Author(s): Devon Monk

Fantasy

"Using magic meant it used you back. Forget the fairy-tale hocus-pocus- wave a wand and bling- sparkles and pixie dust crap. Magic- like booze, sex and drugs, gave as good as it got." Everything has a cost. And every act of magic exacts a price from its user -- maybe a two-day migraine or losing the memory of your first kiss. But some people want to use magic without paying. Offloading the cost onto innocents. It falls to a Hound to identify the spell's caster -- and Allison Beckstrom is the best Hound there is. Daughter of a prominent Portland businessman, Allie would rather moonlight as a Hound than accept the family fortune -- and the strings that come with it. But when she discovers a little boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father's signature all over it. Allie is thrown back into the high-stakes world of corporate espionage and black magic. If Allie wants the truth- she has to call upon forces that will challenge and change her...and make her capable of things that powerful people will do anything to control.