Page 1 of Thane's Demon
1
FAMILY INTERRUPTIONS
THANE
Shanghai crawled with the kind of darkness that kept me breathing. A living pulse of fear and anger, irritation, and despair. All of it drifted through the night like invisible smoke. My demon drank it in like air. I felt its satisfaction rumble beneath my skin as I walked, the hood of my sweater pulled low, my shoulders braced, my presence enough to make the crowd split around me like water.
‘Good.
Let them move.
Let them fear me.
Let them keep their distance.’
The demon inside me purred, pleased with the space I dominated simply by existing. Its approval sliding through my mind like a dark caress. It lingered there like a constant weight…always present, always hungry,cravings curling along the edges of my thoughts. Every year it grew stronger, more insistent, until the boundary separating us had thinned to something barely there, the creature pacing just beneath my skin, waiting for any excuse to take more.
I used to think I could control it, that with discipline or sheer stubbornness I could keep it buried, but that battle had been lost long ago. The demon had celebrated its victory by carving its triumph into every inch of me. Even the Vampire King couldn’t help. Not his ancient power, not his endless patience, nothing he tried had ever been enough to tame what raged inside me. My family eventually stopped trying too, no longer able to reach the part of me that kept slipping further into the abyss. Nothing was stronger than the thing that shared my skin. Nothing could quiet it for long. And some nights, when the silence stretched too thin, I wondered if I had ever truly been anything more than a vessel waiting to be claimed.
‘More.
Feed.
Take the anger.
Take the pain.
Drain them.
Make them scream.’
Its voice curled through me like smoke, thick and eager, tightening around my ribs until my breath grew sharp. I clenched my jaw and forced my hands deeper into my pockets. Burying my fists and the itch beneath my skin that made my muscles coil as if preparing to strike. I could not let it loose in a crowd this dense, not unless I wanted bodies. Not unless I wanted to watch the world around me turn red, knowing that every drop of it was my fault, because the demon never hesitated. It never second-guessed. It never feared the consequences the way I did. And lately, it had stopped waiting for my permission. Lately, control felt like an illusion I still pretended I had.
The fatal question was…When would I lose it completely?
Nanjing Road blazed with neon, alive with tourists who had no idea a monster like me walked among them. That was whyI chose to live here. Noise. Chaos. Endless negativity for my demon to siphon from, so it didn’t rip me apart from the inside. I fed off this city the same way the city fed on itself.
I reached my building, the rotted mass of concrete and broken windows looming above me. A sanctuary of filth. A place where misery lived in every room. Perfect for me. Or more like…Perfect for us.
‘Yes.
Ours.
Home of the broken.
Home of the damned.
Your kingdom of rot.’
My demon vibrated with pleasure as I climbed the stairs to my apartment. It loved this place. It loved the shadows, the stench, the violence simmering below. It felt like home to it.
But not to me.
Nothing ever felt like home to me.
I shoved my door open, slamming it closed before being ready to collapse on the bed. Damn, I was tired, but then I always was, thanks to a demon that was barely sated enough to let me sleep. Only it seemed sleep would have to wait as a knock echoed behind me. Instant dread sliced through my gut. No one knocked. Not here.Not ever.
I turned, already feeling my demon rear its head, claws scraping beneath my skin as I opened the door and found him there.
