Guardians (Chosen Trilogy Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

“Or lose it forever. These hierarchy demons won’t mess around. They’ll be searching for those artefacts every minute, every second, and then they’ll come together for some kind of ceremony. After that you may as well head up into the hills and end it quietly.” The witch made a gun with her right hand and pointed it at her head. “Lights out. It’d be the easiest way.”
    Giles pulled off the main route, spying a large hotel off to the right. “Enclave ,” he read out. “Looks big enough. Off the road. Plenty of flat land around it to keep a watch. Shall we see what Aegis can do?”
    Whilst Giles and Cleaver headed into the lobby and bartered for rooms, we exited the cars and stretched our legs. Cheyne wandered off to make a private call. The weather was cooler than I’d imagined, a chill breeze made goose pimples stand out on my bare arms. I nodded to Lysette and Jade, the elf, whom I hadn’t really seen since Miami Beach, then once again extracted Lucy from Ceriden’s shadow.
    “I’d be careful ,” I said to the rather camp vamp. “Don’t want that cloak to fall off.”
    “I’m positively certain it won’t,” Ceriden said. “Its human hide. Shapes and clings perfectly to the shoulders, love.”
    I blinked, sure that he was joking but not sure enough to venture a rejoinder. We stood in silence for a while, the ten of us, and then Cheyne returned, her perfectly crooked nose practically twitching.
    “Interesting news,” she said. “My coven traveled here separately . . .”
    I felt Lucy’s tug on my arm and looked down to see the twinkle of laughter in her eyes and, through some kind of father-daughter psychic link, knew exactly what she was thinking — by broomstick?— but we kept our mutual witticisms to ourselves.
    “ . . . and very quickly. They have been laying some hard groundwork. Remember the wayclearer demons? Those ugly, little squat creatures with teeth growing everywhere and the distinct lack of anything even remotely resembling a brain?”
    I nodded. We’d come across the wayclearer demons several times already, chiefly during the attack on the Aegis HQ back in York.
    “The hierarchy seem to be using them as a kind of foot soldier. Their numbers are growing and they’re heading north. On foot, it will take time, but even a mindless beast can move fast if it has sufficient motivation and needs no rest.”
    “Let’s hope they find a way to shut down that gate ,” Johnny said.
    “Damn straight ,” Belinda agreed.
    “Now, Asmodeus has been seen again. The demon is definitely being drawn to something in this area, which can only be the artefact.”
    “Where this time?”
    Cheyne scanned the skies and then her surroundings with trepidation. “Actually, around here. International Drive and Sand Lake. It appears the beast destroyed a nearby establishment.”
    “Searching the n.” I nodded. “So they can’t pin down an exact location on these artefacts?”
    Cheyne shrugged. “It appears not. If they’re merely drawn to the item then I guess it would leave them with a large search area.”
    “Let’s hope.”
    Giles reappeared in the lobby’s entrance and beckoned us over. From the smile on his face I guessed the Aegis name had done the trick, not to mention its bottomless wallet.
    “Good news at last ,” he said. “Ethan, on the desk there, is a vampire and has extensive local knowledge. He has agreed to help us. Ethan is a loner, but was in fact made by the vampire king of Europe.” He blinked. “A good pedigree.”
    Ceriden’s demeanor soured. “You mean Strahovski of Vienna, Austria? That king of Europe?”
    Giles nodded.
    “Pah. Knew him a long time ago. And my guess is—once a blunted fang, always a blunted fang. Strahovski is weak. Compromised.”
    Giles blew out a sigh. “Well, that said, Ethan is young and vital and we need his help. So a bit of discretion would be welcome, my friend. I doubt that he could even offer a respectable army as of now.”
    I