“Jenks will come back when I’ve got everything set and bring you anything small you might need.” Ivy was starting to babble, and she shut her mouth, her eyes frightened. She didn’t want to leave me, and I gave her a hug just to shut her up.

“Thank you,” I said, breathing her in, and her arms went around me tentatively. “Thank you for helping me today.” I put her at arm’s length and smiled, feeling my eyes warm with unshed tears. “I don’t deserve people like you and Jenks.”

“Aww, I’m going to barf fairy farts,” Jenks said, but he landed on her shoulder, shedding a bright sifting of pixy dust.

She dropped back, our hands parting. “Then I’m gone,” she said, walking backward a hesitant step. “You’re going to be okay? Be smart.”

She was talking about Pierce, and I nodded, feeling him behind me in the water.

“God, Ivy, just go!” Jenks shouted, and she turned and started jogging, a passel of pixies lighting her way. She could probably outrun any dog. She’d be fine. Right?

I felt the statue through the thin fabric of my belt pack, worried about her. Ivy thought Pierce’s hole was going to be safer than Rynn Cormel’s stronghold. Or maybe she just didn’t want to dangle such a priceless piece of blackmail in front of the master vampire. “See you tomorrow!” I shouted, and got a backward wave.

“Can we go now?” Jenks said snidely, his gold dust turning yellow when it hit the water, looking like sun sparkles in the middle of the night.

“We can go now.” I slipped as I edged back into the river, caught by Pierce until I jerked away. Yes, I was grateful for him saving me yet again. But I’d been burned too many times by strong, capable men with a past. A pang of something lit through me as I saw him in the water beside me, the current eddying about his ankles and the starlight lighting his face to show his grim mood.

“You’ve got a place on the river, huh?” I asked, and he nodded, not smiling at all.

“Take off your shoes,” he said as he shoved his hat into a back pocket. “Drop them somewhere in the river.”

Standing at the edge, I slipped them off. “Will it help throw them off the trail?”

Pierce turned to me, already calf deep. The light sort of seemed to slide off him, blurring his features, and I shivered. “The weight of them will pull you down. Your clothes should be fine, seeing as you’re not in skirts. I can’t tell you how many women I lost at the end in the name of modesty. Do what I say when I say, and don’t stop or you’ll die. Understand?”

Turning his back, he waded into the water.