even during the three years she’s spent in the afterworld. So when the Fates call in a debt she gave her word she’d pay, she has no choice but to comply. For centuries, one of the ghost world’s wickedest creatures has been loosed on humanity, thwarting every attempt to retrieve her. Now it has fallen to Eve to capture this demi-demon known as the Nix, who inhabits the bodies of would-be killers, compelling them to complete their deadly acts. It’s a mission that becomes all too personal when the Nix targets those Eve loves most—including Savannah, the daughter she left on earth. But can a renegade witch succeed where a host of angels have failed?
The Searchers deposited me in the Fates’ throne room, a white marble cavern with moving mosaics on the walls. A pretty girl threaded yarn onto a spinning wheel. She looked no more than five or six years old, with bright violet eyes that matched her dress.
“Okay,” I said. “What did I do?”
The girl smiled. “Isn’t the question: What did I do now?”
The girl morphed into a middle-aged version of herself, with long graying hair, and light-brown skin showing the first wrinkles and roughness of time.
“We have a problem, Eve.”
“Look, I promised I wouldn’t use the codes for excessive unauthorized travel. I never said—”
“This isn’t about unauthorized travel.”
“Visiting Adena Milan for spell-swapping? No one told me she was on the blacklist.”
The middle-aged Fate shook her head. “Admittedly, there might be some amusement to be had in making you recite the whole list of your infractions, but I’m afraid we don’t have that much time. Some time ago, you made a deal with us.”
Damn. I’d hoped they’d forgotten. Like that would happen. The Fates can remember what Noah ate for breakfast before the flood.
My first instinct, as always, was to weasel out of it. Hell, what’s the worst thing that could happen? For starters, they could bring Paige and Lucas back to the ghost world. Besides, I had been looking for a distraction. Which made this all seem very coincidental.
“Did Kristof put you up to this? Finding me something to do?”
The Fate morphed into her oldest sister, a hunch-backed crone with a wizened face “Kristof Nast does not ‘put us up to’ anything. Nor are we going to be doing favors for him. We thought that lawyer job would keep him busy.” She snorted. “Keeps him busy getting into trouble.”
“If you mean the Agito case, the plaintiff started lying, so he had to do something. It wasn’t really witness tampering….”
“Just a means to an end,” she said, fixing me with that glare. “That’s how you two think. Doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you do.”
The middle sister took over. “An interesting philosophy. Not one we share, but this particular job may require some of those unique skills.”
I perked up. “Oh?”
“We have a spirit who’s escaped from the lower realms. We need you to bring her in.”
The lower realms are where they keep the seriously nasty criminals. Interesting…
“First, you need to do some research.” The middle-aged Fate reached into the air and pulled out a sheet of paper. “This is a list of books—”
“Books? Look, I’m sure you guys are in a hurry, so why don’t we skip this part? I’m really more the hands-on sort.”
The girl appeared, grinning mischievously. “In that case, let’s do it the hands-on way.”
She waved a hand, and a ball of light whipped out and blinded me.
“Shhhhhh.”
The light fell in a shower of sparks. I blinked, then saw only darkness. The same voice continued to shush me, a long-drawn-out monotone of a breath that, after a moment, I realized wasn’t a voice at all, but the rush of air past my ears….
* * *
BROKEN
Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. Worried about dooming her baby to a life torn between the human and supernatural worlds—and tired of being fussed over by her boyfriend, Clay—Elena needs a distraction. Thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. The job seems simple enough, except for an unexpected surprise…. The letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers—unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs. Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they’re looking for—which, for some unknown reason, is Elena….