Page 63 of Demons & Damnation

Running into his room, Azazel nearly collided into Mildred who stood at the bottom of his bed, her hands clasped in front of her stomach, a sickly-sweet smile on her face.

“Did you feel that?” he asked her, heading for his draws for some clothes.

“Yes, Azazel. I did.”

Her cool, calm tone sent a shiver down his spine. He turned around to see she had moved, silently, now inches from him. Her whole persona seemed lighter, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her sparkling blue eyes seemed to glisten with life and her physical appearance seemed much more...touchable, as if she were a real person again.

“Are you alright?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at her. “You look...different.”

“Good different?”

“Well, yes, if you ghosts are supposed to appear life-like.”

Mildred gave him a sly smile. “Indeed. After all, what is life if not but a state of mind? A mere perception of being?”

A long pause ensued as Azazel processed her words, then, “Eh?”

“Can you imagine, Azazel, being free from your body? Having no limitations on anything you could think of?”

The wistful, faraway look in her eyes kicked Azazel’s demonic senses into overload. He needed to get his clothes on, find his brother, and get a grip of whatever situation was unfolding rapidly in front of them.

Chapter 27

Kyla gave in and asked her gran for a hot chocolate, for old times sake. Seeing the sparkle in her eyes as she busied herself preparing it, complete with squirty cream, marshmallows, and grated chocolate, Kyla wished she could go back to being a kid again, when everything was easy, innocent, and uncomplicated.

Taking the large beige mug from her gran, Kyla licked the top of the squirty cream tower off before setting the mug down on the table.

“It looks like we’ve got some talking to do,” Kyla said, letting out a sigh. “I have some questions.”

Lily sat down in front of Kyla with a steaming cup of green tea and smiled at her granddaughter. “Fire away.”

“So demons are a thing?” Kyla asked.

Lily nodded. “Yes, dear. And every other supernatural creature you can think of.”

“Witches?”

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