Guardian Demon (GUARDIAN SERIES) by Meljean Brook Read Free Book Online Page B

every shred of trust.
    But Taylor wouldn’t rip that belief away from her mother. She’d already lost enough.
    “He’s really something,” she said instead, and hated how her voice had thickened. Hated that even now, he took up any part of her head. Clearing her throat, she spooned up a heap of soggy flakes. “So—two and a half years. Did I miss anything?”
    *   *   *
    According to her mother, she’d missed a royal wedding, a presidential election, and a lot of reality television. Taylor didn’t care how much she left out. She could read the headlines later; catching up with her mom mattered more than loading up on current events—and it prevented her from dwelling on the time she’d lost. But even a pot of tea couldn’t stop her mother’s yawns, and Taylor urged her back to bed.
    In her own room, Taylor traded her sweats and bare feet for a pair of trousers and boots that she made by imagining them. God, she loved being able to do that. She didn’t know how it worked, but it was definitely one of the perks.
    Another perk was finding her keys and her Special Investigations–issued cell phone in her hammerspace, the battery still half-charged and her account still active. She locked the apartment behind her and dialed Joe’s home number as she made her way downstairs and onto the sidewalk.
    Three o’clock in the morning. Not every street in San Francisco would be quiet, but hers was. Drops from an earlier rain fell from the power lines crisscrossing overhead. A half-moon peeked through still-swollen clouds. Cold spring air filled her lungs, touched brisk fingers to her cheeks, but even though she’d only created a light jacket over her shirt, she didn’t shiver or wish for anything warmer. So strange that she could feel the cold, but not
feel
cold. Another perk.
    “This better be damned good.” Joe’s gruff greeting was heavy with sleep.
    Taylor grinned. It was so easy to picture his hangdog face lined with irritation, his brown hair sticking up every which way. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d seen him just out of bed and grumpy as hell. “Jesus, being a federal agent has made you soft. Whining over a three a.m. wake-up? It used to be, we’d just be getting started.”
    A sharp, indrawn breath. “Andy?”
    “That’s me. Sleeping Beauty.” Better than any fairy tale, though. Taylor hadn’t needed a kiss to wake her up.
    “Christ be nimble. You at home?”
    “Leaving it.” Before Michael decided to pop in. “My mom just went back to bed.”
    “Where are you headed?”
    “Savi’s.” She heard noises in the background—Joe was moving around. “No, don’t get up. I’m just calling because I wanted you to be the first after my mom to know. I’ll see you at SI later, because if I don’t see Savi before sunrise I won’t get a chance until tonight.”
    “Vampires.” He acknowledged her predicament with a sigh. “All right, then. How’d Carolyn take it?”
    Oh, God. Taylor wasn’t ready to talk about her mom with him yet. She closed her eyes, ignored the sweet note in his voice. “Really well. But I know it must have been rough for her.”
    “It was. But she’s one hell of a tough lady.” Admiration deepened the sweetness into something warmer. “How are
you
taking it?”
    Truthfully? “Not quite as well. I’m trying not to dwell.”
    “Dammit, Andy.” No anger. Just heavy regret, and no more needed to be said.
    There wasn’t anything to say, anyway. “Back to bed, old man. I’ll see you in the morning.”
    “Just remember this old man can still run circles around you.”
    “So your walker doesn’t roll in a straight line anymore?” Taylor asked, and his bark of laughter lifted the weight in her chest. “In the morning, then.”
    “Early. I’m jumping over to West Virginia at seven.”
    Teleporting across the country. She wouldn’t ask who was taking him. Only four Guardians could jump instantly from one location to another. Michael was one of