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in a pool of water when there were snakes about—much less take down a dozen demons.
    But this silence from her made him uneasy. For all her quirks, she wasn’t a shy one, nor was she hesitant to speak her mind. “You, uh, got more questions?”
    Without hesitation, she asked, “Can this change in me be undone?”
    He frowned. “What would you want that for? You’re quick to give up immortality.” Granted, her introduction to the Lore had been harsh, but still…
    “I don’t want to be like this. I want to go back to how I was.”
    As a mercenary, his primary job was to identify what someone desired. Then he had to convince the client of two things.
    That he could get it for them. And that he was the only one who could get it for them.
    Holly had just given him the key to her. Which was good, because he had to tell her something that would ensure her cooperation, something other than the truth: To score a weapon, I have to give you to an evil sorcerer who will likely ensorcell you to sleep with him. Once you’ve delivered a child of ultimate evil for him, he may let you go.
    “There might be a way to reverse the change.” Of course, there was absolutely no way to reverse the change.
    She gazed over at him with hope in her eyes. If he were less of a bastard, that look would really bother him. As it was, he hardly noted it. Hardly at all.
    “How? How’s it possible?”
    “Listen, I don’t want to speak out of turn and overpromise you,” he said. “Right now I’m going back to my place to pick up supplies before we leave town; then we’re going to meet my brother, who’ll know more about all this. Just bear with me till then, and we’ll figure out a way to make everyone happy.”
    At length, she nodded. “I have to go by my loft and pick up some clothes and things—”
    “No way. They’ll be watching your place.”
    “But I need my…my medications. They were in my shoulder bag.”
    “What kind of meds?” he asked, though he knew about her disorder, had been studying it. He just wanted to see if she’d admit to it.
    She raised her chin. “They’re for OCD. Obsessive—”
    “—compulsive disorder. I’ve heard of it.” She was going to love his place.
    “So you understand why I have to get them.”
    “Will you die without those pills? Because you sure as shite will die to get them. Your building is going to be crawling with assassins.”
    Her brows drew together. “You said building . How did you know I don’t live in a house? And how did you know where to find me tonight?”
    “We’ve been doing background on you. I was trailing you tonight and saw them take you.”
    “Tell me—who hired you to protect me?”
    This was going to get sticky if she pressed. “Don’t know exactly. I just got the job details instructing me to keep you safe and the payment scale. Anything else is of no matter to me.”
    She was quiet for a moment. “Background on me?” she finally asked. “You mean spying.”
    “I’m not apologizing for it—not when the outcome was that I saved your life.”
    “And what did you find out about me?”
    How to answer her? Every time he thought he had Holly figured out, she surprised him. Over the last several months, he’d deemed her a math geek, a campus feminist, a tease, a tree hugger, and a closet sexpot.
    He’d eventually figured out why he could never get a handle on what she was like—because she didn’t have any kind of handle on herself. Even she didn’t know who she was.
    “You’re twenty-six, an only child, adopted,” he finally said. “Your adoptive parents both died of natural causes in the last two years. They left you a fortune….” He slanted a glance at her.
    Her face held no reaction. “Go on.”
    “You’ve got two master’s degrees under your belt, and you’re about to complete your PhD in mathematics.” You’ve got the confidence of a woman who knows she’s smart, and that’s arousing as hell.
    “You like to swim.” Your body in