Bring Out Your Dead Read Online Free PDF

in horror as a
familiar man—tall, built rather solidly, and covered in
blood—staggered through the door.
    “ You, woman, give me the
ring!” he demanded in an authoritative voice that was immediately
contradicted when his eyes rolled up and he collapsed at my
feet.
    I stared down at the man in shock, a
thousand questions racing through my mind. What on earth was the
kissable Good Samaritan from the alley doing here? Had he followed
me? Was he a stalker rather than a lifesaver? How could anyone who
kissed the way he did have harm on his mind? And what on earth was
he babbling about? “What ring? Who are you? What did you have to do
with those demons? God’s mercy, you’re bleeding! Are you all right?
Should I call the paramedics?”
    “ Oooh,” Damian’s voice
said from where he stood on the stairs, looking down at the scene
before him. “You let Sebastian in. That isn’t good. Now he’ll try
to kill us.”
     

Chapter Three
     
    “ Who are you?” The voice
was as rough and low as I remembered. “You are not the charmer. You
cannot be. What are you doing in this house?”
    Sebastian was bound to a
chair, held by a thin nylon laundry line Damian had found in the
basement. Before I could answer, Sally, only just returned from a
quick trip to my flat, gasped and floated over until she was
directly in front of him. “ Elle est very charming! You, however, are tres, tres rude!”
    “ He said charmer, not
charming,” I said slowly, racking my brain to dig out information
on charmers. Fleeting thoughts skittered away as I was swamped with
the memory of Sebastian’s mouth on mine.
    “ So?” Sally contined to
stand with her hands on her hips, glaring at Sebastian. He glared
right back at her.
    “ A charmer is someone who
can unmake curses,” he said, turning his gaze to me. I felt it as
if it were a physical touch.
    “ That’s right—they lift
curses and wards and things. You are quite correct; I am not a
charmer. My name is Ysabelle Raleigh. I am tutoring Damian. I take
it you are Sebastian?”
    “ Yes. Where is Adrian?”
His brows pulled together as he looked down at himself, noticing
that his arms had been tied behind him. When he looked back up to
me, his gray-blue eyes were flashing with indigation and just a
smidgen of disbelief. “You think to hold me prisoner?”
    Sally’s form shimmered
indignantly. “ Oui, vous êtes
dérangé man! And there you’ll stay
until vous expliquiez why you’re attacking poor Belle!”
    Sebastian’s eyes narrowed at her for a
moment. “You are aware, are you not, that you are not speaking
actual French?”
    “ Le gasp!” Sally said, following word by deed and gasping in a
thoroughly shocked manner. “ Je suis too!”
    “ No, you are not. You are
mangling a perfectly nice language—”
    “ Zût
alors! ” she interrupted, shaking an
ethereal fist in his face. “I should pop vous on the nose—”
    “ All right, that’s enough,
you two.” I gave my spirit guide a very stern look. She bristled,
her eyes flashing. “Sally, please leave us alone.”
    “ Like Abaddon I will! You
are not…not…whatever the word for ‘safe’ is—”
    I shooed her toward the door. “Don’t be
silly. He’s bound quite tightly, and if I need any help, I’ll yell
for you.”
    “ Mais —” She shot both of us a shared indignant look as I shoved
her through the door.
    “ I’m sorry about that,” I
said, giving Sebastian a wide berth as I returned to the desk I’d
been leaning against. “She’s a bit ecentric.”
    One of his eyebrows rose. “An
understatement, but one I am willing to let go in order to deal
with more important issues.”
    “ Yes…your injuries seem to
be healing. I take it you received them fighting the demon? Why did
you do it?” I asked, desperate to distract myself from the strange
attraction.
    Damian and I had half dragged, half carried
the unconscious Sebastian into the library, a room filled with
comfortable leather chairs and several