Demon Blood (Vampire in the City Book 5) by Donna Ansari Read Free Book Online Page B

shop window. Various colored crystals and herbs, and one very large black cat, completed the look.
    Tammy ignored both the sign and the fact that there were no lights on, and began pounding on the door. The cat stood up and hissed at us, but Tammy continued knocking until we saw a door to some back room fling open.
    An annoyed looking woman eventually emerged and mouthed the word “Closed” to us, while pointing at the sign.
    Tammy made some odd motions in the air, and while the woman continued to look annoyed, she did come over and start unlocking the door.
    “What did you do?” I whispered to Tammy.
    “I just drew the symbol of the invoking pentacle of earth, just so she’d know we weren’t pedestrians.”
    The woman opened the door a few inches and said, “This better not be an urgent mission to get more eye of newt, because we don’t have time for that.” She paused. “Also, I think we’re out.”
    “No,” Tammy said. “We’re from the Silver Moon coven. Max and Nina told us what happened to you last night, and a similar thing happened to Emma here as well.”
    “Oh!” The woman flung the door open the rest of the way and held it open for us.
     We walked into the dimly lit store, and the woman closed and locked the door behind us. The store itself was small, but organized. Books filled up an entire wall, and herbs and what must be various spell ingredients another. There were also soaps, crystals, incenses, and a case of jewelry and expensive looking items, like a large wand made of crystals, near the counter. 
    “Come through the back,” the woman directed us, going around the counter. Another door led to a back room, which held a few couches and chairs and another bookshelf.
    “Have a seat,” the woman said. Then she turned to the other two people in the room and said, “They’re from Silver Moon.”
    “Hi, I’m Tammy.” My best friend nodded at them.
    “Emma,” I mumbled, feeling mildly uncomfortable despite the fairly normal seeming people in the room.
    “Marie,” the woman who had let us in said by way of introduction. “And these are Leah and John, also from Silver Leaf.”
    The three witches in the room were all older than us, with Marie and John possibly in their mid to late thirties, and Leah being maybe forty or so. Marie was short with auburn hair, and still looked pissed off, which I guess I could understand, given the circumstances. 
    John was tall and dark haired, and smiled at us and asked, “Do you guys want some tea?”
    Leah, whose long black hair had turned almost entirely prematurely grey, added, “We have cookies, too.”
    “No, thanks,” Tammy immediately answered.
    I realized then that I hadn’t had a cookie in over six months. “I’ll take a cookie.”
    Leah passed over a tray of chocolate chip cookies, and I restrained myself to just taking one. “Thanks.”
    Marie had poured herself a cup of tea, but remained standing, which was a bit off-putting. “When I talked to Nina this morning, she said she was unaffected by whatever happened to us. Did something change?”
    “No,” Tammy said. “Most of our coven is fine. It’s only Emma here that lost her witch powers.”
    “Were you guys together, or were you doing something different than the rest of your coven?” That question was from John.
    “Yeah,” I answered. “I was out at a club. But I don’t know what everyone else was doing.”
    “Where was the club?” Leah asked.
    “Just a few blocks from here.”
    “That’s why we were thinking it was maybe an area effect,” Tammy explained. 
    “Makes sense.” Leah nodded.
    “What time did you notice the change?” Marie asked.
    “I only noticed when I woke up the next morning,” I said. “But I was probably at the club from about eleven to one.”
    The members of Silver Leaf looked at each other. John said, “Our mediation on the waxing moon ritual was at midnight, so it was around the same time.”
    “What exactly happened to you guys