Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            “Cold?” Trent’s arm slipped over my shoulders to pull me close.

            “Nah, she ain’t cold.” Jenks’s wings tickled my neck as he darted clear of Trent’s arm. “She’s randy as a goat. Rache has a thing about elevators.”

            “Jenks, will you shut up,” I said, but Trent grinned, tugging me tighter to him to make Bis shift his wings for balance. Thankfully the doors opened, and the light from the elevator spilled onto a plaster-spattered plywood floor. Immediately Jenks and Bis flew out.

            “You up for the tour?” Trent said as he drew me forward. “I have a spot where I’ve been catching my noon nap if you just want to eat.”

            “Tour first,” I said, and he beamed as he pulled me into the plaster-scented dark.

            “Lights full!” he said loudly, and I squinted as big, heavy lights in the ceiling thumped on, bathing the area in a noon glow and reflecting off black windows streaked with rain.

            “Ow,” Bis complained as he landed on a sawhorse, his eyes clamped shut.

            “Wow.” My gaze followed Jenks’s fading dust trail now spreading the length and breadth of the large space. “Better than a spell.”

            We’d come up about in the middle of a work zone, sixty by maybe a hundred and twenty feet, the ceilings stretching two stories up. The original art deco windows showed a slice of Cincinnati, the river, and the Hollows beyond. I’d seen the view before from the restaurant, but now it was as if it was for me alone, and I felt pulled to the windows.

            “The plywood floor is temporary to protect the original parquet,” Trent said as I went to the windows, boots thumping. “This area was actually four apartments, but most of the original flooring was intact, and we can replace the damaged portions and where the walls used to be with large sections where we don’t need it, like the kitchen.”

            “It’s beautiful.” I scuffed to a halt, a hand rising to touch the nicked, ornate molding.

            “The woodwork? It is.” Trent hovered beside me, clearly anxious to show me the rest. “I’ve got over seven thousand square feet on this level, with the private living quarters and a small pool and patio area upstairs. Or at least I will when it’s done.” He hesitated. “We tapped into the upstairs here to give us the higher ceiling.”

            “It’s going to be amazing.” My fingers slipped from the window. It wasn’t often that I felt the differences between us, but seeing him rightfully excited about things that I would never be able to afford . . . Yeah, it was a reminder that we came from two different worlds.

            “Hey, I can see the church!” Jenks sang out, and I took Trent’s hand in mine.

            “Show me,” I said, a feeling of foreboding taking root.

            “Well, this will be the new great room,” he said, gesturing. “Now that they have the walls out and the floor removed from some of the upstairs, it’s got that fabulous view and wow factor when you step out of the elevator. There’s plenty of space behind it for several conference rooms, and over there is where the prep kitchen goes. Just big enough to stage the food for parties and meetings. The restaurant will supply everything, but I will have to expand the existing dumbwaiters into something more efficient.”

            “Nice.”

            “I’m thinking the library and perhaps a study down here as well,” he said, leading me to an expansive cardboard-covered stairway going to a second floor. “The outside balcony needs better safety measures before we use it for parties, and I’m getting the permits to move the wall in about twenty feet to make the area out there less acrophobic.”

            “Wow.”

            “The girls and I and Quen will be staying on the second floor.” Still holding my hand, he drew me up the stairs. “We retained the integrity of one of the original flats for Quen and Ray, but the remainder of the upper floors and patio areas will be combined into one space. Well-appointed kitchen, private study, spelling lab, a walk-in book vault. The upper patio area is quite large once you combine them. There are a few trees from the previous tenants that I’m keeping.”

            “Sounds amazing,” I said, feeling awkward as we reached the top of the stairs to find a blank wall with a big X on it.

            “We’re removing that once we decide how to work it. It’s structural,” Trent said, leading me around it. “The views from up here are even better. Come see the private patio.”