Hotter Than Hell by Kim Harrison, Martin H. Greenberg

From the Publisher

Beyond the boundaries of the everyday is an unseen realm where anything you imagine is possible. Your demon lover is waiting for you in the shadows, ready to fulfill your secret wishes and most dangerous fantasies. Here passion has a face and form both titillating and terrifying—and love has teeth and claws. Get ready to give in to your craving for something exquisitely dark . . . and different.

Hotter Than Hell gathers together a baker's dozen of today's boldest and best authors of supernatural fiction and paranormal romance in a breathtaking anthology that blends black magic with red-hot desire. From the tantalizing tale of a conflicted psychic vampire driven by a powerful, savage love to the strange saga of a Greek warrior woman battling to save the world, these are stories outside the limits, as hypnotic as the full moon . . . and hotter than the sun.

Details from Seller

• ISBN: 0061161292
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Pub. Date: June 2008
• Condition:

Comments from the Seller: 2008 Mass-market paperback Good. No dust jacket as issued. spine creasing and light reading wear Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 497 p. Audience: General/trade.

• Read an Excerpt

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Hotter Than Hell

Music Hath Charms

As Glen maneuvered his car over the rutted field the sign insisted was the parking lot, Ali frowned out the tinted window at a line of teenagers dressed in white and leading enormous brown cows and wondered if her partner had lost his mind. Bands that played the county fair circuit might be a step above garage bands, but it was usually a small step. Bedford Entertainment needed to sign a group that could pull in some numbers, and she didn't think they'd find that here.

"What's up with the kids and the cows?" she wondered as they bounced to a stop next to an impressively rusted pickup.

Glancing past her as he shifted into park, Glen shrugged. "Different leash laws in the country, I guess. Come on, they're on in twenty minutes."

He'd brought her here to see a band named NoMan. Five-man, country-rock, fronted by two brothers, Brandon and Travis Noman. One sang lead, one played...well, in country-rock she supposed it was a fiddle, wasn't it? She wasn't sure about the name but names were easy enough to change. They were backed by guitar, bass, and drums but she had no information on the musicians.

When asked, Glen laughed. "Backup doesn't matter, Ali, it's the brothers you're here to see. You could back those two with?.?.?.??with boy-band leftovers and they'd still kick ass."

"A ringing endorsement."

He laughed again. "You'll see."

The stage had been set up at one end of the midway. It had a back and a roof of sorts and the ubiquitous three guys in black t-shirts screwing around with the sound system, but there was no disguising it was actually a hay wagon or that haybales had been arranged in rows for the audience. This explained Glen's instruction to wear jeans.

"How rustic," she murmured as they settled on a bale at the end of the fourth row.

"Trust me."

She closed her hand around his arm. "Please tell me you didn't sleep with them and you've dragged me out to the middle of nowhere to hear a thanks-for-the-fuck audition."

He laid his hand over hers, large and warm and calming. "I didn't and it isn't. Although I would have. Couldn't get close."

Leaning around him, Ali realized the bales were filling fast with an interesting cross section of humanity. She hadn't known baseball caps came in such a wide variety of colors. A closer look at the packed first three rows...the rows between her and the stage...and she realized no one sitting there could be considered either old or young and they all exuded a certain visceral anticipation as they waited for the show to start.

Evidently, NoMan had groupies. A decent enough showing for a Saturday afternoon gig at a county fair but not the kind of numbers that would have kept Glen away from the prize. Nor, more importantly, the kind of numbers that would make them the saviors Bedford Entertainment needed.

On the other hand, if they were as good as Glen said they were, she could build their numbers to the point where they'd become what she needed. And if they weren't?.?.?.??at least she'd got out of the city for the afternoon. There had to be some truth in what everyone said about fresh air.

"If you'd got to them, would they?" she wondered, determined to distract herself.

Mouth by her ear, he murmured, "I pegged them as enthusiastically nondiscriminating."

Well, she was all for enthusiasm. Settling her weight against Glen's shoulder, she found a certain amusement in noting the envious looks being sent her way. Six foot meant a lot of leg in tight jeans, the heavy white shirt emphasized the breadth of his shoulders, and the rolled-up sleeves exposed muscular forearms. It might have been gym muscle, not work muscle, but he didn't look out of place amid the surrounding country boys. The light dusting of freckles across his nose just added to the wholesome appeal.

"What are you smiling about?"

"The bottle redhead in the front row keeps turning to give you the eye."

He drew his tongue over a full lower lip, watched her squirm and said, "Her boyfriend's not bad."

"And that's why I was smiling."

"Bitch."

"And that's why you love me." Ali had a feeling she was attracting some attention herself, felt that prickling between her shoulder blades that said someone was staring. The feeling grew and, although she'd had every intention of ignoring it, she finally turned. No mistaking the familiar figure standing just behind the last row of hay bales.

He winked. He pushed back the curl of thick, dark hair that fell over his forehead and he unmistakably winked one brilliant blue eye when he caught her staring.

Bastard.

She tightened her grip on Glen's arm. "Tom Hartmore's here."

Muscle tensed but Glen didn't turn. "If Tom's here then Mike's interested."

"You think?" she snapped. There was nothing Michael Richter's Vital Music Group liked better than finding a band just on the verge of breaking out and thrusting them out onto the world stage. Vital made stars out of guts and raw talent...Ali had to give them that...and they were so good at it most of the musicians took years to realize they'd signed an iron-clad contract giving away rights to everything up to and including posthumous work. Michael Richter didn't believe in death cutting into his bottom line.

"Tom could be doing some preliminary scouting. Working on rumor. If he had actual word on the band?.?.?."

"Then Mike would be here himself, he wouldn't send Tom." The knot loosened in Ali's stomach. They were still one step ahead.