Every Which Way But Dead Read Free Page A

It looked idly at its nails before putting the gloves back on.
    â€œI’ll kill you before I let you drag me into the ever-after, and I want her free first.”
    Algaliarept laughed at that, long and deep. Putting a hand against the angel, the demon bent almost double. A muted thump reverberated up through my feet, and the stone base cracked with the sound of a gunshot. Ceri stared, her pale lips slack and her eyes moving rapidly over me. Things seemed to be starting to work in her, memories and thoughts long suppressed.
    â€œYou will struggle,” Algaliarept said, delighted. “Stupendous. I so hoped you would.” Its eyes met mine, and it smirked, touching the rim of its glasses. “Adsimulo calefacio.”
    The knife in my sleeve burst into flame. Yelping, I shrugged out of my coat. It hit the edge of my bubble and slid down. The demon eyed me. “Rachel Mariana Morgan. Stop trying my patience. Get over here and recite the damned invocation.”
    I had no choice. If I didn’t, it would call my deal breached, take my soul in forfeit, and drag me into the ever-after. My only chance was to play the agreement out. I glanced at Ceri, wishing she would move away from Algaliarept, but she was running her fingers over the dates engraved in the cracked tombstone, her sun-starved complexion now even paler.
    â€œDo you remember the curse?” Algaliarept asked when I came even with the knee-high cauldron.
    I snuck a glance in, not surprised to find the demon’s aura was black. I nodded, feeling faint as my thoughts went back to having accidentally made Nick my familiar. Was it only three months ago? “I can say it in English,” I whispered. Nick. Oh God. I hadn’t said good-bye. He had been so distant lately that I hadn’t found the courage to tell him. I hadn’t told anyone.
    â€œGood enough.” Its glasses vanished and its damned, goat-slitted eyes fixed on me. My heart raced, but I had made this choice. I would live or die by it.
    Deep and resonate, seeming to vibrate my very core, Algaliarept’s voice slipped from between its lips. It was Latin, the words familiar, yet not, like a vision of a dream. “Pars tibi, totum mihi. Vinctus vinculis, prece factis.”
    â€œSome to you,” I echoed in English, interpreting the words from memory, “but all to me. Bound by ties made so by plea.”
    The demon’s smile widened, chilling me with its confidence. “Luna servata, lux sanata. Chaos statutum, pejus minutum.”
    I swallowed hard. “Moon made safe, ancient light made sane,” I whispered. “Chaos decreed, taken tripped if bane.”
    Algaliarept’s knuckles gripping the vat went white in anticipation. “Mentem tegens, malum ferens. Semper servus dum duret mundus,” it said, and Ceri sobbed, a small kitten sound, quickly stifled. “Go on,” Algaliarept prompted, excitement making its outline blur. “Say it and put your hands in.”
    I hesitated, my eyes fixing on Ceri’s crumpled form before the gravestone, her gown a small puddle of color. “Absolve me of one of my debts I owe you, first.”
    â€œYou are a pushy bitch, Rachel Mariana Morgan.”
    â€œDo it!” I demanded. “You said you would. Take off one of your marks as agreed.”
    It leaned over the pot until I could see my reflection, wide-eyed and frightened, in its glasses. “It makes no difference. Finish the curse and be done with it.”
    â€œAre you saying you aren’t going to hold to our bargain?” I goaded, and it laughed.
    â€œNo. Not at all, and if you were hoping to break our arrangement on that, then you’re sadly the fool. I’ll take off one of my marks, but you still owe me a favor.” It licked its lips. “And as my familiar, you belong—to me.”
    A nauseating mix of dread and relief shook my knees, and I held my breath so I wouldn’t get sick. But I had to