Free Demons in My Driveway by R.L. Naquin

bracelets. “You must be Zoey Donovan.” She smiled, and her teeth gleamed white and pointed.
    I took her hand in a firm grip and we shook. “Welcome to our world.”
    The portal shimmered a few feet away, but I kept my eyes focused on hers. I was dazzled and a little intimidated, but I refused to back down and show fear. I suspected it was important to greet the demon queen as an equal from the start or I’d never regain the lost ground. I didn’t care for the idea of being her lackey.
    “You may call me Talia. My full name is a little tricky.” She pointed at the portal. “I imagine that’s a bit of a problem for you. It’s not delighting me, either.”
    “So, you didn’t open it?”
    Her dark eyebrows rose in surprise. “Of course not. I can’t have portals sitting open. I run a tight ship. If demons come and go without my permission, all sorts of things can go wrong. We have rules, you know.”
    I did know. When Sebastian had run around Sausalito killing women and raping my friend, I’d come across a Demon Handbook. It was one of the reasons we were able to send him back to where he’d come from before he could finish killing Sara. There were all kinds of strict rules in that book.
    “Who opened it, then?” I asked.
    She tilted her head to the side. “I was hoping you’d know.”
    “The Church of Hidden Wisdom was here a little while ago, chanting. Could they have opened it?”
    “Not likely. You can’t chant a portal open.” She gestured at Kam. “I see you have a djinn here.
She
could have opened it.”
    Kam’s olive skin paled. “I didn’t. I swear, Your Majesty.” She made a quick, awkward curtsy.
    “No.” I took a step in front of Kam. I didn’t care for Talia’s accusation. “It wasn’t her. It takes a full charge from a djinn to open a portal, right? Kam couldn’t do it. Trust me.”
    Talia stared past me at Kam for a moment, as if reading her soul, then dismissed her. “Outside of the leaders of a given world, the only magic I know of that can open a portal is djinn magic. This portal is the sixth one to open from my world in as many days.”
    “Six?” I’d only been mildly concerned about the first portal. Six meant someone had a bigger plan. One that probably didn’t include delivering chocolate-dipped strawberries and a stuffed purple unicorn in a fancy basket arrangement. Something more ominous was probably going on. “I’d heard about one in Wales. There are four others?”
    “Except for the one in Wales, all of them opened near an Aegis. I checked on them myself.”
    “Was anyone hurt?” The hair on my arms rose, expecting the worst.
    “No. I was able to close them before anything happened.” She frowned. “Is it true there are only a few of you left? What in the twenty-seven hells has been going on out here?”
    “Well, first there was a—” I realized we were still standing outside. If Talia was going to kill us, she’d have done it by now. Keeping her out of the house was rude, and Maurice would likely give me an earful later for my terrible manners. “Would you like to come inside and sit down?”
    Talia didn’t answer. She strode to the portal and smoothed her hand over the rippling surface. A moment later, a large, rabid-looking, green rabbit hopped out.
    “Watch the exit,” she said. “No one comes through from either direction. Understood?”
    The hellbunny twitched its nose, growled and disappeared through the portal.
    “Should be safe now.” She turned her back on the portal. “Probably best to keep a person or two on this side watching, just in case. Demons aren’t always well behaved.”
    “Don’t I know it.” I pressed my lips together, embarrassed. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. But as spectacular and exotic as Talia looked, to me, the term
demon
would always bring to mind Sebastian, the incubus.
    She hooked her arm through mine and we wandered toward the house with Kam and Darius guarding the portal and Riley following us