Drop Dead Demons Read Online Free Page A

afterthought. He leaned his face in close, fangs dripping molten goo, heat so intense I thought my skin would melt off the bone. Between his glowing eyes, a series of tiny red lights blinked in a circle the size of a quarter.
    Strange, but no time to contemplate the oddity.
    I grabbed a helmet painted with, of all things, orange flames and rammed it across his dribbling jowls. The clever move was supposed to slow him down enough for me to run, but he snatched the helmet one-handed and lifted it up, me still clinging on — not sure why — sneakers dangling several feet above the ground. He flung me through the air.  
    I landed in a flatbed truck, on a pile of chains laid in a neat coil. That was gonna bruise. Wish I could ice it up, but the demon kept coming, throwing a lava ball for good measure.
    I rolled to the side. The truck’s rear window shattered. I smelled the odor of burning hair and squealed with panic. After swatting steaming, red-hot sludge from my curls, I gripped a length of chain from the pile, hefted it up, twirled it over my head, and flung it hard. 
    It unfurled in the air. The demon bellowed with rage as the links whipped around him several times with a loud sizzle , effectively wrapping him up, confining his arms and legs. He tried to walk, but fell to the ground in a thick, hot heap.
    I fist pumped the air. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
    Except...as I watched him struggle, the chunky metal links were slowly melting, giving way. His tether wouldn’t last long.
    “Oh, come on!” I slammed my palms on top of the truck’s cab.
    If only my super-duper, demon-annihilating explody power would kick in, I could zap him back to hell in a blink. But no. It remained mercilessly MIA, which left me out of options.
    So I leapt to the ground and ran for what I hoped didn’t end up being a colossal mistake.
     

Chapter Six
     
    Through the restaurant window I saw Blake’s massive bulk and flung my arms in frantic motions.
    He was too busy flirting with the waitress to notice. I was too far away for him to hear my shouts. The ground trembled as the demon shook off the last of its chains like a wet dog. He roared and bounded after me.
    I raced for the corner of the building, but my sight blurred and weightlessness swept over me as my Divinicus demon tracking power kicked in.
    My vision tunneled and left my body, zooming forward and around the corner.
    A wolfish creature the size of a rhino galloped in long, supple strides, head dropped, ears flat, its body laid low. Smoke flared from the end of its pointy muzzle, nostrils. Round, deep set eyes glowed a pupil-less silver. The darkness seemed to lap against the monster, flattening the thick layer of wiry fur mottled with colors of dirty water, dead leaves, and weak tea. Curved, spiral horns spiked out along its spine and tail, ready to skewer me if the foot-long fangs happened to miss. 
    My vision snapped back to my body. The sudden return of weight to my limbs disoriented my equilibrium.
    I didn’t fight the fall. Instead, I turned it into a slide on my side just as I came to the corner. The wolf demon came up through the ground, not bursting from it in a hail of dirt, but more like it was liquid that simply poured up from beneath the earth. It leapt through the air, a gaping mouthful of serrated teeth ready to chomp me in half. With my body so low to the ground, its feet only clipped my head, but if the Nex vision hadn’t warned me to duck, I’d be dead.
    The feral creature landed in a crouch, shining eyes scanning the ground like a silver laser beam. It saw me. A low growl rumbled the ground under my feet. It lifted it snout and howled a lonely lament.
    Calling the rest of its pack? Not good. 
    It dropped its head, licked its lips, and charged.
    Even worse.
    My feet scrambled to find traction on ground shaking from the pounding gallop. He was fast, and the fangs and claws would gouge through my guts before I had a chance to get my sprint on. An