"I'm sorry, Ellasbeth," he said frankly. "Rachel seems to think the best of everyone, but I'm not that . . ." He hesitated.

"Naive, I believe is the word you're looking for," Al said, and I frowned, almost smacking him with the back of my hand.

"Lucy is my child!" Ellasbeth said, one hand gripping the wildly twisting little girl. "I can watch her."

Trent lifted his chin and started for the door. "I don't want you to."

I needed to get dressed, and I hesitated, wanting to say good-bye to Al before going in, but not wanting to do it in front of everyone.

"I can watch the girls until six," Al said suddenly, and I blinked. Face red, Al jerked his watch out of its little pocket. "Ah, that'd be six P.M., eastern standard time. I'm busy after that."

"You?" I said, and his complexion darkened. "You don't know anything about babies."

"Absolutely not!" Ellasbeth pushed her way into the courtyard, a mix of terror and anger.

Al seemed unperturbed. "They're not babies, they're toddlers. Besides, I'm third on the list, I believe?"

Trent was smiling, small but honest. "No, thank you. Jon can do it."

Ellasbeth struggled with Lucy, the little girl wailing about the dead horse in her tight grip. "What does he mean, third on the list?"

Trent and I exchanged a look, but Quen poked his head out the door, saving us from having to answer. "Sa'han? Ms. Morgan? Ivy has phoned. She's fine, but she's trying to reach Rachel. Felix committed suncide this morning and she'd like Rachel's help with Nina."

Fear slid through my soul, and I took a fast breath. The dewar would have to wait. "I have to go." I hesitated, wanting to touch Al to say good-bye but not daring to.

"Of course he committed suncide," Al said distantly. "That's why we had to separate their souls from their bodies to begin with."

"Go." Trent jiggled a fussy Ray. "I'll bring up your concerns to the dewar."

I looked at Al one last time before I started for the door. "Thank you," I said, trying to remember where I'd left my boots. "I'll do what I can."

"You're going to need all the voices you can get in the dewar, Kalamack," Al said loudly. "Poor use of resources to waste Quen and Jon tending your girls, especially when you claim to want this closer tie. Let me watch the little darlings."

I turned, half in the house, half out. Ellasbeth waited, her lilac perfume strong on the still air. Trent was frowning, but it was in thought, not concern.

"I'm not worried about the girls," he said, making Ellasbeth gasp. "I'm worried about you rummaging in my things. No. I'll take them with me. It will be a good reminder to the dewar."

Al pulled himself up, a hand elegantly behind his back. "I will be the perfect example of correctness."

Ellasbeth's hand went to the house for balance. "I swear, Trent, if you give our children to that demon to watch them, I'll never forgive you."

Trent looked at me, and I shrugged. "He won't keep them permanently," I said, and Al grinned to show his blocky teeth.

Trent set Ray down, and the little girl wobbled to Al, beaming as if he was a new toy.

"Trenton!" Ellasbeth shrieked, and Lucy finally slipped from her. Ellasbeth made a lunge after her, and Quen jerked the woman back, his expression stoic as she slapped his face.

"You get my standard sitting rate," Trent said, almost shouting over Ellasbeth's hysterics as Al picked Lucy up. "You stay on the top floor and out of my room. And my spelling hut. And everything else. No phone, no scrying, no showing them off to anyone. I want them here in my apartments at all times."

"De-e-e-elighted," the demon said, then vanished with both girls.

"Trent!" Ellasbeth screamed.

Giving her a sidelong glance, I sidled up to Trent. "You forgot to tell him no visitors."

Trent's breath hissed in between his teeth. "Oooh, I did, didn't I."

"Trenton Aloysius Kalamack!" Ellasbeth exclaimed as she pushed between us, her face red. "Where are my girls?"

He pointed inside when Lucy's laughing giggle echoed into the patio. Hand to her mouth, Ellasbeth bolted inside. "You're welcome to stay," Trent said loudly, but she was already inside. Only now did a faint worry line wrinkle his forehead. "Tell me this isn't a mistake."

Smiling, I gave him a hug. "This isn't a mistake," I said, feeling his arms take me in and make me strong. "He's the only one who might agree to play by our rules. The rest need to be shamed into it. Thank you."

I dropped back to see a lingering worry in him. "I'm going to miss you today, too."

He was tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, and I felt loved. "Maybe we can have dinner or something."

But I knew that I'd be lucky to end today still standing. If Felix had committed suncide, Nina was going to be out of control and Cincinnati's old vampires would be a conflicted terror of want, desire, and fear. What tore at me though was that Ivy's hope of ever saving her soul was now tied to a maybe.

And as I gave Trent a kiss and felt his grasp slip from me, I vowed that Ivy was going to get her happy ending. Even if it killed me.

Chapter 19.

My breath caught and I stomped on the brake when the car ahead of me squealed to a stop. Head swinging, I flicked my eyes to the rearview mirror, wincing until the car behind me stopped as well. I was trying to get to Fountain Square. Ivy and I were having lunch before digging through the mess at the church. Yes, I should be in some library looking for how to close the lines, but Ivy needed me, needed me to tell her that one blood orgy wasn't the end. Besides, I had to do something normal for a few hours before I started saving the world again.

"What the Turn?" I said to myself, trying to see past the cars lined up before me. Traffic was at a standstill, and when I rolled the window down, I could hear a crowd and a bullhorn a few blocks up. I was nearly at the square. Something was wrong. Ivy was there.

Pulse fast, I jerked the wheel, driving in the wrong lane for a few car lengths to pull into a tiny-and illegal-parking spot for the meter police. I waved at the guy blowing his horn at me as I popped my FIB sign in the front window and grabbed my shoulder bag. Thanks to my weekend sleepovers at Trent's I was in a clean pair of jeans and a casual sweater, but I felt anything but professional as I locked the car and strode off, boots clunking.

Nina? I wondered, shocked as her voice came through the bullhorn, her aggressive urgency mixing with the rising roar of unseen people. Crap on toast, Felix had committed suncide this morning. A handful of other masters had gone from soul-induced depression to out-of-control raging when their souls were ripped from them. That they were forced underground was a blessing and a breathing space. Cops were everywhere, both the FIB and the I.S., and I strode up to the nearest. "Excuse me. What's going on?"

"That way, miss," he directed, and I jerked back before he could touch me. His expression hardened, and he actually looked at me. "There's an illegal demonstration at the square," he said, clearly not recognizing me. "Please go home."

They were almost lining the streets now, and everyone was being turned away. "Ah, I'm trying to reach someone," I said, thinking if Nina was in there, so was Ivy. "I mean, I was called in to work," I said, flashing my old I.S. badge with my spell-burned hair and dopey look. "Who do I talk to?"

"Hell if I know," the cop muttered as he looked at my street clothes. "Go on."

He didn't have to say it twice, and I slipped behind the forming human wall and hustled to the square, waving my outdated ID at everyone with a badge who looked my way. My pulse pounded, and the brief respite of people vanished. It wasn't a demonstration, it was a mob, and I stood in the middle of the blocked-off road trying to make sense of it.

Nina was on the stage with a bullhorn, trying to outshout the man with a mic. The crowd was split and ugly, yelling at the stage, hands in fists raised in protest. The huge TV was showing a national news station, but it was all bad, with excited newscasters standing, as I was, at the outskirts of similar protests in other cities. High above, people pressed against the windows of the surrounding buildings taking pictures. I.S. and FIB officers were everywhere, but apart from the ring of them keeping new people out, I couldn't tell what they were doing.

"I'm with the I.S.," I said, flashing my ID when a cop came close, and he went the other way. News crews were setting up on the corner, and I began to inch away before I was recognized. Ivy, where are you?

The sound of pixy wings jerked my attention, and I looked up, getting an eye full of pixy dust as Jenks dropped down. "Damn it, Jenks!" I exclaimed, eyes watering.

"Tink's a Disney whore, Rache, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed, his voice shrill as he struggled to be heard over the rising noise.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you, too," I said sourly, hand up for him to land on. "I'm trying to find Ivy. What is Nina doing?"

He went to land, then darted back as someone jostled me forward. My hand hit a lamppost, and I stepped up onto the footing for a few extra inches as Nina's voice rose clear and strong, a hard surety in her voice that she'd learned from Felix. She sounded like a master, and it was chilling.

"The peace is false!" she cried, the vampiric pull in it bringing a good part of the crowd to silence. "Peace is death to the undead. It breaks them. Your masters are weeping. It's our duty to protect them as they protect us! They keep us safe, and now it's our turn. Even if they rage and threaten, we must withstand the anger knowing they love us! Their souls will kill them!"

"How long has she been up there?" I asked, one arm looped around the post for balance.

"Long enough." Jenks's wings were shading blue from the cold, and he vibrated them for warmth. "She's, ah, rallying the living vampires to protect the undead. Not everyone is happy about it. I don't know what's going to happen if the elves bring their souls back."

Concerned, I climbed farther up the pole. The crowd was ugly, and my brow furrowed when I heard a few "Let them die!" rise up. This was so not good. Had they forgotten already the chaos of Cincinnati not three months ago when the master vampires were sleeping?

"You can't deny them their souls!" the man with the mic shouted with the professional outrage of someone comfortable with the pulpit. "It's their God-given right!"

"Is it not our right to protect them?" Nina said, eyes black with threat. "We've always given them what they needed to survive. We can't give them their death! They've been tricked by the elves and their own desires!"

Nervous, I looked toward the river. Trent was only a few blocks away at the arena and the closed dewar meeting. It was too easy to imagine the mob storming the place. No one could stop it with the I.S. and FIB concentrated here.

"My master found his soul," Nina said, and the crowd stilled at the power in her voice. Felix had changed her, almost into a master herself with his thoughts running through hers for so long, and I shivered at the command. "It was fixed to him," she intoned, and even the zealot on the stage was silenced. "It tormented him day and night until he walked into the sun. Be glad the souls have fled. Hide your masters if they should return. They bring only pain."

"He was weeping in joy!" the man with the mic proclaimed, but beside Nina's impassioned presence, he looked cheap. "Who are you to deny him?"

"He was in pain!" Nina shouted, and the crowd began to stir. "The grace of the undead is that they feel no pain, and he was in pain. He was broken! Tell your masters the elves lie. Tell your masters they seek to kill them! Tell them even if they should beat you and send you from their sight. You must protect them because they love you!"

The voice of the crowd rolled between the buildings, drowning out both Nina and the man onstage. Worried, I got down from the pole. I had to find Ivy and call Trent. Get him out of there. Warn him.

"Your master died because God brought his sins home!" the man was saying.

"The elves sit in conference right now to bring their souls back. We can't let them do it!" Nina thundered. "They're trying to kill our masters! He walked into the sun!" she cried in pain. "He walked into the sun and now I am alone!"

Her anguish raged out, connecting with every living vampire there. They knew what it was to be alone. They feared it. The urge to rise up was almost unbearable. Felix had given her the strength of the undead and the passion of the living. No wonder Ivy loved her.

"My God," I whispered, jolted from her charisma when someone bumped me. "Jenks, is Edden here?" We had to get Nina to shut up, even if I agreed with her. The vampires were going to storm the dewar if this continued.

"Yeah." Jenks landed on my shoulder. "He's over by the curb. Where the horses are?"

I looked over the heads to where the mounted police usually hung out. Sure enough, there were two very unhappy horses, an FIB van, and a bunch of FIB guys clustered around something. A plan to get the people out of here, maybe.

"How am I going to get over there?" I muttered, gaze roving over the square. The huge vid screen was now showing the Cincy arena. The wind down there was intense, blowing the newscaster's hair everywhere as the dewar began to break up and people began to leave. My breath came easier. Maybe they were evacuating before the crowd decided elves were on a par with biogeneticists and lynched them all. Maybe the vampires were trying to get rid of the elves . . . So far, only Felix had died, and he'd been on his way out already.

"It's God's will they die!" the zealot was screaming, a harsh contrast to Nina's powerful anguish. "It's penance for the atrocities they have perpetrated! Let them be judged!"

Jenks's dust was a beacon as he hovered over me, looking for the easiest path to the curb. "Ah, Rache? Is that your mom?"

Oh God. I shoved someone, trying to see. My fear redoubled as I spotted her standing on a planter, hand in a fist as she shouted and gestured, calling someone a prejudiced prick and religious hypocrite zealot all in one breath. She looked fantastic in her outrage, and I almost lost sight of her when the crowd shifted. "Mom!" I shouted, then grunted when I got an elbow in the gut from some faceless woman. "Mom!"

She heard me. Somehow she heard me over the noise and confusion. She turned, her face still alight with the fire of battling injustice. Clearly this was where I'd gotten it from, and without even a glance at the stage, she fought her way off the planter and to me.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" I said when she finally got close.

"Oh, you ruined your funeral!" she moaned, giving me a quick hug.

She was okay, and I hugged her back. "Mom. We have to get out of here," I said, not believing she was worried about my funeral.

"No matter," she said, beaming as she shoved someone to get a smidgen more room. "The band crapped out on me anyway. Isn't it a marvelous day for a protest?"

Wincing, I held her shoulder so no one would force us apart. Marvelous wasn't exactly the word I'd use. Nina was on the bullhorn again. Some were listening raptly, others-mostly human by the look of it-were booing. I could tell who were the living vampires not only because of the way they reacted to Nina but because they looked terrified. It was starting to slide from a mob to a riot. "Jenks? Find Ivy. My car is on Vine."

He darted off, making me envy his wings. My heart pounded. "Mom, we have to go."

But she was watching the stage as Nina exclaimed, "If there's one thing the living have learned, it's that what you want most will kill you. It's our time to protect them. We can't allow the elves to bring back their souls!"

My mom wiped an eye. "It reminds me of the Turn," she said, smiling. "But it smells a hell of a lot better. No one decaying in the alleys."

I elbowed someone out of the way so we could start for the street. "Mom, where's Donald?"

"He went to get me a coffee. It takes him a while. People recognize him, and he always stops and talks. It's a pain in the ass sometimes."

Visions of tomorrow's headlines began swimming before me. Stomach tight, I began to inch her to the curb. She jerked me to a stop with a hug. "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart. I've been watching Nina, and I think she's perfect for Ivy. It wouldn't take much to change your funeral into a wedding for them."

"Mom!" I said as I disentangled myself. "We have to get out of here!"

"I'm just saying she's smart, attractive, and has more determination than you. Look at her. Magnificent! She's so entrenched in her belief. It makes me want to protect the beastly things myself."

"We have to go," I said again, then jumped when my phone vibrated.

"Go!" she exclaimed, face flushed and eager. "It's just getting started!"

She turned to the stage, arm pumping in the air as I let go of her to fish my phone out. It was Trent, but I'd never be able to hear him. Just glad he was alive, I flipped the phone open. "Trent? You okay?" I shouted, hand over one ear as the zealot with the mic pointed at the TV and proclaimed that now they would know the true purity of the soul.

Clearly something had shifted at the dewar, and I turned to the TV, showing the riverfront with lots of blond men and women coming out of the stadium now instead of one or two as before.

"Rachel?" Trent's voice came, tiny and small. "I'm fine. Where are you?"

"I'm looking for Ivy. I'm at the square with my mom and Jenks!" I shouted. On the screen, a reporter I recognized elbowed a CNN reporter out of the way to get in front of Landon. "Nina's rallying the vampires to stop the elves from returning the undead souls. Trent, you have to get out of there."

"I'm going right now," Trent said, but I never would've understood it if I hadn't heard him whisper in my ear before. "You have to leave the square. Now!"

But the reporter had gotten Landon to stop, and the crowd quieted enough to hear her say, "Sa'han Landon, Sa'han Landon, can you comment on the sudden disappearance of the undead souls with the rising sun? Have the elves agreed on a course of action to bring them back?"

Her voice was echoing between the buildings, and the sound of the crowd diminished even more, punctuated by the occasional shout.

"Rache?"