"Helen "Hell" Marshall just wants her old job back as an agent with Crimson City's Internal-Operations. When her mentor brings her in for some contract work, she jumps at the chance. Her assignment? Track down and neutralize a demon on the loose in Los Angeles. Too bad she has to work with covert agent Jaden Lightfeather, and it' really too bad when her ex-boyfriend and vampire head of a criminal enterprise wants her back. Nothing is what it seems, not anyone or anything. This novella was originally published as part of the Crimson City anthology Shards of Crimson and is about 25,000 words long. Excerpt The way the briefing room went silent Hell Marshall knew she was on the outside of an inside joke. Jim West, Chief Division Agent for U.S. Internal-Operations in the City of Los Angeles, gripped the projector remote in one hand and a red penlight in the other. I-Ops was the law enforcement and surveillance arm of the government. Battlefield Operations was military, the muscle on the streets. I-Ops was pencil-pushers, spooks and cops and a few other things nobody admitted. West signaled one of the field agents to hit the lights. The room went dark. He clicked the remote and two seconds later Hell understood the silence. Shit. "This is from a surveillance camera installed at the Golden Wing Spa and Health Center," West said. The camera had been placed behind the reception desk, so the back of a perky blonde head occasionally blocked a portion of the screen. Tuan Ng was clearly visible in the right corner of the shot. Hell didn't move. Didn't change her expression. West was looking at her. Everyone was looking at her. She could feel it, but she kept her eyes glued to the screen. She didn't work for I-Ops anymore. They'd fired her ass nine months ago, and that meant her personal life was nobody's fucking business. She was here because Milos Sanders, Director of I-Ops in Crimson City, was the only friend she had left. Well, that and the promises he'd made to get her back for this assignment."--