Read Light My Fire for Free Online

patrons at the Goety and Theurgy bar, where so much had happened a few months ago. In the end, it decided that although love was eternal, a sleepy Cecile was not as entertaining as G&T.
    “I want a drink, though. And some snacks. That mush room thing isn’t going to hold me over until morning,” Jim said as we headed for the metro.
    “If you’d eaten the food Amelie provided, you wouldn’t be hungry now,” I said in an undertone, pinch ing its ear to remind it to keep its voice down in public.
    “That was dog food!” Jim’s voice was rife with disbelief. “Do you have any idea what they put in that stuff? It’s, like, all ground-up lips and butts! I’m not putting that in this magnificent form!”
    “Fine, I’ll buy you a hamburger once we get to G&T, but if I find you begging from anyone, it’s straight back to the Akashic plain with you!”
    I was mildly surprised to see that G&T looked no different than it had before but was reminded with a jolt, at the sight of the previous Venediger’s picture on a wall near the bar, that the events I’d remembered were only a few months in the past. Despite the former owner’s brutal mur der, and the manager’s spiral into madness, everything looked exactly the same. I half expected to see Drake and his two redheaded bodyguards lounging in the corner.
    “I know it’s silly, but you’d think it would look different after everything we went through.” My gaze roamed the club, looking for some sign that the events we’d partici pated in had some sort of lasting effect. “Everything’s the same, though—same low, pulsing music you have to yell over to be heard, smoky air that leaves you craving a ven tilation system, and people slinking around looking as nor mal as can be despite the fact that they’re anything but.”
    “The band is different this week,” Amelie said, waving a hand toward a small stage at the opposite end of the club. We walked down the few steps into the room, pre pared to squeeze our way through the dense wall of peo ple who stood among the bar, tables, and dance area. I expected we’d have to use a few elbows to get through, but as I stepped forward, an aisle through the mass opened up as if by ... well, magic.
    “This is odd,” I whispered to Amelie as I took advan tage of the strange phenomenon. Before me, people stepped aside to make way for us. Behind, the path closed up seamlessly after Amelie and Jim. “This happened to me once before here—what gives with everyone? Why are they acting like they don’t want me to inadvertently brush against them? I’m not a leper!”
    “No, but you are a person of much importance in the L’au-dela,” Amelie answered in a soft tone. “You are a demon lord, a wyvern’s mate, and a Guardian. There has never been a person who was all three—that is why many people believe you would be a good Venediger as well. They are simply showing you the respect due your position.”
    “Hey, if Aisling is a celeb, does that make me one, too? Will someone ask for my picture, do you think?” Jim asked, looking around for potential paparazzi. “Should I set up my demon-jim.com Web site now?”
    “Oui, you are known as well. All have heard of you: You are the demon who serves your master well.”
    “Hrmph,” Jim said. “Lassie I’m not! Fame can wait if all I’m going to be known as is a trusty sidekick. What’s this biz about Ash as the V?”
    “Just silly talk, nothing more. I’m not going to com plain about making it through a crowd easily,” I whis pered to Amelie, “but it still gives me the creeps. I’m not anyone important at all, and for them to treat me this way is ... oh, look, a table.”
    We grabbed a couple of chairs and a small table in an out-of-the-way corner and accepted menus from the waitress.
    “Drinks?” she asked in broken English.
    “I will have a cognac,” Amelie told her, handing back the menu.
    “Er.. . dragon’s blood,” I said with an apologetic smile.
    “And