Chapter 18

This place wasn't that bad. It was just like any living room except this one was three stories underground, lined in salt and silver, and was on holy ground? What was his dad wanting to hide from when he built this place? It was cozy and thankfully warm. Security had left Trent, Quen, and I alone with the knocked out guard and Sara Jane. We removed the Druchii without really even trying. It was eager to escape once we poured salt water on him. I was hoping to have a talk with it but it got away before I could circle it. I was angry that I still had no idea where Jenks was.

Ivy had called me and she was pretty pissed that I left her in Seattle. She was catching one of Trent's planes now and was going to meet us at the church. I was fairly certain we had Ellasbeth, I just needed to break her charm. Quen was hesitant about me getting too close, more afraid for her than me. I wasn't going to kill her. I had finally found a way to break the curse I had performed enjoying only hearing my own thoughts. I wanted this whole mess to be over so I could go sleep in my own bed for the next fourteen hours.

"Can I just break the charm?" I asked them. Not waiting for a response I moved forward and yanked the amulet from her neck. Instantly she turned into Ellasbeth. I knew I was right. We couldn't just throw salt water on her to wake her up since I had knocked her out. I was wondering what was taking her so long to wake up though. I didn't hit her head that hard. Maybe that was the first time the pretty little princess took a hit. I pulled a hair from her head and she still didn't budge. Might as well do the curse and get it over with. I hated that performing curses was coming so easily to me but hey I was a demon so I needed to get use to it.

I ran the strand of Ellasbeth's hair through my hand. I was glad that I had thought ahead to memorize the curse so I didn't have to pull out a sheet of paper in front of Trent and Quen. What kind of a demon needs notes to do curses. I tapped the line and snapped up a circle around Ellasbeth and myself but carefully leaving Quen and Trent out. I didn't want anyone else in this circle just in case something went wrong. They stood motionless watching as I made my way over to Ellasbeth laying a hand on her head. I had her hair but lets just be sure this curse gets to where I intend it to.

"Hanc sume veneficus faciendam solum bonum." I felt a huge pull on the line as it rippled through me into Ellasbeth. I could handle it but Ellasbeth woke screaming. She couldn't pull away or even move for the matter. All she could do was scream as the curse burned through her bringing the power of the line. I gritted my teeth as it slowly came back to me. "I take this. I take it." Just that simple and it was done. I dropped my circle.

Ellasbeth laid panting on the floor curled into a ball. "What did you do to me you demon whore?"

"Cursed you." I said simply.

Trent and Quen still kept their distance completely silent. They both looked angry but it wasn't towards me, it was towards Ellasbeth.

"Why did you do this?" Trent asked breaking his silence.

"I wanted you to give us another chance." She cried into the floor. "I could learn to love you." She sniffled and seemed to regain some of her composure. "But your whore seemed to screw everything up. What is so damn special about her?"

"You're sure the curse took Rachel?" Quen questioned me.

"Yeah. I felt the smut. It worked." I said catching Trent's eye. He had a look of amusement in his eyes which only confused me.

"Ellasbeth this would have never worked. I don't love you. I deserve a chance at this." Trent gestured towards me.

"We have a daughter." She tried that angle.

"Yes. I got her fair and square. We had an agreement and I followed it. You need to leave." Trent was harsh.

"No!" I yelled. "Where's Jenks?" God help me I would kill her if anything had happened to him.

"Jenks?" She asked confused.

"The pixy." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh yes. You have a pixy. I don't have him." She said with a look of surprise that couldn't' be faked. "Sara Jane is at her home though. I have a ward on it, stronger than the one I tried to use for your whore." She spat. "I will remove it."

"I swear if you call me a whore one more time you're not going to be able to talk for a week." She was pissing me off. I heard Quen chuckle and Trent tried to hide his smile by turning his head.

"This doesn't make sense Rachel. If she doesn't have Jenks, who does?" Trent looked at me with concern.

That was when I finally lost it. Tears streaming from my face I tapped the line again. I took in so much spindling much more than I had before into my head. I felt my hair floating behind me and I knew I looked pretty freaky according to Jenks but I didn't care. Trent and Quen stepped back knowing that I was channeling an insane amount of line energy and right now my anger was directed at Ellasbeth. Watching the men step back she knew something had changed. She pushed herself back all the way to the wall in fear.

I moved forward ducking down to make myself even with Ellasbeth. "You better start talking now princess. I'm not in the mood for games." I felt a tear roll down my cheek which only seemed to scare her more.

"I don't know where your pixy is." She said again not meeting my eyes.

"Wrong answer." I said as grabbed her by her hair again. I was trying to not let energy slip into her with our contact but it was becoming increasingly hard with her not wanting to answer my question.

"I don't know!" Ellasbeth screamed when she felt some of the energy from me slip into her. Panting she looked into my eyes. "It's Nick. He has him. Nick has him."

I dropped the line letting her head hit the wall. She cried out and was ignored. "I need to find him."

-x-x-x-

"I don't know how to find the rat bastard!" I yelled at Trent.

"Rachel I understand that you're upset but stop taking it out on me." He said firmly. He was right, he didn't deserve it.

"I'm taking Ellasbeth up to get a car to the airport. Please just wait before you decide to do something." Trent asked giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, the action being seen by Ellasbeth. I had seen him do the same thing with her once but it held no emotion, no anything. I saw the pained look in his eyes worried that I was going to do something stupid. He was right of course. I had a plan already and I wasn't waiting for him to come back down to this room.

"Don't do it." Quen said as soon as we heard the door shut and Trent and Ellasbeth leave.

"Do what?" I asked innocently.

"I know you're going to jump. He told you the spell, yes?" Quen asked stepping in front of me.

"Yes. I have to find him Quen. I can do this faster without Trent." I said admitting what was bothering me. I liked working with him and he was finally able to stand on his own without needing a babysitter but he still slowed me down. Time was working against me. I had to believe that Nick wouldn't hurt Jenks especially with Jax there. I'm sure Nick just wanted to talk, probably thinking since I'm a demon he can trade some information with me for an artifact location. I wasn't that kind of demon.

Quen took in my silence and nodded in agreement. He was supposed to be looking out for Trent after all. "Be careful. I'll tell him you took a shot at me." He had a huge grin on his face.

I snorted. "Like you couldn't take me out."

"After what I just saw, I'm not sure I would want to try." Quen said. "You can hold an incredible amount of energy Rachel."

"Yeah, you should see me when I'm really pissed." I mumbled, trying to remember the words Trent had used to jump to David. I knew he thought about the person we needed to jump to. I had Nick in my mind and Jenks. What if they weren't together? Would the spell work just the same to jump me to a pixy? How did it even work to jump me to where they were? Too many questions were popping into my head and it wasn't helping. I took in a deep breath letting it out slowly trying to clear my mind. I tapped the line letting it freely flow through me. "Adferte ad me ire per."

I felt the swirl of wild magic take me into the line. Why didn't I feel it before? I am starting to get way to comfortable with using wild magic. I kept thinking of Jenks. Thinking for sure that I would end up in a dingy basement I was surprised to drop to the floor at Juniors?

"Hey Rache." Nick said from the table in front of me. I reached out for a line finding the university one was closest. I tapped it without a second thought and lunged for Nick. He quickly got up knocking his chair backward. I heard pixy wings but they sounded different than Jenks'.

"Ms. Morgan please hear us out. We need your help." Jax said floating inches in front of my face.

"I don't care what you need. Give me Jenks. Now." I felt my hair floating behind me and heard the coffee house quickly empty out. People in Cincinnati knew you stay clear of your resident demon if she taps a line. Even Mark left seeing that it was me.

"He's right here. He's okay. Just hear me out, okay." Nick said gingerly setting a box on the table about the size of a cat carrier. I could feel the hum coming from it knowing it had been spelled with a ley line charm keeping Jenks from escaping.

"Open it." I raised my arm and Nick quickly pushed his thumb into an indent in the box and it opened.

"I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna scramble your crap for brains! I'm gonna stick a spider nest so far up your nose you're not-" Jenks cut off mid rant seeing me standing there. I had already started letting the tears fall but I didn't let go of the line. I trusted Nick about as far as I could throw him.

"Rache." Jenks flew over landing on my shoulder. "Let up on the line a little okay. You look really freaky right now."

Cracking a smile I did as he said. My hair stopped floating but I still had a good chunk of energy spindled and ready to go. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Crap for brains wasn't going to hurt me. Just wanted to get your attention." Jenks was dusting a red color so I wasn't too concerned.

"Well you've got it crap for brains." I snapped. "What the hell do you want?"

"I have a problem. I need your help." Nick explained. "I had been helping Ellasbeth. She had some evil elves helping her. She didn't follow through with what she promised and now they're after me."

"That sounds like your problem, not mine." I wasn't going to jump at the chance to help Nick. He had sold me out too many times.

"Rachel, they're going to kill me!" Nick exclaimed.

"Not my problem Nicky. Maybe you'll finally get what you deserve." I turned to walk away and Jenks hummed his agreement.

"Rachel, please?" Nick reached for me and I spun grabbing his wrist and taking him down. My knee landed pressed up against his throat not letting a significant amount of air in.

"Ray Ray" Nick choked.

"Don't call me that. I don't need to help you. You've done nothing but sell me out." I said removing my knee from his throat letting him breath. I stood over him looking down not feeling anything. Jenks and Jax were watching from one of the overhead lights content on letting me beat the crap out of Nick.

"Rachel, they thought Ellasbeth would bring them you." Nick finally admitted why he was trying to involve me.

"What do you mean bring me to them?" I asked holding up my hand to Jenks keeping him where he was.

"Ellasbeth was supposed to keep you in the ward and the Druchii were going to come for you. You are the demons chance at carrying on their species. The Druchii don't want that to happen." Nick wouldn't look me in the eye.

Crap on toast. This just got serious.

-x-x-x-

I wasn't going to bring Nick back to Trent's especially if the Druchii were gunning for me. I went to the church. Ivy was already home but seeing as it was nine in the morning she had went to bed before I got home. I didn't want to wake her but I knew I needed to. I had to tell her about what Nick had fessed up about. I hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours and it was weighing on me.

Jenks flew out the back to check on his kids and I immediately went straight for the coffee pot. Nick followed behind not saying much. We had made some small talk about the weather and that was about it. I didn't want to talk to him. Just as I had gotten the pot started Jenks flew back in through the pixy hole in the screen.

"I'll go wake warm fuzzy." Jenks grinned as he took off down the hall towards Ivy's room. I heard several loud bangs followed by Ivy advising Jenks to get bent. She was in a great mood already. I smiled, glad to have us all back together.

"So, what do we do?" Nick asked taking my seat at the table.

"We? No, you do nothing. You take your stupid ass and crawl back under whatever rock you had been hiding under before Trent gets here otherwise he's going to kill you." I said not breaking eye contact with Nick. I wanted him to understand this wasn't a bluff.

"Trent? Why is he coming here?" Nick asked in a small voice.

"Because he's Rachel's boyfriend. You didn't know she was banging Ellasbeth's baby daddy?" He snickered loving that line a little too much.

"Boyfriend?" Nick had a look of shock on his face. God what had Ellasbeth told him to get him to help her? He had no idea about what her reasoning was to interfere with us did he?

"Uh-" I was cut off by Trent stepping into the kitchen. I hadn't even heard the front door. Guess the pixies didn't feel the need to sound the alarm for Trent anymore. Hell they could all smell him on me.

"I would say boyfriend is an appropriate term to use." Trent said risking a glance at me but never really taking his eyes off of Nick. It made me nervous, the way he was looking at Nick. Trent wasn't so innocent with the magic anymore. The man had some serious skills and wasn't scared to use them.

"Mr. Kalama-" Nick started and Trent raised a hand ending his speech. Just as suddenly Trent tapped the line in the graveyard and flung his hand toward Nick.

"Afflictio!" Trent was quiet but I heard it and Nick didn't even have time to move. He fell to the floor gurgling in pain. I groaned. I did not need this right now.

"Trent! Come on. We have more important stuff going on. You can kill Nick later but not in my kitchen." I sighed.

"My apologies Rachel." Trent quickly regained his composure and stepped over to Nick touching his shoulder and breaking the pain charm. Nick still didn't move but he wasn't making that noise anymore.

"The Druchii are coming for me. They think if they end me then they end the demon species." I said looking down into my coffee cup.

"Killing you won't change that I could make more of you. It won't end anything." Trent stated the obvious. "They believed what Ellasbeth said."

"You know something that you aren't telling me!" I accused him setting the cup on the center island.

"Rachel." Trent said taking a step back as I came forward.

"You better spill." I said getting in his face.

"She was a bit talkative once Quen had said you jumped out." Trent admitted. I waited not moving away from him. Nick had returned to his seat and was holding his side. Jax was on his shoulder and Jenks was keeping watch from the top of the fridge.

"How can you stand so close to him after everything he's done to you?" Nick mumbled.

"Shove it crap for brains." I said not even turning to look at Nick. I kept my eyes on Trent.

"I was worried." Trent said brushing his fingers across my cheek.

"Don't worry about me." I said pressing my lips to his.

"Gag me with a spoon." Jenks was making gagging sounds from the fridge and I heard pixy giggles from the window.

"Ditto." Nick said.

I gently pulled away from Trent giving him some space. "Now tell me."

"Rachel." He sighed. "Maybe a more private location?"

"Nope. Spill it here in front of Nick. He helped with this mess and they're going to try to kill him too." I moved to the center island hopping up on the counter.

It was silent for a few moments before Ivy ruined it. She came out in her silk robe looking like the dead. Her hair was everywhere and I caught Nick checking her out. Since when did he check out Ivy?

"Coffee. Then talk elf." Ivy moved towards the pot.

Trent sighed knowing he was going to have to talk in front of Nick. I doubt there was anything he had to say that Nick didn't already know and if there was Trent was smart enough to keep the important tidbits to himself. Once Ivy had her coffee and had settled sloppily into her chair Trent took a breath.

"Ellasbeth was sought out by a Druchii. She didn't even know what one was. It possessed her teaching her some of the wild magic that our race had forgotten. They told her if she could get you, Rachel, that they would teach her everything they knew. They included how to do a love spell. A real one, that works." Trent said grimly knowing it would have been him that had the spell performed on him.

"So how does Nick fit into all of this?" I asked Trent and not Nick knowing Nick would lie.

"She doesn't know. She blacked out while being possessed and she woke up with her cell in her hand with a number waiting to be called, so she called it. Nick answered." Trent said looking at Nick.

"I had no idea who she was. She asked for my help in finding Rachel. She offered a lot of money so I agreed." Nick said. I wasn't surprised that it was about money again. "I met her in Seattle. She paid me in advance. I told her how to hit her where it hurts."

"Bastard." I went to jump off the counter but Ivy beat me to him, launching a spell book across the table hitting him in the head sending him down for the second time today. "How can you keep working with this Jax?"

Jax looked confused and flew down to dust Nick's head where he was bleeding from the book hitting. He wasn't conscience and I didn't care. Ivy didn't hit him hard enough in my opinion.

"How do we stop them?" I asked Trent.

"I haven't a clue Rachel. We can kill them when they possess someone but I don't know other than that." He was being completely honest. I could see it in his eyes.

"Well crap. We can't just sit around and wait for them to possess someone else. They're going to be pissed enough that I ruined the chance of them having Ellasbeth as an allie." I groaned.

"I think it might be time you ask your demon for some assistance." Trent reluctantly admitted.