Read Trouble with Gargoyles: an Urban Fantasy (Moonlight Dragon Book 3) for Free Online Page B

he was doing. The same had been true of my friend Rob, who had used real magick during his stage magic performances in a casino before he was killed in an explosion by Dearborn. The Oddsmakers could have—should have—stepped in both times and they hadn't.
    It could be suggested that it showed that the magickal bosses were forgiving and magnanimous. My gut told me they let things slide only if it suited them or it somehow benefited them. Clearly everything I did, including brushing my teeth, did not suit the Oddsmakers since they kept snatching me up.
    When Rodrigo stood, straddling the very tip top of my roof and yelled, "A-ha!" a pair of dogs, four doors down, began barking.
    Beside me, Vale tensed. "What did you find?"
    Rodrigo looked down at him and his smile wavered slightly. It strengthened, though, when he looked to me. "Yes, you have a curse here. Soup, like I thought. Made by an old hand." He glanced at Vale again. I guess Rodrigo was intimidated by gargoyle shifters or men, because he quickly addressed only me again. "I haven't seen something like this around Las Vegas, but it is no problem, young amiga . I can break it for you. It will be my pleasure. It's okay!"
    "Yay!" cheered Melanie. "Good job, Rodrigo!"
    "Thank you," I said to him, feeling the weight of the world sliding off my shoulders.
    "No problem, young amiga ." Rodrigo shrugged off his backpack and began pulling things out of it: a Tupperware container full of white stuff that I assumed was salt, a hand mirror, a stick wrapped loosely with string, and other implements I couldn't make out. "It will take me ten minutes."
    "Okay. We'll wait for you inside, Rodrigo."
    I herded everyone back into the house. I figured we'd hang out in the shop and discuss how I'd ended up with an old, apparently non-local soup curse on my roof, but Vale headed straight for the front door.
    "I have to go to California," he said as he paused with the door held open by one hand, his face in profile. "I don't know when I'll be back."
    Though I was aware that had been his plan all along, I was a little disappointed that he wasn't interested in figuring out the origin of this curse with me. But whatever. I was a big girl. Badass dragon sorceress, right?
    "Can you get a hold of a phone while you're there and tell me what you learn?" I didn't go into detail but I figured Vale understood that I was worried not only about the creature but about the state of Diana's body and whether she'd be able to return her consciousness to it.
    "I'll try." He turned then, to look at me fully.
    Now, Vale was a serious guy. "Intense", "brooding", and "solemn" were also good adjectives for him. Yes, he could be playful and flirty when the timing was right, but that didn't often occur while other people were present. He was a bit old fashioned in that regard. He definitely wasn't in flirty mode right now. More like, I'm about to do something of grave importance to the world. Whether that was actually true or just in his mind was another matter, but I tended to believe him. Vale and hyperbole didn't go together.
    "What is it?" I asked him, nervous just from his demeanor. "What's wrong?"
    He opened his mouth to reply and I leaned toward him, eager to hear what he had to say. But he must have thought better of it, for he cruelly teased me by shaking his head.
    "When I come back," he muttered and then he was nothing but a memory, the door swinging shut behind him.
    "He's very dramatic," Melanie observed. She giggled. "It's hot."
    Yes, it was hot, but right now I was more worried by his behavior than turned on by it.
    I took a seat on the stool behind the counter, listening with half an ear to Rodrigo moving around on the roof. "What do you think about Christian and Diana?"
    "They were arguing when I left them. She's kinda bossy, huh? But it's all good. She likes me. I guess she likes monkeys."
    I suppressed a laugh. "That must be it." Then I sobered. "What do you think attacked her? And why would it be