A Tale of Two Demon Slayers Read Online Free Page B

the nerve.” That was probably my snack mix.
    “Don’t interact with it too much,” Dimitri cautioned, “or it might follow us.”
    “Onto our connecting flight?”
    “They like cars too, although not as much as planes. It’s basically anything mechanical.” Lovely. The last thing I needed was a gremlin on my Harley.
    I yanked my gaze off the creature. Instead of giving in to the urge to take one more look, I took a small notebook from my purse and focused on a new entry in what I was hoping would become a guidebook for demon slayers. So far, I had way more chapters than I’d ever planned.
To be added to The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers , Volume Two, subsection C: Magical creatures, benign.
    What the gremlin lacks in aggression, it makes up in its unflagging desire to sabotage and disrupt. Teeth are long and jagged, although the one creature I’ve witnessed seems to prefer biting into Gardetto’s Original Recipe snack mix as opposed to anything else. His striking blue eyes and
    I braced myself as the plane sped down the runway and took off with a lurch.
the obvious intelligence behind its stare make this creature
    “Ohhhh…Lizzie,” I heard from the bag at my feet.
    “It’s okay, baby dog,” I said, wishing I could do more.
    The bag suddenly became very bumpy. “You said flying. Right. Okay. Well, I don’t like this kind of flying. Did you feel that? It’s like a rattle. Oh, and now a jiggle. I don’t think the bolts are tight on this airplane, and ooh biscuits…”
    “Think of it like a Harley,” I said, resisting the urge to unzip him. We didn’t need a dog loose on the plane, even if FAA regulations didn’t strictly forbid it.
    “I can’t, Lizzie. I just can’t. It’s not natural,” Pirate protested, as I reached down into the bag and found a wet snout.
    The plane jolted and Pirate retreated to the far end of his bag, muttering under his breath. I was going to owe him a trip to Burger King for this one.
    Dimitri touched my shoulder. “Lizzie.”
    I leaned back into my seat. “It breaks my heart to do this to him,” I said, eyeing the bag. He was better off in it. I knew he was. Still it would make me feel better to hold him.
    “Lizzie,” Dimitri said. “I need to tell you something while it’s loud in here.”
    He looked as intense as I’ve ever seen him. “You know what you were asking before? About my business? Well, the situation didn’t unfold as I’d hoped. I’m sorry I have to explain it so quickly, but—”
    We both cringed as we hit an air pocket and the plane dropped sharply.
    “When I needed to find a demon slayer—you,” he corrected. “When I needed to find you, I used old griffin magic. I don’t have time to explain it all now, but basically, I traced a thread of your power and I used it to find the rest of you.”
    I tried to digest that. “Wait. Before I was even a true slayer?” Dimitri had been the first one to find me.
    “Yes,” he said.
    My stomach twinged. I knew he was powerful, but it still humbled me every time.
    “It’s a form of protective magic that I used for my own purposes. And I’m sorry.”
    Oh no. “What do you have to be sorry about?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.
    He looked guilty. “When protective magic is used to expose instead of to guard, it makes the subject particularly vulnerable.”
    “You mean me. It makes me vulnerable.”
    “Yes,” he admitted. “I was desperate,” he said quickly. “I needed to find you.”
    Wonderful it had worked out for him. But what about me?
    “And now?” I asked.
    “Someone else could use it too,” he said. “I’ve kept the thread well protected, hidden in something we griffins call a light box. It never leaves my study. Only someone tried to break in last night. Diana drove the creature off.”
    “Creature?” As if we hadn’t run into enough creatures. “What kind?” I demanded. “Is the magic safe?”
    He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I