Free Dance of Ashes and Smoke (Age of Monsters Book 1) by Harley Gordon

the barrel. Beside me, Liv cleaned the black blood of a werewolf from her short sword, her hands moving in graceful arcs, hands used to holding a bow and flying across the neck of a cello in an intricate dance so powerful she should have been performing onstage at Julliard.
    The woods were quiet, creatures holed up against the cold night. We’d wake up covered in frost the next morning. Winter was headed into its harshest months and they looked to be hard on us with only tents for shelter and motorcycles for transportation. Jax was strangely quiet as well. I peeked over at him and he appeared to be taking a nap, his back against the log, but I wasn’t fooled.
    Liv sighed.
    “You okay?” I asked. Was she missing her cello, left behind, hidden in Jax’s apartment? It had to be like leaving behind a limb, a part of herself. Maybe we should have stolen a van or truck.
    She nodded, her black hair falling in a curtain between us, her voice weary. “I didn’t bring enough clothes. That stupid wolf and his nasty blood ruined my favorite shirt.” She plucked mournfully at her red shirt with Hermione Granger’s face on it. She’d had that shirt for years, wearing it at least twice a month since it came in the mail.
    “Stop moping. We’ll hit a laundromat and try to fix it.”
    She bumped me with her shoulder. “Talk to me about moping when your Clash shirt gets splattered with monster blood.”
    “Won’t happen because I don’t wear it to fight monsters.” I threw a grin at her when her pout grew.
    “Instead of camping, we should have stayed in a town. One that has a Hot Topic.”
    “I’m not sure that’d be too safe.”
    “Don’t be such a downer. The monsters hate suburbs.”
    The monsters did hate the suburbs and small towns. They went through and wiped out the humans who lived in them or carted them off to the cities where they were kept as cattle.
    Liv bumped me again. “Stop it. You’re ruining my excitement. You don’t have to be so maudlin. We’re about to eat a rabbit that I so brilliantly ensnared. You’re taking me shopping soon. We kicked ass today against those monsters who tried to stop us on our way out of town. We have a solid lead on the sorceress. Take the win.”
    I smiled, but doubted I fooled her. I’d take the win once that sorceress was in the ground. I’d take a vacation once I banished her from this world and sent her back to whatever hell she crawled out of. I’d stop being so maudlin when I could dance again.

 

     
    W e rode into town at lunchtime with loud revving motors, opting for a splashy entrance instead of sneaking in. Olivia and Jax had disagreed, but I wanted to instill confidence in those who asked for our help. If we slunk in under the cover of night looking like a trio of bedraggled orphans, they wouldn’t trust us to handle things. Instead, they’d want to take care of us.
    It had happened before.
    This time, we knew what we were up against, so there was no need for subtlety.
    I wasn’t in the mood for it anyway. I was in the mood for dropped jaws and gasps of hope and awe and then, I was in the mood for dead monsters.
    Decorated with half our arsenal, we made an impressive sight riding through the country roads even with Jax hanging off the back of Liv’s bike with only my steel baseball bat. It had taken a ridiculous amount of threats and pleading for him to agree to even that.
    Maybe we could dump him here once we dealt with their little problem. From the looks on the gaunt and haunted faces of those who came out on their porches and front stoops to watch us ride through, they needed a healer.
    I turned onto the driveway with the right number on the mailbox where a man and his young daughter walked out to meet us with wide eyes while we parked and dismounted. Olivia handled the introductions, better at putting people at ease than I was.
    She smiled brightly, her tinkling voice at odds with her fierce appearance. “Hello. We’re here in response to what