Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            “That’s not going to grow back,” Al said, and the pixy laughed, a cheerful gold dust spilling as he flew to sit on Al’s shoulder, shocking the demon and me both.

            “Stop moving!” Parker shouted, then shrieked in alarm as Cassie launched herself at her again, the werefox’s sharp teeth taking a chunk of her breast before Parker got her off.

            Tail switching, Cassie hit the ground, and Al applauded as he nodded to the six officials.

            “Call this off,” I said to David, and he shook his head, his focus never leaving Cassie.

            “I can’t,” he said. “And I don’t want to.”

            “Mother pus bucket!” Jenks shrilled, and my attention jerked to Cassie as the crowd gasped. “She got her eye that time!”

            “My eye!” Parker shrieked, the high-pitched sound cutting the air. “You took my eye!”

            Horrified, I watched Parker fall to her knees, one hand to her face to hide the ruin, the other casting about for Cassie, the woman half-blind and enraged. But the werefox had retreated, sinking down as if tired, her battered tail curling over her nose. Parker’s tendon-draped eye sat next to her, ugly and stomach turning.

            “She’s shifting!” Jenks said, and my breath caught. Parker’s alphas had begun to shout directions to Parker to find Cassie. But the rest of the crowd were doing the same, directing Parker away.

            “Bad form!” Al called out, hitting his affected lordly British accent unusually hard.

            “Where is she?” Parker shouted as she waved about, blinded by the blood running from her ruined eye and a nasty scalp wound. “Where is she!”

            Why is she shifting? I thought. Cassie was helpless, and I took David’s arm so he wouldn’t interfere when Parker wiped the blood from her good eye, spotted Cassie, and staggered forward.

            “Get up!” I yelled, throat raw as Cassie’s limbs lengthened and lost their fur. Nearly human, she lay on the cold ground, curled in pain from shifting too fast. “Cassie, get up!”

            “You took my eye. I’m going to squish the breath from your body,” Parker said as she staggered forward. “And then I’m going to kill every member of your sorry-ass pack.”

            “Cassie!” I shouted as Parker reached for her, her blood-spattered arm shaking.

            And then Cassie moved, a slim hand sporting a faint red fuzz lashing out to grip Parker’s wrist. Her eyes still fox-like, she sat up and smoothly punched Parker in the throat.

            Choking, Parker fell to the ground, a hand to her neck, unable to breathe.

            The watchers screamed their approval, but I felt nauseous.

            “I say,” Al murmured as Jenks cheered from his shoulder. “That was beautiful. She shifts amazingly fast.”

            “Werefoxes are like that,” I whispered. Cassie staggered to Parker. Both women were bruised and in pain, but it was obvious who the alpha was.

            “Yield!” Cassie exclaimed, jerking to stay clear of Parker’s lashing foot. “Yield!” she demanded again, pulling Parker’s head up by her hair to expose her throat.

            “I yield,” Parker choked, and the crowd erupted into a wild noise.

            David made a half sob, half cry of relief, lurching over the unseen boundary as Parker’s words freed him. Arms moving in a graceful arc, he took his duster off, flinging it over Cassie’s bruised body and drawing her from Parker.

            “Tink’s little pink rosebuds, she did it!” Jenks crowed, but I still felt ill.

            People surged forward, buffeting me as I stood unmoving. The alpha pack was breaking up fast, and I lurched into motion, shoving through the press to get to Parker’s second before she slipped away.

            I shouldn’t have worried, though, as the Black Dandelions had already surrounded her and Parker. Jenks, too, hovered to keep a sharp watch on the vehicles trying to leave.

            Al harrumphed, glaring at the surrounding Weres until they gave him space. “Never underestimate small. She is amazing.”

            “She’s in love,” I said, a lump in my throat as David helped Cassie to the nearby statue of Romulus and Remus, where she could sit with her back against it. “Al, can you hold my books for a moment?” I added, handing him my bag, and he shook his head in bemusement.