Ever After (Rachel Morgan)

Filling it with water, I realized my old scar was tingling. Suddenly a lot more awake, I reached for a dish towel and turned. The coffeemaker could wait. Having my back to two amorous vampires was not a good idea.
    Ivy was still hunched over Nina, a pale finger tracing something on the monitor, and I felt a pang of loss when Nina smiled beautifully up at her. Nina was on top of the world. It was right about then when things usually fell apart.
    “That’s the school Wayde used,” Jenks said, hovering between Nina and the wall as he pointed to a link on the search engine’s list. “He said the rates were high, but the equipment was state-of-the-art, and that’s what you want, right?”
    Nina pulled back to see Ivy. “Well, Ivy? You, me, and fifteen thousand feet next Friday?”
    I almost choked. “Skydiving?” Ivy hated taking unnecessary chances. “Like two days from now?”
    Still bent over Nina, Ivy met my eyes. Maintaining our connection, she found her full height before turning to the fridge. “The week after. You want to come?”
    Nina froze. Realizing I’d be a third wheel on a bicycle made for two—or whatever—I turned back to the sudsy coffeemaker. “No, thanks.” It would be all over one way or the other by then. Ivy moving on was a good thing.
    Ivy’s motions were intentionally slow as she came out from the fridge, frowning at Nina. She’d caught that jealous stiffening as easily as I had. “We’re out of orange juice,” she said as the door shut hard enough to make the cookie jar rattle.
    “We didn’t expect you back this soon,” I said as I rinsed the coffeemaker and set it to dry.
    “They have juice at the corner store,” Nina offered. “I’ll run down and get it. I could use the fresh air.” Her nose wrinkled again.
    Because I’m stinking up the kitchen, I thought sourly.
    Ivy glanced at Jenks with a pleading look, and the pixy brightened as Nina reached for her purse. “Hey, ah, I’ll come with you,” he said, making me more than a little curious. “I’ve got to, ah, stretch my wings. See if we’re the only church on the block with gargoyles on it.”
    We were the only church on the block, period. That wasn’t why he was going with her, but content to wait and see, I leaned against the counter and dried the coffeemaker as Nina gave Ivy a quick peck on the corner of her mouth. Ivy’s hand was on her shoulder, the first softening of her mood showing. Whatever was bothering her wasn’t Nina.
    Nina strode confidently from the kitchen, Jenks right behind her, his dust a hot silver as he yelled to his kids that Belle had the conn. He’s guarding her?
    I put the coffeemaker back together as Nina’s footsteps grew faint. Her voice rose pleasantly as she said something to Jenks, and then there was silence. The door boomed shut.
    Ivy’s jaw was tight and her head was bowed.
    I exhaled long and slow. It had been a while since we’d been alone together. I hoped whatever it was, it wasn’t too late. “Nina is in a good mood,” I fished. If Ivy wanted to talk, she would.
    Ivy pushed herself into motion. “She should be,” she said, a hint of pride in her as she went to her stack of mail and began sorting. “On the way home from the airport, she shoved Felix out of her mind.”
    “No!” I put the coffeemaker back in its spot and levered myself up to sit before it. “I didn’t think she had any say in the matter.” Maybe this was why Jenks was with her. Felix would be pissed.
    Ivy lifted a shoulder and let it fall, focused on her mail. “If he’d been conditioning her from adolescence, she wouldn’t even think to try, but she grew up without him. Their relationship is only a few months old.” She frowned at the duplicate catalogs from Vamp Vixen. “He’s been relying on her willingness until now, and Nina has a very strong core of self,” she said, smiling faintly. “It’s the first positive step she’s taken to become less dependent on him.” Her smile faded. “He uses her too much.”
    Unease trickled down my spine. Though no was in a vampire’s lexicon, it was only to give the other words like sex, hunger, and violence something to bump up against. “You encouraged her to do this?” I said, and a delicate flush crept over her cheeks. “Damn it, Ivy, do you know how dangerous that is? To flaunt your independence before a master?”
    Her fingers faltered as they sorted, and I slid from the counter. “Yes, you do,” I said, glad now that I smelled