Free Demon's Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 2 by D. L. Harrison

and smashed into his chest, it was his turn to
fly across the room.
    She ran to the front door trying to get him to follow her,
but he just laughed.
    “I can feel your magic witch, if you think you can hide that
circle with a rug… your dumber than you are sexy.  I’ll tell you what, I’ll
give that little morsel Elaine another day if you agree to…”
    She didn’t find out what he wanted, though she could guess. 
The coffee table lifted up off the ground silently and hit the demon hard in
the back, launching him across the room toward Celia.
    The demon flew over the demon trap, and he grinned leeringly
at Celia.  Celia however had picked up the cast iron umbrella stand by the
door, and swung it overhead.  The demon saw it coming, but couldn’t adjust his
trajectory while in the air.  He raised a futile arm up, but it didn’t matter. 
She hit him with all her strength and his evil ass landed right in the center
of the circle.
    Before the demon could move, Celia felt a surge of magic
that activated the circle, and she let out a deep breath while putting the now
bloody umbrella stand back in its spot.
    Then with gritted teeth she said, “Get out here Berny, you
promised damn it, said you’d be in the circle.  What if it didn’t work?”
    She knew damn well that coffee table attack wasn’t Ed’s
spell, which still needed major work.
    Berny came out with a stony face, “I did not promise, you
told me I couldn’t help, and I nodded in acknowledgement, not agreement.  I’m
not a child Celia.  Besides, it did work,” she said the last four words smugly.
    Truth.
    She frowned and shook her head, she was still angry.  She
knew Berny was old enough to make her own decisions, but she wasn’t an enforcer
damn it, it was her job to protect Berny, not the other way around.  Damn
stubborn witch.
    She sighed and looked at the demon.  It was going crazy as
it continually attacked the circle wall, and screaming its head off, no doubt
threats about rape and dismemberment… or something equally demony.  Of course,
she couldn’t hear a thing, the circle kept both him and his words contained.
    “Fine Berny, you just scared me.  I know I can’t order you
to do anything.”
    Ed cleared his throat, “The help was timely Bernadette, but
Celia is right.  This was ours to do, our job to guard the community.  You
didn’t have to be here.  Have you considered becoming an enforcer, doing more
for witches, or was this just about protecting your friend?”
    Celia suppressed the desire to kill Ed at his suggestion,
which seemed like an overreaction.
    Berny laughed, “Umm, I haven’t given it much thought, but
this here tonight, because Celia is my friend, and I was the only one that
could effectively fight him last night.  It just made sense to help, I waited
at first.  But he wasn’t going for Celia’s bait, so I whacked him when he was
being pervy.”
    Celia snorted and wrapped her best friend up in a hug. 
    Berny asked, “So what now, do we get the coven to do a
banishment?”
    Celia frowned and pointed at the demon trap circle, “How
long will that thing last?”
    Ed shrugged, “A long time, days… why?”
    Celia grinned maliciously, “Why bother waking up the
witches, the front of the house faces East right?  Let’s just open the door at
dawn…”
    Berny and Ed looked stunned for a second, and then they both
laughed.
    Ed said bemused, “That would be rather easier wouldn’t it.
    Berny nodded in satisfaction, “More painful too I’d
imagine.”
    So that’s what they did.  They got back to sleep and woke up
at dawn.  Opened the front door and let the sun take care of the rest.  The
demon’s vampire body burned to ash in seconds.  She shook her head and closed
the door.  She supposed it was time to go to New York.  They didn’t leave right
away, they made some plans, and Celia gave a key to the store to Mia so she
could lock up at night.
    She knew the plan was absolutely crazy, yet when she