My knees felt funny as I left the mall and entered the snow, and I slowed to try to see if Marshal was anywhere. No Marshal, no Tom—just faces craning to get a look at something. My breath steamed, and I was reaching for my gloves when the child-protection van pulled in under the tape the FIB had strung up.

"Mia!" Remus called out as two men tried to force him in the back of a cruiser. His voice was panicked, and I watched the banshee stiffen in Ivy's grip. Only now did she realize we were after her, too.

"Remus! Run!" she shrieked.

The baby started to cry, and Remus exploded into motion. His entire face changed. Gone was the panic, replaced by a delicious satisfaction. He moved, hooking a foot behind one of his captors and giving a yank. The man went down, slipping on the snow, and Remus went with him, slamming his fists on the man's throat. From there, he rolled to take the other man down. Just that fast, he was gone, spinning under the car and shoving through the crowd.

"Get him!" I cried, seeing him up and running awkwardly, from the cuffs.

"Run, Remus!" Mia shouted, urging him on.

Ivy shoved her at the nearest FIB officer, then leapt for the cruiser. She landed on the hood, and the car's shocks squeaked when she jumped off. I heard her booted steps in a fast cadence, then nothing.

In a belated rush, FIB officers started after them on foot or scrambled into their cars. It had been only three seconds, but Edden had lost him. The news crews were going nuts, and I looked for a place to hide. I hated news vans.

A soft thump pulled my attention from the cold parking lot. Someone gasped and pointed, and I followed a mittened finger to a blue lump on the snowy pavement.

"Edden?" I called, unheard over the noise. It was the FIB officer Ivy had shoved Mia at. The banshee was gone. Seeing several people trying to help him, I scanned the parking lot for Mia's long blue coat and a pink snowsuit. Crap on toast, I'd known this was too easy.

"Edden!" I shouted, then I saw Mia almost thirty feet away, head down and walking fast. Holy cow, how had she done that?

Adrenaline pulsed through me, and I hesitated for a split second. It's a banshee. I shouldn't be doing this… But if I didn't, who would?

"Hold on, Jenks," I said loudly, then looked for Edden's gray hair. "Edden!" I shouted again, and when he looked up, I threw my bag. "Take care of Jenks!" I exclaimed when he caught it, and then I ran after Mia. Why am I doing this? They don't even trust me.

"Miss, oh, miss," a news reporter said, getting in my face, and I elbowed her out of my way. Cries rose up behind me, and I couldn't help my smile.

In three seconds, I was through the ring of watchers. Darkness replaced the glare. A muffling silence pushed out the noise. Action replaced a frustrating inaction. I was moving, and I had a clear and definite goal. Mia had a good head start, and probably a car, but she also had a baby, and Holly was not happy.

Following the sound of a frustrated toddler, I ran through the parked cars, the blur of gray and falling snow quickly becoming a background nothing. The puddles of overhead light were flashes of interruption. I ran, chasing a weak prey, gaining fast.

Holly's whining grew faint when Mia's awkwardly running form vanished behind a Dumpster next to a delivery entrance. In six seconds, I was there. I skidded to a stop at the mouth of the walled parking lot, not wanting to get beaned by anything. My eyes scanned the open bay, finding Mia with her back to a padlocked door and Holly clutched to her. The small overhead light showed her proud, scared determination, and I struggled for breath. She had no way out. Ivy would catch Remus, and I would bring Mia back. It was done.

God help me if it's not that easy.

My pulse slowed, and I raised a placating hand. "Mia, think about it."

The woman clutched her daughter so tightly the baby started to cry. "You'll kill her," the banshee said, the anger a stark fury. "You can't care for her. If you take her from me, you'll kill her as surely as if you drowned her in a well like a cat."

"Holly will be fine." I took a step forward. The tall walls hiding the delivery entrances surrounded me. It seemed warmer without the wind, and the snow fell peacefully between us. "The people at social services will take good care of her. You can't raise a child on the streets. If you run, that's all that's left for you. I've seen your house, Mia, and you can't live like that. You don't want to force Holly to live like that. Give me the baby, and we'll go back. Everything will be okay. There can be a peaceful end to this."

Helpless as she looked, I couldn't bring a banshee in alone by force, but if I had her baby, she wouldn't run off again. I'd been moving forward all this time, and now only a few feet separated us.

"What do you know about peace?" Mia said bitterly, jiggling Holly in a vain attempt to get her to stop fussing. "You've never lived without running. It's all you do, run, run, run. You know you can't stop. If you do, it will kill you."

I halted, surprised. "You don't know anything about me."

Her chin lifted, and she shifted Holly so they were both facing me. Finally the little girl stopped crying, staring. "I know everything about you," she said. "I see inside you. It pours from you. You won't let yourself love anyone. Like that vamp. But unlike Ivy, who's merely afraid, you really can't love anyone. You're never going to have the happy ending. Never. No matter how you look for it, it's out of reach. Everyone you love you will eventually kill. You are alone even now, you just don't realize it."

My jaw was clenched, and my hands were fisted. "It won't work, Mia," I said, thinking she was trying to upset me to make herself stronger. "Put the baby down and your hands behind your head. I'll make sure Holly is okay." Damn it, why hadn't I brought my splat gun?

"You want my baby?" Mia mocked. "Fine. Take her."

She was holding Holly out to me, and thinking she was starting to understand, I reached out. Holly gurgled happily. I felt the unfamiliar weight of an entirely new person fill my arms. Mia backed up a step, a harsh gleam in her eye as she glanced at the open lot behind me. A car was coming, and its lights shined into the dead end, making it bright.

"Thank you, Mia," I said, reaching to take Holly's hand before she hit my face. "I'll do what I can to keep Holly with you."

Holly's cold, sticky little fingers met mine, and my hand closed reflexively around them.

Pain came from nowhere. My heart jumped, and I gasped, unable to cry out. Fire blazed across my skin, and I found my voice.

A harsh guttural scream ripped through the icy night, and I sank to my knees. My skin was on fire, and my soul was burning. It was burning from my chest outward.

I couldn't take a new breath, it hurt that much. People were shouting, but they were too far away. My pulse was firing madly, and every beat pushed the fire through my pores. It was being stripped from me—my aura was being ripped away, and my fear was feeding it.

Holly gurgled happily, but I couldn't think to move. She was killing me. Mia was letting Holly kill me, and I couldn't stop it!

I managed a harsh gasp, and then, as suddenly as it had come, the pain vanished. I felt an icy wash of black flow through me, in time with my fading pulse. Holly cooed, and I felt her being lifted from me. Her lack of weight unbalanced me, and I slowly collapsed to the pavement. But still, the wash of black flowed through me, and it was as if I could feel the frightening nothing within me, growing larger. I couldn't stop it. Couldn't even think how.

Mia helped me down, and grateful for small favors, I stared at her exquisite boots. God, they must have cost more than my last three months of rent combined. I could feel the night air raw on my unprotected soul. And finally Holly stripped the last from me, the flood of black slowing to a trickle and stopping to leave only a fading, empty warmth.