Read Wicked Demons for Free Online Page A

sun.”
    “They’re topside?” Andi felt a flutter in her
stomach at the thought of being outside, in an open space, basking
in the heat of the day. Then a thought occurred and she gasped.
“The tow truck will be searching for me. I have to get back to my
car.”
    Toryn slowed his pace and turned to look into
her eyes. “You wish to resume your mundane life?”
    “Excuse you? My life is pretty damn nice. So
yes.”
    “Why do you wish to live as a human?”
    “What sort of question is that? I am human.
I’m…” The memory of mounting heat rising from her depths plagued
her. Nothing of the sort had ever happened before. In the recesses
of her mind, she blamed the demon, not wishing to think of the
incident further.
    Toryn shook his head. I am not the fire
demon .
    “And I am?” she practically yelled. “Get out
of my head!” Leaning against the tunnel wall, she dropped her face
into her palms.
    A fresh set of much heavier footsteps stalked
them. Andi held her breath as an incredibly disfigured silhouette
manifested out of the darkness into a disturbing heap of muscles
and scales.
    “What is that?” she whispered in fear.
    “A hell hound.”
    “Those exist?”
    Before she could clear the images of rabid
dogs from her mind, the large creature charged them. Rather than
retreat, Toryn closed in on the massive form. The sickening
noise—that familiar noise—filled the tunnel and Toryn’s teeth
resembled tiny killing blades as they ripped into the neck of the
beast. But his attempt proved unmoving.
    Flinging Toryn down the long tunnel, the
oafish sack of flesh naturally turned its attention to Andi. She
was no match in a footrace with her injured knee.
    Under her breath, she said, “I can’t die from
an oversized toad.”
    The thing roared through the isolated hall
and Andi swallowed audibly. It stormed her without warning. With
nowhere to go, it easily snared her between its enormous, slimy
mitts that should have been hands on a creature that walked bipedal
like a man.
    Sliding its grip tightly around her neck,
Andi felt her feet lift off the ground.
    As static rounded her sight from her
peripheral inward, that odd sense of anger returned. It simmered in
a hidden, quiet part of her. But soon it rushed to ignite her skin,
to burn or conquer that which challenged her. And she let it go
this time, secretly hoping it would be enough when she reached out,
laying both glowing red hands on the creature’s unattractive,
flaking baboon-like face.
    It shrieked and squealed like a puppy,
dropping Andi to the ground immediately as it retreated back into
the darkness.
    In disbelief, Andi said, “I burned it.”
    “Yes,” Toryn agreed, gaining his footing and
finally standing.
    “I burned a man’s—a thing’s—face off.”
    He shook his head. “You merely scalded it. A
hell hound’s skin is extremely resilient.”
    “Of course it is,” she mocked.
    Looking worn, Toryn turned with a cautious
gait. “We should keep moving,” he advised.
    “Then go. I just need to keep breathing so I
don’t scream or lose my mind.” Trying not to hyperventilate, Andi
started babbling. “How can I be a demon? I’m a vegan, and I never
took that telemarketing job in college, even though I could have
used the extra money. And I won first place when I was six for
making the best Baby Jesus out of cotton balls in Bible school.”
Staring straight ahead into nothingness, she mumbled, “It’s still
sitting on my parents’ mantle with a ‘First Place’ ribbon. How does
any of that translate into ‘demon’?”
    “We are born as we are. Our actions change
nothing.”
    “That’s bullshit,” she wheezed as her throat
grew tighter.
    “What’s happening?”
    “Asthma. Is that not a revered demon
quality?”
    “Stop and come with me.”
    “Stop…flipping out, or stop…breathing like
this?”
    “Both.”
    He closed the distance between them and
kissed her, laying his open palm gently against her chest at the
base of her