A Fistfull of Charms(54)

The menu was on the wall, and it looked like basic bar food. There were no windows but for the door, and everyone seemed willing to mind their own business after their first long look. The short bar had three fat men and one skinny one, each sitting on green vinyl stools torn to show the white padding. They were shoving food in their mouths as they watched a recap of last week’s game, talking to a matronly woman with big hair behind the bar. 
It was only three in the afternoon—according to the clock above the dance floor whose hands were fishing poles and numbers were fly lures. A dark jukebox filled a distant corner, and a long light with colored glass hung over a red-felted pool table.
The bar had Northern Redneck all over it, which made me all warm and fuzzy. I didn’t like being the only Inderlanders in the place, but it was unlikely anyone would turn ugly. Someone might get stupid after midnight with seven shots of Jäger and a room of humans to back him, but not at three in the afternoon and only five people in the place counting the cook.
Jenks and Jax were at a table in the rear, a bank of empty booths between them and the wall. The large pixy waved for us to join them, and I felt a moment of worry that he had his shirt open to show his scent amulet. I was guessing he was proud he was big enough to have one and wanted to show it off, but I didn’t like flaunting my Inderland status. They had an MPL—a Mixed Public License—posted, but it was obvious that this was a local human hangout.
“I’m going to the restroom,” Nick muttered.
He made a beeline for the archway beside the bar, and I watched him, the idea flitting through me that he might not come back. I looked at Jenks, and after I nodded, the big pixy sent Jax to follow him. Yeah, I was stupid when it came to matters of the heart, but I wasn’t stupid.
Ivy’s presence hung a shade too close for comfort as we wove through the empty tables, past the pool table and the gray-tiled dance floor. Jenks had his coat off and his back to the wall, and Ivy took the chair beside his before I could. Peeved, I put my fingers on the worn wood of the chair across from her, twisting it sideways so I could see the door. The guys at the bar were watching us, and one moved down a stool to talk to his neighbor.
Seeing that, Ivy frowned. “Stand up, pixy,” she said, her low voice carrying an obvious threat. “I don’t want Rachel sitting next to crap for brains.”
In a heartbeat Jenks’s amusement turned to defiance. “No,” he said, crossing his arms. “I don’t want to, and you can’t make me. I’m bigger than you.”
Ivy’s pupils swelled. “I would have thought you’d be the last person equating greater size with greater threat.”
His foot under the table jiggled, squeaking. “Right.” With an abrupt motion he pushed his chair out, snatching up his coat and edging from behind the table to take the seat next to mine. “I don’t like sitting with my back to the door either,” he grumbled.
Ivy remained silent, the brown returning to her eyes quickly. I knew she was carrying herself carefully, very aware that the clientele wasn’t used to vampires and voluntarily putting herself on her best behavior. That Jenks had moved to suit her hadn’t gone unnoticed, and I fixed a cheerful smile to my face when the woman approached, setting down four glasses of water with moisture beading up on them. No one said anything, and she fell away a full four feet, pulling a pad of paper from her waistband. What she wanted was obvious. Why she hadn’t said anything in greeting was obvious too; we had her on edge.
Ivy smiled, then toned it down when Becky, by her name tag, paled. Putting the flat of my arms on the table, I leaned forward to look brainless. “Hi,” I said. “What’s the special?”
The woman darted a glance at Ivy, then back to me. “Ah, no special—ma’am,” she said, reaching nervously to touch her white hair, which had been dyed blond. “But Mike in the back makes a damn, uh, he makes a good hamburger. And we’ve got pie today.”Nick silently joined us, with Jax on his shoulder, looking uncomfortable as he took the last seat next to Ivy and across from Jenks. The woman relaxed a notch, apparently realizing he was human and deciding the rest of us were probably half tamed. I didn’t know how they did it since they couldn’t smell Inderlander on us, as we could on ourselves. Must be some secret human finger motion or something.
“Hamburger sounds good,” Ivy said, her eyes down to look meek, but with her stiff posture it only made her look pissed.
“Four hamburgers all around,” I said, wanting to be done with it and eating. “And a pitcher of Coke.”
Nick scooted his chair closer to the table, Jax leaving him for the warmer light hanging over the table. “I’d like two hamburgers, please,” the gaunt man said, a hint of defiance in his voice, as if he expected someone to protest.
“Me too,” Jenks chimed up, bright eyes wickedly innocent. “I’m starved.”
Nick leaned to see the menu on the wall. “Does that come with fries?”
“Fries!” Jenks exclaimed, and Jax sneezed from the lamp hanging over the table. Pixy dust sifted down along with the mundane type. “Tink-knocks-your-knickers, I want fries too.”
The woman wrote it down, her plucked and penciled-in eyebrows rising. “Two half-pound burgers with fries for each of the gentleman. Anything else?”
Nick nodded. “A milk shake. Cherry if you have it.”
She blew out her breath, taking in his gaunt frame. “How about you, hon?”
Becky was looking at Jenks, but he was eyeing the jukebox. “Coke is fine. Does that thing work?”
The woman turned, following his gaze to the machine. “It’s busted, but for five bucks you can use the karaoke machine all you want.”
Jenks’s eyes widened. “Most excellent,” he said in a surfer-boy accent. From above us came Jax’s exuberant shout that all the bugs in the lamp shade had been dried out by the heat and he was going to eat their wings like chips if she didn’t mind.
Oh God. And it had been going so well.
Ivy cleared her throat, clearly appalled when Jax flitted from lamp to lamp, growing more excited by the amount of pixy dust he was letting slip. “Ah, I think that will do it,” I said, and the woman turned away, bumping into a table as she watched Jax on her way to the kitchen. The hair on the back of my neck had pricked; everyone in the bar was looking at us. Even the cook.
Jenks followed my gaze, his blond eyebrows high. “Let me take care of this,” he said, standing up. “Rache, do you have any money? I spent mine at The Butterfly Shack.”
Ivy’s eyes darkened. “I can handle this.” 
A small noise came from Jenks. “Like at the FIB?” he scoffed. “Sit down, weenie vamp. I’m too big to get shoved into a water cooler.”
Feeling the tension rise, I shuffled in my bag and handed Jenks my wallet. I didn’t know what he had in mind, but it was probably a lot less scary than what Ivy had planned, and it wouldn’t land us in the local jail either. “Leave some in there, okay?”
He gave me a lopsided, charming smile, his perfect teeth catching the light. “Hey, it’s me.” Making a click to tell Jax to join him, he ambled to the bar, his pace more provocative than it ought to have been. The man couldn’t have any idea how good he looked.
“No honey toddies!” I shot after him, and he raised a backward hand. Ivy wasn’t happy when I met her gaze. “What?” I protested. “You’ve seen him on honey.”
Nick snickered and set his glass of water down. Jax flew a glittering path to the karaoke machine ahead of his dad, Jenks’s pace intent as he followed. Becky had her eyes glued to the small pixy as she talked on the phone, and I had a feeling he was intentionally dusting heavy. I wondered how this would get everyone’s eyes off us. A distraction, maybe?
The father and son clustered at the screen, a reading lesson ensuing while they looked at the song menu. Ivy glanced at them, then Nick. “Go help them,” she muttered.
Nick pulled his gaunt face up to hers. “Why?”
Ivy’s jaw clenched. “Because I want to talk to Rachel.”
Frowning, Nick rose, his chair scraping on the wooden floor. Our drinks arrived, and the woman set his cherry shake, three glasses of Coke, and a condensation-wet pitcher on the table. Milk shake in hand, Nick shuffled to Jenks and Jax, looking tired in his gray sweats.
I sipped my Coke, feeling the bubbles burn all the way down. My stomach was empty and the smell of the cooking meat was giving me a headache. Setting the glass aside so I didn’t slam it, I slumped, relying on Ivy to keep an eye on my back. I watched her relax muscle by muscle until she was calm.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I said. “I really made a crap pit of everything. He was in the middle of a survivalist group, for God’s sake. I never expected that.” I should have done more recon, I thought, but I didn’t need to say it. It was obvious.
Ivy shrugged, glancing at Nick, Jenks, and Jax. “You got him out. I wasn’t planning on staying,” she added, “but since I’m here, I’ll stick around.”
I blew my breath out, relieved. “Thanks. But is that…prudent?” I hesitated, then ventured, “Piscary’s going to be royally ticked if you aren’t there by sundown.”