BLACK MAGIC SANCTION MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Trench with a mention of Pierce/Rachel and the possibility of RachAl (R/A)

Please review even if you think it's crap. It struck me that there was no Trench popping up after BMS and there needed to be. Also, I've already done the RachAl thing (way before this book came out, so I sooo called it). :) Enjoy.

The wind in my face was sharp and cold, even though it was still early spring. Or perhaps because it was early spring. The dark sky stretched out overhead, but the horizon was stained a deep orange with the rising sun. I had followed Trent all night. We had joined the Hunt. I finally understood what it was I was fighting to protect. I knew what it meant to be the strongest creature in the night, to chase as well as flee.

I tossed my hair back and my laughter rang in the still air. Trent's Tulpa pulled up along side my mount and he flashed a relaxed smile at me. A smile I had not seen in such a very long time. I returned it. When we reached the next clearing, I reined in and leapt from the horse's back. Trent furrowed his brow, but followed suit. "What is it, Rachel?"

I smiled at him, freedom thrumming through me. "Thank you. You could have thrown me to the dogs at the FIB today. I mistrusted you and you could have paid me back for it, but you didn't. You helped me convince Oliver. So Thank you. And thank you for not telling anyone I could twist demon magic."

He offered a rueful shrug. "Not telling about your curse twisting is good business."

I smiled and tilted my head. "Still, thank you. Maybe you aren't…what I've always thought you were. Well…not always, but at least since you threw me in the rat-pits."

He averted his gaze. "Rachel, I…"

I shook my head. Damn, but tonight was weird. "It's fine. We settled that score a while ago."

I turned my gaze on the moonless sky and tried to count the stars. I ran a slow had over my mare's neck. Trent ran a hand through his hair, a gesture I caught out of the corner of my eye. I blinked and wait for whatever he was about to say that was making him this nervous.

He sighed and turned away from me. "Rachel, you asked me what was bothering me on New Year's Eve at Carew Towers. Then you assumed it was Ceri. I…It wasn't Ceri. I wanted to…" He took a deep breath. I frowned at his uncharacteristic stumbling. "Rachel, first I wanted to apologize for making you cry that night. I never intended to do that. You always seem so…indestructible that it never even occurred to me that I could affect you like that."

I turned to him to offer a rueful smile, but he was fidgeting with Tulpa's bridle. I frowned. "Trent, I…"

"No." He shook his head. "Let me finish. I felt guilty and ashamed. I wanted to explain something to you, but you walked away. Then later you showed up with your demon and I just…" He pressed his lips together. "Rachel, I want you to know that I don't think you're a demon. I understand exactly what you are. I did then, and I understand why you had to make me your familiar. I was…am…uncomfortable with it."

I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to explain yourself to me, Trent. I get it. Believe me I do. I'm just sorry that what I am…disgusts you so much."

He turned to me. "No, Rachel, you don't understand. It doesn't disgust me and that's the problem. It's you. Because it's you, it doesn't disgust me. And That fucking terrifies me. If it were anyone else…but it's not. It's you. The person who tries to get me locked away in prison every chance she gets, but who still takes the jobs I offer her. The same woman who saved my life. Who saved me from slavery in the Ever After. The same woman who I was fascinated by as a boy. Rachel, the real reason I gave you that Pandora Charm…I was hoping you would understand. If it had been finished right, maybe you'd have focused on something other then getting thrown from Tulpa. And the hoof pick."

I squinted at him. "Trent, I don't understand what you mean?"

He finally turned back to me. "You've never understood what I meant, Racehl. You never get it. You look at me and see what you want to see, but not what is really here. You see disgust where there is none. You see hatred where there has never been any. You mistake…all of my emotions for things they are not."

I frowned, chewing my lip. His forest eyes glinted in the dim starlight. I wished there was a moon so I could see him better, but the sunlight that was threatening to spill over the horizon was helping. There was something lurking in his eyes that was not hatred or even mild dislike, but I couldn't identify it.

"Why do you think I gave all those flowers to Jasmine? Why do you think I made sure that you knew we'd been seeing each other…or what passing for dating at that age? Why do you think I always offer you a way out of your trouble? Why do you think I confessed my desires to you in the Ever After?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Because I was the only one there and you thought you were going to die?"

He shook his head, blowing out an annoyed breath. "Woman, you are being thickheaded on purpose!"

I shook my head, confusion clearly visible in my eyes. He sighed. "Rachel, I'm…I've been in love with you since we were children. Jasmine was to make you jealous. My jobs were a vain hope at protecting you. Always I wanted you to understand how I felt without having to tell you. But you never saw me for what I am."

My eyes were round now. Probably nearly bugging out of my head. I felt my mouth drop open a little. "What?" I gasped quietly.

"Rachel! Listen! Focus! I. Am. In. Love. With. You! And I have been for years. What you thought was hatred was fear and horror at things outside of my control."

I swallowed thickly. "Why are you telling me now? And why try to trap me with Nick?"

He shifted his eyes away again. "I thought if I caught you, I could get you to sign the contract and then maybe I could protect you from the coven. Obviously you had your own plans." He ran his eyes up and down my body and I flushed. "You are beautiful, by the way. Seeing you standing proudly before all those people, naked with your fiery hair floating around your head, Rachel, you looked like the Goddess incarnate. I was jealous of their stares" He'd turned away again. "I didn't want their eyes on you. They had not right to see you like that…"

I blinked at him and frowned deeply, coming out of my stupor. "Why are you being this honest? I don't understand the point of telling me any of this. I don't see how I can believe you. This is totally coming at me from out of left field."

He nodded once and looked at the sky. "All of what you said. All this things you said they'd done to you. I never dreamed the coven would do any of that or I would have tried to do something earlier. Alcatraz…summoning Al to try and kill you…I just…Too many dangerous things happen around you. You're a walking disaster area. It made me realize that you had to know. I had to tell you before something happened to you."

I wrapped my arms around myself and turned from him. It may be totally random from where I was standing but that made sense to me. And he was right. With the way my life had been going, I was likely that I wouldn't get the opportunity to live forever. I shivered and put several steps between us. I heard him shift behind me. I could almost feel that anguish that seemed to be flowing from him in waves. It made his voice when he spoke next a beautiful, exquisite tragedy. "I apologize, Ms. Morgan, if what I've said offends you." He'd fallen back into business mode, trying to put some distance between us in any way he could.

I shook my head and dropped it to my chest. "Trent…There are things about me that you don't understand, speaking of not getting things. Things that you don't know."

I could hear the frown in his voice. "What are you talking about? Are you seeing someone? Is it that ghost-man that was in the elevator with you? The one whose been hanging around your house?"

A stab of guilt shot through me. "Pierce?" I paused a moment, a feeling of distrust bubbling up in my chest. Now, hours removed from the event, his gesture of giving me my independence and not using his black magic felt…like it was only a gesture. There was something wrong there that I could not begin to explain. "No. I'm not seeing Pierce. Trent, that's not it. I…You were right."

He took a step toward me. "About what?"

"I am a demon." I turned back to him, hoping he could see the pain and truth in my face.

He'd been reaching out a hand. Now he recoiled. "No! No, you aren't a demon. You're a witch born and raised."

I shook my head, a tear slipping from my eye. "No, Trent. I'm not a witch. I may not be a full demon, but I'm close enough to it. My children will be demons. I can twist demon magic. I can invoke black magic demon curses with my own blood. I can travel in the lines. I can be summoned!" I shivered a little. "Worst of all, I think I'm going to live forever."

Trent frowned harshly at me. After a moment, he reached for me again and stepped forward. His hand was on my shoulder and he was tilting my face up to look him in the eyes. "You don't know if you'll live forever. You can't know that until forever comes." He smiled softly. "And none of that makes you a demon. Remember, my father made you what you are. You are merely a witch who can live up to her full potential. I should have never called you a demon, no matter how angry or ashamed I was. I'm sorry." He leaned down and touched his lips to mine.

He felt warm, pressed against me like that. I smiled against his mouth and kissed him back. I could feel the truth of his words on his tongue and it made something inside me melt. The same something that had brought tears to my eyes that day in the stables when I was a child. The sudden realization jolted through me and I jerked back.

Trent's eyes were wide with trepidation as he watched me. "What's wrong?"

I stared at him with wide eyes. "I…I think I just realized something."

He furrowed his brow and tilted his head, waiting.

"I think I was too young at the time. I though I was just hurt because Jasmine was my best friend and she hadn't told me. I thought I was jealous of the time she pent with you, because it meant we weren't together, but it wasn't. It was because I wanted to be in her place. I was jealous of her not for her. I didn't understand." Trent was staring at me with wide eyes. "Then my memories went and all I had was a vague impression of being angry at you for something and being attracted to you. I've always been attracted to you. You're too damn hot for your own good."

His face was splitting into a wide grin. He seized my face and kissed me again. "Something good of the new moon. Something not of the Hunt."

I nodded and wrapped my arms around his neck. He held me for a long moment, as we simply breathed in each other and exited together. My moment of epiphany had given me a greater understanding of myself. My hatred had turned into jealousy, which I had already admitted to concerning his bitch of an Almost-Wife. I smiled into his neck, when I felt the kisses he was pressing into my skin. He slipped his hands up under my shirt, leaving trails of tingling warmth. His touch felt electric against my skin unlike any else's. Even with Pierce, it hadn't been like this and all Trent was doing was brushing his fingertips against my ribs. I shuddered and pulled his head up for another kiss.

I was so emerced in the feeling of Trent touch and his kisses that I did not feel the pull of the line as someone jumped it. However, I did hear that deep growling noise that Pierce made in the back of his throat when he saw who I was with and what exactly I was doing. "Rachel! How could you?"

I pulled back from Trent, who had gone horribly stiff. He was staring at me with pained eyes. I shook my head. "Pierce, what are you doing here? You went back to Al, because the threat had passed!"

His nostrils flared. "I can see now, why you wanted me gone. Was Nick right, then Mistress Witch?"

My eyes narrowed, and I looked at the former ghost over Trent's shoulder. "Are you calling me a whore, Pierce?"

Trent spun on him, finally taking his eyes from me. "I suggest you don't, if that's what you were panning on doing."

Pierce sneered at him. "I believe the modern phrase is 'If the shoe fits'? Rachel, you are…being rather indiscrete with this…man…Not even 48 hours after we…have lain together."

Trent turned back to me. "You told me that you were with him!" There was defeated edging into his eyes and anger bubbling there as well.

"Alright, now I will set you both straight. One, Pierce, we had sex. Once. That doesn't not mean we are anything to each other. Any more then we were before. I enjoyed it, yes. I was freezing, which was your fault and yours" I pointed at Trent. "And it warmed me. It was good. The end. It may have been more, but your actions for the rest of the day made up my mind for me."

"But I--!"

I shook my head. "You made a gesture. That was all it was. It felt wrong, Pierce. What you did felt like a meaningless gesture. I understand that you didn't use Black Magic, but you enjoy it. You use it all the time and you enjoy it. That, I realized today, if the difference. I don't. I use it when I have to, but I never enjoy it. I hate the feeling of smut on my aura. You may love me. I don't know. You love your dead sweetheart more and always will, but you may love me. I don't know. But it's not enough. I…I'm not who you want or need me to be. I won't be that person. I won't submit to you and I won't use black magic like you want me to. You're not better than Al sometimes.

"So, two." I turned to Trent and offered him a hesitant smile. "You can wipe that defeated betrayed look off your face. I had sex with him once, which I fully intended to tell you, though now didn't seem like that time. I don't love him and I never did." I turned back to Pierce, who was looking ill. "Go back to Al, Pierce. Go back to the Ever After and do whatever it is that demon familiars do. Find someone else to pine over. It's not me."

The defeat washed from him at my words and he snarled. "We'll see about that."

He pulled the line and was gone. I turned back to Trent. "I'm sorry. I really intended to tell you, but now seemed like a really bad time."

He blinked at me. "Alright, who else have you had sex with that will pop in a rant at us? I know you were with Nick and Kisten, but one is, if he has any brain at all, hundreds of miles away and the other is dead."

"I dated Marshall too, briefly."

"Is your demon going to pop in here and insist you're his too? Have you had sex with him as well?" His eye had darkened and I could see the anger reflected in them.

An image of Al The Demon God slipped through my mind and I shuddered. "No! Most definitely no! I have never had sex with Al." I shuddered again.

Trent frowned, some of the anger slipping away. "Why are you shivering? You're afraid of your demon?"

"He's isn't my demon and yes…well…sometimes. Al can be terrifying." I looked up at the horizon. The sun had not appeared yet and looked like true sunrise would be at least another thirty minutes or more. Damn. "And by the look of the sun, he could…"

"My, my, my. What do we have here?" I turned to find Al leaning against a tree on the far side of the clearing. "I did not believe the runt when he told me, but mine eyes do not deceive me. Rachel, itchy-witch, is Trenton Aloysius Kalamack the next bad man you plan to take to your bed?"

I scowled at him. "Al, go home. No one called you and no one wants you here."

Trent moved closer to me, fear in the lines of his body.

Al smirked. "Maybe not, but it is rather amusing." His red eyes flicked to Trent. "If you wanted a man with power, Rachel, I am right here. All you need to do is ask."

I shuddered again. He grinned. "Ah the Demon God impressed you then? I always did enjoy that form."

My lip curled in disgust. Trent was glaring at me. "Al, the demon god did not impress me, it terrified me! Even if I ever had any interest in you, which I did not because I am not suicidal, that form you took would have squashed it completely. You think I would let that anywhere near me? Sweet dreams. I've said it before and I would really like to not have to repeat myself so often. I will not have sex with you!"

Al sighed dramatically. "One of these day, itchy-witch. One of these days. And just to put your mind at rest. I'm not quite that well endowed in this body."

I blew out a breath though my nose. "I. Am. Not. Interested! Please stop trying! It's annoying."

Al rolled his goat-eyes. "So you say." He smirked. "Forever is a very long time, Rachel." He glanced at the horizon. "Ta!"

He popped out just as Pierce had done. My lips were pursed and I was breathing heavily through my nose. "He is so freaking annoying sometime!"

Trent turned on me again. "What the hell was that? You don't seem afraid of him to me! And what was all that shit about the Demon God?"

I sighed. "The demon god is one of his personas. The creature is absolutely terrifying and it's hung like a freaking bull. Doesn't wear clothes. He was trying to scare his gargoyle. Scared the shit out of me. I'm not afraid of him most of the time, but I know when to back off and when he's the Demon God? Yes, I am terrified of him."

Trent sighed. "I think maybe we have a lot to talk about. And it's getting late." He glanced at the finally rising sun. "Or early I suppose. Let's go back to the house. You can have a warm shower or bath and we can eat something. Pancakes if you like. Then we can talk."

I nodded and mounted my mare, but not before I dropped a quick kiss on Trent's lips. He smiled at me.