Free Trouble with Gargoyles: an Urban Fantasy (Moonlight Dragon Book 3) by Tricia Owens Page A

the back of my head came it was welcome, because it removed me from that place where I would have gladly surrendered my humanity in order to make a point.
    When I opened my eyes again I was in the desert, lying somewhere outside Area 51. It wasn't fully dark; the sky in the east was edging into orange. Sunset was coming. Maybe it would hold back the nightmares.
    "Anne…"
    I sat up time to catch Melanie as she flung herself against me. She was naked, which sucked because we didn't have easy access to clothing out here, but at least she was alive.
    "I wish I hadn't seen that," she whispered, clutching me hard. "That was the worst thing I've ever seen."
    I swallowed down fire. "Me, too."
    "All those times you said they took you there—it never really occurred to me that they would hurt you. Not after the first time. I thought…they must like you." She tilted her tear-streaked face back to look up at me. "But that could have been you."
    "Maybe."
    There was no lying to make her feel better. Not where the Oddsmakers were concerned. They were capricious and evil, and I abandoned any thoughts that what they did for us was a good thing. I wish I'd never learned about Dearborn's necromancy artifact. I wish I hadn't listened to Vale and I wish I'd tried to fight them. I didn't care if they killed me; I was sure I could take a few of them down before they did.
    But that fight would have to come another day, when it was just me and them, with my friends far away.
    I considered what I was wearing. It wasn't much. "Listen, we're going to have to hitchhike back. Are you okay with staying in your monkey form the whole time?"
    She sniffed and nodded. "It'll be easier."
    I got the feeling she meant more than the ease of travel. Maybe her thoughts formed differently when she was a monkey. I didn't know. I didn't ask.
    We both turned at a nearby rustle of movement. It was only the yellow canary, rising up from behind a tumbleweed. It hovered in the air for a few seconds, maybe orienting itself. Maybe trying to find the strength to fly after all that had happened. Then it turned and flew swiftly in the direction where the city must be. Hopefully an eagle wouldn't try to eat it along the way.
    With a monkey literally on my back, I began the trek to the highway. With luck, sunrise would bring an increase in traffic. Otherwise, it was going to be a long, grim day with nothing to do but think thoughts I shouldn't be thinking.

Chapter 5
     
     
     
     
     
    Melanie stayed with me in Moonlight, her fear of teeth in the mattress overruled by her fear of being snatched by the Oddsmakers. Together we listened to the footsteps of the ghost on the roof until we passed out from sheer mental and emotional exhaustion.
    I slept fitfully, my dreams plagued by fire-breathing dragons and mutating dogs. I watched a monkey falling into a pit while I was bound by chains and couldn't grab for it. The chains were held by a gargoyle, but one that didn't look like Vale. It was monstrous. It called me by name. It called me traitor …
    It was Melanie's phone that woke us both. It was her father, asking her to drive the Todos Tortas truck. Though puffy-eyed, I could tell that Melanie was glad for the job. It was something to do, a slice of life that had nothing to do with being magickal or being ruled by the Oddsmakers.
    "Tell Vale," she urged me as I walked her through the front yard. She wore a pair of my shorts and one of my tops. "He's gotta know, Anne!"
    I nodded, but I didn't say anything. I wasn't sure what to do about Vale, but my indecisiveness wasn't anything that Melanie needed to know about. It'd take her awhile to get over her first encounter with the Oddsmakers as it was.
    As soon as she was gone, I took a shower and dressed quickly. It was just after noon, so the sun was an angry, blazing god in the sky but I welcomed its burn on my cheeks as I walked across the street. I imagined it was burning away any lingering taint from the Oddsmakers' lair, cleansing