Dancing With Monsters by M.M. Gavillet Page A

once before and feared them the most.
    “ We took no weapons, so
how are we to fight them?” Malachi asked.
    “ There are no weapons we
can use on them from any realm. That is why the angels cursed them
so they would have to stay in the shadows or die. But a few managed
from time to time escape, gain strength, and are now a nuisance.”
Ayil’s lip curled into a grin.
    “ Yeah, but how are we
going to kill it, or are we just going to go and play with it?”
Malachi said with a chuckle from Ayil.
    She didn’t answer Malachi, but
instead, continued to chuckle and mumble to herself as if he had
told her a joke. I glanced back at him. His nothing-bothers-me
attitude was slowly dissolving.
    “ With this,” I said,
holding up the glistening orange-yellow stone. “The light from
Iethia.” I tried to sound confident even though I had no idea how
to use the stone.
    Malachi shifted his eyes to me. “What
are you going to do, throw it at them?” His sarcastic tone covered
the fear I could see clearly.
    “ Not throw it, use it
against the demon.” Ayil said as we passed a sign welcoming us to
Brumbriar.
    I looked at the tiny stone that was no
larger than the size of my palm. “I’ve no experience with this,
Ayil,” I said as we turned down a house lined street. “Please tell
me you can instruct me to some degree on this.”
    Ayil glanced blankly over at me as we
stopped in front of a large house. “It’s a part of you, and when
the time comes, you’ll know what to do. I may not know the stone’s
secrets, but I know enough about it that it is yours and it will
guide you when needed.”
    “ You mean we have to
depend on Seth’s intuition?” Nessa asked as Ayil got out of the
car.
    “ Come on, we can’t let the
demon win.”
    The cold and pungent smell of smoke
filled the air. Everything was still in this little, oblivious
town. Humans, most of them, had no idea of the danger that sat
quietly in the darkness and would overtake them if we didn’t stop
it.
    “ The house is under a
glamour,” Nessa said, looking up at the two story house. “The Ivy
Inn—it’s a bed and breakfast?”
    “ Good perception, now
let’s go and say hello to the little demon,” Ayil said as she crept
up the stairs.
    Nessa was behind her and I held Ezra
close to me.
    “ Seth,” Malachi whispered
behind me, and grabbed me by the shoulder. “What if it isn’t a
little demon?”
    Malachi with his dark hair and strong
stature, truly looked like a warrior—and now, like a frightened
warrior.
    “ Little or big, a demon is
a demon. We have Ayil, who seems kind of eager to get to it, and,”
I pulled out the stone that glowed with an amber light in my palm.
“We have this. It feels powerful to me,” I said more to myself.
“Don’t worry, Malachi, I don’t know how to explain it, but this
little gem is very powerful and with Ayil guiding us, we’ll be
fine.”
    Malachi looked up at the house and let
out a sigh. “Let’s go before it comes out here.”
    To humans, this house was abandoned,
but to anyone in the enchanted community, it was a beautiful bed
and breakfast guarded by spells and a glamor. It was richly
decorated with items from many different realms: Spherical
orillions glowed with soft light overhead, paintings of the beaches
from Atlantis with its blue waters and pink sands hung on the
walls, and in a sitting room off to the side sat an opened bottle
of wine from Shangri-La with two glasses beside it.
    I picked up the full bottle and looked
down at the two clean glasses. Someone was here celebrating—could
it have been demons? The alarms had been set off and the house was
dark and empty. The demon could be gone or was hiding in the
shadows waiting for us.
    Ayil led the way as we followed
behind. The only sound was the ticking of the clock and the only
light was from the dim orillions overhead. Then suddenly Malachi,
who was ahead of me stopped.
    “ Blood, lots of it,” he
whispered covering his mouth. “Monster