Moonlight Calls (Demon's Call Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

her sunny expression toward me.
    “I really need
to move out of my old place as soon as possible,” she said with a grimace.  “My
landlord is a monster.”  Have I mentioned I’m a sucker for strays?
     I handed her
the lease and offered to help her move.

Chapter 3
    I made my way
into the spare bedroom and hefted the last box onto the top of the huge pile,
puffing idly at a stray curl that had escaped my ponytail and was now glued to
my forehead.  It was hot as hell, and the humidity was horrendous.  I heard
Ailis come in the front door, kicking it closed while she balanced the last of
her boxes.  They were large, but she carried them with ease. She came into the
room and I helped her to deposit the boxes on the pile.  I grunted, surprised
at how heavy they were.  Maybe I should renew my gym membership, now that my
finances wouldn’t be stretched so tight.
    “You are never
going to get this all unpacked,” I commented wryly.
    She just
grinned.  “Not by myself, anyway.” 
    I sent an
envious glance her way.  The heat didn’t seem to be affecting her at all.  She
hadn’t even broken a sweat while carting all the boxes off the moving truck. 
She took feminine to the next level, always appearing polished and perfect. 
Everything that she wore, right down to the shorts and halter-top she had on
today, looked as if it had been tailor made to cling to her willowy body.  She
pushed back the giant sunglasses she was wearing and batted her eyelashes at me
comically.
    “If you expect
me to help with that there had better be something in it for me,” I said
tiredly.  “Maybe dinner.”  To say I can’t cook is an understatement.  It was a
wonder I’d been able to survive these last few months by myself.
    She laughed and
flitted away to the kitchen.  “Actually, you lucked out in that department. I
love to cook.”
    It was good to
know that there was more to her than all that polish and a pretty face.  I
don’t think I could’ve survived a roommate who was an airhead.  I already felt
like we had been friends for years, instead of a few days.  I took a deep
breath and fought the part of me that was utterly horrified that I was
beginning to trust someone new.  I didn’t have a good track record in that
arena.  In fact, aside from Amanda, I didn’t do the whole friend…thing.
    She offered me a
cold bottle of water, and we headed into the living room.  I flopped
full-length onto my ratty yard-sale couch.  We had turned on the TV for
background noise while we worked, but now the news was on.  Mr. Happy the
newscaster was reporting on the missing boy again.  Turns out they’d found his
bloodless body the night before.  I stretched to get the remote off the coffee
table without sitting up.  I hastily hit the power button before I could hear
all the grisly details about the cult they thought was behind the murder, and
their allegedly sacrificing children.  It’s scary how many people out there are
absolutely insane.  If we ever really took time to think about the world we
live in too closely, we’d all go crazy.
    The TV went
quiet and I sighed in relief.  I closed my eyes and tilted my face back to
catch more of the heavenly breeze from the ceiling fan.  A bead of sweat ran
down my neck and the breeze turned it cold.  I shivered, lifting the corner of
my old t-shirt to dab at my neck.  A few minutes later, I opened my eyes to
find Ailis staring at me.  Her aura was a soft blue haze around her body.  When
she caught me looking at her, her eyes darted away to scan the collage of
family pictures lining the living room wall.  A rash of goose bumps washed over
my body.  What was it about her?
    “Is that your
mother?”  She asked, startling me out of my thoughts.  I blinked rapidly and
followed her glance.  She stood by the wall of photos, gazing intently at a
picture of my mother when she was about my age, in her mid-twenties or so.  The
picture showed her leaning against a