LITMIR.BIZ

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I’d live where there were dead humans? God help me. The bugs coming off ’em, diseases, viruses, and crap soaking into the soil and getting into everything!”

      I adjusted my grip on my stuff, striding across the shady street and up the wide steps of the church. Jenks didn’t have a clue as to whether the bodies had been moved out. The gray stone steps were bowed in the middle from decades of use, and they were slippery. There were twin doors taller than I, made of a reddish wood and bound with metal. One had a plaque screwed into it. “Donna’s Daycare,” I muttered, reading the inscription. I tugged a door open, surprised at the strength needed to shift it. There wasn’t even a lock on it, just a sliding bolt on the inside.

      “Of course they moved the bodies out,” Jenks said, then flitted over the church. I’d put a hundred on it that he was going out to the backyard to investigate.

      “Ivy?” I shouted, trying to slam the door behind me. “Ivy, are you here?” The echo of my voice came back from the yet unseen sanctuary, a thick, stained-glassed quiet hush of sound. The closest I’d been to a church since my dad died was reading the cutesy catch phrases off those backlit signs they all put on their front lawns. The foyer was dark, having no windows and black wooden panels. It was warm and still, thick with the presence of past liturgy. I set the box on the wooden floor and listened to the green and amber hush slipping in from the sanctuary.

      “Be right down!” came Ivy’s distant shout. She sounded almost cheerful, but where on earth was she? Her voice was coming from everywhere and nowhere at all.

      There was the soft click of a latch, and Ivy slipped from behind a panel. A narrow spiral stairway went up behind her. “I’ve got my owls up in the belfry,” she said. Her brown eyes were more alive than I’d ever seen them. “It’s perfect for storage. Lots of shelves and drying racks. Someone left their stuff up there, though. Want to go through it with me later?”

      “It’s a church, Ivy.”

      Ivy stopped. Her arms crossed and she looked at me, her face abruptly empty.

      “There are dead people in the backyard,” I added, and she levered herself up and went into the sanctuary. “You can see the tombstones from the road,” I continued as I followed her in.

      The pews were gone, as was the altar, leaving only an empty room and a slightly raised stage. That same black wood made a wainscot that ran below the tall stained-glassed windows that wouldn’t open. A faded shadow on the wall remained where an enormous cross once hung over the altar. The ceiling was three stories up, and I sent my gaze to the open woodwork, thinking it would be hard to keep this room warm in winter. It was nothing but a stripped down open space … but the stark emptiness seemed to add to the feeling of peace.

      “How much is this going to cost?” I asked, remembering I was supposed to be angry.

      “Seven hundred a month, utilities—ah—included,” Ivy said quietly.

      “Seven hundred?” I hesitated, surprised. That would be three fifty for my share. I was paying four fifty uptown for my one-room castle. That wasn’t bad. Not bad at all. Especially if it had a yard. No, I thought, my bad mood returning. It was a graveyard.

      “Where are you going?” I said as Ivy walked away. “I’m talking to you.”

      “To get a cup of coffee. You want one?” She disappeared through the door at the back of the raised stage.

      “Okay, so the rent is cheap,” I said. “That’s what I said I wanted, but it’s a church! You can’t run a business from a church!” Fuming, I followed her past the opposing his-and-her bathrooms. Farther down was a door on the right. I peeked past it to find a nice-sized empty room, the floor and smooth walls giving back an echo of my breathing. A stained-glass window of saints was propped open with a stick to air the place out, and I could hear the sparrows arguing outside. The room looked as if it had once been an office, having since been modified for toddlers’ nap cots. The floor was dusty, but the wood was sound under the light scratches.

      Satisfied, I peeked around the door across the hall. There was a made-up bed and open boxes. Before I could see more, Ivy reached in front of me and pulled the door shut.

      “That’s your stuff,” I said, staring at her.

      Ivy’s face was empty, chilling me more than if she had been pulling an aura. “I’m going to have to stay here until I can rent a room somewhere.” She hesitated, tucking her black hair behind an ear. “Got a problem with that?”

      “No,” I said softly, closing my eyes in a long blink. For the love of St. Philomena. I was going to have to live at the office until I got myself set. My eyes opened, and I was startled by the odd look Ivy had, a mix of fear and—anticipation?

      “I’m going to have to crash here, too,” I said, not liking this at all but seeing no other option. “My landlady evicted me. The box by the front door is all I’ve got until I can get my stuff despelled. The I.S. black-charmed everything in my apartment, almost nailed me on the bus. And thanks to my landlady, no one within the city limits will rent to me. Denon put a contract out on me, just like you said.” I tried to keep the whine out of my voice, but it was there.

      That odd light was still in Ivy’s eyes, and I wondered if she had told me the truth about being a nonpracticing vamp. “You can have the empty room,” she said, her voice carefully flat.

      I gave her a terse nod. Okay, I thought, taking a deep breath. I was living in a church—with bodies in the backyard—an I.S. death threat on me—and a vamp across the hall. I wondered if she would notice if I put a lock on the inside of my door. I wondered if it would matter.

      “The kitchen’s back here,” she said, and I followed her and the smell of coffee. My mouth fell open as I rounded the open archway, and I forgot to be angry again.

      The kitchen was half the size of the sanctuary, as fully equipped and modern as the sanctuary was barren and medieval. There was gleaming metal, shiny chrome, and bright, fluorescent lights. The refrigerator was enormous. A gas stove and oven sat at one end of the room; an electric range and stovetop took up the other. Centered in the middle of it all was a stainless steel island with empty shelves beneath. The rack above it was festooned with metal utensils, pans, and bowls. It was a witch’s dream kitchen; I wouldn’t have to stir my spells and dinner on the same stove.

      Apart from the beat-up wooden table and chairs in the corner, the kitchen looked like one you might see on a cooking show. One end of the table was set up like a computer desk, the wide-screen monitor blinking furiously to itself as it cycled through the open lines to find and claim the best continuous link to the net. It was an expensive program, and my eyebrows rose.

      Ivy cleared her throat as she opened a cupboard beside the sink. There were three mismatched mugs on the bottom shelf; other than that, it was empty. “They put in the new kitchen five years ago for the health department,” she said, jerking my attention back to her. “The congregation wasn’t very big, so when all was said and done, they couldn’t afford it. That’s why they’re renting it out. To try and pay off the bank.”

      The sound of coffee being poured filled the room as I ran my finger over the unblemished metal on the island counter. It had never seen a single apple pie or Sunday school cookie.

      “They want their church back,” Ivy said, looking thin as she leaned against the counter with her mug cradled in her pale hands. “But they’re dying. The church, I mean,” she added as I met her eyes. “No new members. It’s sad, really. The living room is back here.”

      I didn’t know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut and followed her into the hallway and through a narrow doorway at the end of the hall. The living room was cozy, and furnished so tastefully that I had no doubt these were all Ivy’s things. It was the first softness and warmth I had seen in the entire place—even if everything was in shades of gray—and the windows were just plain glass. Heavenly. I felt my tension loosen. Ivy snatched up a remote, and midnight jazz drifted into existence. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

      “You

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