Confessions of a Demon Read Free Page B

breathe; I could only stare.
     
Shock was flat on her back, nearly rigid. The lustrous glow swelled so brightly that the outline of her body grew fuzzy. I almost had to turn away; it hurt my eyes, but I couldn’t stop looking. I was born human, so it was hard for me to remember that I was a being of pure energy now. Demons looked exactly like humans, felt like real humans, so it was easy for me to forget my true nature.
     
This— this made it real. The veil of flesh ripped away as Shock’s body split apart.
     
The brilliant glow shattered as the upper part of Shock rose from the sofa. But Shock still lay there, twisting in agony as the light-filled shadow tore from her flesh.
     
A brand-new demon stood up before me. As the blinding light began to fade, the last remnants of energy burned off in its creation. The new demon looked like Shock. It was naked, sexless, but the slender form and short white hair were Shock’s.
     
I gaped, looking from the demon, back to Shock.
     
“Allay . . . ,” Shock mouthed. She tried to sit up but fell back, depleted.
     
The demon turned to Shock and took a step back to her. Every moment, it was looking less like Shock, its features blurring and reshaping, the hair darkening, growing, then curling. It was expending energy with every shift, but it seemed much stronger than Shock, who struggled to sit up.
     
The demon was close to Shock—too close. Shock was having trouble shielding herself, trying to tighten her remaining energy to protect her inner core. My skin prickled as if chilled as my own shields instinctively snapped into place. Usually I was more lax, but not when another demon was anywhere nearby.
     
To distract the demon from Shock, I peeled away from the wall. “Get away from her.”
     
The demon whirled on me like a cornered animal, dropping into a defensive crouch. I froze, locking eyes with it. Shit! That thing’s about to jump on my face!
     
This was a demon in its most primeval form—shapeless, a parasite driven by hunger, ready to do whatever it took to survive. But an arc of recognition shot between me and the tensed creature before me. Because of my background, I was as different as I could be from this demon, yet I was formed from the same material. We were the same at the core.
     
At least now it was focused on me instead of on Shock.
     
I took a slow sidestep, careful not to advance or retreat but taking control of the situation by making the first move. That was when fear hit me in the gut. The demon’s signature finally penetrated the persistent buzzing of Shock’s signature. It was a shiver down my spine, making me yearn to look over my shoulder to catch the eyes that were watching me, following me, waiting to do the worst things imaginable to me. . . .
     
“Petrify,” I said. That was the demon’s name, his true nature. My palms were sweating as I radiated exactly what he wanted—fear. I had been feeding Shock a steady stream of panic ever since the poor girl had arrived, so that was what this demon craved.
     
Some help I am! Why didn’t I pour love into her? Or calm?
     
Petrify, his hands opening and shutting, took a step toward me, compelled as he was to touch me, to soak up my fright. But I couldn’t let him—he would steal the little energy I had left.
     
I stumbled toward the kitchen, drawing him away from Shock. His facade was still wavering, but he was quickly gaining more control, conserving his energy for an attack.
     
Shock managed to push herself to her feet. “What are you waiting for, Allay? Take him. You need his essence.”
     
It took me a second before I realized what she was saying. “You want me to consume him?”
     
“Go on, Allay. It’ll be easy to slip past his shields. He doesn’t have much control.”
     
I stared at Petrify, who stopped his advance. It was true that his aura was fluctuating, his energy flow chaotic. Maybe it would be easy to absorb his power and expose the core that kept him alive. Then