"You want a stretcher?" Ford asked, and after I reluctantly nodded, he went to talk to one of the departing FIB officers. I couldn't make it up the stairs like this, pride be damned.

Slowly the dizziness abated, and I concentrated on breathing as I looked over the room. I wasn't sure how I was going to explain Pierce's clothes. Tom's abduction was going to be even harder. It wasn't like I could pretend he hadn't been here. Both Ford and Mia had seen him. That Al had taken both of them was not going to look good for me at all. Damn it, I am so not going to take the blame for this.

Ford came back as the last FIB agent headed upstairs. Setting Mia's lantern by me, he sank back down with Holly to wait. "This is unbelievable," he said. "I don't know for sure what you're feeling. I can see it in your face, but not feeling it? That's freaky." He dropped his eyes as I noticed they were filling with emotion. "He's not dead anymore, you know."

The shadows shifted as I banked the lantern to focus the light ahead and toward the stairs. "Tom?" I said, glad he couldn't feel my emotions while he was holding Holly. It had to be Tom he was talking about. Kisten was gone, gone, gone, and I'd just relived his death. "I know. Al took him." A pang of fear hit me, fear that if the I.S. knew, they would use it against me.

"Not Tom," Ford said, and my head jerked up. "Tom is dead. I felt him die. I'm talking about Pierce."

Startled, I turned to him. "Al snagged him," I said. "Broke the charm and took him. His clothes were right over there."

Ford's smile widened and he shifted the sleeping child higher. "That wasn't Tom the demon pulled into the ever-after, it was Pierce."

This wasn't making sense, and I just stared at him, hunched in the blue FIB blanket.

"Your potion was targeted to Pierce," Ford explained. "Tom died and Al used your summoning charm to force Pierce into his body. I felt Tom's emotions die. Pierce's emotions took their place, coming from Tom's body. I'd know his thought signature anywhere. He's a unique individual."

I looked to where Pierce's clothes had been, a chill rippling through me as I shivered. "That's black magic," I whispered, hearing it echo in the tunnels behind me, like sin itself. "It was my spell! I didn't know it was black. It was in a university textbook!"

Ford leaned back against the wall, clearly not bothered. "It was your spell, and it was white, but the demon perverted it. He loves you, you know."

"Al?" I yelped, and Ford laughed. Holly smiled in her sleep, and the man's face calmed.

"No, Pierce."

I was dizzy from my outburst, and I looked at the stairway, wishing they would hurry. Kisten had loved me. Pierce was a teen crush. "Pierce doesn't even know me," I said softly, heart aching. "Except for that one night. God, I was eighteen."

Ford shrugged. "It would explain your troubled history with men. You saw what you wanted at eighteen, and no one now is measuring up."

I sighed. I was sitting on my butt on the cold, dusty concrete, waiting for a stretcher, and he was analyzing me. "Ford, I don't love Pierce. It was teenage infatuation. Attraction to a charismatic power. I loved…Kisten."

"I know." His hand touched my shoulder, shocking me. "I'm sorry."

I turned away, forcing my thoughts from Kisten lest I start to cry again. "Pierce had a deal going with Al. Probably about getting a body in return for service." I felt my face scrunch in hopelessness. "And I helped. How nice is that? I don't even know why he did it. He was better off as a ghost." I looked to the stairway. There was the distinct possibility they might forget we were down here.

"I told you why," Ford said, grimacing as he shifted Holly's weight. "He loves you. I guess he figured being a familiar to your demon and having a body was better than being a ghost without one in your graveyard. Give the man a break, Rachel. He's been hanging around your church for almost a year."

A smile threatened, then disappeared. I was cold, dizzy, and numb from thoughts of Kisten. It stank down here, like cold dust. Like Kisten's killer. All I wanted was to go home and take a bath.

"I think they forgot us," I said. "Help me up?"

Ford grunted, getting to his feet. Holly cooed in her sleep as he extended his free hand and I slowly found my balance, leaning against the wall until I was sure I wouldn't fall over. The cement was cold on my feet, and I shifted to stand on a corner of the blanket.

"We'll take it slow," he said, clearly unused to Holly's unfamiliar weight.

"Yeah," I whispered, my thoughts turning to him and the relief Holly was giving him. It was beautiful, and I wondered if Ford was truly a human, or a very rare type of Inderlander who hadn't been discovered yet. One who balanced out a banshee. Vampires balanced Weres. Pixies balanced fairies. Witches…okay, maybe there wasn't anything to balance banshees either. Unless witches balanced out demons?

"Ford," I said as we started for the stairs, Mia's light bobbing. "I'm happy for you."

He smiled that blissful smile again when he glanced over his shoulder. "Me, too. She's a gift, and I'll have to give her back someday. But even this little bit is heaven. I'll try to repay Mia by teaching Holly what love is. I can show her that, though I believe Mia and Remus were already doing that admirably. In their own way."

My pace bobbled when Ivy's and Edden's voices filtered down the stairs. Kisten had died to save us both, to keep some lame-ass vampire from screwing our lives up any more than they already were. And he had loved us enough to give his life in exchange for ours. How could I tell Ivy?

My strength pooled out of me, and blinking fast, I stopped, slumping against a pillar. Ford looked uneasy. "Rachel, you're a good person," he said from out of the blue, surprising me. "Remember that. Just…don't worry about the next few hours."

I stared at him, becoming frightened. What did he know that I didn't?

"Call me tomorrow if you need to talk," he said before I could ask. "There's nothing that will ever make me think you're not a good person. That's what's important, Rachel. Who we love and what we do for them."

A last smile, and he started up the stairs with Holly. I heard him speak to Ivy and Edden on the stairs, and then Ivy's familiar steps continued down. She rounded the bottom of the steps, and I smiled thinly when her pace quickened. "Are you okay?"

Kisten, I thought, and my eyes teared. "Yeah," I said softly, and she stood there, looking helpless. Throat thick, I gave her a hug.

And this time, Ivy returned it, her grip almost pressing the air from me.

My first startled reaction shifted to heartache, and I hugged her back, my eyes closed and my heart clenched all the harder. Her vampire incense lifted through me, soothing and exciting at the same time. "You scared me," she said when she let go and backed up a step. Edden was now behind her, playing his flashlight over the ceiling. "I don't like it when you tag someone without backup. Jenks said you tore out of there like a bat out of hell."

"Is he okay?" I asked, and she let go, head bobbing as she wiped her eyes. My own tears threatened as I tried to find the words to tell her I remembered Kisten's death. Thoughts of him were ringing from one ear to the other, making me dizzy.

Knowing something was wrong, Ivy took my arm and didn't let go. "Where's Pierce?" she asked as her eyes lingered on the scrape on my cheek.

My thoughts went to Tom, hanging in the demon's grip, and I hesitated. Had it really been Pierce? Either way, Tom was gone and Mia had seen the entire thing. Misreading my sudden worry, Ivy said, "Al took him, didn't he."

I shook my head. "Yes. No. It wasn't my fault," I said, and Edden squinted at me.

"Rachel…," the FIB officer warned as he took the lantern and gestured to the stairs. "Tell me now, or I'll make you fill out paperwork."