Dead Witch Walking (the Hollows, #1)

Dead Witch Walking is the first book in Kim Harrison's Hollows series, set in an alternate version of Cincinnati where supernatural beings, collectively known as Inderlanders, live openly alongside humans. Roughly 40 years before the story begins, a genetically modified tomato virus called T4 Angel killed a quarter of humanity. In the aftermath, an event called "the Turn," witches, vampires, Weres, pixies, fairies, and other supernatural species revealed their existence. Two rival law enforcement agencies now keep order: Inderland Security (the I.S.), which polices Inderlanders, and the Federal Inderland Bureau (FIB), a human-run counterpart.

Rachel Morgan, a witch and bounty hunter, or "runner," for the I.S., stakes out a pub in the Hollows, Cincinnati's Inderland suburb, to apprehend a leprechaun for tax evasion. Her boss, Denon, a living vampire (still alive despite carrying the vampire virus, unlike an undead vampire), has been assigning her demeaning cases for months. At the pub, Rachel encounters Ivy Tamwood, a living vampire and the I.S.'s top runner. Rachel catches the leprechaun and considers the creature's offer of three wishes in exchange for freedom.

In a cab ride afterward, Rachel tells Ivy she plans to quit. Ivy warns that the last runner to break his contract was killed, then shocks Rachel by volunteering to leave as her partner. Jenks, Rachel's pixy backup, also joins, noting pixies do not sign contracts. Rachel trades her remaining two wishes for their partnership: Jenks uses his immediately for sterility, as his wife threatens to leave over the burden of too many children, while Ivy takes a marker to call hers in later. Rachel has already used her first wish to leave the I.S. with a clean record.

At the I.S. office, Denon tears up Rachel's contract but reveals he has been sabotaging her career for two years. Furious that Ivy is also leaving, he puts a death contract on Rachel. Ivy pays off her own contract with her entire family inheritance. Francis Percy, a vain rival runner, mentions he is interviewing Councilman Trent Kalamack, whose secretary was found dead with Brimstone, a mind-altering Inderland drug. Jenks discovers Rachel's final paycheck has been cursed with dark magic, confirming the death threat is real. Rachel's landlady evicts her, and the I.S. hexes all her belongings.

Rachel travels to the Hollows to find the "office" Ivy rented: a decommissioned stone church with a graveyard out back and a garden stocked with every plant a witch could need for crafting spells. Keasley, an elderly witch across the street, removes a delayed attack spell placed on Rachel, confirming the I.S. is already sending assassins. Over dinner, Rachel and Ivy share personal histories, but the conversation turns dangerous when Ivy's vampire instincts are triggered. She pins Rachel to a chair, her mouth inches from Rachel's neck, before pulling herself away and fleeing. The next morning, Ivy apologizes and gives Rachel a guide to avoiding behaviors that trigger vampire hunger.

Rachel investigates Trent Kalamack at the I.S. records building but is spotted by Francis, and Were-fox assassins corner her. She barely escapes. At the church, she brews a transformation potion, intending to become a mouse, but the owl-pellet hair she uses produces a mink transformation instead. She and Jenks infiltrate the records vault, but Trent's file is nearly empty: His parents died under suspicious circumstances, and no one can determine whether he is human or Inderlander. Rachel then hijacks Francis's car and drives to Trent's estate, posing as "Francine Percy." Trent, a young, fair-haired man, already knows her identity and offers her a job on a distant plantation, clearly intending to remove her from Cincinnati. Rachel refuses. She discovers discs labeled with disease names, suggesting an illegal biodrug operation—the manufacture of bioengineered medicines banned since the Turn—but Trent catches her before she can steal proof.

After a fairy attack on the church leaves Jenks seriously injured, the three plan a second infiltration using a public garden tour as cover. Rachel hides in Ivy's purse as a mink. After nightfall, she and Jenks reach Trent's office and retrieve a disc, but Trent discovers Rachel and knocks her unconscious.

Rachel wakes in a ferret cage and spends days as a captive mink; at some point during her captivity, Trent takes her charm-bearing pinky ring while she sleeps. Francis visits, revealing himself as Trent's mole inside the I.S., staging Brimstone seizures to distract the agency while Trent moves biodrugs through other channels. Faris, a witch and scientist who works for Trent, identifies Rachel as a witch in mink form and objects to Trent's plan to enter her in the city's illegal rat fights. When Faris threatens to flee, Trent kills him with a poisoned blowdart. Rachel realizes Trent is manufacturing biodrugs on-site.

Trent transports the sedated Rachel to the underground rat fights. In the pit, she faces a rat called the Bloody Baron and realizes he too is a transformed person. They stage a mutual "death" and escape together. Jenks finds them, and Ivy retrieves the group on her motorcycle. Baron transforms back into Nick Sparagmos, a bookish man who was turned into a rat by a vampire whose rare book he stole. Nick suggests taking the evidence to the FIB, reasoning that the bureau's rivalry with the I.S. would make its agents eager to act.

At a university library vault, a demon materializes and attacks Rachel, shifting forms to exploit her deepest fears. Nick binds the demon using demonology knowledge but, with Rachel bleeding out, makes a desperate deal: He releases the demon in exchange for safe transport back to the church through the ley lines, the energy channels connecting the physical world to the ever-after, a demonic dimension. Both Rachel and Nick receive demon marks, small scars signifying debts owed to the demon.

At the church, Keasley stitches Rachel's wounds. She learns the demon was not sent by the I.S. Nick quietly reveals, within Rachel's hearing, that Ivy's magazines are addressed to the church, suggesting Ivy moved in well before Rachel and may have planned the arrangement. Ivy feeds Rachel a small cake that dramatically accelerates healing.

Rachel negotiates with FIB Captain Edden: She will help the FIB catch Trent's biodrug shipment in exchange for the FIB paying off her death contract. Edden also proposes that Rachel's firm serve as FIB consultants on Inderlander matters. At the airport, they discover the I.S. has grounded the suspect plane, chasing a Brimstone decoy. Rachel realizes Francis is moving the real biodrugs by bus. At the depot, she confronts Francis while I.S. assassins attack. Edden's officers subdue the assassins, and inside Francis's shipping boxes, they find tomatoes grown around hidden vials of biodrugs.

Trent retaliates with a bomb that kills Francis, eliminating the only witness who could connect Trent to the drugs. Edden honors his deal and pays off Rachel's death contract, officially ending the threat. Rachel sees Trent watching from across the street, bruised from his own demon attack, and realizes Trent sent the demon that attacked her at the library.

One week later, Rachel executes a carefully planned return to Trent's estate. She steals a disc from his briefcase, but Trent discovers her and looses his hounds for a mounted hunt through the woods. Ivy arrives on her motorcycle just as the pursuit closes in, and Rachel escapes with the disc.

At a cookout at the church, Trent sends a personal ad seeking to "reopen communication" and returns the pinky ring he stole from Rachel during her captivity, proving he can reach her anytime. The stolen disc serves as mutual leverage. Rachel offers the church garden to Jenks as a permanent sublease, securing his family's future. Despite lingering dangers, including Trent's unresolved threat, her demon mark, and Ivy's complicated hunger, Rachel finds contentment in the unconventional household she has built.