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Back Black Magic Sanction Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. Title Page
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-one
  23. Twenty-two
  24. Twenty-three
  25. Twenty-four
  26. Twenty-five
  27. Twenty-six
  28. Twenty-seven
  29. Twenty-eight
  30. Twenty-nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-one
  33. Thirty-two
  34. Thirty-three
  35. Thirty-four
  36. Thirty-five
  37. Thirty-six
  38. Acknowledgements
  39. Also by Kim Harrison
  40. Copyright
  41. About the Publisher
  42. Cover

Again she screamed, falling into sobs when I took it as well. “I like it here,” I said, dizzy from the energy, but handling it. “I need your help. Are you going to help me or not?”

Knowing I was the one keeping her from pain, Brooke brought her gaze up, shocking me with her hatred instead of gratitude. Al saw it, and jerked her from me, but he’d stopped flooding her with force, and she only grunted from being yanked about.

“You want me to help you?” he sneered, but he was listening. “For gratis?” Attention going to Brooke, he said, “Let me jump you. Rachel can’t save you. You’re mine.”

I glanced at Bis, wondering how much longer his hissing and stalking back and forth was going to keep Vivian at bay. “What is a favor owed without a mark worth to you?” I asked. “One based on trust.”

At the last word, Al sighed. His goat-slitted eyes narrowed, and he looked at Brooke, growling. “This one is mine. I need to make a living, or you’re going to be stirring your spells on the surface in the shade of a sun shelter.”

I shifted to stand next to Brooke so he could see both of us. “I need to find Nick. Like now. Yes or no?”

I could smell Brooke’s sweat, almost taste her fear on the air, her anger that I was so sure of my station I could argue with a demon threatening her with a lifetime of degradation. This, too, I wanted the coven to see.

“You need to find Nickie, eh?” he asked, and I nodded. “Are you hungry, itchy witch?” the demon said suddenly, a curious lilt to his voice. “I’m feeling a bit peckish myself.”

Thunking Brooke’s head hard into the wall, he tucked her under his arm and put his free hand on my shoulder.

I stared up at Al, an unreasonable fear coming from nowhere. Not the lines! I thought, frightened of being hurt again, but the enfolding warmth of a line soaked into me, and Loveland Castle vanished.

Twenty-seven

Twenty-seven

I was holding my breath, afraid it was going to hurt, and it seemed as if I could feel a sandpaper-like sensation across my mind despite the thick bubble I’d made around my thoughts. My lungs re-formed, and I breathed, feeling them expand as they filled again for the first time. Throat tight and eyes clamped shut, I stood braced, as if I was going to be smacked, hands in fists and tense. A heavy weight was on my shoulder: Al’s hand. I could smell burnt amber and feel the lack of an echo. It was warm, too.

“Hell’s bells, where are we?” Bis whispered, and I realized it wasn’t Al’s hand on my shoulder but Bis, his tail wrapped around my neck and the faint scent of iron lifting from him.