Demon Hunt Read Online Free PDF Page B

where Ellie Mae climbed in to curl up beside her mistress in the sleigh bed. Rhi scrunched her eyes closed, trying to remember who the dream man could have been. Not her ex-husband, a blonde with a sculpted body, the result of hours in the gym in front of workout mirrors. The man of her dreams was not a bodybuilder. He was muscled like a predator. A big predator.
    She couldn’t decide whether to call the episode a nightmare or a wet dream so she settled for ignoring it like the rest of the hallucinations of the evening and snuggled next to the dog to sleep.
    * * * *
    In the morning, the sun rose in a glorious show of orange and yellow. Up and about after two hours of sleep, Rhi shoveled and swept the deck clean to perform her ritual of morning stretches and Tai chi moves outdoors in the cold sunlight.
    The dreams and fears of the night before dissipated as she stood on the deck wrapped in a blanket over her workout sweats. She savored her aching muscles as she took in the magnificent view of the mountains, covered in eight fresh inches of white magic. The clean air flowed through her, purging the last shreds of the dreams from the night before. The Rockies pulsed with a power like no other.
    Behind her, she could hear the chugging sound of Pam’s truck making its way up the road. The battered green pickup slid into the driveway and stopped behind the newer SUV, not quite bumping the rear bumper.
    “ I’m up with the chickens because of you. Have you been outside working out? Stupid question - of course you have,” Pam shouted as she hopped from the vehicle. The tall woman turned to unfasten the car seat of her three-year-old daughter, Katie. “I feel so healthy and wholesome I could puke. Please tell me there’s coffee containing caffeine in your house.”
    “ Rhi! Come get me now,” Katie demanded as she struggled through the snow while her mother unloaded a backpack and huge purse from the truck.
    Rhi obliged the little girl, wading through the snow in moccasins to pick her up. Snow spilled into Rhi’s shoes and melted into her wool socks. Better dressed than her rescuer, Katie wore a shocking pink snowsuit and boots. The outfit gave her the grace of a tiny feminine Michelin Man. Picking her up was the equivalent of picking up a squirming pink pillow.
    “ I have caffeine and food that doesn’t require the use of a microwave,” Rhi shot over her shoulder as she climbed the steps to carry Katie in the house. She deposited the little girl on the couch to strip the snowsuit off of her tiny form. An even pinker Nike tracksuit hid beneath the snowsuit, the color almost blinding. Rhi blinked.
    Freed, Katie ran squealing over to pet Ellie Mae. The dog lounged by the warmth of the woodstove, resting after a morning romp in the snow. Rhi started the sausage links and poured another cup of coffee.
    Pam struggled through the door and kicked it shut behind her with a boot. The little A-frame filled with the intoxicating aroma of pancakes, sausage and good black coffee.
    “ My God, what a fabulous smell !”
    “ This is what is known as cooking. These little knobs on the stove make the food hot. We just put the pan on the stove with meat products inside,” Rhi instructed soberly, miming putting links in the pan.
    “ I don’t suppose those are fat free.” Pam eyeballed the links of brown sugar and honey sausage cooking in the pan. She grimaced at the sight of a platter of sliced fruit and shed her coat and boots before plopping down at the breakfast table with a cup of steaming coffee to root through the box of books.
    “ I thought you told me we burn off calories quicker at this altitude?” Rhi raised an inquiring eyebrow.
    “ Was I drinking when I told you this?”
    “ Of course.”
    Pam leafed through several dusty books, exclaiming when something caught her attention. “By the way, if we get snowed in for days on end, I think we should eat Ellie Mae first.”
    “ She’d taste a bit gamey if you ask me. But I