AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jill lived about half a mile from my aunt Tessa, in a house that was within about two blocks of being in a rather crummy section of town. I always made sure to lock my car doors whenever I went over to her place. However, I loved her house. It was two stories, small and skinny, painted in a dusky blue that I adored, and raised a few feet off the ground. Somehow it reminded me of a really cool clubhouse.
“Let’s go, you lazy bitch!” I yelled as I came through the front door.
“Bite me, you whore!” I heard the cheerful reply from the direction of the kitchen. I laughed and headed to the back. Her house couldn’t have been more than about eight hundred square feet—and that was counting both floors, but it was all tucked together neatly and efficiently. The front of the house was the living area and the back was the kitchen. There was only one bedroom, which, along with a bathroom, took up the entire second floor. And, the only way to get upstairs was by way of an utterly charming wrought-iron spiral staircase. I was dying to put one of those in my house, except for the annoying fact that my house had only one story. And I couldn’t replace the basement stairs with a spiral staircase, since most of the demons I summoned would never be able to navigate it.
Thus I was reduced to lusting after Jill’s.
Jill was perched on a stool with one foot on her counter as she tied the laces of her shoe, and I silently en-vied the muscle tone in her legs. Slender and petite, she had the sleek athletic build of someone who was always moving. Her red hair was cut into an adorable pixie style that I’d always wanted to try, but had long ago accepted could never pull off with my facial features. It totally worked on Jill, though she was far from “adorable.” Fierce, determined, loyal, and caring—yes. Adorable? Not in this lifetime.
“I think I need new shoes,” she said sourly. “I had to superglue the sole of this one back on last night. Why do they have to be so damn expensive?”
“Space age engineering,” I replied. “Make you better runner. Faster. All that stuff.”
“Ha. Make you broker runner.”
“Y’know, if your shoe is falling apart, it might be safer to not run,” I said, probably a little too hopefully.
She gave me a quelling look. “Nice try. You’re not getting out of this.” She laughed as I stuck my tongue out at her. “So I hear you had fun the other night!”
“Would have been a lot more fun without the whole chase-the arcane-creature-through-the-city part.”
“You chased something?” she asked, skepticism heavy in her voice.
I planted my hands on my hips and tried to look offended. “Is it really that hard to believe?”
“Yes!” she said with a laugh. “I’m your running partner, remember? Or should I call it your wheezing shambling jogging partner?”
“You are such a bitch,” I muttered, unable to keep from smiling.
“Yep, which is why I’ll go ahead and remind you now that the PT test is in two weeks, and we’re running again on Friday, and you need to have your butt over here by six A.M.”
I scratched the side of my nose with my middle finger cocked in a rude gesture. “Seriously, you’re really a bitch. I don’t know why I bother with you.” I took a dramatic breath. “Okay, so I might have hitched a ride with a demon while Ryan and Zack did the actual running part of the chase.”
“Now that I can believe!” Her blue eyes were bright with amusement.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I planted myself on a stool. “Now, in the spirit of me putting off running as long as possible, I was hoping you could help me with something.”
“Sure thing, as long as it doesn’t take so long that you try to weasel out of running altogether.”
I batted my eyes innocently. “Would I do that?” I ignored the rude noise she made. “Tell me everything you know about golems,” I said.
She blinked at me. “Excuse me?”
“Ummm, aren’t you Jewish?”
She gave the most withering look I’d ever experienced. “Okay, I like you,” she said, “and so I’m not going to say something that I would probably go ahead and say to anyone else.”
“Er, thanks?” I said tentatively.
She laughed. “Look, golems are part of Jewish lore, but I don’t know much more about them than anyone else. Hell, most of what I know is from watching The X-Files.”
“Oh, no,” I breathed in horror. “Don’t tell me you’re a nerd too!”
“Well, I can’t hold a candle to Ryan and Zack, but yeah, I liked X-Files when it was on. Anyway, there was one episode about golems that was fairly true to legend.”
I groaned. “Please don’t make me go watch it. Can you sum up the legend stuff for me?”
“You are so damn pathetic,” she said, eyes flashing with humor. “Well, all I really remember is that they’re animated creatures made from inanimate matter. And there’s usually something written on the forehead, or a piece of paper in the mouth. Erase the letters or remove the paper and the golem stops or falls apart.”
