Charm City (The Demon Whisperer Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

smugness of being securely in the Light." She toyed with the damp edge of the coaster before looking up at him. "And we need him, Simon. We need every single one of them, if we're going to keep balance. The darkness is rising, and I'm not talking a weather forecast. It's a warning."
    "Now, hold on a minute—" Darkness rising. The words went through him like a splash of ice cold water. That phrase. It was the same that Mack used, over and over and over. Angels are defecting, the darkness is rising. Possessions are increasing, darkness is rising. Boston made the playoffs, must be the fricken darkness rising. "Why that exact phrase? Who told you?"
    She pushed her drink away. "Look, it's been a long day. My correction may have looked like a bunch of simple whispering but I'm drained. Thanks for the drinks."
    "I insist. Look, if I have to bind you here…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fistful of charms, picking through them.
    She narrowed her eyes.
    "If I have to try to bind you…" he amended, feeling a bit sheepish.
    She exhaled through stiff lips as if she were trying to push away a strong impulse. "Fine. Just—put those away before someone gets hurt."
    He grinned and put his gear away, hands up to show his surrender. "Better?"
    "A little. But I'm going to ask the first question. What business to you have with that angel?"
    Eh. Of course, she'd go right for the million dollar question. He scratched his head and felt his way around an answer.
    A child of the Light has one foot in the darkness. Mack's words echoed through his memory, a replay of a previous heraldic message. Vague enough, but he couldn't tell it to her. Not that he wouldn't, but honestly couldn't.
    When he tried, a sudden alien force gripped his voice, restraining the words. The ward was a condition of the message. Kind of a divine need-to-know. And as far as Simon knew, he was the only one who needed to know.
    Finally, he got something to come out of his mouth.
    "It's complicated," he said.
    "That much is universally understood. No? Don't want to 'talk' so much, huh?"
    "It's not that. Dealing with angels can be…tricky. I don't talk to people much, either. Sometimes I forget what I can or can't say."
    "A ward?" She glanced at him and nodded. "Makes sense. No worries. I know the rules. But it's not just that angel lolloping about that concerns me. It's his lolloping about a man like you."
    A man like him? Comments like that were always a bit double-sided. He was more or less programed to see the dark side of things. He frowned, immediately on the defense.
    But then the wall crashed in.
    Literally.
    His reply was lost in the barrage of glass and stone and wood that flew in all directions. He spread open his jacket, shielding Chiara and pushed her down, behind him, before scanning the scene.
    The front end of a blue Ford F-150 had bellied up to the bar.
    Bobby had taken the impact hard, knocked backward onto the center counter, dazed but alive. The dislodged cash register hit the floor with a clatter that was dwarfed in the shower of brick and debris pouring from the gaping hole in the wall.
    A bearded man slumped out of the driver's side window, his neck bent at an ugly angle. Black smoke leaked out of his gaping mouth, his bloodied ears, and snaked its way over toward Bobby, who lay helplessly sprawled over the counter.
    "No. No, no. Bobby!" Simon reached into his inside pocket, feeling for a soul-lock charm. Not there. It must have fallen out.
    He boosted himself up and rolled over the bar, digging through the upset garnish tubs. Lime. Cocktail onions. Perfect for protection spells. All gone, lost in the mess of ice and glass and splintered bar.
    "Simon!" Chiara was on her feet. "Get out of there before you get tagged!"
    He ducked out of the way of the black vapors, stepping a wide berth around them.
    The smoke curled into Bobby's nose and mouth and the man rolled his head, rousing. His eyes blinked open. His pupils glowed a sullen red that