Jingle Hells Read Online Free

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inside.
    “Go away.” I waved a hand in his direction.
“Or I’ll call the priest to banish you.”
    He left out a howling woof that sounded like
a laugh. I charged him and he growled, stopping me before I took
another step. Would Lucifer actually hurt me to keep me from going
inside a holy place?
    And then I realized he wasn’t growling at
me. A man had come up the sidewalk and now stood a few feet behind
me. He was burly under a wool trench coat, his dark hair curly and
trimmed close to his skull. His eyes were warm and friendly as he
smiled in the dim light coming from the windows. “A wolf, huh? How
cliché.”
    Lucifer emitted another dangerous growl,
lips peeled back so far, I could see his gums.
    “Knock it off,” I said under my breath.
    The man climbed the steps to stand next to
me and leaned his shoulder against mine. “With demons, you have to
invoke God.”
    What? My eyes did the mambo between him and
Lucifer. He knew the wolf was from the underworld? Holy
guacamole.
    “Demon?” I forced a jovial laugh that
sounded stilted in the cold night air. “Don’t be silly. It’s just
a…a…stray dog.” Taking another step, I did the shooing motion
with my hand again. “A dog who’s going to stray elsewhere.”
    Luc held his stance and the man stepped up
so we were again shoulder to shoulder, a show of solidarity. He
tilted his head and said sotto voci, “Try ‘the Lord rebuke
thee.’”
    At my astonished look, he continued. “It’s
what our Lord said to the Devil in the book of Zechariah. Trust me
it works.”
    For some reason, I did trust him. Me using
the Lord’s name seemed, well, sacrilegious. But when Luc growled
again and snapped at the man, I decided to get serious about my
newfound goodness. Glaring at the wolf, I repeated the man’s words
with gusto. “The Lord rebuke thee.”
    Luc nipped at the air, making me jump back,
but then he jackknifed to the side and jetted into the nearby
trees.
    Stunned it would be so easy, I stared at my
new BFF. “How did you know?”
    He took my elbow and guided me up the
remaining steps. “The same way I know you’re a witch.”
    Gulp. What? Did I have a neon sign
announcing to one and all my predilection for the Devil? I pulled
my elbow out of his grip and faced him. “Is that so?”
    “Yeah.” His gaze was level and completely
unconcerned. He pointed to the door. “You coming in?”
    I glanced at the looming door and bit the
inside of my cheek, wondering if a lightning bolt would kill me
instantly or if I’d be in pain for awhile. He shrugged and grabbed
the handle as if it were no skin off his back if I stayed on the
stairs. Seemed like my best bet to avoid a lightening strike, as
well as the Devil, was to stick like wallpaper to my new friend. I
surged forward and gave him my best smile. “Just so you know, I’m a
reformed witch.”
    He grinned. “A lost soul returning to the
fold.”
    Catholics. Yeesh. “My soul’s not so much
lost as under a blood contract.”
    “To the Devil, I suppose.”
    I nodded.
    “Well, well. Another cliché.” His eyes
bounced off my face, down to my boots, and then did a slow perusal
back up. I might have been a cliché, but from the look on his face,
I was a nicely packaged one.
    Everywhere his gaze touched, electricity
raced over my skin. A pulling sensation burst inside me, as if he’d
just poked my magic with a sharp needle. I flinched and started to
back away, but he used a strong hand and another warm smile to
usher me forward. “Perhaps you’ll find what you need in here.”
    Mentally prepping myself for a burning, slow
death, I took a step toward the door and stuck my toe across the
threshold, ready to flee at the first sign of impending doom. I’m a
good witch, er, person, I repeated over and over. Harm none. Harm
none. Harm none.
    No peal of thunder or flash of lightning
materialized. Pure, unadulterated relief washed over me, and I
stepped fully into the church. In for a pentagram, in