Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            “She will stop her inappropriate behavior if you give her a measured cup of diamonds. Real ones. Not fake,” Getty said, beaming in satisfaction.

            Seriously? “I don’t have a cup of diamonds.”

            Getty shrugged. “Make her an offer.”

            “What does she want diamonds for?” Jenks’s wings made a harsh clatter. “To sleep in?”

            The petite pixy nodded merrily, but it was starting to make sense. No wonder the bling-loving vampire liked being a mouse. “I’m not asking Trent for a cup of diamonds,” I grumped. “Will she settle for pearls?” I could give her the ones I’d taken from Nash. They were already unstrung, rolling around in the bottom of a drawer.

            “I’ll ask.” Getty darted back into the garden. Jenks’s eyes narrowed as he watched her dust slowly settle, and Stef smiled, hiding it behind a sip of coffee.

            “Hey, ah, the hospital called me last night,” she said, settling herself more firmly on the stool. “Wanted me to come in and fill in.”

            “That’s positive,” I said, and she smirked as if she had a secret. Stef had been looking for a job for over a month, but “filling in” didn’t sound like her thing.

            “Yep. The week before Halloween is always busy,” she continued. “Costume malfunctions, decoration mishaps. That kind of thing. I told them no.” Stef chuckled. “Actually, I told them to suck it. I’m not a temporary fill-in they can bring out when there’s an emergency and stuff back in the closet when it’s no longer convenient.”

            “Good for you,” I said, even as I wondered if the intelligent woman would ever land a job with her aura coated in Hodin’s smut and a two-slash demon mark on her wrist. Not my fault, but still somehow my responsibility.

            “They offered me a full-time position instead,” she added, and I snapped my head up in delight. “Fifteen percent raise and a parking spot. I’m in emergency starting tonight.”

            “Damn, girl! That’s great!” I exclaimed.

            “Apparently a hint of smut on one’s aura calms the shit out of a vampire freaked out on a Brimstone overdose.” Smiling, she looked at her hands as if she could see the dark tint covering her. “Never thought any good would come of it.”

            “Stef . . .” I started, and the woman took a steadying breath.

            “If it works out, Boots and I are going to find a place of our own,” she said firmly, and Jenks made a sharp nod of approval.

            He knew? I thought as I struggled for something to say. I mean, I was happy for her, and it would be nice having a downstairs room again, but I would miss her. “You know you’re welcome to stay . . .” I began.

            Stef pushed her hair from her eyes, the strands still flat from her pillow. “It’s time,” she said, gaze dropping to her coffee. “I will never be able to thank you for taking me and my cat in when Constance kicked us out of our apartment, but your life—” She chuckled ruefully.

            Jenks snorted. “Is going to get you killed,” he finished for her, and I forced a smile.

            “I was going to say ‘makes it hard to keep a boyfriend,’ ” Stef said instead, and my smile turned real.

            “You knew, didn’t you,” I said to Jenks, and he shrugged, his attention going to Getty as she came in, her dust a happy gold.

            “She’ll take the pearls,” the four-inch woman said proudly, and I exhaled in relief.

            “Thank God,” I whispered, then flipped the pancakes. Yes, I was paying blackmail to a rodent, but I’d rather do that than continue to find her poop in my spelling bowls. I really need to catch her. “Deal,” I added, still thinking about Stef finding a new place, and Getty darted out to tell her.

            Jenks watched her go, frown deepening. “I thought Constance was in Hodin’s old room. That’s where she hid the night she escaped.”

            “If there was a light-tight chamber in Ivy’s old room, we would have found it in the reno,” I said as I went to warm up the syrup. “Constance probably expanded an old bolt-hole from the fairies. I’m still trying to figure out how she got under Hodin’s locked door in the first place. You’ve tried, right?”