Courting Darkness Read Online Free Page B

phone, it occurred to me that my life was quickly coming to resemble a roller coaster, and right now, we felt at the peak, poised to take a long, dark ride down the tracks.

Chapter 2

    Smoky was all for killing the daemon, but I shook my head. “Better to keep Trytian on our side. After all, he did warn us about your father. And if we kill the thing, Trytian will be in our face about it. Right now, we don’t need that.”
    “We can’t just let it run around the streets loose. What will people say?” Shade stared at me for a moment, then burst into a peal of laughter. “I can’t believe I just said that, considering some of what you’ve told me about your exploits, but still . . . a daemon?”
    Menolly held up her hand. “Let me attend to it.” She disappeared inside the room, and a moment later she came out, the daemon in hand. He flashed her a guilty look, then cleared his throat.
    “I’ll cause no more trouble. Any return message for Trytian?”
    I blinked. What the fuck had she said to him? Oh well, whatever it was, it seemed to have worked. “Tell him we’ll be on the lookout and do our best to stop the dragon. Tell him . . . thank him for the information. He didn’t have to tell me.”
    The daemon nodded, then started to head for the stairs.
    “Wait!” I called out. He turned around. “Let me cast a cloaking spell over you. You simply can’t go wandering around the streets looking like you do.”
    A sly smile stole across his face. “You want to try, girl?”
    I nodded, even though Trillian and Menolly were both frantically shaking their heads. Motioning for them to stand aside, I began to work up the magic that I knew for cloaking spells—if I could just get him to pass for human, that would solve the problem of people on the streets. Then we’d just have to explain to the folks up in the bar that they’d seen a crazed lunatic wearing a costume who had a thing against elves.
    “Sweetheart, I don’t think this is wise—” Trillian began to say, and Smoky, for once, chimed in on his side, but I brushed away their fears, too.
    “My magic has grown stronger since I’ve been working with Morio. And there’s no other way to avoid incurring questions that we do not want.”
    Disguise spells, or cloaking spells, weren’t all that hard—at least not for the average Moon Witch. Given my background, there was always the chance I’d muck it up, but I was ever the optimist, and besides, I was the only one here who could even try to cast a spell.
    Without further ado, I focused on the daemon and summoned the Moon Mother’s power into my hands, willing it to flow into the creature’s aura. With a tingle raging through my fingers, like pins and needles pricking a thousand nerves, I began to rearrange the shape of his energy field, focusing on smoothing out the bumps and modifying the color.
    Even if we could get him to pass for a Supe of unknown variety, chances were the Seattle Tattler wouldn’t be getting calls about some hellish creature rampaging through the streets. Maybe a weredog or something . . .
    With one last shove to set the energy, I blinked and stood back. The daemon began to shift form. We all waited with pent breath, and then as the spell settled into his aura, I let out a gurgle and face-palmed my forehead. Not quite what I’d been going for.
    The daemon stood there, on all four feet, tail wagging, staring up at me. “What did you do to me, woman? I didn’t think you’d actually be able to do anything. I heard you were a bumbling idiot! How long am I going to look like this? A poodle? Are you serious ?”
    He took a threatening step toward me and nipped at my ankles, but Smoky leaned over and scooped up the daemon.
    “Do not threaten my wife, even if it is with rabies.”
    “I don’t have rabies, you idiot! I’m not actually a dog!”
    “Um, I hate to differ with you,” Menolly said, “but you are for now. And it could last ten minutes or it could last ten days, knowing my