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

me.
    Not a chance.
    I looked around me once or twice as I approached the Greek revival house. If shifters or pixies were watching me I couldn't tell. If I were the Oddsmakers, I'd be watching my every move. If I were one of Kleure's pals, I'd be planning a retaliatory ambush. But in spite of my expectations, I reached the shop unharmed.
    Tomes was a bookstore specializing in the occult. It was well-known throughout the magickal community both for its extensive collection and for providing a safe venue for performing rituals. I wasn't exactly thrilled to have occultists calling up dead guys and other entities directly across the street from me, but compared to a crack house for a neighbor it wasn't so bad. I rang the doorbell with my fingers crossed that no one was inside summoning Norwegian serial killers like the last time.
    When no one answered, I tried the doorbell again, a sense of disquiet building at the base of my spine. Orlaton had to be home. The guy wasn't the partying type or even the go out for Jack in the Box type. Why wasn't he answering?
    When a full two minutes passed, I cautiously tried the door. Unsurprisingly, it was locked. But if I'd been able to steal a car and start it, I could open a locked door. Assuming, that is, it wasn't booby trapped or otherwise protected by magick. Which it probably was. At the very least I was aware that Tomes was protected by wards that repelled dark spirits. Did the wards also deny dragon sorceresses? I was about to find out.
    I called up Lucky as a wisp as thin as a bobby pin and sent him into the keyhole of the lock. Consciously, I told him to open the lock, but I had no idea how that would be achieved just as I'd had no idea how to start a car engine. But Lucky had something of an intelligence, enough for something like this.
    I soon heard the soft click of the lock opening. I tried the door and was able to push it in. Though I was afraid this might be some sort of test to see how much of a nosy neighbor I was, I quietly entered the shop.
    Tomes was huge inside, easily outclassing any "normal" bookstore I'd ever entered. I wouldn't have been surprised if Orlaton admitted that magick was behind it. Aisles and aisles of bookshelves stuffed full of old and dirty books stretched every which way back into darkness. It was a veritable maze of bookshelves, with a good chance there was some grizzled Minotaur camping out somewhere within it. The place stank of leather, rotting paper, and sage, the latter which was burned for purification purposes. I headed for the very center of the shop to the rotunda where rituals were often held. I was relieved to see that today the area was empty.
    Rugs covered the floor. I resisted the urge to lift up the edge of one to see if the wood floors still held the scratches from the exorcism rite we'd attempted to perform on Vale. It wasn't my fondest memory, to say the least. I was amused to note the rearing dragon statue that now sat in place of the manticore one that I had destroyed that night.
    "I always knew you were a sucker for dragons, Orlaton," I said to myself as I walked up to it and ran my fingers along a bronze wing. It was a European dragon, so visually it wasn't much like my dragon, but that was just nitpicking. Melanie had joked that Orlaton had a crush on me. Maybe she wasn't wrong. Or maybe the dragon had been the only statue on sale the day Orlaton had gone shopping for a replacement.
    I stood for a long moment, ears straining to hear sounds of movement. Just when I was about to deem the place empty, I heard the distant rustle of cloth.
    "Orlaton?" I called out.
    To my surprise, the sound of a faint moan drifted to me from between the stacks.
    Oh, great .
    I followed the sound, my heart rate picking up its pace. I wasn't in the mood for any more scary surprises. I was tempted to turn around and walk out. But of course that wasn't an option. Not after standing by and doing nothing while Kleure was taught his lesson.
    Emerging from