Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            “No!” Cassie struggled with the two men holding her. “That wasn’t part of the deal!”

            “Shut up, you little fox shit!” Smile ugly, Parker slammed a fist into Cassie’s ear. Staggering, Cassie went down, a hand to her head.

            “That’s my ring!”

            Everyone froze at Brad’s confused shout.

            “Let go, Pike. Get off!” Brad snarled. “He’s got my fucking ring!”





CHAPTER


            9

            I stared, shocked as Brad burst from the shadows, his hands fisted as he plowed into Walter and the man. He remembered something? I thought, and then I lurched to the railing when Cassie tried to get to David only to be yanked back by the two men. Howling, she began to fight in earnest. Parker cackled in delight, fingers crooked to gouge as she yanked David up. Brad yelped as Walter coolly snapped his wrist and the ring went pinging into the dark once more.

            “Brad! Over here!” Pike shouted as he slid to a halt in the middle of the fray, and his brother stomach-kicked Walter to him.

            Brad thinks it’s the ring he used to curse Cassie’s security? I mused as Brad scrabbled into the shadows after it to leave Pike to fight Walter alone. David was awake, and I thought that ring had broken the curse, the same curse that Cassie’s employees still suffered from.

            “This is the Federal Inderland Bureau!” Glenn shouted. “Everyone on the floor!”

            Ivy’s hands on the railing went white-knuckled. “They’ll kill him.”

            “Let go, you crazy bitch!” Cassie shouted, and with an intake of breath, I jerked a wad of ley line energy into me, harnessing it in a spell to knock everyone down.

            The magic user looked up, his elven tan going pale when he found me near the ceiling.

            That’s right, I thought, feeling strong up here in my high aerie in the shadows. Felt that, huh? I found you, you little moss wipe.

            “He’s running!” Ivy shouted as the man darted for the shadows, spelling robes furling.

            “Damn it back to the Turn!” I shouted, frustrated, then yelped as Jenks was suddenly bobbing in front of me. “Follow him!” I said, pointing, and the pixy zipped off, dust a thin line.

            Cassie’s shrill anger rang high as Walter grabbed her, using her as a shield to keep Pike off him. Ivy swung a leg over the railing to make the jump, and I tensed. I wasn’t a vampire, and a drop that far would break something.

            “Ivy,” I pleaded, and she smirked, wiggling her fingers for me to hurry up. I got one leg over the railing and she jerked me into her, swinging me up and around as if I was a baby.

            My gut dropped and I stifled a gasp as my braid flipped into my face. We hit half a second later, my yelp of pain quickly squelched. I’d bitten my tongue. Crap on toast, I do not need this.

            And then I hit the floor as Ivy dropped me.

            “Hey!” I said, then rolled for cover when gunfire echoed, sounding like a cannon in the tight confines. That was not Glenn’s handgun. Ivy had gone the other way, and I found her unhurt in the shadows.

            “Pike!” Ivy whistled to get his attention, then pointed to the sniper. “You got David!” she shouted to me, her eyes eager as she hunched deeper behind a defunct machine.

            David. I was closer, and I jumped, invoking a protection circle when another shot rang out. It was the last, though, as Pike had reached the sniper and the Were went screaming over the railing to hit the floor in an ugly, wet sound.

            Uneasy, I pulled my splat gun and furtively ran to where I’d last seen David. The magic user was long gone. Parker, too. Walter was still here, though, and I skidded to a halt as I saw Cassie pinned to his chest, his weight-pumping, muscular arm holding her close. The werefox was clearly pissed, signs of a struggle hard on her. David slumped on the floor between us, the blood-caked man in his hospital gown hurting too much to get up.

            But he was awake, and my thoughts went to the ring that Walter had thrown down, the ring that Brad thought was his. I can’t remake it. You made it useless, echoed in my thoughts. Clearly the ring Brad thought was his was actually the countercurse, not the curse itself. But if it had woken David, it would wake Cassie’s employees. I didn’t have the invocation phrase, but Walter obviously did.