White Witch, Black Curse

There was a cluster of people at the dry fountain being treated for burns and what looked like smoke inhalation. The fire was out, but the firemen were still hosing down the stage, performing, I think, for the news crews. I spotted Edden's squat form at the edge of the cordoned-off area, and he turned when I shouted. Looking cold but sharp in his tux, he held the yellow tape up for me, and we slipped under. Immediately I felt protected, and when my guard went down, I shivered violently from the cold.

"Glad you could join us," he said, eyeing the two men behind me. "Where did you find the twins?"

Twins? I thought, breath catching as I spun around to see a sullen Pierce in jeans standing next to a laughing one with dark sunglasses and a brilliant red tie. Holy cow, I thought, feeling a sliver of worry slip through me. Al put a finger to his lips, and I whipped back around to Edden, willing to play the game since it would keep me out of trouble for a few minutes longer.

"Oh, you know us witches," I said, not knowing why but only that I had to say something. "Hey, is that Tom?" I said as I spotted what I thought was a familiar face among the wounded.

"Where?" Edden looked where I pointed. The man in the black trench coat was getting his hand bandaged, but when he saw us notice him, he quickly strode away, the person attending him shouting for him to come back.

"Well, I'll be damned," Edden cursed, whistling and pointing to get someone to go after him, but it was too late.

"That was Tom. Tom Bansen," I said in affront, glaring at Al when he chuckled. The man had once summoned and released Al to kill me. "That's the third time he's beat me to a crime scene this week," I mused uneasily.

"He must have better intel," Al said, giving Pierce a shove to stay behind him.

"Are you giving Tom information?" I asked Al as Edden snagged a passing officer and started shooting off questions.

A mock-hurt expression came in his eyes as Al peered at me from over his glasses. "Everything I do, I do for you, love."

I wasn't sure if that was an answer or not, and I slowly let out my breath, flicking a glance at Pierce, now gazing up at the Carew Tower restaurant. There were three I.S. agents headed our way, and I had a moment of worry about Al until Edden flashed his badge and the men turned away.

The officer with him jogged away, and Edden put his hands on his hips to assess the situation. Standing there he looked like a squat Jenks without the wings. With a stiff mustache. And a round face. And a tux too cold for the weather. Okay, so he didn't look anything like Jenks, but the same protector-of-the-world attitude was there.

Seeing Glenn's tall form with a bunch of FIB personnel, I tapped Edden's arm and we headed that way. The poor guy looked colder than I was with his knit hat pulled low and his eyes pinched. People were listening to him, though, and he looked like he was in charge.

Ivy was next to him, her vampire need to protect the weak just about flaming from her, and making me smile. Her red dress flashed from under her coat as the wind whipped it. She didn't look cold at all. As if noticing my gaze on her, her eyes rose to mine, then shifted to Al. Pierce was lagging behind, eyes on the fountain. Her words never stopped as she talked to the surrounding FIB agents.

"The I.S. is lying," she said firmly as the wind brought her voice to us when we got close enough. "No evidence of a banshee being involved is an outright lie. There should be tons of emotion here, and there isn't. Barely enough to cover a fender bender. It's as if it's a Tuesday night, not New Year's Eve after the ball has dropped and there's been a fire. Emotion should be echoing between the buildings, and it isn't. There's nothing here. Someone sucked it up."

The circle of FIB officers shifted to let us in, and we rocked to a stop with Al uncomfortably close behind me and Pierce still at the fountain. The missing emotion was exactly the force I'd used to catalyze Pierce's spell, but unlike a banshee, I hadn't used it up, simply borrowed it to push the spell into working. I wondered if that made witches and banshees somehow related.

I could see the shift of attention to Edden as he approached, and Glenn stifled a sigh. "Glenn, where are we?" the FIB captain asked to shift it back, and his son's mood eased.

Ivy frowned and crossed her arms over her middle. "Someone sucked the emotion out of here, and it wasn't Rachel," she said. "Her magic doesn't work like that."

Not exactly, anyway.

Glenn wiped a mittened hand under his nose, absolutely miserable with the cold. "I know it was a banshee," he admitted. "I'm not arguing with you, Tamwood. But you aren't licensed to give court evidence, and I'm stuck using what the I.S. is telling me. All we have right now is conflicting testimony from multiple witnesses. We know Mia was here."