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Chapter 1

Any day that starts off in a dened to look like Hell isn’t likely to turn out well But all I thought at the time was that a brothel should be more fun—especially one for ladies only that was staffed by handsome incubi But the de their heads as if in pain, and co across from me, looked unhappy His pose was unconsciously seductive—a uess—but his expression wasn’t so nice

“All right, Cassie!” he snapped, when one of his boys suddenly began weeping uncontrollably “Tell et them the

hell out of here! I have a business to run!”

He was referring to the three old wo the satyr serving drinks a wilt in a place rarely seen at anything but full attention on one of his kind That wasn’t surprising: none of them looked under a hundred, and their ray since birth— that streales to the floor I’d tried to wash Enyo’s, whose naht, but the hotel’s shaiven up after finding what looked like half a decayed rat in a snarl under her left ear

The hair did have the benefit of distracting attention froh, so you didn’t immediately notice that they had only one eye and one tooth a to take back the eye from her sister Deino (“dread”) because she wanted to check out the horrified-looking bartender Meanwhile, Pe of peanuts She finally gave up and stuffed the whole cellophane-wrapped package in herit happily

I had once assuht up by bored (and fairly peculiar) Greeks a few thousand years before the invention of TV But apparently not I’d recently acquired—okay, stolen—a bunch of items from the Vampire Senate, the body that controls the actions of all North Aure out what they were The first one I’d examined, a small iridescent sphere in a black wooden case, had started to glow as soon as I picked it up A brief flash of light later and I had houseguests

I couldn’t figure out why the trio had been irand a place as the inner sanctu as hell but didn’t seeerous, other than tobecause it was either that or leave they for old wo them amused so far

I’d sat them in front of three nickel slots while I went on my errand, but of course they hadn’t stayed there Like three ancient toddlers, they had very short attention spans They’d wandered into the bar shortly after I did, carrying a load of no-doubt ill-gotten souvenirs Deino, clutching a little red devil plush under her ar for the bar It contained a plastic i surrounded by fake snow, had tiny flaht it would be justthat tacky

Despite the annoyance of babysitting the weird sisters, the expression on Casanova’s face as he regarded thee I smiled and watched the flaain “If you don’t help me, I may just leave them here They could use a makeover” I didn’t bother to point out how bad that would be for business

Casanova winced and tossed back the rest of his drink, giving , tanned throat under the loose collar of his dress shirt Technically, of course, he wasn’t the historical Casanova Possession by an incubus demon tends to increase mortal life span, but not thatuno, but the reason for his reputation lived on And there was nothing to coularly remind

“I don’t care about your problems,” he told me fiercely “How much to take them away?”

“This isn’t a money matter You knohat I want” I tried to discreetly pull the tight satin shorts I earing into a more comfortable position, but I think he noticed It’s hard to look inti in a sequined devil costuo ith irl’s couy—no wonder he wasn’t impressed But I’d had to think of so a costuood idea at the time

Casanova lit a tiny cigarette with a brushed gold lighter “If you have a death wish, that is your affair, but I won’t putAntonio The e You should know”

Considering that Tony, a uardian, was at the head of the list of people anted ue the point But I had to find hily suspected ith him, or the urn wouldn’t be necessary There wouldn’t be anything left of me to require a funeral And since Casanova had once been Tony’s second in coood bet that he knehere the crafty old bastard was hiding

“I think Myra’s with him,” I said shortly

Casanova didn’t ask for details It wasn’t exactly a secret that Myra was the most recent person to try and help me shuffle off the mortal coil It hadn’t been personal—ht say—until I’d put a couple of holes in her torso It was safe to assume it was personal now

“My sympathies,” Casanova murmured “But I am afraid that is all I can offer You understand that my position is somewhattenuous”

That was one way of putting it That Casanova had occupied such an ianization was unusual, to say the least Demons are normally considered unwanted competition by vampires, but incubi aren’t exactly tops on the demonic power scale In fact,of an eh