Read Online Demons in My Driveway by R.L. Naquin - Free Book Online Page B

going on in the house or out front, because of the bubble around it. It was never totally empty, since Molly the brownie and her family lived in the far northwest corner. Convalescing Hidden often stayed in the tents there, too, but it was still peaceful.
    I needed air.
    “Handicapped,” I muttered. “I saved your sorry ass. Twice.”
    “Trouble?” Sara sat in a lawn chair on the far side of a dead campfire. She’d been so still, I hadn’t seen her. Her face was lined with tension and her hands clutched the arms of the metal chair as if she were afraid of floating away if she let go.
    I tugged my sweater around myself and sat next to her. “No. I’m just grumpy. You okay?”
    “Just grumpy.”
    We sat in silence, sharing our grump with each other. Best friends could do that. No questions asked.
    The breeze from the nearby bay did a lot to scrub away some of my irritation, and I suspected it helped soothe some of Sara’s fears and worry.
    We watched as a pair of gulls swooped past, cawing at each other and fighting over what looked like a sandwich. I wondered if people with perfectly normal lives were picnicking on the beach not far from where we sat, their biggest worry in the world that they were short one salami-and-Swiss sandwich.
    Sara’s phone buzzed. She eyed the display then looked up at me. “Sorry. It’s Louise calling me back. I have to take this.”
    I nodded and she wandered off. The sound of her voice was comforting. I couldn’t hear her words—and didn’t want to, since it wasn’t my business—but her tone was more normal as she spoke to her therapist, less icy and shocked.
    A few minutes later, she came back to the campsite. The tension in her face had eased and she looked more like herself.
    I tilted my head. “Okay?”
    She smiled and curled into the chair she’d vacated. “Better. Not okay, but better. You?”
    I nodded. “Yeah. Better.”
    After about a half hour of blessed, shared silence, the back door slammed open, and Maurice popped his head into the bubble so he could see us.
    “Zoey, you’d better come out here.” His eyes were wide, but his voice was steady and careful. “Someone came through the portal.”
    “Who? Is it dangerous?” I was up and out of my chair before he finished speaking. No matter what was out there, I refused to hide in my backyard.
    His forehead creased with worry, and he glanced at Sara. “I’d say so. Zoey, it’s the queen of the demons. And she’s asking for you by name.”

Chapter Five
    The queen of the demons was, quite possibly, the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Also, the most terrifying.
    Her exquisite cheekbones rose and blended into black-and-gold ram horns that started above her temples and curled around her pointed, jewel-tipped ears. Sapphire eyes—shaped like almonds and fringed with dark lashes—perfectly complemented the sky blue of her skin and the dark purple of her lips. Her outfit wasn’t much more than a few strips of leather, grommets and airy purple and blue material, so it left no doubt about the perfect shape of her body. Here and there, swirls of purple decorated her smooth skin like runes.
    She stood in a casual pose, surrounded by a wary Darius and Riley. Lionel and his guys stood a few paces back in offensive stances, as if they could take this lady down with their bare fists if she made a wrong move. I had my doubts. Lionel, especially, looked about as dangerous as any guy you might meet on karaoke night in a bowling alley. For all we knew his skin used to belong to exactly that sort of guy. I cringed at the thought.
    Darius, as a freelance soul chaser, and Riley, as a soul reaper, had a better chance of defending us if she attacked out of nowhere. They were both equipped with soul stones that could rip the woman’s soul out of her body—provided, of course, the queen of the demons actually had a soul to rip out.
    “Ah,” the demon queen said, offering an elegant hand shining with jeweled rings and