« Obsidian Butterfly » Laurell K. Hamilton

This time out, Anita revisits an old acquaintance, Edward (a.k.a. Death) the monster hunter, a coldhearted and seemingly soulless killer whose ruthlessness makes Anita look like a pussycat. Edward calls in a favor Anita owes from some time back by asking her to travel to Santa Fe to help him investigate a monster unlike any he’s encountered before. Anita readily accepts because although Edward scares her enough that she doesn’t want to turn her back on him, she’s also intrigued by the man to the point that she can’t wait to get a closer look at his life. And his hedging and lack of details regarding the murders pique her interest as well.

Though Anita thinks she is prepared and there is no way Edward can shock her, he proves her dead wrong right at the start. On the heels of this revelation, Anita is shaken even more when she finally learns the details of the murders Edward is involved with. The crime scenes are sites of unbelievable carnage, with bodies that have been violently torn apart limb by limb, their entrails ripped away. But even more horrifying than the dead are those who have been left alive, each of them skinned from head to toe, their tongues ripped away so all they can do is …