Demon Fire Read Online Free

there are so many of them, and they dig right under the fence. So I’ve turned it into a bit of a game, trying to get there first. And this evening, I’m the winner!”
    Meredith smiled. “It’s sweet of you to give them a sporting chance—and to take such good care of Dax. I don’t know Dax very well, but it’s obvious he loves you dearly.”
    “And I love him,” Cara said. “Here’s the gate—on the right. Thank you for the ride, my dear.”

Chapter Three
    His appetite gone, Dax put the food in the kitchen. He called Randy and asked him to tell the others the meeting was postponed. He didn’t explain he had driven Meredith away by spilling their secrets. That she would never be back, and worse, that she might tell others. That he had failed.
    The moon and the fire from the barbecue pit provided the only illumination in the velvet darkness. He crossed his boot-clad ankles on the railing of the porch, a glass of bourbon at his side.
    He had a lot to think about. Spending the afternoon with a woman as smart and sexy as Meredith made him yearn to be a complete man, to understand what it meant to fully love and trust someone. He had an inkling of those emotions centuries ago. But he couldn’t let himself dwell in the past. Not tonight. Meredith’s presence wouldn’t have caused his eyes to turn gold. That happened only in anticipation of demonic activity. But what? This didn’t feel like the start of the battle.
    Could Meredith be associated with demons after all? Perhaps it was a case of profoundly poor judgment. Like those who were fully human and male, he had let a woman’s white-hot sex appeal blind him. If their paths ever crossed again, he vowed to put his duties as a demon-warrior ahead of his human desires.
    Headlights grazed the side of the house. His pulse quickened.
    Lights switched on inside the house behind him. Must be Cara. Then he remembered that she didn’t drive at night. Seconds later, Meredith stepped onto the porch.
    “Dax,” she said quietly, “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I want to say I’m sorry for leaving so abruptly.”
    “Why did you come back?” Dax asked.
    She hesitated. “Car trouble. I didn’t want to risk the long drive home. I would be grateful if you would put me up for the night.”
    Dax felt a tug in his loins. He swung his legs off the porch railing and motioned to the rocking chair beside him.
    “Have a seat,” Dax said. “Don’t worry about a thing. The eye thing only happens when there’s about to be trouble. It must have been a warning about your car.”
    Dax didn’t want to frighten her with talk of demons, and he had no explanation to offer. “I’m just glad you’re all right. The steaks are ruined, but I could ask Cara to fix you something else.”
    “No thanks,” Meredith said, settling into the rocking chair. “I don’t need anything. Wow—the stars never look like this in the city. It’s so beautiful, even at night.”
    Dax chuckled. “Beauty can hide a hell of a lot of danger. Like the coals over there—beautiful, but deadly. Back when I was little, my mother used to tell me that I would have to dance through fire. I always think of that on nights like this.”
    “What did you just say?” Meredith asked.
    “My mom used to tell me to persevere—to push through the bad things to get to the good.”
    “No—I mean about fire. What did she say, exactly?”
    “Let me think,” Dax said. “It was strange, a kind of poem. Something like, ‘You have to dance through the fire to lost worlds found.’”
    “I can’t believe it!” Meredith said, jumping up. “Remember at lunch, when we said we couldn’t remember the riddle our grandmother told us just before she died? That’s it! The stone is round as time is round. Dance through the fire to lost worlds found. I never thought I’d remember that even though she said it over and over! I can’t wait to tell Elena. What do you think it means?”
    “I have no idea,” Dax said,