A Demon in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page B

reclaimed after the recent mass shooting, the Judge had sentenced Thorn to “community service,” in the Judge’s words. Thorn had helped the Judge track down a demon who’d killed one of his own after a feud, helped him discredit another demon who had proclaimed himself Demon Judge of Buckhead, and finally helped him slay Vucion, who’d been running around Georgia with a possessed human for the last few weeks.
    “I must be nearing the end of my service now,” Thorn said, neither firmly nor cautiously. “I would like to return to my own business soon.”
    “Easy there, homeboy. Still one more thing.” The Judge led him down the dilapidated street, past melting piles of dirty snow, over cracks in the asphalt where weeds grew in clumps, to a freight container. He hefted Vucion’s body above his head, then tossed it underneath the container, where no other demon would see it until it dissolved into the ether.
    “Marcus is still loose in the city,” Thorn said. At least, Thorn assumed he was still loose. Marcus hadn’t been seen since the day of the shooting; he had likely gone to ground, aware that the city’s demons would side with the now-famous Thorn in any conflict between the two of them. Still, the possibility that Thorn’s greatest foe could be lurking around any corner filled him with constant apprehension. “I don’t like being alone with you like this, without my followers.” Even in the presence of his followers, Thorn no longer felt safe, since some of them had betrayed him to his enemy when Marcus had first arrived in Atlanta. These offending demons had been forced from the city at Thorn’s request, yet Thorn remained sharply aware that his followers would leave him in a heartbeat if the tide turned against him again.
    “Thorn, baby, you don’t trust me?”
    “No.”
    “There’s no way I’m gonna turn a celebrity like you over to Marcus, if it makes you feel better. Here.” He motioned for Thorn to follow him into a group of trees.
    Thorn hesitantly obliged. “Have you heard anything? About Marcus?”
    “A little. I think he’s lost interest in you. Rumor is he has a new project.”
    “What’s that?”
    “A serial killer.”
    “How cliché of him.”
    “Yeah, well, I think he wants to outdo you in the ‘American deaths’ category.”
    “He’s welcome to try. You will make him leave the city, though, if he surfaces?”
    “Sure thing, buddy. Here we are.”
    In the small clearing ahead, several bamboo shoots had curiously sprung up amidst the leafless forest. Dull sunlight peered through the tall stems to fall on the squat demon who hovered under the bamboo.
    Shenzuul. Marcus’s right-hand demon.
    Thorn tried to flee but the Judge restrained him. “Whoa there, Hoss, hold your horses.”
    “You’ve betrayed me!”
    “Chillax, Thorn. Chillax yourself, okay? Listen.”
    Thorn pulled even harder. “I can have an army at your doorstep within a day. You will regret this!”
    “Jesus, you sound like Vucion.” He smacked Thorn square in the face. “Mellow out!”
    Thorn calmed himself a bit. “What is this?”
    Rips and patches adorned Shenzuul’s tattered suit. Loose pieces of it flapped as he drifted out to meet Thorn.
    Thorn noticed that his own transitioning morals had produced a change in his perception of Shenzuul: the once-imposing demon appeared thinner and less healthy than he’d been the last time Thorn had seen him. He approached low, keeping Thorn above him at all times. “I need learn,” he said gruffly.
    The Judge removed his sunglasses so Thorn could see his eyes, and Thorn tried to decide if the gesture was meant to display honesty, or to better hide a lie. “Shenzuul has spent the last millennium in the deep jungles of the third world,” the Judge explained. “The dude was in the third world before there even was such a thing. So he missed a few important things, like say, the Renaissance. World War Two. Netflix.”
    “This means nothing to