Hard Bitten - Chloe Neill [1]
—Teens Read Too
“I could not put this one down. . . . Merit is going to evolve into a fantastic kick-butt heroine. . . . The thing that elevates this story from great to excellent, aside from the strong heroine and burning hunks of manly vampires, is the well-rounded supporting cast of characters.”
—Dirty Sexy Books
OTHER NOVELS BY CHLOE NEILL
THE CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES NOVELS
Some Girls Bite
Friday Night Bites
Twice Bitten
THE DARK ELITE NOVELS
Firespell
Hexbound
NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
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First published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, May 2011
Copyright © Chloe Neill, 2011
All rights reserved
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Neill, Chloe.
Hard bitten/Chloe Neill.
p. cm.—(Chicagoland vampires; 4)
eISBN : 978-1-101-51444-3
1. Vampires—Fiction. 2. Chicago (Ill.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3614.E4432H37 2011
813’.6—dc22 2010052284
Set in Caslon 540
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To Jeremy, Baxter, and Scout, my three favorite boys,
with much thanks to Sara, the mistress of Meritverse conformity.
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
—William Shakespeare
CHAPTER ONE
MAGIC IS AS MAGIC DOES
Late August
Chicago, Illinois
We worked beneath the shine of floodlights that punched holes in the darkness of Hyde Park—nearly one hundred vampires airing rugs, painting cabinet doors, and sanding trim.
A handful of severe-looking men in black—extra mercenary fairies we’d hired for protection—stood outside the fence that formed a barrier between the blocks-wide grounds of Cadogan House and the rest of the city.
In part, they were protecting us from a second attack by shape-shifters. That seemed unlikely, but so had the first onslaught, led