Chapters (42)
- Title Page
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Acknowledgements
- Also by Kim Harrison
- Copyright
- About the Publisher
- Cover
I perked up when we spilled out the small side door and into the dark. Noise hit me, and flashing lights. Three firefighters lumbered to us, faceless behind air packs and face shields.
“Downstairs!” Lee shouted. “They’re four people downstairs, unconscious! Some witch knocked them all out! She’s crazy!”
“Ambulance is over there,” one said, pointing, and he was gone, darting through the door as another student came out. Four more guys in orange lumbered past, their breath hissing through air hoses and looking like monsters in the night. A crowd had gathered, and fending off their help, Pierce made for the lamplit street, still carrying me.
“There,” he said, looking at the unattended fire marshal’s car, running at the curb.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Lee said, looking unsure.
Pierce fumbled for the back door, and I shrieked as we fell in, me somehow ending up on Pierce’s lap. His hat fell, and I managed to pick it up off the floor, putting it on my head. “You said you could drive. Let’s pull foot!” Pierce said, fending me off as my mouth kept going, unable to stop singing, “Lookie, I’m Pierce,” over and over again.
“Can we please go!” Pierce said, panic edging into his voice. “Rachel is not well.”
“You got that right.” Lee looked at the distant lights flashing blue and red in the dark, and the marshal standing with his back to us, trying to calm down some guy wearing tweed and having too many lattes in him.
“Steal the fire marshal’s car,” he said, yanking up the handle and getting in behind the wheel. “Why the hell not? Can’t you shut her up!”
“No,” Pierce said, voice mournful as we jerked into motion and I squealed in delight. “More is the pity. Drive fast.”
Sixteen
Sixteen
I vy! “Pierce shouted, and I made pftttt noises at the pixies as they darted in and out of my focus as I reclined in Pierce’s arms. “Some help!” “Pierce?” I heard faintly, and then the sudden scent of vampiric incense and coffee pulled through me like a ribbon. “Oh my God, what happened?”
I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and they shut when we rocked to a halt in the dim hallway. My last sight was Bis clinging to the ceiling, his eyes red and frightened. The noise grew fuzzy, but I felt myself moving until the wonderful mix of kitchen scents hit me. Pierce’s voice was soothing, rumbling into me. I caught the words “Brooke” and “university” and Ivy’s hiss of anger—and then I drifted off …
“Rachel?”
It was worried and close, and my entire side tingled from the intoxicating scent of hyped-up vampire. Poor girl probably hadn’t sated her hunger since last week. My head lolled as Pierce shifted, and the hum of the fridge fought with the sound of pixy wings. There were lots of them. But no Jenks.