Ever After (Rachel Morgan)

realizing he wasn’t going to say anything more, I curved my fingers around him to try to keep him warm.
    “You want me to lock them in my closet?” Ivy said when I caught up, her sword tip never wavering from Nick’s kidneys as she stepped over the wall. “It’s soundproof.”
    I hadn’t known that, but I shook my head. I didn’t know what to do with them, but I was cold, and I wanted to get inside.
    “We should just stake them.” Jenks darted back to us, and Jax shifted against my fingers. “Right here in the garden. Let the spring fairies make nests in their insides.”
    That was just nasty, understandable but nasty. I replied, “Not that I want to spend time with Nick, but I’d rather know where he is, wouldn’t you?”
    Ivy frowned, her concern clear in the porch light as we went up the wooden steps. “He makes one move I don’t like, I’m going to give him to Nina to bleed dry, even if it will set her back a week.”
    It was the best I could hope for, and I hung back on the bottom step as Nick opened the back door and went in, Ivy tight behind him. “Shoes off,” I heard her bark, but it was more to put him off balance than to keep the floors clean.
    Then again . . . I mused as I came in to find her scowling at Nick, the man leaning against the wall to wedge his shoes off without using his hands. I debated whether to change the zip strip for one encircling one wrist, not two—then decided not to. I was sure he was Ku’Sox’s ace in the hole. Otherwise, he’d be dead by now.
    “Okay, we’re inside. Sit,” Ivy said tightly, and Nick dramatically fell into the soft leather sofa to send up a puff of vampire-incense-scented air.
    “I came to help!” he protested when she poked her sword tip at him to move down, and I set Jax on the top of the couch so I could take my coat off. It smelled of ever-after, and in a splurge of motion, I tossed it out on the back porch to air out.
    “Help?” Ivy leaned forward, stinking of angry vampire, her fangs showing as she gripped his shoulder and put her head right next to his. “You want to help yourself.”
    She shoved him into the cushions, and Nick flicked a nasty look at me for not stopping her. He was a big boy. He could take care of himself. “I was coming to talk to you when the gargoyles grabbed me,” he said. “I was on the front walk. I wanted to tell you I was sorry.”
    “But you’re not.” Jenks nearly spat it, his wings transparent as he hovered at eye level.
    Nick turned to face me as Ivy pointedly sat in the chair across from him. “I made a mistake. I’m trying to fix things,” he said, but his tone was too hat-in-hand.
    Jenks laughed bitterly. “So is Rachel. Actually, she’s trying to save all the demons and the entire ever-after, so what’s your point, crap for brains? Didn’t you expect the deranged, freak-of-nature demon to turn on you?”
    I didn’t like Jax being so close to Nick, and I put my hand down for him to climb on so I could move him to the end table. “I’m sorry, Ms. Rachel,” he said as he got on and sat down, tattered wings tickling my palm. I said nothing, mad at all of them as I set him under the table lamp and turned it on to warm him. Still angry, I sat in the chair beside him and snatched up the remote, turning the TV on for any news that would indicate we were in worse trouble than before. Setting the remote clattering onto the end table, I traced my cheek where Nick had slapped me. Not hurting him for the hell of it was harder than I thought it would be.
    “I knew you wouldn’t believe me,” Nick said, and Ivy shoved the coffee table into his shins to get him to shut up. “I want to help.”
    This time it was belligerent, and Jenks laughed. “Help!” Jenks exclaimed, and Jax hunkered down under the light, his back to his dad and looking miserable. “No fairy-farting way!” he yelled, and his kids who had been hovering vanished. “You are not switching sides. You are lying ! Rache, why are we even listening to this? Nick put the lie back in believe .”
    “I don’t know,” I said listlessly. “Maybe because if he’s sitting in front of me, he’s not coming behind me with a knife. Besides, there’s nothing on TV.”
    Nick pushed the coffee table away from his knees, and Ivy pushed it back. Clearly at the end of his patience, he tossed the hair from his eyes and held his wrists up, asking to be released. I shook my head, and he lowered his bound hands. “Ku’Sox dying is