For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

eligible bachelor. No one seemed to care he ran half of the city’s underworld and worked a good slice of the world’s illegal Brimstone trade. That wasn’t even considering his punishable-by-death dealings in genetic manipulation and outlawed medicines. My being alive because of them was a big part of my keeping quiet about it. I didn’t like the Antarctic any more than the next person, and that’s where I’d end up if it got out. That is, if they didn’t just kill me, burn me, and send my ashes to the sun.
    Suddenly having a demon trash my living room didn’t seem so bad.
    â€œHoly crap!” Jenks swore again. “Ellasbeth wants you to be a bridesmaid ?”
    Jerking my robe closed, I stalked across the sanctuary and snatched the invitation out of Ivy’s hand. “It’s not an invitation, it’s a badly worded request for me to work security. The woman hates me. Look, she didn’t even sign it. I bet she doesn’t even know it exists.”
    I waved it in the air and shoved it into a drawer, slamming it shut. Trent’s fiancée was a bitch in all ways but the literal. Thin, elegant, rich, and bitingly polite. We had gotten along really well the night we had breakfast together, just her, me, and Trent caught between us. Course, part of that might have been from my letting her believe that Trent and I had been childhood sweethearts. But she was the one who decided I was a courtesan. Stupid Yellow Pages ad.
    Ivy’s expression was wary. She knew better than to push me when it came to Trent, but Jenks wouldn’t let it go. “Yeah, but think of it, Rache. It’s going to be a hell of a party. The best of Cincinnati is going to be there. You never know who will show up.”
    I lifted a plant and ran my hand under it—my version of dusting. “People who want to kill Trent,” I said lightly. “I like excitement, but I’m not insane.”
    Ivy moved my bucket and mop to a dry part of the floor and sprayed a heavy layer of that unlabeled bottle. “You going to do it?” she asked, as if I hadn’t already said no.
    â€œNo.”
    In one motion I swept all the papers off the desktop and into the uppermost drawer. Jenks landed on the clean surface, his wings stilling as he leaned against the pencil cup and crossed his ankles and arms to look surprisingly alluring for a four-inch-tall man. “Why not?” he accused. “You think he’s going to stiff you?”
    Again, I added in my thoughts. “Because I already saved his freaking elf ass once,” I said. “You do it once, it’s a mistake. You do it twice and it’s not a mistake anymore.”
    Mop and bucket in hand, Ivy walked out, snickering.
    â€œIt’s RSVP by tomorrow,” Jenks needled. “Rehearsal is Friday. You’re invited.”
    â€œI know that.” It was my birthday, too, and I wasn’t going to spend it with Trent. Ticked, I headed into the kitchen after Ivy.
    Flying backward, Jenks got in my face and preceded me down the hallway, slices of sunlight coming in from the living room. “I’ve got tworeasons you should do it,” he said. “One, it will piss Ellasbeth off, and two, you could charge him enough to afford to resanctify the church.”
    My steps slowed, and I tried to keep the ugly look off my face. That was unfair. By the sink, Ivy frowned, clearly thinking the same. “Jenks…”
    â€œI’m just saying—”
    â€œShe’s not working for Kalamack,” Ivy threatened, and this time he shut his mouth.
    I stood in the kitchen, not knowing why I was here. “I gotta shower,” I said.
    â€œGo,” Ivy said, meticulously—and needlessly—washing the bucket with soapy water before putting it away. “I’ll wait up for the man coming over with an estimate.”
    I didn’t like that. She’d probably fudge on the quote, knowing that