A Fistfull of Charms(72)

A family of three walked past, the kids like stairsteps and noisy with life. I watched them pass, thinking they were the future I had been working for, just walking away and leaving me behind. Was that a problem? “I like fresh air,” I protested, gathering up my things. It was time to leave.
“You’re a whiner too,” Jenks said. “I’ve never seen anyone so pathetic when you’re sick. ‘Where’s my pain amulet? Where’s my coffee?’ God almighty, I thought I was bad.”
I stood, feeling renewed from the Brimstone boost. It was a false strength, but it was there nevertheless. “Put down your fingers, Jenks, or I’m going to break them off and shove them somewhere.”
Jenks stood as well, tugging his aviator jacket straight. “You bring home demon familiars. ‘Oh isn’t she sweet?’” he said in a high falsetto. “‘Can we keep her?’”
I hiked my shoulder bag up higher, feeling the comfortable weight of my splat gun inside. “Are you saying I should have let Al kill Ceri?” I said dryly.
Laughing, he gathered up his sundry bags, consolidating them into two. “No. I’m saying that it takes a very strong person to let you be you. I can’t think of anyone better than Ivy.”
My breath escaped me in a huff. “Well I’m glad we have your blessing.”
Jenks snorted, his gaze going over the heads of the tourists to the archway and the parking lot where the car was. “Yeah, you got my blessing, and you’ve got my warning too.”
I looked at him, but he wasn’t paying me any attention, scanning the area now that we were ready to move again.
“If you think living with Ivy and trying to avoid getting bitten was difficult, wait until you try living with her while trying to find a blood balance. This isn’t an easier road, Rache,” he said, gaze distant and unaware of the worry he was starting in me. “It’s a harder one. And you’re going to be hurting all the way along it.”
Twenty-five
T he wind was whipping the decorative flags at the archway to the parking lot, and I blinked at them, fascinated. I had the remains of a burger in one hand, and a fizzy drink in the other. Jenks had insisted I get some iron-rich protein in me to chase down the Brimstone, but I suspected it had only been an excuse to get the drink, which he then spiked with even more Brimstone. Why else would I be feeling this great when my life was in the crapper? And I was feeling pretty damn good, like a weight had lifted and the sun was starting to shine.
Ivy would return soon, and though I had been all tough-girl by coming out here, it seemed prudent to get back before she found out I was gone. If Jenks and she were to be believed, I structured my life to be as horrific as possible to have fun in bed, but having Ivy mad at me might be too much for even me right now.
“What time is it?” I asked, squinting in the stiffer breeze and looking for the car. People bothered at our slow pace hustled past us, but I was enjoying the wind and the view of the straits.
Jenks snickered, clearly guessing where my thoughts were. He had slammed his twenty-ounce Dew and shook for a good thirty seconds, jittery and bright eyed, making me wonder which one of us was the better bet to drive home. Juggling his bags, he checked his wrist, beaming. “Four forty-six,” he said. “Only a minute off that time.”“By the time you get acclimated, we’ll be heading home,” I said, then pushed into motion. “When did you get a watch?”
“Yesterday with Jax,” he said, stretching to see the parking lot over the heads of the surrounding people. “I got you a camera too, and my knife. I don’t like being this big.”
I wasn’t going to tell him it was illegal to carry a concealed knife. Besides, he was a pixy. The law didn’t apply to him. I smiled at the way the sunlight glittered on his hair, even if it was black. “Big bad wolfs,” I said, then sucked down another swig of pop, stumbling on the curb as we found the street. “We’re going to blow their damned house down.”
His motions seamless, Jenks took my drink away and dropped it into the nearest trash container. “You okay?”
“Oh yeah,” I said enthusiastically. I handed him the last of my burger, which he threw away for me too. “You ought to know. You’re the one who keeps spiking my food.”
Giving me a wry look, Jenks gallantly took my arm. A giggle slipped from me at the show of support, appalling me. Damn it, this wasn’t fair. If they got me hooked on Brimstone, I was going to be majorly pissed—if I could remember why I was mad at them, that is.
Still laughing, I pulled my head up, going cold with a pulse of fear. Leaning against Kisten’s Corvette were Brett and Walter Vincent, the first one scanning the faces of the people leaving the mall, the second doing the same but with a murderous intensity. Immediately I realized what had happened, and I thanked God we weren’t at the motel, trapped in a little box of a room. Jenks and I were under a disguise, and though they hadn’t known about Kisten’s car, it probably smelled like the pixy, seeing as he drove it yesterday. They had found us.
“Oh, fudge,” I whispered, leaning heavily on Jenks’s arm. Just that fast, I had gone from exuberant to panic, the Brimstone taking over my moods. “You got anything more lethal than that knife on you?” I asked.
“No. Why?” His forward momentum barely hesitated as he looked up from watching my feet. “Oh,” he said softly, his fingers tightening on my arm for an instant. “Okay.”
I wasn’t surprised when he did an abrupt turn-about and wheeled us back into the mall. Bending close, Jenks sent the aroma of dry meadow over me. “Your disguises are working,” he whispered. “Pretend we just forgot something and have to go pick it up.”
I found myself nodding, scanning the contented faces around me, searching for anger in the vacationing people. My pulse was fast and my skin tingling. Pam was dead; they would be after me for that if nothing else. Weres were timid, apart from the alpha and the first few down, and since the round was broken, they would stay in the background and keep our squabble private. We’d be okay unless we got ourselves in a blind alley. And there weren’t many of those in Mackinaw City. 
“I’m going to call Ivy,” I said, pulling my bag around and opening it.
Body tense, Jenks drew me to a stop to put my back to a brick wall and stand partially in front of me. It was a candy shop—big surprise there—and my stomach growled as I hit speed dial. “Come on, come on,” I crabbed, waiting for it to go through.
The circuit clicked open and Ivy’s voice filtered out. “Rachel?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said, shoulders easing in relief. “Where are you?”
“On the bridge back. Why?” She hesitated, and I could hear the distinctive sound of Nick’s truck. “Why do I hear people?” she added suspiciously.
Jenks winced, and I squinted in the sun, backing up until the overhang put me in the shade. “Uh, Jenks and I went on a procurement run.”
“Shopping?” she yelped. “Rachel! Damn it, can’t you just sit still for a couple of hours?”
I thought of the Brimstone running rampant through me, deciding that no, I couldn’t.
Jenks tossed his head, and I followed his grim gaze to a pair of elegantly dressed tourists. They had shopping bags, but they were a little too attentive. Turning his back to them, Jenks angled to block their view of me. Damn it, this was getting dicey. My pulse quickened and I hunched into the phone. “Look, I did some thinking, and you’re right.” I peeked around Jenks, then rocked back. “How long will it take for you to get to that open-air mall?”
“You did some thinking?” Ivy said softly, sounding vulnerable.
Jenks scanned the plaza. “Tick-tock, Rache.”
Anxious, I turned to the phone. “Yeah. I need to start making smarter decisions. But we’re at that mall and Brett and Walter are sitting on the car.” The good feeling the Brimstone had instilled in me had sifted to fear, and I clamped down on my rising panic. At its heart, Brimstone was an intensifier. If you were happy, you were really happy. If you were sad, you were suicidal. Right now I was scared out of my mind. Until it wore off, I was going to be a roller coaster of emotions. Damn it, I didn’t have time for this!
Ivy snarled something at Nick, and I heard a horn blast. “How many?” she asked tightly.
I looked past Jenks, seeing sunlit flowers and cheerful storefronts. “Four so far, but they have phones. We’re wearing disguises, so they probably don’t know it’s us.” Calm down, Rachel, I told myself, trying to use the drug to my advantage. Think.
“I knew this was going to happen. I knew it!” Ivy shouted.
“Well, I’d rather meet them here than the motel,” I said, doggedly trying to pull my emotions from fear back to invincibility. It wasn’t working. I was still scared.
“The bridge is still one lane either way,” Ivy snarled. “I can’t get around this guy. Give the phone to Jenks. I want to talk to him.”
Jenks paled and shook his head.
“Jenks!” she exclaimed, “I know you can hear me. I can’t believe you let her talk you into this. I told you she needed at least another course of Brimstone before she could work in the kitchen, much less go out!”