Demon's Vengeance The Complete - Jocelynn Drake Page 0,109

first appointment of the day wasn’t until two. I had some time to myself. Time for research.

Turning off the lights and leaving a sign on the door that I’d open the shop at two, I teleported to just outside the Dresden Tower. The memory of Lilith’s nightmare haunted my thoughts, but I wasn’t going to let her put me off. I could keep my family safe from her. I needed the secrets hidden in Simon’s rooms if I was going to find a way to protect Trixie.

An uneasiness crept through me, squeezing my chest until it became difficult to breathe. It was early evening in Dresden. The warlocks and witches would be about in the Tower at this time. There would be no avoiding them. But I had an easy excuse. I was unraveling the defensive spells on Simon’s rooms. I was also a member of the guardians, sort of, and had a right to be there.

There were a couple gasps and murmured comments when I walked through the front door. I didn’t stop as I walked straight to the empty tube and rode it up to Simon’s level. The dark energy was no longer present in the hallway and there was no resistance when I entered the pitch black rooms.

The door slammed ominously as I stepped in as if it had been caught by an errant wind. Elation surged from the demon to hit me in the chest. I had returned. I had come back without its coaxing, because it thought it had me. Sadly, I wasn’t too sure that it wasn’t right about that.

The rage and anguish that had plagued me on my first visit were noticeably subdued this time. The childhood memories that constantly followed me, whispering of pain, blood, and betrayal were silent. I knew if I continued to visit and study here, I’d succeed in chasing Simon’s ghost away at last and these rooms would become mine. And there was some small part of me that was excited with the thought.

“Lights,” I said in a firm voice.

In an instance, lights flared to life around the main room and then on through the kitchen into the bedroom. A fire crackled in the hearth while the magical orbs glowed warmly overhead. And still the eagerness from the demon didn’t wane at the idea of being commanded by someone it considered to be inferior.

Not inferior. Just poorly trained.

The demon’s cool voice whispered through my head, making me more than a little uneasy that it was picking apart my thoughts.

“And you’re planning to change that.”

If you let me. . .

“I’ve got a few hours to do some reading,” I said, walking over to the table in the center of the room, where I had left the two books the demon had pulled aside for me. The first one looked ancient and I suspected that Simon had “borrowed” it out of the Dresden library and never gotten around to returning it. The book on demons was more disturbing because it looked as if most of the handwriting was Simon’s, though the first few chapters were in a different script. Simon’s mentor?

Picking up the general magic book, I carried it over to the large, overstuffed chair in front of the fire and tossed it on the seat while I pulled off my coat. When I turned back, the demon book was in the chair.

“I don’t think starting with demons is the best idea when I’m weak in too many other areas,” I grumbled as I turned back to the table to pick up the other book.

But I can help you in those areas until you grow strong.

“Or I can just grow dependent upon you and never learn those things for myself,” I snapped irritably.

That works too.

The demon’s amusement never wavered.

Grabbing the book I wanted, I dropped the demon book on the floor beside me and flopped down in the chair, putting my feet up on the footstool. I flipped open the old tome and started skimming over the topics laid out before me. A lot of the information was familiar, though it gave some background that I had been sorely lacking. Yet it wasn’t long before I was craving a notepad and pen so I could make some notes.

The thought had barely occurred to me when a hardbound journal appeared at my elbow along with a black pen. I stared at it for a moment, surprised that it looked identical to the ones I had been using for years to make