The Witch with No Name

The sound of pixy wings jerked my attention, and I looked up, getting an eye full of pixy dust as Jenks dropped down. “Damn it, Jenks!” I exclaimed, eyes watering.

“Tink’s a Disney whore, Rache, what are you doing here?” he exclaimed, his voice shrill as he struggled to be heard over the rising noise.

“Yeah, I’m glad to see you, too,” I said sourly, hand up for him to land on. “I’m trying to find Ivy. What is Nina doing?”

He went to land, then darted back as someone jostled me forward. My hand hit a lamppost, and I stepped up onto the footing for a few extra inches as Nina’s voice rose clear and strong, a hard surety in her voice that she’d learned from Felix. She sounded like a master, and it was chilling.

“The peace is false!” she cried, the vampiric pull in it bringing a good part of the crowd to silence. “Peace is death to the undead. It breaks them. Your masters are weeping. It’s our duty to protect them as they protect us! They keep us safe, and now it’s our turn. Even if they rage and threaten, we must withstand the anger knowing they love us! Their souls will kill them!”

“How long has she been up there?” I asked, one arm looped around the post for balance.

“Long enough.” Jenks’s wings were shading blue from the cold, and he vibrated them for warmth. “She’s, ah, rallying the living vampires to protect the undead. Not everyone is happy about it. I don’t know what’s going to happen if the elves bring their souls back.”

Concerned, I climbed farther up the pole. The crowd was ugly, and my brow furrowed when I heard a few “Let them die!” rise up. This was so not good. Had they forgotten already the chaos of Cincinnati not three months ago when the master vampires were sleeping?

“You can’t deny them their souls!” the man with the mic shouted with the professional outrage of someone comfortable with the pulpit. “It’s their God-given right!”

“Is it not our right to protect them?” Nina said, eyes black with threat. “We’ve always given them what they needed to survive. We can’t give them their death! They’ve been tricked by the elves and their own desires!”

Nervous, I looked toward the river. Trent was only a few blocks away at the arena and the closed dewar meeting. It was too easy to imagine the mob storming the place. No one could stop it with the I.S. and FIB concentrated here.

“My master found his soul,” Nina said, and the crowd stilled at the power in her voice. Felix had changed her, almost into a master herself with his thoughts running through hers for so long, and I shivered at the command. “It was fixed to him,” she intoned, and even the zealot on the stage was silenced. “It tormented him day and night until he walked into the sun. Be glad the souls have fled. Hide your masters if they should return. They bring only pain.”

“He was weeping in joy!” the man with the mic proclaimed, but beside Nina’s impassioned presence, he looked cheap. “Who are you to deny him?”

“He was in pain!” Nina shouted, and the crowd began to stir. “The grace of the undead is that they feel no pain, and he was in pain. He was broken! Tell your masters the elves lie. Tell your masters they seek to kill them! Tell them even if they should beat you and send you from their sight. You must protect them because they love you!”

The voice of the crowd rolled between the buildings, drowning out both Nina and the man onstage. Worried, I got down from the pole. I had to find Ivy and call Trent. Get him out of there. Warn him.

“Your master died because God brought his sins home!” the man was saying.

“The elves sit in conference right now to bring their souls back. We can’t let them do it!” Nina thundered. “They’re trying to kill our masters! He walked into the sun!” she cried in pain. “He walked into the sun and now I am alone!”

Her anguish raged out, connecting with every living vampire there. They knew what it was to be alone. They feared it. The urge to rise up was almost unbearable. Felix had given her the strength of the undead and the passion of the living. No wonder Ivy loved her.

“My God,” I whispered, jolted from her charisma when someone bumped me. “Jenks, is Edden here?” We had to get Nina to shut up, even if I agreed with her. The vampires were going to storm the dewar if this continued.

“Yeah.” Jenks landed on my shoulder. “He’s over by the curb. Where the horses are?”

I looked over the heads to where the mounted police usually hung out. Sure enough, there were two very unhappy horses, an FIB van, and a bunch of FIB guys clustered around something. A plan to get the people out of here, maybe.