Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            “Hey, Rache.” Jenks flew a quick circle before landing on David’s shoulder. “Dude, they beat you bad,” he added. “You okay?”

            “Need a hot bath,” David said, but I didn’t like the wet rattle in his lungs. If one was punctured, he’d need more care than I could give him. I wasn’t keen on returning to the hospital.

            “Who is Walter’s magic user?” I asked as we slowly moved forward. “We got him, right? Is he human, elf, or witch?”

            “I lost him,” the pixy muttered, his high voice tight in self-recrimination. “Didn’t even get a sniff.”

            “Don’t worry about it,” I said, my grip on David shifting when he swallowed a groan. “Ah, can you do something for me? I need that ring Brad is obsessing over. I think Walter used it to break David’s chakra curse. I might be able to wake Cassie’s employees with it.”

            “You want to help Cassie?” Jenks said, and David lifted his beaten and bloodied face. Unrepentant, Jenks took off from his shoulder, his dust a sour green. “She lied to you,” he said loudly, hand on his hilt. “Flew behind your back with Doyle to—”

            “I know,” I interrupted as I concentrated on keeping David moving. “If it had been Trent, I would have done the same thing.”

            But Jenks looked unmovable as he flew backward before us. “No, you wouldn’t. She doesn’t trust us. I’m sorry, David, but she doesn’t.”

            David gasped in pain, and I eased him to a halt. Eyes closed, he leaned against a machine. “That’s our fault, not hers,” I said. “Can you get that ring? Ask Pike to help you.”

            Jenks hovered for a moment. “I can do that,” he said, then darted away.

            I slowly exhaled, my weight shifting from foot to foot as I tried to plan my next words to David. I totally got Jenks’s opinion to cut her loose to swing. A pixy only lived twenty years or so, and there wasn’t much time to recover from mistakes. But alienating Cassie might drive a wedge between David and me, and that was not going to happen.

            And besides, I’d probably done far worse before I had smartened up.

            “He doesn’t mean it,” I said as I tucked my shoulder under David’s again.

            “He does.” David’s voice was thick with pain. “Please don’t be hard on her. She was desperate to get me uncursed, and she trusted Walter to keep his word more than she trusted the FIB. She made a mistake.”

            “One that almost got you killed.” Ivy had noticed us inching forward. Brad was beside her on the floor, looking like Gollum as he held his ring and tried to remember why he was down here. “You okay?” I mouthed to Ivy across the space, and she nodded, her eyes narrowing when she glanced at Cassie. The I.S. agent was finally satisfied, and Cassie had rolled to her feet in one smooth motion.

            “David,” Cassie whispered, but her rush slowed as she saw my anger. Guilt crossed her, and then it was gone. “Go ahead,” she mocked as she yanked David from me to take his weight herself. “ ‘She doesn’t mean anythin’ to me.’ What is wrong with you? He could have killed me!”

            “I called you,” I said as David groaned at the sudden shift. “Left a message.” Angry, I pulled David out of her grip. “Why didn’t you tell me you got the I.S. to help?”

            Cassie took a breath to speak, freezing in apparent indecision.

            “Ladies . . .” David groaned, and I staggered as he suddenly became deadweight.

            “Doyle, you got an ambulance here?” I said as we struggled, and Doyle’s first, sneering comment vanished as he took in David’s pain.

            “Get him upstairs,” he said as he made a quick motion, and two I.S. agents came forward. Worried, I reluctantly released David into their care. They weren’t paramedics, but they clearly knew what they were doing as they picked him up in a chair sling and headed to the distant stairway. Cassie followed.

            Oh, we aren’t done yet, I thought, jerking to a halt when Doyle was suddenly in front of me.

            “What did you think you were doing, witch?” the impressive man said, and I yelped as he practically pinned me against one of the machines. His eyes were black with anger, his posture stiff. Vampiric power flowed from him, but I was too ticked to let it cow me. “We could have had them all,” he added, “but you moved in before we had the exits covered. I could throw you in jail for obstruction.”