warning, and I pushed myself back into the shadows.

"I need to see some identification, Dr. Anders."

Nick leaned forward. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.

The officer's eyes grew predatory. "No, sir, but seeing as I just talked to you and you were in your office, I know who you aren't."

Shit.

The click of safeties sparked through me, and I sank back into the cushions. Had I really believed I could do this? "Job's over," I breathed, seeing weapons pointed at the car. Twenty feet from us, the comforting black of the night beckoned. Twenty feet. It might as well have been the moon. We'd tried. I didn't want to give up, but I didn't want us dead either. There had to be a way, but if I brought Al into this, he'd say he'd won the bet, and it would be over.

"Out of the car, please," the man was saying, backing up to give us room, and my breath came faster. "Fingers laced above your heads. Now!"

We couldn't get through the gate. Not in the car. But maybe we could make a run for it if we got over it. Sweet, sweet adrenaline pounded into me, and my head started to hurt.

"Rache?" Jenks whispered. He, at least, would be safe.

Nick reached for the handle. "Get yourself out, Rachel," he said. "I'll take care of this."

"What are you doing?" I said, bewildered. "They know it isn't you!"

"Something I should have done a long time ago," he said, and I blinked when he leaned over to give me a chaste kiss. "Do what you need to do. I'll make a distraction so you can get away."

"What?" Ivy barked, and from outside, the security officer demanded we get out.

"I'll be fine," Nick said, opening his door. "I always am."

Stu

"Rachel?" Jenks said, hovering before me.

People were shouting—mostly Ivy—and someone shoved me to the ground. My arms went out instinctively, and I caught myself. Staring at the shiny shoes to my right, something ignited in me. It was not going to end like this. I tensed, playing passive, hearing Ivy resisting.

"Rachlel!" Jenks cried again. "What do you want me to do?"

There were only two people watching me, the rest occupied with Ivy. "Tell Ivy to give them hell and meet me on the road," I said, and he darted away trailing silver dust.

Face scraping on the pavement, I looked the other way. Nick was on the ground, men screaming at him. I mouthed the words "Thank you," and he smiled. His attention went up, and I followed his gaze to Jax, looking like a silver mote high above it all. As I watched, the pixy dropped something.

"Ivy!" I shouted, clenching my eyes shut. "Down!"

I heard her drop, and the grunt of someone falling on her.

A boom of sound ripped through the night, shaking the ground I pressed into. My ears went numb, and I looked up, my hearing muffled. The two men watching me had collapsed to the pavement, out cold. Dust hung in the air, and what movement there was, was scattered.

I got up, awkward and clumsy. Ivy was pushing men off her, knocking them senseless as they tried to figure out what had happened. "Let's go!" I shouted, not hearing myself. People were starting to get up. We had seconds.

Staggering, I reached her. "Let's go!" I shouted again, almost getting hit when she didn't recognize me right off. Then I shrieked when she grabbed me and threw me over the gate.

I screamed, landing hard on the road. "Son of a bitch!" I said, only to be jerked to my feet by Ivy, her cast not slowing her down at all. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Her eyes were black, and without a backward glance, she started hauling ass, dragging me until I found my pace at her side. Damn it, the painting was still in the car. But we were out and ru

"Car," she panted, and I looked up into the glow of approaching headlights.

"You want me to lie down in the road, or should you?" I said, only half kidding, freezing when the car swerved to the right, spi

"Get in!" he shouted, the squeal of pixies and their darting shapes adding to the mess.

I opened the front door, shoving Pierce to the passenger side only to have Ivy shove me to the middle of the long front seat of my moms Buick. "How did you know we were in trouble?"

"You're always in trouble, Rachel," he said, fixing his hat firmly back on his head.

"You'd think she wasn't glad to see you," Ivy said, pushing the accelerator down even before her door was shut.

Pierce only gri

Jenks dove in the open window as we tore down the road, all of his kids shrilling in excitement. My hands went over my ears, and I cowered. "Jenks!" the hyped-up vamp shouted as she waved her hand in front of her face. "Get your brats under control! I can't see!"

A sharp whistle reverberated through the moving car, and I gasped. Crap, we were headed for a tree! "Look out!" I screamed, and Ivy jerked us back on the road.

"Holy shit!" Jenks shrilled. "Watch where you're going, Ivy! My kids are in here!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed!" she said, rolling the window up with one hand as she awkwardly drove with the one in a cast.

My elation shifted to dread. "Nick," I said, turning to look behind us at the fading glow of Trent's guardhouse. "We have to go back!"

"Are you nuts!" Jenks shouted.

"Quid me fiet," I said, touching Ivy's shoulder, and I shivered as our curses untwisted and we became ourselves again. "We have to go back for Nick," I said as Ivy turned off the lights and we drove in the dark. God, I hoped her night vision was better than mine. "He sacrificed himself to save us. You heard him!"

Pierce was silent in the corner, but Ivy wasn't saying anything either. The car jostled into the night, never slowing. "We are not going back for Nick," Ivy finally said.