Blood Dawn (Queen of Abaddon #3) - Rae Foxx Page 0,2

the incubus driving. What would they think when they saw the car? It wasn't new enough or fancy-looking enough to be a driverless car, and I wasn't sure those were even legal yet, anyway.

A woman walked past us on a cell phone. "I'm telling you, Frank, there was nobody driving the car."

Oh, no.

"Lucifer, walk with me for just a few minutes. Something strange is going on."

He nodded. "I saw it, too."

"Did you see the Incubus?" I asked under my breath.

"Yeah."

At least he had that much, the ability to See. "Keep your eyes peeled."

Seconds later, I saw another. A small Spectra rode on the shoulder of a woman walking toward us with tears streaming down her face.

"Excuse me," I said. "Are you all right?"

She ignored me. If I could get her to stop, I could at least knock the Spectra off of her shoulder. It resembled a small monkey, all cute and fuzzy.

It was anything but cute inside. They liked to live in old homes or places that had seen a lot of death and torture. Spectras were responsible for most of the world's haunted places, not actual ghosts. Those were exceedingly rare, as Lucifer and I did our jobs very well and souls didn't escape our charge often.

Until now. Who knew what was happening in Purgatory and Limbo?

Spectras, being small, quick, and wily, escaped Abaddon all the time, unfortunately.

"Ma'am," I said at nearly a shout.

She kept walking, and the damn little monkey chittered at me as they passed.

"I don't think they can see us," Lucifer said. "I think we're on the demonic plane."

It remained to be seen if that would help us or hurt us in the long run. We would be able to come and go as we pleased, but if we needed human help, it would be very difficult to get it. I could make myself appear to humans from this plane with my magic, but Lucifer couldn't.

A squirrel ran past, then stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. It raised on its hind legs and looked around, then set its beady eye on me.

With a snarl, it ran straight for me. I watched, bemused, as the creature neared, but then it bared its sharp teeth.

And I, Queen of the Underworld, the dead, and all the demons in existence, had to stop myself from screaming in fright.

Lucifer stepped forward and kicked it, square in the face. I gasped in relief as it flew across the road, but then jumped when a public bus, passing by at the worst possible moment, slammed into the gray animal. It bounced off of the bus's front window and fell into the road only to be run over by the bus's giant tires.

"Ew," Luc said.

"The poor squirrel. It was probably possessed." I hated to think of one of my demons destroying the life of such an innocent creature.

"Why would they possess a squirrel?" he asked. "I've never heard of even the lowliest demon bothering with anything but a human."

I stared at him, completely befuddled. "I have no idea." I spotted an alcove in a brick building. "Let's just stand here a minute and take stock."

We leaned against the wall and watched people go by. I listened to phone conversations. "Yeah, it's all over the news," one woman said. "Some people are saying it's a solar flare."

"What are you talking about, Mom?" A young man sounded exasperated as he spoke to his mother. "I haven't seen anything weird."

He must've been the oblivious type because a bird flew past his face—upside down. I didn't know about him, but I'd never seen a pigeon fly upside down, except in a cartoon I'd watched as a child when I was Connie.

"We better get to Michael and Gabriel," Luc said as he watched a woman walk down the street talking to herself.

"I agree." There was nothing we could do to help these people, and this was almost certainly happening all over the world. "Even if we sent these back, they'd just leave again."

He grunted. "Let's go."

I took his hand and this time didn't get distracted as we disappeared.

2

"What the hell?" Gabe gaped at me when we appeared in our living room. "What are you doing here?"

Michael walked in from the kitchen with a sandwich in his hand. "Back so soon?"

Luc glared and walked toward Michael. He took the sandwich from him and took a big bite. "Long story," he said around the mouthful.

I shook my head. "Um, quick rundown. First, why are you two sitting around here like