Read Online First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association) by D.L. Carter - Free Book Online Page A

“did he hurt you? What did he do?
    “Relax, Smoke,” muttered Amber, rubbing at her forehead and uncovering her face. “I did it to myself looking for an aura.”
    “Aura?” Karl’s voice was hard.
    That word had an interesting effect upon the store manager, Amber noted despite the pain. He went from professional sympathy to suspicious anger in a breath.
    “What the hell is going on?” said Karl, taking a step back. “Listen, if you’re trying to set my store up for some kind of con or lawsuit, you’ve picked the wrong place. We haven’t anything to take.”
    “What’s your problem?” demanded Smoke loudly, and Amber winced.
    Her headache spawned a few baby headaches and they’d invited a few other little aches and pains over for a play date. Her body and spirit were one huge throb and she felt loose, so loose. She turned head slowly from side to side and it seemed that her soul was just a beat behind the movement.
    “Nothing, except maybe you,” snapped Karl.
    “Enough,” shouted Amber, or at least she spoke as loudly as her delicate jaw and throat would allow. “Listen, you,” she focused on Karl and blinked. Her eyesight was fogging and she could barely stop herself from yawning in his face. If he were a true son of evil he’d take offense at that. If he wasn’t, too damned bad. “Listen. I’m not setting you up for anything. I was heading into your store to ask about a book my aunt ordered online. That’s all.”
    Karl looked startled at the sudden change in subject and relaxed a little. Anger faded as his professional mask settled into place.
    “Online is where we do most of our sales now,” he said. “What happened? Didn’t the book arrive?”
    “Yes, but you see, it’s not the sort of book my aunt usually reads. And a few days later she and my uncle disappeared. I’m sort of tracking them through their last few days to get an idea what was going on,” She studied him through narrowed eyes, “Is there any way you could do a check? See if there’s anything unusual about the sale? Or maybe ask around at the store. Your staff may remember seeing her. It’s unusual for my aunt to buy books online. She preferred browsing. She might have dropped in, seen the book, forgot to buy it, then ordered it online rather than come back.”
    Karl regarded her without expression for several seconds. Long enough for Amber to get worried. Had she given away too much information? Yeah, sure, but there were times when she had to take a risk. The longer she looked at the man the more convinced she became that he wasn’t behind the attack on her. She didn’t have the strength to try and scan his aura a second time, but her physical eyes were telling her this was a seriously ill man. She doubted he could walk up a flight of steps without oxygen.
    Of course, it could all be an act. A blind.
    Right now she couldn’t do that walk, either.
    “Okay,” said Karl. “I have no idea what you’re up to, but I warn you, any attempt to pull a con or start a lawsuit and we will be talking through lawyers. There’s a chance that you were innocently clumsy or distracted by concern for your family. I doubt that, because it isn’t the police coming to my door asking questions about your aunt. However, I’m going to ask my staff and get back to you. And I’ll check with the website. But I can tell you right now, I deal with that part of the business myself. If there had been anything to raise flags I’d have noticed it.”
    “Thank you.”
    Amber decided to ignore the comment about the police. Certainly it would be suspicious to even a mundane police officer that her cousins hadn’t reported the missing family members for eight whole weeks. Or that her first action after being told hadn’t been to call 911. She grimaced imagining how that conversation would go.
    “Hi, my aunt and uncle – witches both – have disappeared and we suspect they’ve been eaten by a monster. And it just so happens there’s a