"Oh God," I whispered, my words sounding as raw as my throat felt. It was a raspy utterance, more like gravel in a tin pail than a voice. My head hurt, and a wet washcloth smelling of Ivory soap was over my eyes. "I don't feel so good."
Ceri's cool hand touched my cheek. "I'm not surprised," she said wryly. "Keep your eyes shut. I'm going to change your compress."
Around me was the soft breathing of two people and a very big dog. I vaguely remembered being carried in, wavering on passing out but never quite managing it, hard as I tried. I could tell by the smell of my perfumes that Keasley had put me in my room, and the pillow under my head had a familiar, comfortable feel. The heavy weight of the afghan I kept at the foot of my bed was draped over me. I was alive. Go figure.
Ceri lifted the damp washcloth from me, and despite her warning, I cracked my lids. "Ow..." I moaned as the light from a candle on the dresser seemed to pierce my eyes, going all the way to the back of my skull and ricocheting. My headache tripled.
"She told you to keep your eyes shut," Jenks said sardonically, but the relief in his voice was obvious. The click of David's nails intruded, shortly followed by a warm snuff in my ear.
"She's fine," Ceri said softly, and he retreated.
Fine? I thought, concentrating on my breathing until the light bouncing around in my head lost momentum and died. This was fine?
The throbbing in my head retreated to a mild agony, and when I heard a soft puff of breath and the biting scent of blown-out candle reached me, I opened my eyes again.
In the streetlight leaking past my curtains, I could see Ceri on a kitchen chair beside my bed. A pan of water was on her lap, and I cringed when she set it on Ivy's vampire dating guide, out where everyone could see it. On my other side stood Keasley, a hunched shadow. Perched on the bedpost, Jenks glowed a dull amber, and lurking in the background was David taking up half the floorspace with his wolf bulk.
"I think we're back in Kansas, Toto," I murmured, and Keasley harrumphed.
My face was damp and cold, and a draft from the broken door mixed with the musty smell of the heater blowing from the vent. "Jenks!" I croaked when I remembered the wash of winter air that had hit him. "Are your kids all right?"
"Yeah, they're fine," he said, and I slumped back to the pillow. My hand crept up to hold my throat. It felt as if it was bleeding inside.
"David?" I questioned softer. "How about you?"
His panting increased as he pushed Keasley out of the way to snuff warm and moist in my ear. His jaws opened. Ceri gasped when David gripped my entire face in his mouth.
Adrenaline cut through the pain. "Hey!" I exclaimed, struggling as he gave me a gentle shake and let go. Heart pounding, I froze at the soft growl rumbling up and the wet nose nudging my cheek. Making a doggie huff, he padded into the hall.
"What in hell does that mean?" I said, heart jackhammering against my chest.
Jenks rose in a sprinkling of pixy dust that made me squint. It wasn't bright, but my eyes hurt that bad. "He's glad you're okay," he said, his tiny features serious.
"This is okay?" I said, and from the sanctuary came an odd, yodeling bark of laughter.
My throat hurt, and I held a hand to it as I sat up. There was Were spit on my face, and I wiped it off with the damp washcloth and set it over the edge of the pan. My muscles hurt. Hell, everything hurt. And I hadn't liked my head being in David's mouth at all.
The sound of manicured nails clacking on the floorboards drew my attention to the dark hallway as he trotted past headed for the back of the church. His backpack and clothes were in his mouth, and his coat trailed behind like a downed animal.
"Jenks," Ceri said softly. "See if he's going to change here or if he'd like some help getting his things in his satchel."
Jenks rose up, falling back at a short negative bark from the living room.
Jaw clenched against a Texas-sized headache, I decided it was likely he'd change back before leaving. It was illegal to Were in public outside of the three days around the full moon. Once the restriction had only been tradition; now it was law to make humans feel better. What Weres did in their own homes was their own business. I was confident no one would say anything about him shifting to help save me from a demon, but he couldn't drive his car in the shape he was in, and catching a ride on a bus wasn't going to happen.
"Well," Keasley said as he sat on the edge of my bed, "let's take a look at you."
"Ow..." I exclaimed when he touched my shoulder and the bruised muscle sent a stab of pain through me. I pushed his hand off me, and he shifted closer.
"I'd forgotten what a pain-in-the-butt patient you are," he said, reaching out again. "I want to know where you're hurting."
"Stop," I croaked, trying to slap his knobby arthritic hands. "My shoulder hurts where Al pinched it. My hands hurt where I scraped them, my chin and stomach hurt where he dragged me down the steps. My knees hurt from..." I hesitated. "...falling in the road. And my face hurts where Al slapped me." I looked at Ceri. "Do I have a black eye?"
"You will in the morning," she said softly, wincing in sympathy.
"And my lip is cut," I finished, touching it. The faint scent of bane joined the smell of snow. David was turning back, nice and slow. He'd have to after the hurt he must have endured to shift so quickly before. I was glad he had some bane. The herb was a mild pain depressant and sedative to make it easier. Too bad it only worked on Weres.
Keasley groaned as he rose. "I'll get you a pain amulet," he said, shuffling into the hallway. "Mind if I make some coffee? I'm staying until your roommate is back."
"Make it two amulets," I said, not knowing if it would help my head. Pain amulets worked only on physical pain, and I had a feeling this was more of an echo left from channeling so much ley line force. Was this what I'd done to Nick? No wonder he had left.
I squinted when the light flicked on in the kitchen and a slice of it spilled into my room. Ceri watched me carefully, and I nodded to tell her it was okay. Patting my hand atop the coverlet, she murmured, "Tea would be easier for you to stomach than coffee." Her solemn green eyes went to Jenks. "Will you stay with her?"
"Yeah." His wings flashed into motion. "Baby-sitting Rachel is what I do third best."
I sneered at him, and Ceri hesitated. "I won't be long," she said, rising to leave in the soft sound of bare feet on wood.
The comfortable rhythm of conversation drifted in from the kitchen, and I awkwardly pulled my afghan up about my shoulders. Every muscle ached as if I had been in a fever. My feet were cold in my soggy socks, and I was probably making a damp spot on my bed from my snow-wet clothes. Depressed, my eyes landed on Jenks atop the bedpost at my feet.
"Thanks for trying to help," I said. "You sure you're okay? He blew the door right off."
"I should have been faster with that amulet." His wings turned a dismal blue.
I shrugged, immediately wishing I hadn't when my shoulder started throbbing. Where was Keasley with my charms? "They might not even work on demons."
Jenks flitted close to land on the bump of my knee. "Damn, Rache. You look like crap."
"Thanks."
The heavenly scent of coffee started to mix with the musty heater. A shadow eclipsed the light from the hallway, and I creakily turned to see Ceri. "Eat these while your tea is brewing," she said, setting down a plate with three of Ivy's cookies on them.
My lips curled down in a frown. "Do I have to?" I complained. "Where's my amulet?"
"Where's my amulet?" Jenks mocked in a high falsetto. "God, Rachel. Suck it up."
"Shut up," I muttered. "You try channeling a demon's ley line and see if you even survive. I bet you'd explode in a flash of pixy dust, you little twit."
He laughed, and Ceri frowned at us as if we were children. "I've got it right here," she said, and I leaned forward so she could drape the cord over my head. A blessed relief soaked in to ease my muscles - Keasley must have invoked it for me - but my headache remained, all the worse now that there was nothing to distract me from it.
"I'm sorry," Ceri said. "It's going to take a good day." When I didn't say anything, she shifted to the door, adding, "I'll get your tea." She walked out, a scuffing pulling my gaze up. "Excuse me," she murmured, gazing at the floor when she almost ran into David. The Were looked tired, seeming older as he adjusted the collar of his coat. His stubble was thicker, and the thick spice of bane was heavy on him. "Would you like some tea?" she said, and my eyebrows rose as her usual confidence shifted to meek awe.
David shook his head, accepting her submissive mien with a grace that made him seem noble. Head still lowered, she edged past him and went into the kitchen. Jenks and I exchanged wondering looks as he came in and dropped his backpack. Nodding to Jenks, he pulled the kitchen chair farther away from me and sat down, leaning back with his arms crossed and eyeing me speculatively from under his cowboy hat.
"You want to tell me what that was all about before I go?" he said. "I'm starting to think there's a good reason no one will insure you."
I made an embarrassed face and took a cookie. "Remember that demon that testified to put Piscary behind bars?"
His eyes widened. "Son of my mother's bitch!"
Jenks laughed, his voice tinkling like wind chimes. "Damn stupid of her if you ask me."
Ignoring Jenks, I met David's shocked look: part worry, part pain, part disbelief. "He came to collect his due for services rendered," I said. "Which he got. I'm his familiar, but I still have my soul, so he can't cart me off to the ever-after unless I let him." I looked to the ceiling, wondering what kind of a runner I was going to be if I couldn't tap a line after sunset without bringing demons down on me.
David made a soft whistle. "No tag is worth that."
My eyes flicked to his. "Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but at the time, Piscary was trying to kill me and it seemed like a good idea."
"Good idea, hell. It was damn stupid," Jenks muttered, clearly of the belief that if he had been there, things never would have degraded that far. He might have been right.
Feeling as if I had a hangover, I took a bite of cookie. The dry things made me hungry and nauseated at the same time. "Thank you for helping me," I said, brushing the crumbs away. "He would have had me if you hadn't done something. Are you going to be okay? I've never seen anyone Were that fast before."
Leaning forward, he shifted his backpack to rest between his feet. I watched his eyes stray to the door, and I knew he wanted to leave. "My shoulder hurts, but I'll be all right."
"I'm sorry." I finished the first cookie and started on another. It seemed as if I could feel it starting to hum through me. "You ever need anything, you tell me. I owe you big. I know how bad it hurts. Last year I went from witch to mink in three seconds. Twice in one week."
His breath hissed and lines appeared in his brow. "Ouch," he said, respect in his eyes.
I smiled, a new warmth growing in me. "You aren't kidding. But you know, it's likely going to be the only time I'll ever be that skinny and have a fur coat."
A faint smile came over him. "Where does the extra mass go, anyway?"
There was only one cookie left, and I forced myself to eat it slowly. "Back to a ley line."
His head bobbed. "We can't do that."
"I noticed. You make one hell of a big wolf, David."
His smile widened. "You know what? I changed my mind. Even if you ever want to go into insurance, don't call me."
Jenks dropped to the empty plate so I wouldn't have to keep shifting my head to see both of them. "That will be the day," he snickered. "I can just see Rachel in a gray business suit with a briefcase, her hair in a bun and glasses on her nose."
I laughed, immediately falling into a coughing jag. Arms clasped about me, I hunched into myself, shaking with rough, hacking coughs. My throat felt like it was on fire, but that paled next to the throbbing ache in my head that exploded at the sudden movement. That pain amulet bumping about my neck wasn't doing much good.
David patted my back in concern. The hurt from my shoulder broke through the amulet, and my stomach roiled. Eyes watering, I fended him off. Ceri came in, making soft admonishments as she set a mug of tea down and put a hand on my shoulder. Her touch seemed to calm the spasm, and gasping, I let her ease me back into the pillows she propped up behind me. Finally I stopped and met her gaze.
Her shadowy face was pinched in concern. Behind her, Jenks and David watched. I didn't like David seeing me like this, but it wasn't as if I had much choice. "Drink your tea," she said, holding it up to me and putting my hand around it.
"My head hurts," I complained, taking a sip of the bland brew. It wasn't real tea, but something with flowers and weeds in it. What I wanted was a cup of that coffee, but I didn't want to hurt Ceri's feelings. "I feel like run-over crap," I complained.
"You look like run-over crap," Jenks said. "Drink your tea."
It was tasteless but soothing. I took another swallow, scraping up a smile for Ceri. "Mmmm. Good," I lied.