The Trouble with Demons by Lisa Shearin Read Free Book Online Page A

quiet “damn.”
    Mychael nodded grimly. “Exactly.”

Chapter 4
     
     
    Mychael and I were inside the conference room; four Guardians were outside the conference room. Piaras was being taken under Guardian protection back to the safety of the Fortune. Talon was being escorted back to Sirens, Tam’s nightclub. The conference room door was closed. So it was just me, Mychael, and enough tension and sizzling magical leftovers to fill the rest of the room. Cozy.
    Like an increasing number of his men, Mychael was wearing full battle armor. For Guardians, that didn’t mean clunky, shiny plate mail. Mychael’s armor was steel and then some, and sleek was the best way to describe it. Matte finish, dark gray, and custom fit—Mychael’s armor conformed to his leanly muscled body almost like a second skin. No armorer was that good; there had to have been magic involved when it was forged.
    I made myself stop staring at Mychael’s conformities and helped myself to a chair. “The reason you’re rushing those boys out of here wouldn’t happen to be named Carnades Silvanus?”
    “It would.”
    “Shit,” I spat.
    Mychael nodded. “That’s why I made sure I got here before he did.”
    “You know for a fact he’s coming?”
    “Without a doubt. And Piaras and Talon not being here will cause two less complications.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “So that’s what you’re calling me now? A complication.”
    Mychael pulled up a chair and sat facing me, mere inches separating us. He almost smiled. “You don’t think it fits?”
    “Oh, it fits. I just think you could’ve done better. Carnades has got some downright colorful names for me.”
    “Carnades has more time to think than I do.”
    “And plot,” I reminded him. “Don’t forget the plotting and scheming.”
    Carnades Silvanus was second only to the archmagus in terms of position on the Conclave’s Seat of Twelve. The archmagus had the top spot and absolute authority over the Isle of Mid and everyone on it. Last week, Archmagus Justinius Valerian had nearly been assassinated. Until the old man recovered, Carnades had gone from second in command to sitting in the big chair, and he was determined to turn his temporary promotion into his permanent job.
    When Mychael didn’t respond, I thought I’d just cut to the chase. I had a knot in my stomach, but I went for casual and leaned back in the chair, tipping the front legs off of the floor. “Since I was there, I know what happened. I won’t even pretend to understand any of it, but—”
    “More demons have been spotted across the city,” Mychael said quietly.
    I swore. “Blue and naked?”
    “The very same.”
    “Any more purple ones?”
    “No Volghuls—not yet.” His tone indicated that he didn’t expect that good fortune to last for long. His lips curved up in a tired grin. “I hear you made quite an impression in the Quad.”
    I snorted. “At what? Finding a wine bottle?”
    Mychael’s blue eyes gleamed. “Vegard came right out and called you magnificent; he said you didn’t give one inch of ground to that monster.”
    “I didn’t know it was an advance guard to a freaking horde of demons.”
    He chuckled. “It wouldn’t have made a bit of difference. If you’d known, you wouldn’t have budged out of sheer stubbornness.” In a blink of an eye, his good humor was gone. “There have been five Dagik sightings in the past two hours.”
    “Dagik?”
    “A species of demon. The blue ones,” he clarified.
    “Oh. There’s probably more than five; they’re cloaking. We had over two dozen in that street with us, and they were cloaked until I hit one of them in the head with a brick.”
    I got the treat of seeing Mychael momentarily speechless. “You hit a Dagik in the head with a brick?”
    “It wasn’t an entire brick, just a chunk. And it wasn’t like I had a choice. I couldn’t get Vegard or Phaelan to believe I saw anything, so I figured pain would make the thing drop its cloak.” I