Free Unmasked by Kate Douglas

the controls and loading The Trials of Moloch .
    One of those questions she wasn’t sure she really wanted the answer to. Of course, they had a refrigerator that kept things cold, and plumbing that worked, and . . .
    The graphics loaded. Swords clashed and loud music pulled Addie out of her questions and into the game. Demons filled the screen. Addie leaned closer. “I recognize those guys. Look. There’s Moloch. But you killed him . . . how?” She pointed at the huge, fearsome creature Locan had beheaded.
    “That’s his CGI version.” Locan pointed at another demon in the upper corner. “Recognize that little guy? That’s the one Jett zapped off the Hollywood sign. They might have died here, but not in the game’s dimension.”
    “But where’s Ukopach? Do you see him?” Addie searched the screen. “I hope he’s okay.”
    Suddenly a familiar little demon broke away from the crowd, faced the screen and smiled. “Ukopach is fine.”
    “What?” Slapping a hand over her mouth, Addie stared at the silvery-eyed demon who stared back at her, right out of the screen. “Ukopach? Is that you?”
    He nodded vigorously. “It’s me.” And then he was stepping through the screen. Standing in front of the damned thing. Smiling like nothing was at all unusual. “Thank you for sending me home. It’s good to be back where I belong.” He jumped up on Addie’s bent knee, leaned close and threw his arms around her neck. “Next time you fight the bad demons, call me. Ukopach will help.”
    He planted a big wet kiss on her mouth, jumped back to the ground, waved and leapt into the screen. Addie had to consciously think of shutting her mouth before her teeth clicked shut. “How’d he do that? How’d you make the thing run without power? How . . . ?”
    Jett glanced at Locan and shrugged. “Because we needed to? I don’t know. Sometimes things just work here, in really special ways.”
    Locan laughed. “And sometimes they don’t.” He glanced at the screen and turned the console off, and then grabbed some of the games they’d bought. Glancing at the packages with their brightly colored graphics, he shook his head, frowning. “I recognize a lot of these guys. Are they copies of real demons, or are we fighting more video demons than we realize?”
    Jett sighed. “I’m wondering if real demons are using the CGI demons as a gateway. That opens up a lot of possibilities, not at all good. They’re not all going to be as likeable as Ukopach. The R-rated games will have guys more like Demonikus.”
    Addie raised her head as a horrible thought hit her. “The video demons you killed are alive again, inside their games. Do you think Demonikus will be back?”
    Locan cursed softly. “Quite possibly. I hadn’t even thought of that.”
    Jett merely shrugged. “There’ll always be demons, video-generated or creatures from Hell. There’s not that much difference. Look at it as job security. We’re never going to run out of demons. And I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of Ukopach, either.”
    Addie grinned and held out her hands. Jett grabbed one; Locan took the other. “That’s good about Ukopach, I think. I like knowing there’s a demon on our side.”
    Jett pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. “I like knowing you’re on my side. That you’ve got my back.” He slung an arm over Locan’s shoulders and hugged him close. “And you, as well.”
    Still wrapped in Jett’s embrace, Addie glanced at the game console. The screen was black, but she knew Ukopach was in there, somewhere. Along with demons of every shape and size. Some good, most not so good. Jett called it job security. Maybe he was right.
    As long as she had her guys, as long as they had her—that’s what mattered.

Coming soon . . .
     
    Turn the page for a preview of “Dream Catcher,”
    Kate’s novella in the anthology NightShift ,
    coming in November from Kensington!

Chapter 1
     
    In orbit behind Earth’s moon—present