by R. L. Naquin
Darius wrapped his arms around my mom and she buried her face in his massive chest.
“Got it.” Riley dragged something solid from the ashes and held it up. He blew away the dust. “It’s a book.”
I craned my neck to see. “Is there a title? What’s in it?”
He held it up to show a dark, red leather cover. “Beats the hell out of me. What is this, Sanskrit, do you think?”
I took it from him and flipped through the pages. “It’s blank.” I fanned the pages, horrified, shaking my head in denial. As the reality sank in, a fat, angry tear rolled down my cheek and splashed on the jagged surface. “This is nothing. We lost Aggie and we can’t even read the damn thing.”
Mom sniffed and wiped her face. “Let me see.”
I handed it to her without a word. I felt numb inside, too full of grief and too tired to work up a full steam of anger. No doubt, that would come later. We’d won the zombie apocalypse without any fatalities, only to lose someone I loved very much for a useless, stupid reason.
And I still didn’t know who wanted us dead in the first place or how to stop him.
I pulled myself to my feet. “I’m going inside.”
I turned, and the world became black...
A fire blazed before me, and the whooshing of wings was unmistakably familiar this time.
“The Last has chosen and will come forth. Soon, the Aegis will choose.” The whispered voice was stronger this time.
“Choose what? What do you want me to do?” My throat scratched from yelling to be heard over the sound of wings.
“When the time comes, you will know.”
I spun in a circle, desperate to see who I was talking to. “That’s no help. At least tell me who he is so I can watch for him.”
The wings stopped beating and utter silence fell.
The voice was so quiet I almost didn’t hear its whispered words. “Shadow Man.”
Daylight stunned my eyes. I was back on my front porch. Mom stood next to Darius, her eyes wide as rainbow-colored feathers fell all around us and piled on the wooden boards.
The skin on my arms was covered in raised bumps, and “Shadow Man” echoed in my head. I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off the chill the name gave me. I didn’t know what it meant, but I felt the name in my core. It was something truly awful, and all the friendly demons, vampires, shifters and zombies in all the worlds wouldn’t be able to save us.
Behind me, the front door flew open. “What the hell is going on out here?” Maurice scowled at the iridescent feathers shimmering in the sunlight. “What did I miss?”
I took the book from Mom and handed it to him. “Can you read the title?”
He looked at me like I was nuts. “Of course not. You might try Molly, though.”
The wind picked up and some of the feathers swirled in drifts.
Riley stepped next to me and circled his arm around my waist. “We’ll ask her tomorrow.” He kissed my temple. “I think we deserve a short break.”
Maurice chuckled. “You’d better come out back first.”
“What’s wrong?” If one more thing went wrong, I’d probably have to assume the fetal position and nurse a couple of bottles of wine. I was done.
Maurice grinned. “Nothing’s wrong. Just come see.”
I glanced at the empty chair behind us, then back at Maurice. He’d loved Aggie very much. I’d have to sit him down in a little while and tell him what happened. Doing so would break my heart all over again.
I gave him as much of a smile as I could muster and squeezed his hand. “All right. Show us.”
We dragged ourselves through the house, sorrow making us appear more zombie-like than the zombies had been.
When I stepped outside and into the magical bubble that concealed my backyard, I stopped short.
Riley bumped into me, then guided me a step to the right so Mom and Darius wouldn’t exit into a pileup.
The entire backyard was filled with tropical birds. Golds and greens, blues and scarlets, every color imaginable—and some I’d never known to imagine—flitted across the yard. They should have caused a cacophony of discordant tweets, shrieks and chirps, but they didn’t.
Their voices joined in a single joyful song that spoke a wordless tune of light overcoming dark, love destroying hate, and happiness dispelling sorrow. I walked to the center of the yard, and they circled and swooped while they sang. The sun glinted off their feathers in dazzling prisms.
Here and there, mixed among the other birds, I spotted a crimson phoenix, each perched in dignified silence as the other birds sang.
When the song ended, the birds dispersed, a few at a time or in flocks, until none remained but a circle of phoenixes surrounding my mother and me. I was certain that if we counted, we would find the number of phoenixes matched the number of lost Aegises.
Plus Aggie.
I smiled through my tears, silently thanking these lovely creatures for caring for our fellow Aegises for as long as they could. One by one, they flew away until only one sat alone a few feet from where we stood.
Love spilled from its downy wings and fluffed around us like soft clouds. The scent of chocolate chip cookies drifted on the breeze.
The bird tilted its head to one side, bowed low, then fluttered off.
Mom and I stood in the middle of the yard holding hands and watching Aggie fly away.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Do you think we’ll ever see her again?”
Her smile squeezed my heart. “With all my heart, I hope so.”
Mom pressed her forehead against mine and we held each other tight.
After a moment, Mom lifted her head, a questioning look on her face. “Zoey, did you know there are gnomes living under our front porch?”
The bay breeze blew my hair from my face. “They’ll come out when they’re ready.” I smiled. “Don’t you worry.”
* * * * *
Enter the enthralling world of the Monster Haven series…
Don’t miss the first four books, available now!
Monster in My Closet
I stopped believing in monsters long ago. But I knew I wasn’t imagining things when I found one in my kitchen baking muffins. I’d seen him before: lurking in my closet, scaring the crap out of my five-year-old self. Turns out that was a misunderstanding, and now Maurice needs a place to stay. How could I say no?
Pooka in My Pantry
Zoey Donovan—empath, wedding planner, go-to girl for monsters with personal problems—has been marked twice for pickup by Death. On both occasions, Riley the smoking-hot reaper has refused to follow through. For his breach of protocol, Riley is now on probation. For her refusal to die on schedule, Zoey’s right to live is challenged. She will have to undergo a life-or-death trial, but she won’t know when or where it will happen…
Fairies in My Fireplace
A migration of mythical creatures has begun, and more and more of them are landing on Zoey Donovan’s doorstep. As the only Aegis left in the country, it falls to her to protect the Hidden and keep them safe—and her house has become a sanctuary for water sprites, goblins, harpies, djinn and more…
Golem in My Glovebox
In her role as Aegis, Zoey Donovan has rescued and cared for hundreds of monsters and mythical creatures. Now humans are the ones in need of her help. Someone with a personal vendetta against the Board of Hidden Affairs has kidnapped all the other Aegises in the country—including Zoey’s mother.
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About the Author
Rachel’s head is packed with an outrageous amount of useless Disney trivia. She is terrified of thunder, but not of lightning, and often recites the Disneyland dedication speech during storms to k
eep herself calm. She finds it appalling that nobody from Disney has called yet with her castle move-in date.
Originally from Northern California, she has a tendency to move every few years, resulting in a total of seven different states and a six-year stint in England. Currently, she’s planning her next grand adventure. Rachel has one heroic husband, two genius grown kids, a crazy-cat-lady starter kit and an imaginary dog named Waffles.
She doesn’t have time for a real dog.
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ISBN-13: 9781426899157
Demons in My Driveway
Copyright © 2014 by R.L. Naquin
Edited by Mallory Braus
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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