Forget You (Demon Underground Series) Read Free Page A

lobotomy?” Shawn asked in disbelief.
    YES, OR THE DEMON COULD CHOOSE DEATH, IF HE PREFERS, Max added helpfully.
    Shawn gulped. Lobotomy or murder were the only choices? No. This wasn’t right. He couldn’t let this happen. Fear threatened to swamp his senses.
    Sharra turned and slugged Shawn in the shoulder as hard as she could. “This is all your fault,” she yelled. “You and your wanting to join the Underground.”
    Stunned by the way his normally meek sister turned on him, Shawn massaged his shoulder where she’d hit him. “I didn’t want this .” Not at the expense of his father’s life. “Dad, tell them it isn’t so,” he pleaded.
    “It’s true,” his father said heavily. “And you deserve to know the whole truth.”
    “We don’t need to know,” Sharra said. “Honest, we know you’re a good person.”
    “No, Sunshine Girl, you need to know so you don’t make the same mistake I did.”
    “What about us?” Sharra asked, her voice shaking. “We’re shadow demons, too.”
    “But you’ve done nothing wrong,” Diesel soothed. “The Demon Underground in Albuquerque will take you in, give you a good home, continue to train you to control your powers.”
    Diesel laid his hand on Dad’s shoulder, and now that Dad was grounded in another being of this world, Shawn saw his father’s face for the first time in three years. Careworn, looking as if he’d aged five years for each of the three that had passed, Dad looked like an old man, beaten down by life. Worse, scars crisscrossed his face and neck, healed scars Shawn had never seen before. He wanted to tell Diesel to remove his hand and let Dad have his privacy, but he couldn’t. He had to know what happened, see his father’s face to know it was true.
    “What mistake?” Sharra asked in a small voice.
    “When your mother left, I followed her, begged her to come back and be there for you children.”
    He paused, and Shawn had to know. “What did she say?”
    “She loved you, she really did, but she wasn’t strong enough to handle our life. She couldn’t take living in secret anymore, and she’d met a man, a full human, who loved her and wanted to take care of her.”
    “Mom left us for another man?” Sharra wailed.
    Dad nodded, looking sad. “She was going to, yes, so I  . . . became angry.”
    NO WONDER, Max said in disgust. SHE CALLED HER OWN CHILDREN MONSTERS.
    Dad shot the hellhound a dirty look. “They didn’t need to know that,” he said in a clipped tone.
    “You read that in Dad’s mind?” Sharra asked, sounding as stricken as Shawn felt.
    YES. THAT’S WHEN YOUR FATHER GOT MAD.
    “I’m sure she didn’t mean it,” Dad said, looking earnest. “But yes, I got angry. And the damned portal opened.” He glared up at Diesel. “I tried to stop the demon that came through. How do you think I got these scars? But I couldn’t. He killed your mother and knocked me unconscious.”
    Shawn gasped. Mom was dead ? All this time, he thought she’d just left and never come back. He didn’t realize  . . . he’d never see her again. Tears filled his eyes, and for once, he was glad no one could see his face.
    Dad turned to look at Shawn and Sharra, grief-stricken. “I’m sorry I kept it from you. I didn’t want you to hurt more than you already do.”
    THERE’S MORE, ISN’T THERE? Max said.
    “Yes.” Dad looked at Diesel, remorse in his eyes. “What you don’t know is that a second demon came through that day, one I’ve been trying to track down ever since.”
    Diesel looked shocked. “Did you find it?”
“No. I’ve followed every lead I could, but I haven’t found any demonic happenings anywhere in the area.” He paused. “I think it either went so far underground we can’t find it, or it died shortly after it got here. Maybe the first demon killed it.”
    Diesel shook his head, his mouth a grim line as his hand tightened on Dad’s shoulder. “You’d better hope so.”
    Shame rippled through Shawn. Dad