Page 70 of Demons & Damnation

The empty, blank stare of a ruthless, selfish man guarding his future. His eyes were a hollow window to a soulless creature that deserved not one more breath of oxygen. Kyla’s pleas and screams were nothing more to him than the final squeak of a mouse caught by a snake.

It was when she fell silent, shaking uncontrollably, that his focus seemed to break. The dawning realisation of what he’d done revealed his thoughts as if a pair of bleak curtains had been opened to a summer’s day. Like the coward he was, he dropped everything and ran.

A gentle whimper pushed Kyla back to the present moment. She blinked several times, needing a second to remember where she was. Looking down to see big brown eyes smiling up at her and the whipping of a tail showing nothing but joy, Kyla saw the Dobermann from minutes ago was now at her feet, begging for her attention.

She bent down to fuss him, and as she did, noticed a few spots of blood on the clean tarmac. Frowning, she glanced over his bulky body, wondering if he’d caught himself on a branch or something.

The friendly little guy nudged her leg with his nose and whimpered again. That was when she noticed it—the blood. It was coming from her. Her lower body was completely soaked like she’d just been dipped in a bath of blood.

Horror overtook her. Kyla bolted back to the car and opened the driver’s door, not giving a second thought to her new canine pal leaping onto the driver’s seat before jumping over and settling into the passenger seat. She sat down and slammed the door shut, her heart pounding, pulsing fear laced adrenaline around her body.

The car beeped at her about her seatbelt as she struck up the engine. Tyres squealed for grip as she punched the accelerator for speed. Nails dug into leather as her erratic driving had the dog scrabbling to stay upright.

None of it mattered though.

Kyla had opened Pandora’s box in her mind again, everything tumbling out like intestines in a disembowelment. The thoughts spinning around and around in her mind were sending her insane and she had no idea how to stop them.

Feeling more than lost and desperate, Kyla could only go to one place to seek some sort of grounding and explanation.

By the time she pulled up at her grandparent’s, she had become nothing but a quivering, sweaty wreck. She’d barely brought the car to a stop outside their little cottage before Lily and Malcolm were rushing out of the house. Kyla flung the car door open and hurled herself at her gran, needing a reassuring hug more than anything.

After a brief reassuring embrace of comfort, Kyla stepped back and looked at her grandparents whilst motioning over the lower half of my body.

“What the hell is this?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“It’s the result of a living memory,” Lily replied. “Come inside, dear. We have lots to talk about.”

Malcolm put his hand up in a stop sign and then pointed at Kyla’s feet. “Where did you get that from?”

Her canine pal, who had willingly kidnapped himself into the car, stood next to her wagging his tail. He barked at Malcolm which earned him a deep frown from the old man.

“I kinda found him. Then when this happened—” She motioned her hands over her legs “—he jumped in the car before I even realised it. I’ll take him to the vets later to get him scanned for a chip.”

Lily and Malcolm looked at each other. Their mouths curled upwards in a smile, but their eyes spoke of worry.

What is going on? Kyla thought to herself. Why isn’t anyone telling me any damn thing around here?

Taking Kyla’s arm, Lily walked her inside in silence.

***

AROUND AN HOUR LATER, after a hot bath, Kyla wandered back into the kitchen, clean, revitalised, and ready to learn just what exactly she’d unknowingly been born into. Trotting along at her side, Kyla’s new found friend stuck firmly to her side. He’d laid on the bathroom floor the entire time she’d been in the bath.

“If he’s not chipped, do you think I can keep him?” Kyla asked, bending down to scratch his ears.

Lily turned around from the worktop, a jug of orange squash in her hand, the ice clinking against the sides as she walked over to the table and set it down. “Let’s have a chat first,” Lily said, motioning for Kyla to sit down.

Malcolm came in from the living room, his brow furrowed together, and his lips tightly pressed together. He took a seat at the table and poured the ice-cold squash into three tumbler glasses.

Lily cleared her throat, took a seat, and then said, “Well, as your grandad said, I’m a witch and he is a former General of Hell.”

Kyla frowned. “Don’t you mean ‘was’?”

Lily smiled. “He is still a demon, my dear, with all the powers that come with it. He just doesn’t live in Hell anymore to retain the title.”

Kyla’s mouth dropped open. “So you’re like Azazel and Balthazar?”

Malcolm nodded. “Only scarier. They’re babies in comparison.”

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