You Bet Your Banshee by Danica Avet Read Free Book Online

if given a choice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go back in time to change the way I smiled at him. I groaned. “I need to get out of town, Phineas. I need some spells and—”
    “If this guy is working with Queen Tamsyn, nothing I give you will throw him off your track for very long.” Phineas’s eyes were very serious behind his glasses. “My magic isn’t very powerful since I’ve been here for so long.”
    “What can I do?”
    I shot another look out the windows. Was that a shadow in the doorway of the townhouse across the street? A chill skated up my spine.
    Phineas followed my gaze. He cursed under his breath and flipped the welcome sign to closed. After locking the front door, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the back of his shop. Once we were in the back room, he let me go to shuffle through some papers on a battered desk.
    The backroom featured a long worktable covered with empty vials he’d store potions in. There were no roots or leaves as I would have expected, but then I remembered he was allergic to plants. He probably had a supplier that brought him necessary ingredients for his magicks.
    “I’m going to call Sable,” he said as he flipped through some cards. “She can fly you out of here. I don’t know how good a tracker this Ryvan character is, but that should slow him down as well as anyone else who’s after you.” He found what he was looking for and started dialing. “Do you have to get anything from your place first?” He sifted through some bottles and handed me one.
    “Yes, my cat.”
    The label on the bottle read Quick-Clean. My cheeks burned. It was one of those between-shower potions. I took a quick sip and felt the elf magic wash over me removing all traces of my orgasms. I put the stopper back in and put the bottle in my pocket for later. There was no telling when I’d get another shower.
    “Sable, we have an emergency. I have Magda at my shop. I need you to bring her to her apartment. No, I can’t say anything else. I’ll let her explain. Uh-huh. Yeah, it’s that serious.” He closed his eyes. “No, I don’t think any graveyards are involved. I’m almost positive there aren’t dead people involved either. Okay. See you soon.”
    He put down the phone and started rifling through his work cabinet again. “She’ll be here soon. I have a couple of things that might help, but they aren’t failsafe.” He muttered to himself, knocking small glass bottles over in his haste.
    Something banged against the front of the store causing the entire building to vibrate. My heart leapt to my throat. Phineas froze with his hand on a bottle of bright green liquid. His head pivoted like he heard something I couldn’t, his pointed ears twitching.
    “Magda, go out the back door,” he ordered in a near soundless whisper. He pressed another potion bottle into my hand. “Drink that before you go and whatever you do, don’t look back.”
    I clutched his arm. “Come with me.” I was terrified. Whatever was out there was bad news. I could feel it in the air. My dry tear ducts burned with the need to cry. I shouldn’t have come here with trouble on my heels.
    He pushed me away. “Go. I’ll slow them down.”
    I felt like the biggest coward. If I were worth anything, I’d stay and fight at his side, but I was powerless right now. Banshees were criers and swordswomen and currently I was sans tears and sword. In other words, I was s-c-r-e-w-e-d.
    An insane howling rent the air raising the hair on the back of my neck. It stirred something primal in my soul, piggybacking on my fear until I felt like I’d drown in it.
    “It’s the Host ,” Phineas whispered in a hoarse voice.
    I reeled in shock. The Host was made up of the nightmares of Fairworld. Hellhounds, demons, imps, demonic faeries, and any other manner of monsters that haunted human dreams made the Host an unstoppable force. They bided their time in the Void, an empty wasteland within Fairworld, awaiting orders from one of the