Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            Dali’s lips pressed together, but Al was clearly not going to side with him, and his eyes narrowed. “You have already lost everything,” Dali said sourly. “Into Dalliance. Go.”

            “I said I can handle Lee,” I muttered, and Al nodded, boosting my confidence. “Once I get him out of Cincy, things will course correct. I already took out his primary muscle, and he’s scared to death of you all. He won’t dare cross the ley lines.” Because despite my cold-morning thoughts, I wasn’t about to stay here for the rest of my life. It was a place to catch my breath, to regroup.

            “I do not share your optimism concerning . . . Lee.” Dali’s lips curled as Al patted Lucy’s shoulder and sniggered. “And despite your lofty opinion of yourself, not everything is about you. If Lee was indeed Hodin’s student, there’s a chance, however slim, that he could tamper with the tulpa that holds him. Closing the lines will prevent Lee from entering the ever-after. He can’t line jump, and no demon will sell him one.”

            “And there’s the sticking point,” Al said softly as I bristled.

            “Neither can I, yet,” I said, feeling a hit. “Nor Al at the moment.”

            Dali’s lips curved into an ugly smile. “Learn?” he said insincerely.

            “No,” I said as Al jiggled on his feet and patted Lucy drowsing in the sun. “I’m not going to help you close the lines. Not for any reason. Isolation is a bad idea no matter what you think you might gain from it.”

            “It doesn’t matter,” Dali said. “You are outvoted. We are doing this with or without you.”

            “Hey!” I started, and Al cleared his throat.

            “You can try,” Al said sourly. “But you will not manage it, even with her help. Our collective has become too small for such a curse. Without Newt, we are too few.” He beamed at Dali and hitched Lucy higher up his hip. “Unless you suggest we ask for the Goddess’s aid?”

            Dali’s expression became dark. “You jest.”

            “Of course,” Al coaxed, but I wasn’t convinced, and I doubted Dali was, either. “Regardless, I will not burn what’s left of my synapses tilting at windmills. Rachel is correct. Lee will not cross the lines for any reason, and not to rescue Hodin, the very demon who had been grooming him to perform a lethal curse.”

            I took a breath, then let it slip from me. I had assumed the initial S in Hodin’s notes regarding his potential sacrifice had meant Stef, but it could have been Saladan.

            “Despite Rachel’s convictions, the problem isn’t Lee,” Al insisted. “It is the coven, and Rachel is taking care of that.” His gaze sharpened on mine. “Right?”

            “Ah, yeah,” I said, still trying to figure out who Hodin had been intending to off.

            “Fine.” Dali’s expression soured. “We do this without you.”

            “Dali,” I said, but he had spun away. Five seconds later, the door to the bar closed with a dull thud. In hindsight, I could see why the demons wanted to close the lines, because once you knew how to translocate from reality to reality, it wasn’t that hard. Not like line jumping. Now that the fear of demons was abating, it wouldn’t be long until people would be crossing to take a picnic or ride their four-wheelers over the pristine fields.

            “Everything okay?” Trent shouted from the top of the hill, and I winced, not knowing.

            Al hitched the girls higher, neither of them stirring. “Is it?” he asked.

            “It will be.” Not convinced, I arranged Lucy’s and Ray’s hair as they slept. “You’re okay with them?”

            He nodded. “I will keep them safe,” he assured me. “Do what you need to do.”

            “Thank you,” I whispered, and then I turned and trudged up the hill. The bar’s door closing sounded odd amid the soughing of the dry grass, and I managed a smile when Trent came forward, his horse trailing along behind him like a half-ton dog.

            “You don’t have to tell me,” he said, and I laced my fingers in his.

            “Dali wants to shut down the lines to all translocation travel before the witches can exile them to the ever-after, but Al says they don’t have enough pull to do it,” I said, worried. “Dali thinks Lee might find a way to tamper with the tulpa that holds Hodin, but it’s more than that. Lee is an excuse. Fear used to keep the ever-after free of witches and elves, and the demons have lost that. Maybe Dali is right. If people keep coming over here, demons won’t be able to resist abducting them.” And I’d be right back where I was three years ago.