Zombies Sold Separately Read Online Free Page A

finished saying with an even darker expression. Somehow she still managed to look beautiful, even when ticked off.
    If five-foot-two non-Twiggy-esque women with melon-sized breasts could be supermodels, Olivia would have knocked the modeling world on its collective butt. With her Kenyan and Puerto Rican ancestry, her flawless brown silk skin, rich dark hair, and beautiful dark brown eyes, she was gorgeous.
    But Olivia had to be the most down-to-earth human I knew. Despite her hefty salary as a PI and Tracker, she stuck to driving an old GTO and shopped at Target and Wal-Mart for T-shirts with funny sayings, and blue jeans. She also had an extensive collection of colorful Keds sneakers.
    “Ready to head off to Rita’s for Christmas?” I asked as I placed my purse in a cubby beneath my desk out of Kali’s reach.
    “Sure.” Olivia’s purple Keds squeaked on the tile before she reached her own chair behind her desk and plopped into it. “I always look forward to large family events where my parents shout at each other over the dinner table and ultimately one of them ends up wearing the dessert.”
    Maybe I hadn’t chosen the best topic to take her mind off the speeding ticket. Olivia’s parents had divorced after the last daughter, Katelyn, had graduated from high school. Frank, Olivia’s wealthy plastic surgeon father, hadn’t wanted to pay spousal maintenance to Jan, Olivia’s successful lawyer mother.
    It didn’t matter to Frank that Jan had stayed at home to raise their six daughters and that she hadn’t been able to start her own career until five years prior to the divorce. Frank had done his best in court to “color” the truth, but Jan had easily and rightfully been awarded a healthy monthly alimony check. Unfortunately the split wrecked their joint family events in a big way.
    Time to put a different spin on the upcoming holiday. “You like spending time with your sisters.” I turned on the large screen monitor on my desk. “It’s not like you get to see all of them at once very often.”
    “Each time is more than enough to last for months on end.” She braced her forearms on the note-laden top of her desk as she looked at me. “You have no idea what it’s like to have five sisters, all of whom don’t believe in letting the others get a word in edgewise.”
    I did my best not to smile. I was sure Olivia did more than an adequate job at inserting her opinions. “You’re right about the siblings,” I said. “I don’t have sisters so it’ll be quiet as usual when I go see my father and mother for Christmas. Although I do seem to end up in arguments with Father over one thing or another.” Like the fact that he hated me being in the Earth Otherworld and not the Drow Realm.
    “Arguments?” Olivia blew out a huff of air. “Don’t get me started on the last time my sisters and I got together.”
    No, I didn’t want to get started on that topic. I really, really, really didn’t, no matter how much I loved my friend and partner.
    Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” came from inside my purse and I gave a silent prayer of thanks for the interruption as I reached in to pull out my XPhone. I had a thing for eighties hair bands, especially Jon Bon Jovi. Be still my heart.
    Said heart melted and forgot about Jon when I checked the caller identification screen and saw that it was Adam.
    “Hey there,” I said, a flush warming my cheeks as Olivia glanced at me. The tone of my voice had undoubtedly told her who was on the other end of the line and she loved to make cracks about my infatuation with the darling detective.
    It was almost a relief to see her load up a rubber band with an eraser and aim it at me. Meant she was cooling off if she was going to start shooting me with erasers.
    “Hi, Nyx.” Adam’s voice had a smile to it, but then I straightened in my chair as his tone went serious. “We have a mess here. You’ll want to call Rodán and freeze the scene and you and Olivia need to