Once You Go Demon (Pure Souls) by Killian McRae Read Free Book Online Page A

she had, Riona felt her impulse to defend spark to life. Yes, Jerry had his bad points, but even as a demon, there was a great deal of good about him. On top of that, he’d helped to take down a few of his former brethren since returning to the topsoil. Surely that, and the fact that he had a fresh cup of coffee ready for her each morning, had to count for something.
    “What business is it of yours if I have?”
    In a sweep of her hand, Bunny raised her hands to her face and fingered her chin. When she tugged down at the cleft, a hazy cloud of skin and hair fell with it. A glamour. A very good, very sexy, but no less deceiving, glamour.
    Bunny was ancient . At least seventy, if not older. And what was more, she was damaged. A scar crossed from her cheekbone diagonally to her hairline, and where her right eye should have been, only a patch of scarred flesh remained.
    “Jerry Romani is the reason for this!” Bunny exclaimed, pointing to her mutilation. “Fifty years ago, he seduced me and sought to bring me under Lucifer’s power. When he reached in to my mind and fingered through my thoughts, the payment the shaman who aided me in breaking the connection demanded was my right eye.”
    She couldn’t help but ask. Riona swallowed her fear. “Was he worth it?”
    Bunny crossed her arms over her chest and inhaled deeply. Knowledge filled her features. “He’s propositioned already.”
    “That is none of your business.”
    Bunny tilted her head, as though studying Riona with fresh eyes. “Your aura is free of a demon’s fingers. He has not a path into your thoughts now. Or at least …”
    “Yes?”
    The clerk appeared unsure of whether or not to trust her suspicions to sound. “Do you know why you are called the Keystone?”
    “Because the council of seven generally suck at naming things?”
    Rumor had it they were behind the concept that later became known as “for unlawful carnal knowledge”.
    But Riona said nothing, only shook her head.
    “It is because all magic allowed to us in this world comes through the Keystone’s existence. Your soul is the bedrock upon which all wiccan works are built. A tremendous flow of light, of pure power, from the Heavens, down to us on Earth. I’ve known my share of Keystones in my day, and always this flow of light passes through each of their auras. But you, your aura is somehow … different. It moves in two directions.” Bunny paused before her mouth drew out in to a smile. “He’s had you in the past, but you severed the bond somehow. Good, Keystone. Very good. Be warned, Satan does not favor a single sortie. If you’ve blocked one, Lucifer will only send another along the same path. One of your position would be well advised not to fall into that trap again.”
    As far as she was aware, there had been no frost advisories yet announced for Hell. Consequently, Riona was as warm to the idea of accepting relationship advice as having her liver carved out with a souvenir spoon.
    “I can assure you, Jerry Romani and me will never be an item again. I learned my lesson the first time. Besides, I vanquished his ass a while ago. I assure you, that particular demon will never again walk the planet.”
    A technicality, but damn, if you learned anything from living through the Clinton administration, it was the utility of a technicality.
    Approval came in the form of a studying, and if she was pressed Riona would have said, regretful expression and nod. Bunny’s hand passed before her own face, recalling the glamour that had concealed both her age and her deformity. L’Oreal had nothing in the way of age-defying like Bunny’s magic. When again she’d taken on her youthful frock, Bunny rounded the counter and took four steps in Riona’s direction, thereby crossing the width of the store.
    “Go on your way now. Your dagger, I believe, will find a way to tell you its truths when it feels you are ready. And between you and me …” She leaned in closely, giving Riona a