"Rachel tells me you're lying," Cormel said, and Landon's expression blanked. "And I believe the actual wording of our agreement was that I'd remove them from power." He gestured to Trent. "I sent them fleeing to the West Coast. They returned and I isolated them. They have no power," he said, smiling pleasantly. "Bring back our souls. Now."

"The dewar is split because he lives," Landon said, but he was sweating. If I could see it, every vampire on the floor could smell it. "I won't bring your souls back until I have control."

"Won't, or can't?" Cormel sat down, leaving Landon and me standing.

"You'll not survive this, Landon," Trent intoned, and Cormel turned to him in speculation. "You'll die by your own hand. I'll have no regrets."

It sounded poetic, and I hid my shiver by moving to stand behind his chair. It was a good eight feet away from the desk, and I breathed easier. I didn't like his being here. Despite everything he'd said, I'd never forgive myself if he suffered because of me.

"It's business," Landon said dismissively and turned to Cormel. "Well?"

The vampire leaned back into his chair, making it creak. "The living are fascinating," he mused aloud. "You both seem to think you have leverage. You don't." He licked his lips to show his teeth. "I don't trust you, Landon."

"You didn't kill them!" Landon shouted, and I shrank back when Cormel stood.

"You are lying!" he thundered, and the guards outside in the hall came in. "I'm not going to kill them. I don't have to. All you need is control of the dewar, yes?"

Cormel wasn't going to kill us. Great. Somehow that didn't thrill me. Trent paled, and I put a hand on his shoulder. The stored energy in his chi tingled through me, and I felt our balances equalize. Neither of us could make a circle, but we had at least one good spell each.

"You will stop lying to me," the vampire said, motions smooth and controlled as he ghosted out from behind the desk.

Landon backed up, jerking when one of Cormel's thugs shoved him forward. Cormel closed the gap. "I know you lost control of our souls," the vampire said, reaching to arrange Landon's collar. "You didn't force them back because Rachel and Trent still live. You let them slip away. Blaming them to cover your error is disturbing."

I barely breathed as Cormel leaned in toward Landon. "If you have control of the dewar, can you bring them back?" Cormel asked. "The truth."

"Y-yes," he stammered, and Cormel smiled, giving his face a little pat. "But the dewar won't side with me while he lives."

Cormel turned his back on us to retrieve his coffee. "And the demons?" Smiling, still smiling, he leaned against his desk, looking at me over the rim of his coffee cup.

Landon's attention shifted between Cormel and Trent, clearly nervous. "I can force all of them except Rachel back to the ever-after," he said. "I can then close the lines so the ever-after will collapse, taking the demons with it."

He wants to kill the demons, too? I shook my head in disbelief. "You'd end all magic?" I said softly. "What in hell are you afraid of, Landon?"

Trent was the only one still sitting, and it made him look like he was in control-when he clearly wasn't. Or was he?

Landon sneered, telling me he was afraid. "Don't be stupid. I wouldn't end magic forever. With the entire dewar and enclave backing me, we can reinstate the Arizona lines."

Jaw dropping, I followed that through. He'd hold the entirety of Inderland hostage with the threat of destroying the lines if he didn't get what he wanted, when he wanted, whenever he wanted. Beside me, Trent made a small noise of appreciation, and I tightened my grip on his shoulder. Okay, it was a great idea, but not for us.

"The lines are dead. You can't reinstate them," I said quickly, wondering if Cormel had us down here to affirm or deny Landon's claim. "Why are you listening? He wants you dead."

Expression ugly, Landon took a step away from the thugs. "Nothing is impossible." He turned to Cormel. "And nothing happens until I control the dewar."

Cold, I gripped the back of Trent's chair. Cormel's eyes traveled over all of us, and with a little sigh, he pushed into motion. "We can take care of that right now," he said as he pulled open a drawer and brought out a folder. "Kalamack, where are your daughters?"

"My daughters?" Trent echoed, and my first fear that Cormel was threatening them vanished. They were with Al. Nothing could harm them.

"With a demonic babysitter, I believe?" Cormel drawled. Landon looked awfully smug all of a sudden, and I tensed.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Trent said, and I snatched the papers that Cormel was extending. Trent reached up and took them from me before I could read them, but then my jaw clenched as I saw the first few lines.

"Child abuse?" I spat. "Are you kidding?"

Cormel leaned back in his chair. "No. Mr. Kalamack is accused of child abuse for putting the girls in the care of a demon."

"You can't do that!" I exclaimed, but by Trent's pale face, I thought they not only could, they had.

"Criminal neglect and endangerment," Cormel was saying. "He may as well have dangled them from the top of the I.S. tower. Not a good choice, Morgan. Your idea, wasn't it?"

No, it had been Trent's, but I'd thought it was a good one. "They aren't in any danger! Al isn't going to hurt them!" Trent let the papers fall, and I scooped them up, hands shaking.

"Kalamack's actions are being seen as a political stunt to show demons in an uncharacteristic and false light. Of course, we can avoid all this . . . if you return our souls yourself?"

I froze, my stomach knotting. Son of a bitch. Ellasbeth was going to have the girls within the hour.

"This is for both girls." The scent of spoiled wine pushed out the vampiric pheromones. My pulse pounded as Trent stood and took the papers from me. "Ellasbeth can't claim Ray," he said, dropping them on the desk. "She's not her child."

Landon edged forward as Cormel spun the paperwork to him. "Lucy was the firstborn, was she not?" he said, peering over his glasses as he sat down and fumbled for a pen. "There should be sufficient dewar support with just the one girl."

"This isn't about power!" Trent exclaimed, and Cormel looked up from crossing Ray's name off the paperwork. "Lucy is my child!"

"Not anymore." Cormel lightly flipped through the pages and initialized the changes.

Horrified, I stood by the chair. This was my fault. They were doing this because of my association with Trent. He was trying to find a way to live with demons because of me, and it was costing him everything. Damn you, Ellasbeth. Do you even know what you're doing?

Cormel slid the pages back in the folder and closed it, an ageless hand resting atop it protectively. "Produce Lucy, or you will not leave this room."

My God, he was going to give Lucy to Landon. The girl was a living symbol of the elven future, and whoever raised her held her power until she was old enough to hold it herself. Scared, I sized up the thugs by the door. I'd had worse odds and fewer assets, but one of them was Trent-and I recognized an odd panic. There'd be no ley line this deep underground. I had only one spell's worth of power spindled, but when Trent reached up and put a hand on mine, I felt a jolting tingle. Lips pressed, he pushed more energy into me, and shocked, I remembered Trent had a familiar. He had access to a line, and through him, I did, too. Not so helpless then . . .

But my fear for him remained. "You're holding us on what grounds?"

Cormel looked at the ceiling and pushed back from the desk. "Kalamack for refusing a court order, and you . . . I don't know, but we'll come up with something."

I moved back from the chair, pissed as three of his people approached. "This is why you weep when you get your soul, Cormel. I'm almost ready to force it down your throat."

A flicker of unease passed over Cormel, but it was gone quickly. "Satisfied?" Cormel asked Landon, handing him the folder.

"Your souls will return at sundown," Landon said shortly, and Cormel's smile faded. "We have to wait until the lines are flowing in the proper direction," he added, then paled at Cormel's sudden snarl. "I will personally fix your soul to your body myself," he said quickly. "You can't force the tides, and we must wait until the flow of energy is conducive for the magic required."

Suspicious, Cormel looked at me, reading the truth of it in my grimace.

"And I need time to sway the dewar," Landon said with a relieved exhale.

I'd had just about enough. "You mean parade Lucy about like a trophy," I said as Trent got to his feet, shaking out his coat and stopping the vampires with one hard look. "You haven't earned your voice, Landon. You've not done one thing to prove you're fit to lead a school outing, much less an entire people."

"He can't force the demons into the ever-after," Trent told Cormel.

"Watch me." Landon's face was red as he held his papers like a shield.

"He can't reinstate the Arizona lines once he destroys the ever-after, either," Trent continued. "Cormel, you will be known as the man who allowed an elf to kill all magic."

There were too many people in here, and my back was almost to the wall. My heart pounded. This was easier when I didn't love anyone.

"The risk is worth it," Cormel said, motioning to the two guys still standing by the door. Crap on toast, they had guns. "Landon, if it's not done at sunset, you will die an hour afterward because I will wring the life from you personally. Take your stolen power and go."

Landon looked frightened as he edged to the door. Damn it, if he left with that folder, Lucy was gone. Frustrated and angry, I paced to Cormel. "He can't save you!"

The vampire's eyes were black when they met mine. "And you won't." He eyed the short distance between us and waved his men closer. "Take them away."

Frustrated, energy swirled to my fingertips. I wasn't going to get Ivy or Nina, and coming here had only lost Lucy.

By the door, Landon hesitated. "You strapped them, didn't you?" he asked, and I smiled at Cormel. It was wicked and promising pain, but he wasn't looking at me.

"No," he said, and I was jerked back as someone pulled me away from the desk. "We're seven stories down. They can't reach a ley line from here."

"Trent can!" Landon exclaimed.

I flung my head back. The sudden crunch of cartilage and the cry of pain raced through me, fueled by adrenaline. My grin widened at the cry, and I yanked my arm free, spinning and jamming my palm into the man's jaw for good measure. He fell back, but I was already turning. "You will not take Lucy from him . . . ," I panted, almost crawling over the desk to get at Cormel.

"Down!" someone yelled, and I heard Trent's voice raised loud in elven chanting.

Ta na shay swirled in my thoughts, making my heart pound and my lips pull back from my teeth. "You!" I snarled, and Cormel dodged out of the way, his eyes black in fear as he saw my desperate confidence.

I feinted, then scrabbled the other way, ducking his reach for me and spinning to slam my foot behind his knee.

He dropped. I could hear crashes behind me and Landon shouting spells. Someone shot one of those stupid guns. "Trent!" I shouted, turning.

Cormel's fist slammed into my head. Dazed, I did nothing when his meaty hand fastened on my neck, yanking me up with the strength of a wolf with a kitten. "You think you can best me?" he snarled, and I screamed under the pressure. Tears born in pain pricked, and I hung there, seeing Trent struggling under two vampires. I could smell ozone and gunpowder. A woman screamed for help in the hallway.

"Let go!" I exclaimed, the last of the energy in my chi sparking between us.

Cormel jerked, his hold coming back all the stronger. With a sudden tug, he yanked me to him, an arm wrapping around my neck. "God help me, how does that vampire bitch resist you?" Cormel murmured, his breath in my hair. "Do you know how long it has been since anyone has been able to hurt me?"

From somewhere, ever-after energy burst from me, and with an angry cry Cormel flung me away. I hit the wall, sliding down and rolling to stay out of his reach.

"Corrumpo!" Trent raged as I tried to find my feet, failing. Just as well, as a pulse of force exploded from Trent, knocking everyone down. The windows shattered into the hall with a loud pop, and frightened cries filtered in. Cormel was on his hands and knees. His men were disoriented.

I ran for Cormel, scooping up a gun as I went. Energy zinged down my pathways from an unending spool in my head. Trent must have given me more than I realized.

"Cohibere!" Landon bellowed from the floor, and I ducked even as Trent set a circle and the magic was harmlessly deflected.

I skidded to a halt behind Cormel, dropping down and wrapping an arm around his neck and shoving the gun to his head. "Give me Ivy. Now!"

Cormel moved, and I stung him with a pulse of ever-after. "You want to live forever?" I shouted, gun pressed against his head. "You need your brain intact! Tell them to back off! Now!"

It had gone silent. Landon was flat on the floor, a haze of energy in his hand. Trent was standing over the two vampires he had downed. He had a red mark on his forehead, and his eyes were angry. Whispers came from the hall, and I tightened my grip when six capable-looking vampires edged through the glass in the hallway. Each one of them had a gun pointed at me.

Cormel began to laugh, pissing me off. "Shoot her," he said to his men. "Try not to hit me this time."

My eyes widened. Shit, he had called my bluff.

"Rachel!" Trent cried out, and he went down under two vampires.

My breath came in. I could see everything. Landon on the floor, the court papers strewn before him, a scrap of Trent's pants showing from under the pile of guards, the scent of excited vampire stinging my nose.

The bang of the handgun seemed too small, and I knew before the bullet left the muzzle that it was going to be true. I had no time. My eyes closed and I wished it had happened some other way. Energy tingled, but I couldn't set a circle. Not without being connected to a line. He'd won. The bastard had won.

With a familiar furp-ping, the bullet glanced off a bubble and buried itself in the wall.

I tensed, feeling nothing but the sensation of tingles over my skin. My heart thudded in the new silence, and I opened my eyes. Someone had saved me. Trent?

But it hadn't been him. My lips parted. Cormel tried to move and I instinctively tightened my grip, shoving the handgun into him harder. A faint haze hung before me like a bubble, but it wasn't the expected red-tinted ever-after with shades of an aura, but a milky white.

Shit. The mystics.

Panicked, I looked at Trent. His face was pale as he struggled in the grip of two vampires.

"How . . . !" Landon sputtered, the papers scattered before him forgotten. "You don't have a familiar!"

I swallowed hard, my grip on Cormel tightening. "Yeah, how about that." Everything I'd been working for to get the demons to survive was gone. Even they wouldn't listen to me now. Not with mystics swarming through me.

"She must have taken a familiar," Cormel said. He had me on weight, but the gun beside his eye kept him still.

"That's right," I lied, and Trent shook off the goons on him. "You there. Put the paperwork on the desk."

"This won't change anything," Landon said. He was right, but I wasn't leaving without Ivy.

"Get Ivy in here!" I shouted. "Now!"

No one moved. "You're just going to have to kill me, Morgan," Cormel said, and it was starting to look like a good option.

Trent tensed as my finger tightened. It wouldn't take much. The world would be a better place. "Rachel! Don't!" Trent called out, and I looked at him, unbelieving.

"Why not?" I asked, watching Cormel's eyes dilate in fear.

"This isn't who you are," Trent said, shaking off the hands holding him.

"How do you know?" I shouted, and the whispers from the hall grew loud. "I already let one sniveling excuse for a person live because you asked me to. Maybe this is who I am! Huh? Maybe I'm just a murdering bastard and you don't know it! Why should I be any different from you? Why!"

I swear I saw a drop of sweat trickle down Cormel's neck. He wasn't breathing, terrified.

For three long seconds Trent thought about that. Head dropping for an instant, his eyes rose to find mine. The enormity of the past two days was on him, heavy and thick. "You're right," he said softly. "Do what you want."

Cormel's eyes closed to hide the fear and hope that I might shoot him dead and end it all.

Son of a bitch, this isn't who I am. Crying out in frustration, I shoved Cormel away from me. I never saw him hit the floor as someone flew at me, tackling me around the waist and sending me down.

"It's yours, it's yours!" I shouted as one sat on me and spun my arm around behind my back and another wrenched my wrist until I let go of the handgun.