Part 4 (1/2)

Jenks's wings clattered, and he flitted to the far side of the car, well out of her reach. ”I didn't tell her nothing!” he shouted, laughing. ”Tink's contractual h.e.l.l, Ivy, I didn't tell her! She must have figured it out. She's not stupid!”

The car jerked as I hit the brakes before I needed to, but I wanted to look at Jenks. ”Something is is going on. I knew it!” going on. I knew it!”

”There's no anything,” Ivy protested, her face red in the light from the oncoming traffic. ”Nothing is going on. Nothing!”

”Nothing?” Jenks blurted out, unable to keep quiet anymore. ”You think-”

”Shut up, Jenks,” Ivy snarled.

His wings humming, he hung in the middle of the car as if nailed to the air. He was holding his breath, and silver sparkles were drifting from him to make a light bright enough to read by. The pitch from his wings was starting to make my eyeb.a.l.l.s hurt. Grinning, I looked across to Ivy. ”You'd better tell me or he's going to explode.”

”They've been on three dates,” Jenks said, and Ivy s.n.a.t.c.hed for him.

My smile widened as Jenks frantically darted about the car. ”I can't!” he shouted. ”Ivy, I can't! I can't not say anything!”

Sullen, Ivy slumped in her seat, giving up. ”I can't believe you told her. You promised.”

The pixy landed on the wheel as I put the car in motion and merged into ”traffic” when a big SUV made some s.p.a.ce. ”He didn't tell me,” I said as I waved thanks to the guy. ”Glenn's coat smells like you.” I made a face. ”And honey. I don't want to know why. Really.”

Jenks's wings halted. ”Honey? Honey and gold?” he asked, and Ivy seemed to cringe.

”Yes,” I said, able to identify the hot-metal smell now. ”Sun-warmed gold. And honey.”

Hands on his hips, Jenks turned to Ivy. ”You told me Daryl was leaving.”

Daryl? Who in h.e.l.l is Daryl?

Ivy's expression became bothered. ”She is. Soon as she finds a place.” She? She?

”Like that's ever gonna happen!” Jenks exclaimed. ”The woman is s.e.x in sandals!”

”Glenn isn't going to kick her out!” Ivy said loudly. ”She's not well. ”

”No wonder with Glenn keeping her up all night doing the nasty! ”

”Hey!” Ivy exclaimed, eyes going black. ”That's uncalled for! He hasn't touched her.”

”Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I said, sneaking glances at them both. ”Who is Daryl?” And why haven't I heard about her before? And why haven't I heard about her before?

Jenks's wings stopped moving, and I thought I saw a flash of panic in him as Ivy forced her expression to neutral. Both of them seemed to pull three steps back in their thinking, and after a moment, Ivy said, ”Just a woman we met on a run when you were in the ever-after. She needed some help. A place to stay. Glenn is putting her up until she finds her feet.”

Jenks was silent as he looked at the car's ceiling, so I turned to Ivy-waiting.

”It's not any different from you foisting Ceri off on Keasley,” she muttered. ”I couldn't bring her to the church. Glenn is helping her out is all.”

”Helping her right out of her clothes, I bet,” Jenks said loudly, then darted to my shoulder when Ivy flicked her finger at him.

”She is not having s.e.x with Glenn,” Ivy continued. ”I'd know.”

”Yeah, you'd know because you're dating him,” Jenks said. ”Did you give him the dating guide yet?”

”Jenks!” she said, dismayed now, and he darted away from her s.n.a.t.c.h for him.

”How about kissing him? Did you at least kiss him yet?” he asked, laughing.

A low noise came from Ivy, almost a growl, and she seemed to melt into the cars darkness. My breath slipped out, and I put my blinker on to get in the lane for the bridge traffic; someone would let me in. Yeah, she'd kissed him-within an inch of his life, I bet.

I curled in my lower lip and glanced at Jenks. The pixy gestured for me to go for it, and I did. ”Have you bitten him?” I asked, needing to know. He was my friend, too.

Ivy said nothing, and Jenks hummed his wings. ”Did'ja?” he needled. ”Did he?”

Still she said nothing, telling me she had, and I wondered if this might be a big mistake or one of the best things in Ivy's life. Glenn was nothing if not solid. ”He doesn't want to go vamp, does he?” I asked, half joking but afraid of her answer. I was the last person to advocate shunning vampires as friends, but if you didn't know what you were doing, or the vampire was a real predator, you were in trouble. Glenn and Ivy were all of the above.

”No.”

She was down to one-word answers, but she was still talking. Jenks's relieved expression told me it was more than she'd told him-which made me feel good. ”Good,” I said, careful to keep my eyes on the pa.s.sing traffic to give her some privacy. ”I like him the way he is.”

”You'd like him more as a vampire. I can tell. I've seen it before.” She sounded wistful, and I looked across the dark car at her, trying to hide my alarm.

”Ivy...”

”He doesn't want to go vamp,” she said, flicking her eyes at me and then away. ”That's one of the things I like about him.”

Jenks winced, wings flat against his back. He knew as well as I that what you you wanted didn't mean c.r.a.p if the vampire you were with wanted something else. She was alive, so she couldn't turn him-only dead vampires could do that-but she could bind him, make him a shadow. Not that she would mean to, but accidents happened in the throes of pa.s.sion. h.e.l.l, I roomed with her, and that was hard enough. Adding s.e.x or blood to the mix could be deadly, which was why I'd finally made our relations.h.i.+p strictly platonic-that it had taken almost two years of confusing emotions and two bites between us to do it was beside the point. wanted didn't mean c.r.a.p if the vampire you were with wanted something else. She was alive, so she couldn't turn him-only dead vampires could do that-but she could bind him, make him a shadow. Not that she would mean to, but accidents happened in the throes of pa.s.sion. h.e.l.l, I roomed with her, and that was hard enough. Adding s.e.x or blood to the mix could be deadly, which was why I'd finally made our relations.h.i.+p strictly platonic-that it had taken almost two years of confusing emotions and two bites between us to do it was beside the point.

I darted a nervous look at Jenks. ”And he's okay with you going somewhere else for blood?” I asked hesitantly. Ivy never talked to me about her boyfriends. Her girlfriends either.

Gazing out the window at the night, Ivy said softly, ”Who said I was?”

”No fairy-a.s.sed way!” Jenks exclaimed, and I gave him a look telling him to shut up.

Turning to us, she shrugged in embarra.s.sment. ”I told you I didn't need much. It's the act, not the amount. I'm not going to make him a shadow. Piscary taught me to be careful, if nothing else.” Her eyebrows were raised in challenge as a flush colored her usually pale face. ”Jealous?” she asked as she took in my alarmed expression.

Oh. My. G.o.d. ”No, I think it's great,” I finally stammered. Ivy and I had a... balanced relations.h.i.+p. Adding blood to it, no matter how right it felt, would destroy exactly what we admired most in each other. Her dating Glenn was a very good thing. I think. ”No, I think it's great,” I finally stammered. Ivy and I had a... balanced relations.h.i.+p. Adding blood to it, no matter how right it felt, would destroy exactly what we admired most in each other. Her dating Glenn was a very good thing. I think.

”Urn, you won't say anything to his dad, will you?” she asked. ”Glenn wants to tell him. He's not embarra.s.sed as much as not wanting to-”

”To deal with Edden telling him it's a bad idea to date your coworkers,” I finished for her before she could even think to bring up the dangers of dating a vampire, even a living one.

Ivy pointed to a break I could slip into, and I hit the gas, eager to be moving again. ”I'm being smart about this,” she said as the car swung and we s.h.i.+fted from the momentum.

”I won't say anything unless Edden asks me first.” Ivy and Glenn? Am I that blind, or was I just not looking for it? Ivy and Glenn? Am I that blind, or was I just not looking for it? The bridge was ahead, and beyond that, the lights of the Hollows. The bridge was ahead, and beyond that, the lights of the Hollows.

”Thank you,” she said, her entire posture easing as she settled into the seat. ”Glenn... I wasn't expecting this. He's not after my blood, and we like the same stuff.”

From the rearview mirror, Jenks snickered. ”Guns, violence, crime scene photos, leather, s.e.x, and women. Yeah, I can see that.”

”I think it's good,” I said again, hoping he'd shut up, but it was pretty nearly the same list that had brought Ivy and me together.