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Back Every Which Way But Dead
Chapters (42)
  1. EVERY
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-one
  25. Twenty-two
  26. Twenty-three
  27. Twenty-four
  28. Twenty-five
  29. Twenty-six
  30. Twenty-seven
  31. Twenty-eight
  32. Twenty-nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty-one
  35. Thirty-two
  36. Thirty-three
  37. The Undead Pool: An Excerpt
  38. Chapter 2
  39. About the Author
  40. Praise for KIM HARRISON’sprevious Rachel Morgan novelsDEAD WITCH WALKING andTHE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDEAD
  41. Also by Kim Harrison
  42. About the publisher

The vulnerability in her voice struck me. My head bobbed. I felt like a doll, my eyes wide and my thoughts empty. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t think you and Kisten…” I hesitated. This wasn’t about the sex, but the blood she thought I had given him. “I didn’t think you and Kisten had a formal relationship anymore,” I fumbled, unsure if I was putting it right.

“I don’t share blood with Kisten but for the rare occasion when he’s been dumped and needs some TLC,” she said, her gray silk voice soft. Still she wouldn’t look up. “Blood is not sex, Rachel. It’s a way to show you care for someone. A way to show…you love them.”

It was barely a whisper. My breath grew fast. I felt we were balanced on a knife’s edge, and it scared the crap out of me. “How can you say sex isn’t blood, when you’ll have sex with anyone?” I said, adrenaline making my voice harsher than I intended. “Good God, Ivy, when was the last time you had sex without blood?”

Only now did she bring her head up, shocking me with the fear in her eyes. She was afraid, and not because she thought I’d given my blood to Kisten. She was afraid of the answers I was demanding. I don’t think she had faced them before, even in the chaos her desires had left her in. I felt hot, then cold. Pulling my knees to my chin, I tucked my bare heels against me.

“Okay,” she said with the last of her exhaled breath, and I knew the next thing she said would be stark honesty. “You have a good point. I usually include blood with sex. I like it that way. It’s a rush. Rachel, if you would only…” she said, her hands coming up from her knees.

I felt myself pale. I shook my head, and she changed her mind about what she was going to say. She seemed to de-flate, all the tension pooling out of her. “Rachel, it’s not the same,” she finished weakly, brown eyes pleading.

My thoughts went to Kist. The twinge from my scar dove to my groin and brought my breath even faster. Swallowing, I forced the feeling from me. I pulled back, glad the table was between us. “That’s what Kisten says, but I can’t separate it. And I don’t think you can either.”

Ivy’s face went red, and I knew I was right.