Mouth open, I fell to my knees as the ley line in me became a ribbon of fire, and screaming, I shoved it at her, unable to hold it anymore. Mia swore delicately, and I had a moment of respite, but then cold avalanched in behind it, and my arms and legs went numb. The force of the line hadn't slowed her at all. She was taking my aura slowly, painstakingly, making me suffer so there would be more to feast on.

Ivy was shouting, a savage sound against Holly's piercing cries. Behind it was the roar of a car. I couldn't think, kneeling on the snow as Mia stripped me bare. I looked up as a brilliant white light grew. I'm dying, I thought, and the light shifted and the car that was making it smashed into the front corner of the van.

Metal groaned and plastic shattered. Mia's attention was diverted, and the pain of my aura being ripped from me vanished. I looked up, on my hands and knees, sucking in air as if it might coat my soul. "Look out!" I called in warning as the van slid on the ice, toward Ivy. Crap, it was going to pin her between it and the SUV.

Ivy jumped straight up, landing on the hood of the SUV. Remus dropped to roll under it. Holly howled as the van jolted to a halt. In the aisle, an ugly green, rusty Chevy steamed. Radiator fluid poured out, but the engine still ran. The thing probably weighed more than the van and the SUV put together and would take an atomic bomb to kill.

"Holly!" Mia screamed, running to her daughter.

Pulling myself up to lean against the car, I stared as Tom emerged from the Chevy. Son of a bitch! It hadn't been Ms. Walker Mia had felt following her, it had been Tom.

With an ugly snarl, Ivy launched herself from the top of the SUV, landing on Mia.

"God, no," I whispered. I was shaky, hardly able to walk, and I staggered forward. Mia had a grip on Ivy's throat, her face savage as she started to kill her. The light from one headlamp threw everything into a stark light. Ivy was fighting back, teeth shining as she struggled.

The harsh sound of Holly screaming continued, and my eyes jerked to Remus and Tom. The ley line witch's fist was smothered in a purple haze, but the incensed man had grabbed it and squeezed until Tom screamed in pain. Giving him a solid kick in parting, Remus left Tom kneeling over his broken hand. I moved, and Remus's head swung up to me. Black eyes fixed me where I was, warning me to not move. They were the eyes of a wolf, and I froze. He turned away. From the jail, a loud claxon started hooting, and the lot was suddenly bathed in a harsh glow of blue krypton bulbs. Where in hell have they been?

Calm and soothing, the mass murderer coolly got his screaming child from the ruined van. Singing a lullaby, he looked to his wife.

"Ivy," I breathed, seeing her down and unmoving. Mia was kneeling beside her with her back to me, her blue coat spread, looking like the wings of a bird covering her prey. Staggering, I started for them, yelling, "Get away from her!"

Remus got there first, and with one hand, he yanked Mia up.

"Let me go!" the woman yelled, fighting him, but he dragged her to Tom's running car, opening the passenger-side door and nearly throwing her in. Holly's crying competed with the jail's alarm system, but her cries became faint when Remus handed her to Mia and slammed the door. Giving me a sour look, he paced to the other side and got in. The engine roared. Tom rolled out of the way as Remus gunned it, headed for the road. Frozen slush pelted us, and they were gone.

Feeling as if my heart was going to explode, I got to Ivy, and fell to kneel in the pressed snow. "Oh my God, Ivy. Ivy!" I exclaimed, turning her over and pulling her upright, against me. Her head lolled, and her eyes were shut. Her skin was pale, and her hair was in her face. "Don't you leave me, Ivy! I can't live with you being dead!" I shouted. "Ivy, you hear me?"

Oh God. Please no. Why do I have to live like this?

Tears were falling from me, and I choked back a sob when her eyes opened. They were brown, and I rejoiced. She wasn't dead, or undead, or whatever. White and pale, she looked up at me, eyes glassy and not seeing. In her grip was a faded purple ribbon with a coin laced on it. Her fingers gripped it as if it was life itself, holding on with a white-knuckled strength. "I got it back," she rasped, victory in her vacant gaze. "She doesn't deserve love."

The building behind us was still making that awful noise, and I could hear men coming this way. Ivy took a breath, then another. "I need…Rachel?" she whispered, and then her focus on me cleared. "Shit," she breathed, and I held her closer, rocking her and knowing she was still alive. She hadn't died, and I wasn't holding an undead.

"You're going to be all right," I said, not knowing if it was the truth. She looked so pale.

"I'm not. I have to have it," Ivy said, and I looked at her, seeing the tears making tracks down her face and her fangs wet with saliva. It was obvious what she was talking about. Blood. She needed blood. Vampires were the banshee's closest relative, and they had a way to replenish auras. They took them in when they fed. Ivy needed blood.

Unafraid, I pulled her farther up off the pavement, and she started to cry in earnest, knowing she couldn't be the person she wanted and mourning the loss of a dream. "I wanted to be clean, but I can't," she said as I rocked her. "Every time I try to be someone else, I fail. I need it," she said, eyes glowing black. "But not you. Not you," she begged even as her eyes started to dilate and her hunger took hold. "I'd rather die than have you give me your blood. I love you, Rachel. Don't give me your blood. Promise me—you won't give me your blood."

"You're going to be all right," I said, frantic. I could smell antifreeze from the busted Chevy, and the faint smell of hot engine was fading.

"Promise me," she said, trying to touch my face. "I don't want you to give me your blood. Promise me, damn it!"

Shit. I looked up, only now seeing the flashlights and the men behind them. My bag with my keys was across the aisle. "I promise."

There was a crunching of boots on ice, and from behind me came an authoritative "Ma'am, get away from the woman. Lie down and put your face on the pavement! Keep your fingers spread and where I can see them!"

Face wet with tears, I looked up and behind me into the bright security lights, seeing a big shadow behind it. "Go ahead and shoot me!" I screamed. "I'm not letting go of her!"

"Ma'am," the voice said, and the light dropped to Ivy, then back to me.

"She's been hurt!" I exclaimed. "I was just in your offices, you idiots. Check your security tapes. You know who I am. You watched the entire thing. You think I ran that jack-shit car into myself!"

"Ma'am—" he tried again.

I started to get up, dragging Ivy with me. "If you call me that one more time," I huffed, straining until I got her upright, leaning against the SUV.

"Down! Get down!" someone shouted.

A boom shifted the air, and I jerked Ivy closer, managing to keep both of us on our feet. The man with the light turned it toward the sound of the explosion. Men and women were shouting, and the guy with the light looked ticked off that he wasn't involved. A purplish green haze of Tom's aura covered a nearby decorated tree, and my stomach turned as the tree started to steam and dissolve. The holiday lights flickered and went out. Holy crap! What had Al taught him?

My keys were in my bag, three cars away. "Stay here," I told Ivy, and after seeing her leaning upright, under her own power, I started for my keys. "That's Tom Bansen," I said as I walked between the man and the sight of the melting tree. "He did this. You want answers, go talk to him. I'm in a city parking lot. You have no jurisdiction, and I'm leaving." I scooped up my bag and got out my keys. The lethal-amulet detector was a bright, shiny red. No kidding. "You want my ID?" I said as I headed back to Ivy. "It's in your file. Have a freaking nice day and a happy New Year!"