Chapters (43)
- The Outlaw Demon Wails
- Dedication
- 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
- The Undead Pool: An Excerpt
- Chapter 2
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Also by Kim Harrison
- Credits
- About the Publisher
Shit. This is bad. I’d better call her doctor, I thought, then took a deeper sniff, scenting what the hot metal smell had been covering. My face went cold and I searched her empty expression. It smelled like burnt amber in here.
Alarmed, I looked closer at the amulet I’d picked up, then pulled a chair around so I could sit and see her face-to-face. Al hadn’t shown up last night, but what if Tom had sent him…
“Mom,” I said, scanning her face. “Are you okay?” She blinked at me, and I gave her a little shake, becoming scared. “Mom! Was Al here? Was it a demon?”
She took a breath to say something, then dropped her attention to the photo album and flipped a page.
Fear dove deep, tensing me. Tom wouldn’t risk sending Al to me, knowing I could circle him and send him back, so he sent the demon after my mom. I’m going to kill him. I will freaking kill him.
“Mom,” I said, pushing the album away and closing it. “Was Al here? Did he hurt you?”
My mom focused on me, her gaze clearing for an instant. “No,” she said, her voice airy. “Your dad was, though. He says to tell you he said hi….”
Shit, shit, shit…Can today get any worse? I looked at the amulet with a new understanding as I recognized it. My mom was never good at making circles, preferring the security of another witch’s skills to her own. She had trapped Al with it, or she wouldn’t be here. I looked over the room thinking it looked normal, not like the disaster Al usually left in my kitchen.
“Mom,” I said, taking her hand off the album and holding it in my lap. “That wasn’t Dad.” Whoever Dad was. “It was a demon disguised as him. Whatever he said to you was a lie. It was a lie, Mom.” Her gaze was starting to land on me with some awareness, and both relieved and scared, I asked, “Did he do anything to you? Did he touch you?”
“No,” she said, her fingers touching the spent amulet. “No, he didn’t. I knew it wasn’t really him so I put him in a circle. All night we talked. Talked and talked of before he died.”
A chill went through me, and I stifled a shudder.
“We were so happy then. I knew if I didn’t keep your demon here, he’d come after you, and I figured you were out having fun. I knew right away it wasn’t your dad. Your dad never smiled like that. Cruel and vindictive.”