Nameless: The Darkness Comes Read Free Page B

scare tactics.”
    “Right-o,” he said, and turned to go. He paused.
    “I won’t, uh, hit anything with the door when I open it, will I?” he asked me. He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.
    “Nah, they can’t touch our stuff. Not unless they have a pretty firm foothold on somebody, or if I help them materialize. You’re good.”
    “Okay. Bye, then,” he said, and threw the door open with extra exuberance. It passed right through the demon, who grabbed half-heartedly for the knob. It shut itself with a click, and the demon stood on its toes to peer in through the window set into the top of the door.

Chapter Four
     
    The encounter with Sparkles rocked me more th an I cared to admit. How could somebody so vile have a child as sweet as Lydia? She’s definitely cute, I can tell you that much. And smart. And astute. I can tell she has my genes in there somewhere.
    And, like me, after a few minutes swabbing at the counters with a washcloth and the like, she was bored.
    “Right, let’s go shopping,” I told her, and then I sprayed her down with sunscreen. Hey, even out here in the Northwest, you can’t be too careful. Demons and sunburn and cancer, oh my. Not my little girl.
    I ran a dark red lip stain around my mouth, pulled tall boots up over my jeans and threw on my sunglasses. Suddenly I was a femme fatale, a woman of mystique. And all under ten minutes.
    Lydia had pulled out her pigtails, so we did them over again, and that took nearly another ten minutes right there. She has a knack for yanking beautiful doodads out of her hair. For this, I blame her father.
    “Ready, Princess Pretty Fingers?” I asked her. She pursed her lips and twisted her chubby wrist in a wave.
    “Mama,” she said.
    “No, Luna. Lu na.”
    “Mama.”
    “Have it your way, kid,” I said. I buckled her into her car seat and lugged her out to the car. It was heavy, and I had to use both hands.
    I like taking Lydia to the grocery store, quite honestly. I like showing her off. People always peer and coo at her, and Lydia takes it as her due. And I like it because she can usually put a smile on the face of the most dour crone and codger. Lydia has charm.
    It’s me that gets us into trouble.
    “What a beautiful baby,” the woman next to us exclaimed. Lydia flirted from her seat in the wonky-wheeled cart.
    “Thanks, she ’s my brother’s,” I said, and the woman narrowed her eyes and scurried away from me, still glancing back over her shoulder from time to time.
    Anyway, I was standing there comparing prices on ground beef, when I felt a presence. I turned around, and again, there was nobody there.
    I firmly ignored it. If it wasn’t going to be polite enough to show itself, then I wasn’t going to give it the time of day.
    “What do you think, Lydia? It’s never too early to learn about economics and the state of the nation’s food supply.”
    Lydia apparently didn’t care about the state of our food supply, because she was smiling and peeking out from under her lashes. At who, you ask? Well, me too, because I couldn’t see the darn thing.
    “Lydia, ignore it, darling.”
    Lydia ignored somebody, all right, but it wasn’t the mysterious presence. It was Luna Mama.
    “Lydia, I’m being serious. Talk to me about hamburger, okay? Don’t pay any attention to that thing.”
    Lydia waved at the empty space. “Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi,” she said.
    I tossed the hamburger back into the case and whirled around to address the presence.
    “I know you can hear me,” I hissed. I was absolutely furious. “I want you to know it is completely unacceptable to hang around a baby girl, do you understand me? I simply won’t have it, you freaking perv. Back off!”
    “Did that beef do something to offend you?”
    I spun around, and faced the green-eyed, bland haired man from the clinic earlier. He was trying valiantly not to smile, and if I hadn’t been half blind with protective rage, I would have given him props for it.
    “