Read Online Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison - Free Book Online

out. "How else would I win the office pool?" he said, leaning back in his chair. "Rachel, you are in deep doo-doo."
    "Yeah, tell me about it."
    "Doo-doo? Call it what it is," Jenks smart-mouthed. "She's so far up shit creek, she could float down with the rest of the turds." I sighed my agreement as he settled himself on the warmth of my hand. "What does the coven want?" he asked. "They already shunned you."
    "Someone—Trent probably—told them what I was," I said softly, depressed. Glenn already knew. He'd been there the day I'd figured it out. "They want to put me in a cage and dissect me."
    Ivy stiffened, and Jenks's tiny features bunched up. "You're a witch," he said vehemently, and I felt a sense of peace at his loyalty.
    "Thanks, Jenks," I said, though I didn't know if I believed it anymore. "Trent fed them some line about how his father made me so he can control me. Destroy me, even. They'll let me roam free and in the wild if he takes legal responsibility for me."
    "That's a lie," Ivy said from the doorway. "He can't control you. And he didn't make you. His father simply found a way to keep you alive."
    I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. "Looks to me like he's doing a damn fine job of controlling me right now." Stupid-ass businessman. I still didn't believe him. No one else knew what I was capable of except my friends—and Newt, on a good day. Sighing, I thought back to who'd been there the evening Trent told Minias what I was: Marshal, Ceri, and Keasley—but they wouldn't say anything; neither would Quen, but if Quen knew, then so did Jonathan, the prick who organized Trent's life. Lee seemed the most likely candidate for playing let's make a deal with the coven, trading information about me to erase his own questionable dealings in black magic—if he cared to risk their finding out he was just like me. It had to be Trent.
    Ivy's expression became pensive. Having born the brunt of a master vampire's attentions, she knew how easy it was to control someone through their emotions. She was still trapped in her own personal hell even though the lock had been broken and the door was wide open.
    Behind his desk, Glenn looked unsure. "They can't do this. Even the coven of moral and ethical standards has to work within the law. Can't you file an appeal or something?"
    At that, I smiled and Ivy slumped against the door frame. "Sure, but if I disappear, who's to say different? Ever wonder why witches generally don't make much trouble? We police ourselves, just like Weres and vamps. We have a long history of hiding, Glenn. The I.S. just picks up the ones who are stupid enough to be caught." Caught committing benign crimes like theft, larceny, murder—stuff humans were conditioned to deal with. It seemed ironic that bringing in the stupid ones was what I used to do for a living.
    I was totally depressed now, and Jenks rose, his dragonflylike wings clattering for attention. "Rache, we've done kidnap prevention before. The weather is warm enough to string pixy lines in the garden, and we've got Bis now. They want you alive, right?"
    "To start with, yeah," I said, not feeling any better. Ever since quitting the I.S., it seemed as if all I'd done was run. I was tired of it. But Jenks was right. We'd find a way around this. We always did.
    Looking up, I met Glenn's eyes, then Ivy's. Taking a slow breath, I stood. "I'll call David when I get home," I said, dropping another bit of strawberry off me and into Glenn's trash. "He's great with paperwork. If you can't overpower them, you drown them in red tape." I managed a smile. "Thanks, guys. I don't know what I'd do without you."
    "Die, probably," Jenks said with a laugh as we headed out.
    But the thing was, he was right.

 
     
     

     
     
    T raffic among Cincy's tight buildings was clogged, the night gloom making the oncoming car lights all the brighter. It was going to be stop-and-go all the way to the interstate, and I almost wished I'd taken the longer way through Old