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She laughed "Well, I don’t know ic oo stuff, but,on over your demon lord, doesn’t he?"

I made a sour face "He’s not jealous, trust et who I a look, then sighed and rolled her eyes "Y’know, for a s clueless"

I resisted the urge to roll ht back at her She was the clueless one if she thought Ryan’s grouchiness

Fortunately, she didn’t see her point "So do you think your aunt knew about that being there?" she asked, lifting her chin toward the corner of the library

I blew my breath out "She had to know It doesn’t feel new And I think I screwed up colossally by having all the wards taken down" But I felt a renewed flare of annoyance attold me about this? Surely a weakness in the fabric between the spheres was so that I needed to know about

"Why didn’t your aunt tell you about this?" Jill asked in an echo of ripped my hair, then shook my head "Probably the same reason that so many people don’t have wills They don’t want to consciously think that they won’t have tis in order Nobody wants to think about how sudden and unfair death can be Everyone thinks that they’ll have those last few hed "Now I need to redo the wards as best I can and then summon a demon who can put them back as soon as possible" I scowled It was nowhere near a fulldecent And et this crap over with," I said "Hopefully I can do enough to keep anything else fro enough potency to weave the protections I needed It ca hat the weak spot I wasn’t sure I wanted any of my wards to actually touch the weakness, just in case it could be warped or shifted, so I coy over it After finishing that, I backed out of the library and set another level of wards--both keep-out and keep-in wards

I sighed as I looked the wards, but I had a shred of confidence that they would hold until I could su that could place some more-robust protections I pulled my phone out of h I knew that it was only a week past the full Another week until there was no et out of here," I said to Jill, as I replaced the aversion on the front door "I think we’ve done enough dae for one day"

Chapter 21

It didn’t feel like a Sunday I was used toby, over before I could even blink, but soit should be Wednesday at least Or September

But now time had slowed back down to a non-frenetic pace, and I had a list of crap that I needed to get done, plus soet done I was pleasantly sore froh achiness to re a few e So before I could talkthe risk that I’d be shocking the people orked there by showing up twice in one week

At eight aym was practically deserted, unlike last tihts area, I was able to throwthe burn and the sweat as I attempted to drive away all ofto end up with six-pack abs

"You’rethe rest of us look bad," I heard from behind me as I waited forfor ave en-starved brain refused to supply me with the infor "Here we are talking about football and avoiding yard work, and you’re working up enough sweat for all of us"

I grinned, flattered at the htbulb went off over e Roth I’d seen him only in court or at the funeral, and he looked far different--and far more approachable--in si "But if y’all can’t keep up with hed "I should know better than to tangle with strong wo look "I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here before I’ his hand "Are you new here?"

I shook his hand He had a nice, war that we’dup too much other unpleasantness "I’ve been a meave my hand a squeeze and then released it "Good to er, but I do hope to see you here again" With that, he gavesmile and turned away I finished the rest of my workout quickly, bemused and more than a little stunned that I’d been seen as so with Especially since I didn’t dress in the Cardio Barbie spandex attire thatconsisted of running shorts, a Jogbra, and a T-shirt Sexy

I headed to the locker roo I’d just turned to head toward the shower area when a blond woman in perfect makeup sidled up to etup that I wouldn’t be caught dead in To give the woh, it was obvious that she put in a lot of tiical enhanceood in spandex

"I know you don’t know ive you a bit of warning about Harris Roth"

I looked at her expectantly The expression on her face seeh "It’s none of my business, I know," she continued, "but I’ve seen hiirls And he really doesn’t care what may happen to them afterward"

It took me a couple of seconds to findwith hilad you think so But, trust me, he’s a charmer Anyway, you seeet screwed by Harris"

My cop sense lit up like a Christmas tree "Who else has been screwed by hied "Well, she’s not around anyossip" The wolance-around, then lowered her voice even further "He had an affair with Elena Sharp, and then her husband kicked her out!"