Free A Despair of Demons (Travelers, Book 1) by Cassy Campbell

to go home. Leslie had waited
the entire time in the precinct lobby in her beach shirt, sarong, and sandals.
When they finally released Liv, Leslie drove her home and put her to bed.
    That was the
first night she’d had the nightmare, but it hadn’t been the last. Not even
close.

Friday the same week. One of earliest
explored parallel worlds, DEPOT designation M-998A, codename Mai Tai,
corresponding Nevada.

Chapter 6
    Mai Tai was
famed for its beautiful beach sunsets, and so far this one lived up to the rep.
Liv leaned back in her chaise lounge and sipped her drink, enjoying the ocean view.
    The lounge
chair sat on a wooden deck at one of the Huma Huka’s best tables. Ben and Liv
had just finished a fabulous dinner and looked forward to a casual Friday
evening with their friends Winnie and Markle.
    Liv took a
deep breath, inhaling the tangy ocean breeze and the fruity aroma of her drink.
The air here was so clear she could almost smell the sun hitting the ocean.
They had banned fossil-fuel burning back in 1972, but only after a marked
greenhouse effect had melted the polar ice caps and flooded the world’s
lowlands with ocean water. Nevada in Home World was the beach of the inland sea
here in Mai Tai.
    “We don’t
even have names for the colors in this sky,” Liv said dreamily; she was on her
third Grassfruit Gala, and felt like she was floating in her chair.
    “I can’t
believe she dumped me over that,” Ben complained again.
    Winnie and
Markle laughed, used to his ups and downs with women. This had been the first
world Ben had brought Liv to when they discovered their mutual ability to
Travel at age ten, and Winnie and Markle had been their first best friends.
    Liv said, “It’s
good to find out now, though, isn’t it, before y’all get seriously involved?
You’re better off, if she couldn’t handle it.”
    “I would have
liked to get a little more seriously involved first. Just because I came home
with a demon swipe across my back and said it was classified when she asked
what happened, she stormed out of the house and said if I couldn’t trust her, I
never needed to call her again! I thought a demon swipe would get me sympathy,
not get me dumped.”
    Markle laughed
again, but Winnie said, “Ben, honestly, you can’t be with a woman who can’t
understand the demands of your job. She has to accept certain things without
question. She should be glad you couldn’t tell her you were attacked by
demons.” She shuddered. “I almost wish I didn’t know. You could have
been killed!”
    “Oh, come on
Ben, you hardly even dated her. Three dates,” Liv chided. “Get over it, and
find someone better next time. Maybe the size of her boobs shouldn’t be the
first standard you judge by.”
    “What about
dating someone in the same profession?” Winnie asked with an overly obvious
suggestive glance at Liv.
    Ben followed
her gaze, and he grimaced as his eyes met Liv’s. “No offense, sis, but Winnie,
no way in Hell!”
    Liv laughed at
the look on Ben’s face. “Yeah, that would be totally incest.”
    “Dating
coworkers is so not a good idea,” Ben continued. “Imagine if I had to see
Brittany again at work every day. Awkward!”
    Jordan’s face
flashed through Liv’s mind: fantastic smile, gorgeous eyes. “I see your point,”
she said to Winnie. “You could talk about what you do, which, let’s face it,
you can hardly tell anyone, and she would already understand what you go
through every day. That would be great.” But she’d had that with Nathan. The
alcohol must be loosening her mind. Ben was right. Dating someone you worked
with just meant disaster when the relationship failed. Which it always did.
    Her mind closed
off the thought of Nathan before it could fully form, and she deliberately
tuned back into the conversation.
    “You guys are
just scared of commitment, because you can’t just walk out and never see her
again,” Winnie said.
    “Damn
straight,” Markle said.
    Ben stared