back, I scrambled backward, glancing around frantically until I saw Cain. He was standing nearby, not advancing on me, but simply watching me.
"You okay?" His voice sounded mildly concerned, which I had to admit, threw me a bit. Then I remembered; he needed me, and that gave me leverage.
"Get away from us," I said.
"She's not your friend," Cain said. "She's - "
Davina groaned loudly, and I turned away from him.
"Davina?" I could see the outline of her form putting her hand to her head. I looked back to Cain, then scrambled on all fours to Davina's side.
I touched her gently on the shoulder. "Are you all right?"
She sat up. "I ... I think so."
"Good." I looked back behind me, but Cain was gone, and I could hear the faint crackling sounds of twigs crunching under his retreat. My heart started beating furiously then, and my shaking got more violent. My arms and legs felt weak, and I sat on the ground next to Davina, trying to breathe.
"Baby?" Davina said, concern in her voice. "What happened?"
"You lost consciousness," I said as though that were news.
She rubbed my back. "Olivia? You're shaking. What did he do to you?"
"He..." I began, but realized ... he didn't do anything. No gray smoke, no magic. He knocked me down in self-defense; that was it.
Only because he needs you, I thought. Otherwise, you'd be dead.
"I don't know. You were knocked out, and then I hit my head on a rock..." I swallowed, the panic taking over now that he was gone. "I'm just a little freaked out."
"It's okay," Davina said, rubbing her head. "That was quite a storm he set on us."
"Yeah. Are you okay?"
Davina moved her neck slowly from side to side. "I think so. You?"
I checked myself, then nodded. "Yeah."
"Good. Help me up?"
I got to my feet, then reached down and helped her to hers. She glanced around and let out a long breath.
"He's gone." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Thank you. You saved my life."
"No problem. Can we go now?"
"You bet, baby." She watched me for a long moment, and then she nodded in the direction of my house. "Let's go."
Chapter 12
The walk home was short, but it was long enough that by the time we got back, the cold hollow inside me had filled itself with fury. Once we got inside, I settled Davina on the couch, grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket, and flipped it open.
"What are you doing?" Davina asked.
"I'm calling nine-one-one," I said. "You need to go to the hospital and I need to report that asshole and have him put in jail."
I flipped it open, but it was still dead. Damnit. I walked over to the charger and plugged it in. "I always forget to charge this stupid thing." I glanced around. "And my other phone's a dead bat."
"Calm down, Olivia. We need to talk."
"With the police," I said. "We need to talk with the police."
"One thing you need to learn," she said, her eyes suddenly hard and angry. "Police don't work for people like us. The police belong to them. We" - she motioned her hand between us - "need to take care of our own."
"He attacked us," I said. "If he's so magic let him magic himself out of a goddamn jail cell. Just give me a minute, and my phone will charge, and - "
Davina took in a breath, and her face looked strained as she closed her eyes and put her hand to her head.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I just need a minute."
"I'll get you some water and some aspirin." I went into the kitchen and filled a glass with ice water and grabbed a bottle of Advil. When I got back to the living room, Davina was lying on the couch with her eyes closed. I was going to step out, let her rest while I fumed quietly to myself, but she opened her eyes and reached for the water.
"Thank you," she said.
"No problem." I gave her the water and put the bottle of pills in her hand, then collapsed into the easy chair. Davina sat up to drink the water and take the Advil, then fell back again and let out a long breath.
"Oh, that's much better," she said.
"Okay, you ready to explain to me why we're not having his ass thrown in jail?"
Davina looked at me, and a small smile graced her lips. "Because he didn't break any laws."
"He attacked us. We don't have to tell