White Witch, Black Curse

"No," Mia demanded in a high voice before Remus could react. "Don't separate us. I can keep him calm. I never wanted to cause any trouble. We were just sitting there."

Jenks snickered from my shoulder. "Didn't want to cause trouble. Does she really think we're buying that crap?"

"Yeah, but look at him," I said, gesturing at the man. Under Ivy's watchful attention, Mia had rejoined him, and he was again docile. Meek, almost. Creepy, definitely. It was easier this way, and less embarrassing, seeing that the I.S. was watching. Not to mention the news vans out front. If it hadn't been for Ivy, this would've been a lot more difficult. As long as Mia didn't want to cause trouble, Ivy could keep her in line, and with that, Remus would do the same.

Beside me, Edden huffed in satisfaction. "Got 'em both, when they were too afraid to even try," he said to me, gesturing with his chin to the I.S. But I had my doubts that this was over. From Mia's words, I guessed she thought all we wanted was Remus. When she found out we were after her as well, things might get ugly.

"I don't like this," I murmured to Edden, thinking this was too easy, and he gave me an insulted look. Okay, so we had her walking to the door, but she was not going to meekly let us take her baby. She lived with a serial killer, for crying out loud! That she was pushing him around should be a big warning to Edden. "This isn't over," I whispered.

Edden snorted. "What do you want me to do? Cuff the baby?" he said, then shouted, "Pack it up!"

People started to move. Remus was led to the front doors, his head bowed and looking beaten with his hands cuffed before him. Ivy and Mia were six steps back, and Jenks and I fell into place after them. The baby was still on Mia's hip, and the little girl was watching me from around her mother with eyes so pale, they looked albino. Peeking from under her pink snow hat, her hair was a wispy blond that reminded me of Trent's, and it looked nothing like the jet-black severity of her mother's. Holly had her thumb in her mouth, and the child's unblinking stare was getting to me. She started to fuss when I looked away, and Mia jiggled her. Tension tightened my gut. This was too easy.

"You're losing her, pixy," Mia said, shooting a glance at us over her shoulder.

Jenks let slip a burst of green dust. "What?" he said, and I wondered at his panic.

"You've lost her already," Mia said, the banshee's voice faint, as if she was seeing around corners to the future. "You see it in her eyes, and it's killing you slowly."

Ivy gave the woman a soft jerk to turn her back around. "Leave him alone," she said, then glanced at Jenks, her eyes crinkled up in disgust. "She's trying to feed off you," she said. "Don't listen. She's a liar."

Mia chuckled, and Jenks's wings fluttered against my neck. "I don't have to lie, and it doesn't matter if he listens to me or not. She's going to die. And you, silly vampire?" She looked askance at Ivy, and Ivy paled. "I told you that you were weak. What have you done in five years? Nothing. You think you're happy, but you're not. You could have had everything, but now she's gone, even though she's right next to you, because you were afraid. It's over. You were passive, and you lost. You may as well be what everyone wants you to be, because you aren't ever going to find the guts to be who you want."

I felt the blood leave my face. Ivy's jaw clenched, but she kept us moving forward at the same steady pace. Holly gurgled happily. Angry that Mia was hurting my friends, I snarled, "What about me, Ms. Harbor? Got anything in that bag of hate for me?"

She turned her cold blue eyes to me, and the corners of her mouth lifted. Her eyebrows arched slightly, making an expression of pure, delighted malice. Then Ivy pushed her through the double set of doors and they were gone.

It was snowing still, and I hesitated in the chill air lock. "Get in my bag, Jenks," I said, standing between the doors while FIB personnel eddied past us. The pixy seemed to be in shock, unable to move, and I reached up for him.

"I'm going!" he snarled, wings clattering as he dropped into my waiting bag and I zipped it closed. I'd put a hand heater that deer hunters use in there, and I knew he'd be all right.

My knees felt funny as I left the mall and entered the snow, and I slowed to try to see if Marshal was anywhere. No Marshal, no Tom—just faces craning to get a look at something. My breath steamed, and I was reaching for my gloves when the child-protection van pulled in under the tape the FIB had strung up.

"Mia!" Remus called out as two men tried to force him in the back of a cruiser. His voice was panicked, and I watched the banshee stiffen in Ivy's grip. Only now did she realize we were after her, too.

"Remus! Run!" she shrieked.