A Girl's Guide to Demon Hunting Read Online Free PDF Page A

the room, where he was carefully feeding Pancake leftover donuts.
    “He’s probably having to pour holy water in his ears. What the hell do you guys confess?” I asked, instantly realizing I didn’t want to know.
    Father H saved me, rushing back into the room, his face pale.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked. Not liking the panic I saw on his face I instinctively began pulling on my power.
    “It’s nothing for you to be concerned with; a school matter, but I need to make this quick.”
    Whatever it was, it was clearly not a topic he intended to discuss as he went into leader mode.
     “You all know the old bottling plant in the business district?  Well, Frank down at the shelter said he’s heard some of the homeless are going missing in that area.”
    “That’s not much to go on.” I said, expecting more. Geesh didn’t he even run this by Jenny? Then I remembered she was at school right now.
    “And the nominee for least helpful is...” Ace whispered at Father H’s retreating back.

Chapter 5
     
    Tip 93: Always carry a concealed weapon, except to the airport. Demons have nothing on the TSA.
        We were headed to the bottling plant. After this morning’s meeting we decided to do a little hunting after dark. I spent the rest of the day at the library trying to find out anything on what we could be walking into tonight. There wasn’t much; a few homicide reports but that wasn’t unusual at this end of town.
    “Not a chance in hell,” I told Ace as he pulled out a halo grenade from the hidden compartment in the floor of Shooter’s van. “Last time you nearly took my head off with that thing.”
With a sheepish grin, he put the grenade back and instead pulled out a taser.
    “Also no.” I said, “I still have the scars from that thing; plus it made my power all loopy for a week. This is only a recon; no fighting until we know exactly what’s going on.”
    “Told you man.” Shooter said from the driver’s seat.
    “Seriously; a few mistakes and I’m punished for the rest of my life.” Ace said in mock indignation. Picking up Shooter’s rifle, he ejected the empty magazine.
    Cold chills ran down my spine as I watched him load the magazine. The halo grenade was bad, what with the white flame and its ability to burn through metal. And the taser was dangerous to me or more accurately my power; out of the three I’d rather he use the gun. Still it made me uneasy. 
    I’m not against the use of guns, especially when I’m fighting with Ace and Shooter; hell I’ve used them a time or two to wound a Demon. The problem is guns tend to kill and when it comes to Demons the key was to not kill. The only choices are to shatter its marker and send it back to Hell or kill it and release its power. I choose Hell every time. Plus, using a gun is just too impersonal for my taste; I like them to know it was me who sent them back.
    While Ace tried to decide on a weapon, I took Pancake’s coat and collar off; no need to make it easy for some Demon to grab hold of her. The van came to a jarring stop two blocks from the bottling plant.   We got out of the van and ducked into the shadows next to an abandoned building. Ace passed the gun to Shooter, who slung it on his shoulder under his coat. Ace had decided on the new crossbow.
    “Just watch where you aim that thing.” I told him, not wanting to make a trip to the ER tonight.
    We stayed to the alleys as we made our way to the bottling plant. The Demons loved this end of town; low population, no police and lots of abandoned buildings. It made the perfect place for them to operate. The Lords knew it but collectively turned a blind eye towards this area and its activities.
    Once upon a time the bottling plant was one of the larger distributors of alcohol in Vegas, now it was a testament to what had once been. Five stories of brick; the top