Page 13 of Commanding Chaos

Ash’s mind worked quickly. Her intelligence impressed me.

Ginger cut her skeptical gaze between the two of us. She was far too observant for my liking, so I held up my hand, igniting a controlled flame on my palm, proving my fire magic ability.

“Huh. Okay, well it’s nice to meet you.” She shrugged and closed the hatch. “Glad to see you’re feeling better,” she said to Ash.

“Much better. See you tomorrow, bright and early?” She forced another smile.

“I’ll be there.” With a wave, she retreated to join her friends.

Ash let out a massive breath before returning to her seat in the front of the van. “What did she say? Did she sense anything?”

“I don’t believe she did. Not my demonic nature anyway.” I gazed across the street where the witch in question had returned to the company of the men. She spoke, pointing to the van, and they snapped their heads toward us.

“Though she did find my presence abnormal. If I’m reading their body language correctly, the others do as well.”

“Oh, she definitely finds you abnormal.” Ember turned the key, starting the engine. “I’ll call a meeting. We’ve got to give them something before they start making up their own stories about what’s going on with the veil.”

“The truth is far worse than anything they could imagine.” I turned away from the window to peer out the front.

“No doubt.” Ember put the vehicle in gear and pulled onto the road.

“Would you look at that?” Ash showed a genuine smile. “You two finally agree on something.”

Her sister scoffed. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Indeed.”

“Ha!” Ash pointed her finger from me to Ember. “You just agreed again.”

6

ASH

“I seriously can’t believe we’re doing this.” I gripped the shopping cart in both hands, squeezing until my knuckles turned white.

“Grocery shopping together?” Chaos plucked a box of cereal from the shelf, curling his lip at the exaggerated cartoon bird on the front. “Neither can I. We could end this ordeal more quickly if we went straight for Mayhem’s skull.”

I snatched the box from his hands and returned it to the shelf. “Not shopping, doofus. Calling this emergency meeting to tell the coven ‘someone’ summoned a demon.”

He snapped his head to the right and left, peering down the aisle. “Do you feel that?”

“Nervous? Like we’re about to do something insane?”

He paced to the end of the row, looked from side to side, and paced back. “Dark magic. It’s faint, barely tainting the air.”

I groaned. “Please tell me a rift isn’t about to open inside the supermarket.”

“No, it’s…” His brows slammed down over his eyes. “I don’t feel it anymore.”

“Thank the goddess. We’re on strict orders from the High Priestess not to stir up any trouble.”

While Ember stayed at the house to prepare for the gathering, she put me, and by default, Chaos, on snack duty. What did you serve a group of monster-hunting witches when you were about to deliver the news that a powerful demon walked among them? Calming foods.

“We need herbal tea. Come on.” I steered us toward the end of the breakfast aisle, and Chaos dropped a different box into the cart. “Since when do demons eat cereal? I thought you’d feast on the blood of your enemies.”

“You’re confusing us with vampires.” He wandered down the next aisle, so I followed him. “In this realm, we require food the same as you.” He tapped the box. “And this one says it’s ‘magically delicious.’”

I laughed. “That’s a figure of speech. You know there’s no actual magic in that box, aside from the sugar high you’ll get if you eat too much.” Yeah, I might’ve known that from experience.

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