Catching Dragos by Gail Koger Read Free Book Online

instructed curtly.
    Stepping into the circle of salt, I tucked the hex box under my arm and chanted a
    protection spell. “Gallice scripta habetur. Nec facile et utilora.”
    Boom! The doors flew open. Heather had morphed into a monstrosity with six-
    inch fangs and claws. Her evening dress was hiked up around her waist.
    Vomit rose in my throat. Red wormy things crawled over her pussy. Was it a form
    of demonic trichinosis? “You really need to see a doctor about that.”
    Heather pointed a talon at me. “Give me the hunter, and I will let you live.”
    Grams gasped. “She’s wearing the Eye of Brahma.”
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    My gaze flew to the black diamond ring adorning her finger. It pulsed with
    malignant life. My God, it was the soul taker. It harvested human souls to be used in
    black magic rituals.
    “Give me the Eye, and I’ll let you live.” I pulled my itty-bitty sword.
    A hideous hissing laugh sounded from the creature. “You expect to slay me with
    that?”
    “It is a magical sword,” I replied.
    Heather cackled. “I cannot be killed. I will live for an eternity.”
    “Okay, how about I just send you to hell instead? Dicitur pretiosa materia .” Poof!
    My sword was normal size.
    In a lightning-fast move, I whacked off her ring finger and yanked out the
    medallion. “ Transferam succinte potuero .”
    A swirling black vortex opened under Heather’s feet. She sank her claws into the
    wall in a desperate attempt to keep from being sucked into hell.
    I pointed my sword at Heather. “ Tacitos abeu intereo .” A blinding white light struck
    the demon, yanking her claws out of the wall.
    Heather’s shrieks joined the wails of the damned as she tumbled down the vortex.
    Ugh. The stench of sulfur was overwhelming. “Ah. How do I close it?”
    “ Transferam succinte obturo .”
    I repeated, “ Transferam succinte obturo .”
    The gateway to hell closed.
    “Ding dong, the evil hag is gone.” I did a happy dance.
    “Your lack of knowledge about basic spell casting will get you killed,” Grams lectured.
    “When I took this job, I wasn’t expecting to be dealing with demons.”
    “You’re a slayer.”
    “I’m the Judge,” I corrected.
    CATCHING DRAGOS | 45
    “It is your destiny, Mariah.”
    Well, destiny could suck wind. “I made Dad a promise that I would stay out of the
    slaying business. I like what I’m doing, and I’m good at it.”
    “The family needs you.” There was a hint of tears in Grams’s voice.
    My grandmother, the master manipulator. “Nice try, Grams.”
    “Admit it. You enjoyed sending Heather to hell.”
    “Okay, you got me. I did, but it was a one-time deal.”
    “There will be more demons. At least let me train you. I don’t want to bury you too,”
    Grams pleaded.
    I threw up my hands in defeat. I didn’t want to die. My mother’s death still
    haunted my dad. I couldn’t subject him to that kind of pain again. If I had been on my
    own, there was a good chance Heather would have won. “I’ll start slayer training
    tomorrow. But I’m keeping my day job.”
    “As you wish.” The tears were back.
    Smothering a groan, I looked around for the Eye of Brahma. “Rats. Where’s the
    ring?”
    “Fabian has it,” Grams answered.
    “What?” I spun around. Sure enough, Fabian had it clutched in his left hand. I put
    my sword to his throat. “Playing possum, huh? Give me the finger.”
    A feral gleam in his eyes, Fabian flipped me the bird.
    “Har. Har.” I poked his groin with the tip of my sword. “Drop it. Now. Or your
    playboy days are over.”
    Fabian tossed the rapidly decaying finger at my feet. “Who are you?”
    “I’m the girl who kicked your ass.”
    Grams sighed in exasperation. “Why do you deliberately provoke him?”
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    “’Cause it’s fun.” I wrapped the finger in a tissue and carefully placed it in the hex
    box. I grinned at Fabian’s furious expression. “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll properly dispose
    of the cursed