Coffin Fit (The Grateful Undead series Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

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    Jeni flopped into a recliner at the edge of the dining area, looking amused and content as she plucked out her earbuds.
    Now that Jeni wasn't using the middle of the living room as a gym, Resi walked across and sat in a leather chair near the floor-to-ceiling windows on the front side of the house. JoAnn's reflection on the television screen tried to keep up with her immortal speed as she paced in front of my daughters.
    "This family is very trying, sometimes," my sister said. "I could die tomorrow and it wouldn't kill me. Y'all know why? I walk with God."
    An intellect rivaled only by a bottle of Windex .
    Mom sat at the picnic table typing on the laptop. The table was against a wall between two sliding glass doors leading out to a screened porch overlooking the lake. Every time heat lightning shot spindly fingers across the moonlit sky, I could see our boat strain its lines taut as it bobbed on the water at the end of our dock. The boat didn't get much use nowadays. I was not big on night cruises.
    "Has Lily tried to mentally contact you, JoAnn?" I asked.
    "No! And Lilith's not going to until it's time for her to come home. That's part of the joint custody agreement," JoAnn said. "I'm going to apply more aging cream. It says to put it on at night, but then says, when you go to bed. It's confusing. I better be safe and do both."
    "You can't slather away a curse," Resi told her.
    "Y'all are in denial. Yep, denial is y'alls middle names," my sister said as she hit the stairs up to her bedroom. It was right across from mine.
    Mom slapped the lid down on the laptop, moaned, and grabbed her back as she got up. "Dorius said this sounds like a classic aging curse. Try summoning the demon again, Susan. If it doesn't work, I'll call the council."
    "Did he tell you to have me summon Raphael?" I asked. "And does he know you're gonna call the council?"
    Dorius Morizzio was head of training, organizing and dispatching rogue hunters. Our team worked in Critter Control because of my idiot sister and her ability to turn vermin immortal. I knew Dorius didn't trust my witchy skills, and none of us were supposed to have direct contact with the council. That was kind of hard to do when I was sleeping with the head honcho—a big thorn in my boss's side.
    My mate, Marcus, and Dorius were brothers. I could contact Marcus to piss Dorius off, but Marcus was on his way back from a conference in Italy. He'd promised to contact me as soon as the BAMVC jet touched tarmac in Miami.
    My partner, at work, Christopher, walked through the kitchen, past the breakfast bar. "Why are we summoning Raphael?"
    His question saved my mother from answering my original question about Dorius ordering the summoning.
    "It's not time for Lily to come back," Christopher said, wearing a crisp, clean Team Twilight t -shirt, jean shorts, and Count Von Count tennis shoes. He rubbed his wet, blond curls with a yellow hand towel. "She still has a week, our time."
    Christopher was the vampire who bit me in a public restroom last year. He may have appeared to be six years old, but he had over one-hundred vamp years under his Mickey Mouse belt. It was hard to remember when I strapped the three-foot little guy topped off with curly blond hair, a cherub face, baby blue eyes, and chubby legs and arms into a Bob the Builder car seat.
    "Have you heard from Lily, recently?" Mom asked.
    "I just talked to her," Christopher yawned. "Raphael's making her go before Lord Rahovart, Tormentor of the Affluent and Companion of Satan's boss, to apply for an Earth-to-Abyss authorization card. It's a passport kind of thing so Raphael can expedite Lil's trips back and forth instead of you using your witch skills. We're hoping Lucifer turns her dad down because of the tainted blood thing." A smile spread across Christopher's face. "Raphael doesn't look confident. I get a bird's eye view of Hell through Lily's eyes, and I'm betting S-man isn't going for it."
    Lily was Christopher's