Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            Lee’s eyebrows rose. “You want help with this or not?”

            “West Coast drug lord,” I finished as Trent hid a chuckle behind a cough. “There’s a chance we can get past the ward if I can change my outer aura shells to match Hodin’s.”

            “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Trent bumped my shoulder as he pushed forward. “I’m doing it.”

            “Ah, it’s my door,” I began to protest, and Trent took my elbow.

            That fast, Bis, Jenks, Lee, and I were all looking at his hand on me.

            “Can you excuse us for a moment?” Trent said, fake smile in place as he dragged all three of us toward the kitchen—seeing as Bis was on one shoulder and Jenks the other.

            Jenks snickered. “Guys, technically, it’s my door.”

            I yanked myself from Trent’s grip, surprised he was doing this, but he’d been really worried when I’d nearly knocked myself out. “Can you change your aura?” I asked, then waved my hand. “I mean, more than you need to jump in and out of a ley line? How about spindling an overload of line energy in your head? You any good at that?”

            Trent winced and glanced down the hall at Lee. I didn’t care that he was listening. The refresher on what I could do might help. “Bis is more attuned to me than you,” I said. “I know what to expect, and Bis can help if I make a mistake. Right, Bis?”

            “Right,” Bis said from my shoulder, and my lips parted when his gravelly voice cracked.

            “Holy mother pus bucket!” Jenks exclaimed, rising up. “Bis, did your voice break?”

            “Not another word, Jenks,” I said as Bis’s tail tightened. The kid was suddenly throwing off heat like a furnace. Fifty years old, and he was only now beginning to hit adolescence. “Trent, this is our best chance of getting in there, and you know it.”

            Moody, Trent glanced down the hall to Lee. “If you kill yourself, it’s not my fault.”

            “We doing this?” Lee said loudly, and I nodded, arms swinging as I returned to the door.

            Bis hadn’t left my shoulder, and I flicked my earring until Jenks moved to Trent. “I’m not going to kill myself, Bis,” I said, and the little guy sighed.

            “Not with me around, anyway,” he grumbled. “Do you remember Hodin’s aura?”

            I licked my lips, nervous. What had I been thinking? If I screwed this up, Lee would never let me live it down. “Yellow green,” I said, shifting my outer shell from gold to green.

            “Too much red,” Bis suggested, and I toned it down. “More yellow,” he added, and my pulse quickened. We had lots of practice shifting my aura, but most times it ended with me getting singed. That was the last thing I needed right now, but if we got into Hodin’s room, it would be worth it.

            “Better?” I asked, and his tail tightened.

            “Little more brown, and put some gold at your hands.”

            Lee stood there and watched, a little envious maybe, as I did something he couldn’t. You needed a gargoyle. That’s why the demons created them.

            “Careful,” Trent whispered as I reached out, hesitating at a warning thrum as I found the first ward.

            “You good, Rache?” Jenks asked.

            “So far,” I said, nervous. The first ward prickled through me like an ice cream headache, and as I inched forward, the second ward seemed to gather, sending darts of promise into me.

            “More purple,” Bis said, and with a soft exhale, I sent a tinge of pride through me, exhaling in relief when I felt the ward drop, dissolving into the third.

            “We’re in,” I said, the cool feel of the knob almost a shock as I gave it a twist and pushed open the door.





CHAPTER


            16

            “Damn, that actually worked!” Lee lurched forward to be the first into the room.

            Liquidly fast, Trent gave him a quick shove to keep him in the hall. “I’ll be right there, Rachel,” Trent said as he stood before Lee. “Jenks, go with her.”