Demons in My Driveway Read Online Free PDF Page A

regions managed to capture the killers, but not until most
of their officials and Aegises were lost. And like Katy, once the killers were
subdued, they were destroyed by whoever sent them. The details are different
from ours, but the end results are the same.”
    As the information trickled through my brain into
understanding, I glanced around the pavilion. No wonder everyone was staring.
Not only was I something of a miracle, I was also completely stupid for leaving
my house.
    Whatever wanted all the Aegises dead now had only a few of us
to focus on. And its reach was worldwide.
    I was so far outside the safety zone, I might as well have had
a bull’s-eye painted on my ass.
    “Holy shit,” I said in a low voice. I snatched the champagne
flute from Bernice and downed the rest of the drink.
    Bernice nodded. “Exactly.”
    Anger bubbled in my belly. “All those people dead.” My gaze
scanned the faces around me, sending disgust and fury at all of them. “And why?
Because nobody wanted to tell anybody else they were in trouble.” Whatever the
hell was after the Aegises had played those government people. It had known they
wouldn’t share information until the Gathering.
    She smoothed her hands across the tablecloth. “I’m so sorry,
Zoey. I never would have asked you to come.”
    Bernice had been the last to arrive at the Gathering. And she’d
been the last to know what was going on. I tried not to judge her for her
ignorance, but I had a hard time understanding at that moment how she’d ended up
in charge anything more than making dinner reservations.
    I shifted in my seat. “I need to call my mom and warn her.”
    “Tell her to stay in the house.” Bernice stared at the empty
mimosa glass, a miserable expression on her face that I wasn’t sure was due to
the current circumstances or the emptiness of the glass.
    Either way, her instructions weren’t necessary. Of course I was
calling to tell Mom to stay put.
    My home was probably one of the safest places on the planet. A
fairy mushroom ring around the property provided an early alarm system. Plus,
anybody with ill intent attempting to cross the mushroom threshold was pummeled
by fairies. And the backyard had the soundproof bubble around it that disguised
the area from outside eyes and ears.
    Anyone staying in my house was also protected by the
mind-boggling variety of visiting and resident creatures.
    Maurice, my closet monster roommate, looked harmless unless he
transmonstrified himself into a huge, slobbering beast. It was an illusion, but
a convincing one.
    A she-yeti kept watch for intruders from the surrounding woods,
and she was no illusion. Tashi could bury a person in the yard, knee deep, with
one slam of her fist on the top of his head. I would not want her angry with
me.
    My ex, Riley, didn’t look scary at all, but as a reaper, he
could rip a person’s soul right out of her chest. Hidden who didn’t know him
tended to give Riley a wide berth.
    To me, the scariest was Darius, though he didn’t live with us.
He came and went often, since he worked freelance for the Board of Hidden
Affairs as a soul catcher—similar to a reaper, but he chased after escaped souls
instead of the ones stuck inside a body. That wasn’t what made him scary,
though. Darius was a mothman. It doesn’t get more terrifying than that. Inducing
fear is one of his powers, and if he felt like it, he could feed on fear. In a
twist I hadn’t seen coming, it turned out he was also my mother’s boyfriend.
    So, yeah. My house was pretty safe.
    I pulled out my phone. “I’ll call her.”
    At that moment, Lord Chilford climbed the steps to the podium
and tapped his finger on the microphone. “If everyone would take a seat, please,
I’d like to get started.”
    I frowned at the phone in my hand. Now probably wouldn’t be the
time for a phone call. Instead, I tapped in a quick text message to Maurice. He
was the most likely to take me seriously and act immediately on my