Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk
What would you do for those you love? The unnamed magical detective in this wonderful novella would do anything, which is how she ended up selling her soul to the Devil to save her brother’s life. (Always with the souls. Doesn’t the Devil ever want anything else, like a nice M.L.T., a mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich when the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe?) Now, with her fate in Satan’s hands, the detective is living on borrowed time, and she’s okay with that, until she falls in love. So she wants to renegotiate the terms of her contract, and the Devil agrees to make her a deal involving a case: find the Chicago serial killer, the White City Vampire, in three days, and she can stay and live a happy life of love. Fail, and it’s pitchforks and hellfire forever.
