Fire Me Up Read Online Free PDF

peeing on anything unless I
say you can. No gender checks by sniffing anyone's pertinent body parts. No
wisecracks about me in relation to men named Drake. You got all that?"
    Jim's lips curled, but its great black furry head gave a curt
nod of agreement.
    "Good. You may speak now."
    "I hate it when you do that," it burst out, eyes bulging a
little with the strain of having kept its comments to itself. "Not even Amayon
used to make us be silent!"
    "Don't tell tales about your former demon master. Ah, I think
this is where we're supposed to be." We exited the elevator to walk through a
busy reception area. Over a wall of doors a huge banner hung, reading (in
French, English, and what I assumed was Hungarian) 238TH INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE OF GODTAM. Although the conference wasn't due to start for another
hour—with the official kickoff banquet—there were a number of people in business
attire milling around, some sitting on the scattered benches and chairs, others
in small clutches talking quietly with one another. A latte stand in the corner
of the room did brisk business. "Wow. Our first conference. Maybe I should have
worn my brown suit? Do I look dressy enough to you? This is kind of exciting,
huh?"
    "Yes, no, yes, and it would be downright thrilling if you
were to feed me," Jim answered, watching an attractive couple wander past
bearing paper latte cups and elaborate pastries bristling with almonds.
    "The dinner will start in an hour or so. You will kindly
remember that I had to pay for you to attend the meal and not embarrass me by
demanding horsemeat or something ghastly like that."
    "You sure know how to take the fun out of life," Jim snorted
as we joined a short line before a skirted table manned by several individuals
all wearing badges with a nine-pointed symbol.
    Although I knew from experience that most of the citizens of
the Otherworld looked perfectly normal—the dragons' slightly elongated pupils
being the only physical sign that they weren't human—I still half expected to
see something out of the ordinary, some indication that we had stepped out of
the real world and into something cloaked in mystery and magic.
    "Name?"
    I pulled my mind from its wanderings to attend to the
registration woman. "Aisling Grey."
    "Ashling?"
    "That's right." I spelled my name for her. "It's Irish."
    "Denomination?"
    "Huh? Well, my mother is Catholic, but my father was
Presbyterian. I'm kind of neither."
    The woman gave me an annoyed look. "Are you a Diviner,
Theurgist, Guardian, Oracle, or Mage?"
    "Oh, that sort of denomination. Guardian. Kind of. Really
more like Guardian lite."
    "Less filling, half the fat," Jim quipped.
    The woman ignored both of us as she pulled a box of envelopes
toward her.
    "And there should also be a registration for my... um ...
demon. Its name is Effrijim."
    Jim nosed the box. "I hope it just says 'Jim' on the name
tag. I don't want anyone to think I'm a sissy."
    "A demon?" She gave Jim a cold look before flicking through
the thick envelopes, finally extracting two. She handed me clip-on name badges
for both of us, as well as a thick packet of material. I clipped my badge to a
ruffle on my peasant blouse, then attached Jim's to its collar "Demons are
expected to be kept under control at all times and are not to be left
unattended. If you do leave your demon without supervision, it will be trapped
in limbo and returned to its demon lord at your expense. The main convention
hall and ballroom have been warded and spelled so that you cannot conduct dark
magic within their confines. The meeting rooms are unprotected, however. Do you
understand and accept these terms?"
    Jim started to tell the woman that I was its demon lord, but
I interrupted it before it could blather that news to everyone. "Sure. No
problem. I'm not really hip with dark magic. I'm just here to find a Guardian
mentor."
    The woman tapped a few keys on the laptop computer sitting
next to the