Things are getting wrapping-up-the-semester crazy at work, now, which is eating into my free time, as well as the time I have to play with my characters in my head. So it looks like once a week or so is going to be my new update schedule. Unless the muse comes and whacks me over the head again! (She does that now and then, to the point where I just can't sleep unless I write first)

In Which Evie Meets Her (Latest) Nemesis

We spent a moment sizing each other up. We'd met before, when the Coven had given me a minor smackdown over the whole Al-dismembering-the-McKenzies incident years ago. He looked just a little older than Rachel, and, from the grim expression on his face, had obviously acquired a lot more experience in the intervening years. He locked the door, then hung an amulet right off of the IV bag after invoking it with a finger prick. I guessed it was a sound-dampening amulet that would keep our conversation private.

"Miss Sinclaire, you're looking…young," he said, his voice conveying his disapproval of the vanity curse I was sporting.

"Yeah, thanks. Someone on the other side took offense to the scar and decided to pretty me up a bit. Not my idea. How can I help you?"

Adrian winced at my reference to my time in the Ever After. He sat in a chair nearby, and sipped some coffee from a paper cup. He placed the truth amulet on the bedside table, in plain sight. Of course he'd have one. He was probably packing two dozen different primed amulets loaded with white charms. White, but no less lethal in the hands of an experienced Coven member. "Miss Sinclaire, you are aware that you have been shunned?"

"I figured as much. I kinda guessed you'd blame me for the subway incident. It wasn't my doing, I didn't summon Devi that night. I can tell you who did, and why, if you care."

He glanced at the amulet, surprised that it was still glowing a complacent green. "Oh. OK, then, would you testify to that effect if we asked you to?"

I blinked. He was being awfully polite to a shunned witch. "Um, sure? I have nothing to hide." I blushed, then scowled, as the amulet flashed me a cheeky red. Thanks, you little tattle-tale.

His eyes returned to mine, a half smile on his face. "Would this thing you're hiding be the fact that you're kin to demons?"

I bit my lip, frowning even more. Well, I couldn't lie. "Do you mean like Rachel Morgan? No, I'm not like Rachel Morgan."

Adrian's evasion sensor was obviously pinging. "Your blood has the full complement of demon enzymes, Miss Sinclaire, and they are fully functional. We tested it when I got here. Yet you don't have Rosewood syndrome. Can you explain that?"

I just sat with my lips pressed together in displeasure, knowing that there was some kind of recording device on him and not wanting to have my confession on record. They obviously knew already. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in a world where they needed permission to invade your privacy like that?

"Look, we know that you've been in contact with Rachel Morgan, who's probably told you all about her experience with the Coven. I assure you that we are not about to make the same mistake twice."

"Oh? And which mistake was that?" I asked archly. "Sticking her in Alcatraz without a trial? Threatening her with lobotomy and sterilization? Persecuting her for simply being what she is?" My neck was throbbing by now, as the drug had mostly ebbed from my system. I felt far more clear-headed, though I would've killed for a pain amulet. I might be a demon, but I didn't enjoy pain any more than the next person. Being a shunned witch sucked. Witches don't donate blood, ever. On the rare occasions we need a transfusion, there are spells- spells that weren't available to a shunned witch. So I'd been getting IV fluids to replace the lost volume, but since human blood would kill me, that was all I was getting.

Adrian had the grace to look a little embarrassed. "All of the above."

"Really? You're not going to try to bury me?" I was deeply suspicious. I'd been spending the last three weeks with beings who were always out to screw me, after all.

The younger witch took another sip of his coffee, trying to hide his nerves. He wasn't frightened of me…much…but he was socially awkward and I wasn't making this conversation any easier on him. "I don't blame you for being suspicious. But given that there have been three witches surfacing in the past decade with our ancestral abilities restored, one of them- you- having no connection to Trenton Kalamack of Cincinnati, we can only assume that this might represent a trend. We've been monitoring you for quite some time, and the blood test we gave you confirms our suspicions. To put it bluntly, Miss Sinclaire," he added, very sincerely, "we want you on our side."

I regarded him coolly, measuring his words with what I knew of the Coven. Was their attitude toward demon magic shifting? NOT likely. Still, I supposed I might as well play along for now. "I don't have any ill will toward any of you," I said. "Though I need to get back to the Ever After. So if you could kindly wheel me out of here, I'd be much obliged."

He looked beyond shocked. "You want to go back? But…"

"No, I don't!" I snapped. "But believe it or not, Mr. Wister, I am just as concerned about the truth getting out about witch origins as you are. The entire Ever After knows about me, and if I run from my obligations…well, frankly, the demons don't give a shit about whether humans figure out where we witches came from."

"Obligations…?" he asked, bewildered. But his eyes were on the amulet, and he was relaxing by degrees as what I was saying sunk in.

"Yeah. Got myself a tutor, like Rachel. Long story. And yes, I'm his familiar, too. Same fellow who scarred me as a kid. It kinda sucks for me, but there it is." I was rather shocked when the amulet gave a weird red flicker. "What?" I asked it, annoyed. "You saying I don't think it sucks dishwater? All right," I admitted to Adrian, "My situation could be a hell of a lot worse. At least I still own my own soul."

He stared at me for a long moment. "What's it like?" he asked, and his eyes were bright and fascinated. "Being able to do all that…stuff?"

I smiled wryly. "Dangerous," I said. "I nearly died. You know how you have to train up before you can control a ley line, and what happens if you don't? Imagine what might happen if you could tap a bunch of them at once. They're forcing me to get tutored to save their own asses more than mine."

"More than one…" His lips parted in wonder.

"Yeah, I had no idea until I did it, and Ash had to piece my soul back together. I owe him a big-ass favor now."

Adrian's eyes went unfocused as he scanned my aura for the new demon mark, but saw only the single one I'd been sporting for years. "And he didn't mark you?" he asked curiously.

"No, but he made me his familiar, wasn't that payment enough?" And he'd made himself mine, I realized. Tit for tat, and I still owed him a favor. And he hadn't marked me. Curious. Why hadn't he been lording it over me? I'd ask him when I got back. Maybe. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut about it…

"All right, Miss Sinclaire, I think we have our answer," he said, standing up and taking out his cell phone. "I just have to clear it with the other five members before we let you go. Thank you for your honesty and your cooperation."

And he left!

I stared after him, wondering what the hell had just happened. They're letting me go? No fucking way. It can't be that easy. Something's up. I just know it.

Jocelyn returned shortly thereafter, accompanied by another nurse, a tall, slender man with delicate features and peroxide-pale hair. "This here's Shane," she said, by way of introduction. "I'm off for the day. How'd it go?"

I shrugged. "He didn't mention Alcatraz, at least," I said, smiling.

She grinned and patted my arm. "That's good news. Take care of yourself, love," she said, and left Shane to do the job of hourly vitals check. As he was busying himself taking my blood pressure and temperature, I stole a glance at his watch. It was nearly six. Sunset was in a couple of hours now, and then all I'd have to do was call Ash to come get me. I thought I could at least drag myself to the door of the chapel, now, and that would be as much as I'd need.

Shane fiddled with my meds, making a noise of consternation when he discovered they'd been turned way down. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like hell," I said. "But please don't drug me anymore. I'm all right." I regarded him again, now that he was close enough to smell. I realized that I couldn't place his species. He wasn't human, but he wasn't a witch. And he had none of the incense of the living vamps, either.

"If that's what you want," he said dubiously, but left the meds alone.

A short time later, Adrian peeked back into the room. "Okay, Miss Sinclaire, I'll let the staff know that the Coven has cleared you to leave. I can't guarantee that the IS is ready to do the same, however, but that's not my jurisdiction." It's not my problem, is what I heard in his voice.

I sighed, then stretched, feeling the pain redouble with even that small movement. I was feeling stronger, but could I walk yet? "What about my shunning?" I asked, trying to keep the whine out of my voice.

"I'll see what I can do," he said, then added in a tone that made it clear he wasn't referring to the shunning, but my future, "Good luck."

This is way too good to be true, I thought suspiciously, and I was right. Except it turned out it wasn't the Coven or the IS I had to worry about.