Confessions of a Demon Read Free Page A

clutter that filled ordinary kitchens. The back of the counter was lined with a row of books, with a few piles on top. I kept only the barest essentials in the refrigerator as cover—some cheese, bottled goods that wouldn’t spoil quickly, and several bottles of soda that were years old.
     
I dragged Shock through the arch into the front room, which was strewn with odds and ends, the comfortable clutter of daily life. My place had never been renovated, so the battered tin ceilings and exposed pipes were thick with paint, and the plaster had buckled and cracked over the lathe. There was no bed because I didn’t sleep, so I put Shock down on the old red sofa. She didn’t look good, but I didn’t know whether this was normal; I had never seen a demon birth before.
     
Shock’s last offspring was Stun, born fifty years ago. He made my skin crawl every time I had to deal with him, but since he was one of Vex’s minions, I had no choice. It bothered me to think that a creature like that had come from Shock.
     
I was determined to avoid birthing a demon at all costs. I consumed only the bare minimum I needed to survive, never building up reserves. Not only did it make me a less-tempting target for other demons who wanted to absorb my energy, but it made it impossible for me to overdose and birth another demon into the world.
     
When a demon absorbed too much emotional energy, it split in two, giving birth asexually. The original demon was basically unchanged, while another fully grown demon was created. New demons were born with memory traces from their progenitor, and the basic knowledge about the ways of the world, other demons, and how to feed off the energy of human emotions. It had been difficult for me, with Plea’s knowledge clashing against my seventeen years of human memories. I had eventually coped by walling off those unsettling thoughts and feelings—visions of myself hurting people, giving in to ugly desires, surrounded by reaching hands. Those thoughts made me feel tainted, inhuman.
     
But my body seemed the same; in that way nothing had changed. I listened to my own heartbeat for hours in the early days, feeling the blood pulse through my veins, cutting myself to watch the red rivulets flow down my skin until my flesh miraculously healed, digging deeper despite the excruciating pain to see muscle and the glint of bone, over and over again, until I wearied of examining my own body from the outside in. Other than the way I healed, the only thing that felt different was that my appetite was now focused on emotions instead of food. Laughter was like sugar cookies, cynicism like a tart lemon, and comfort like a bowl of warm stew, satisfying to my heart.
     
I had asked Shock what her body felt like, and she said it was the same. She was even more fascinated by her hu manlike yet ephemeral body. She had a habit of clasping her wrist to feel her pulse race when she was pumped up on adrenaline.
     
I eyed her nervously. “How much longer?”
     
“Almost there.” Shock panted, curling into fetal position. “You got any energy? That’ll help. Over with faster.”
     
I gently clasped her hand so she could draw what she needed. The aura around our hands flared orange with my fear.
     
Shock writhed on the sofa, her feet kicking the cushions as her back arched. I didn’t need to turn on the light—a pearly glow filled the room as energy shed off her like the tail of a comet. Surely every demon within a few blocks could feel her signature now, amplified by the impending birth.
     
With a spike of panic, I realized I hadn’t bolted the door behind us. What if the door hadn’t closed below? What if Lo came upstairs when she heard Shock’s strangled cries? But she was holding on to me so tightly that I couldn’t let go.
     
Shock released my hand the instant before energy exploded from her body. The shock wave thrust me back against the wall. Cracks radiated away in the plaster where I hit. I couldn’t