Devil Ash Days (Devil Ash Saga) Read Free Page A

beams of light shot up and out of his open palm, illuminating the room around him. Cyril and Arthemise also raised their hands and displayed a similar light show.
    “And what’s that supposed to prove?” Grace asked with a cocked eyebrow.
    “This is the Holy Light, bestowed upon us from God himself!” Sosime said. “Terribly deadly to demons and those whose souls are tainted with sin, but harmless to you.”
    Ash and Grace both moved in and examined each of their hands, poking and prying and swiping their own hands through the light. Indeed, it didn’t hurt them at all. In fact, they felt absolutely nothing from it, just like it’d be if they moved their hands around in front of a flashlight.
    “And this is how you killed the… demon… in the kitchen?” Ash asked, seemingly satisfied for the moment.
    “Yes! My goodness, it was never this difficult to convince humans a thousand years ago!” With a little huff, his wings retracted as if they were connected by a zip line and shot into his back. The others followed suit, and just like that they were indistinguishable from humans once again.
    “What can we say? We’re a lot smarter now,” Ash said.
    “Sir!” came Cyril’s voice. He’d moved over to the living room window and was gazing out into the night sky. He called for Sosime’s attention only, but of course everyone approached the window to see what he was looking at. They did not like what they saw.
    Outside, for as far as their eyes could see, there were pairs of tiny, glowing red orbs gathering around the house. Even if they had only one guess as to what they were, they already knew: they were eyes. The demons had them surrounded.
    “What are they doing here?” Grace whispered, afraid the demons might hear her. In truth, it didn’t matter if the demons did hear her. They already knew there were humans inside.
    Sosime paused, mulling over how much information he should reveal to them. Finally, he settled on an explanation that seemed adequate to him. “The demons escape from Hell to Earth through gates – portals – that form sometimes, either through natural means or because a demon of extraordinary power creates one. There’s no telling where a gate may open up. With this planet being covered mostly by water, we often get lucky and the they appear somewhere in the vast oceans. Without solid ground to stand on, most drown. However, very rarely, a gate will open on land, and these savage creatures are unleashed upon you. That’s where we come in.”
    “Why don’t they try to get back to their home?” Ash asked.
    “Imagine that you’re a demon,” Sosime said. “You’re a wild, powerful beast that’s just been plopped down into a new land with an unlimited food supply. What do you do?”
    Ash gulped. He knew what he would do.
    “ Eat.”
    They continued to look on as the demons gathered outside.
    “We knew there’d be more,” Sosime said. “Not to worry; we have a plan for getting you out of here safely.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small circular object that looked like a ring, only it was too large to fit on someone’s finger. He held it up for all to see.
    “What’s that?” Ash asked.
    “This is a gate key to Heaven. It’s our ticket out of here. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of concentration and time to prepare, and that is something we don’t have.”
    “This is ridiculous,” said Grace. “I’m calling the cops.” The woman took out her cell phone. Before she could raise it to her ear, Sosime raised a finger and shot a blast of holy light across the room. Grace’s cell phone flew out of her hands, falling to the ground smoking. Grace stared at the angel in astonishment.  
    “We would not want to put any more human lives in danger when we are the only ones capable of handling the demons,” he said. “Cyril and I will draw their attention. You two will go with Arthemise out the back door and as far from here as possible.”
    With that, he