Along Came a Demon Read Online Free PDF Page B

and jewelry. As for the crucifixes, I just happened to like crucifix jewelry.
    Lynn was trying to be ethnically sensitive, calling them the Otherworldy. It was too much of a mouthful for me; I called them demons. Not that I thought they were creatures from hell. I didn’t know what they were, or where they came from. They could be aliens from outer space for all I knew. But with their slightly pointed teeth and glimmering eyes, demon seemed an apt description.
    Gorge Ligori, our friendly neighborhood demon, did not know I knew what he was. The first time I went in his store, I couldn’t decide whether I had risen to heaven or descended to hell. He is so freaking gorgeous, the prettiest man you’ll ever see, almost too lovely to be a man, in fact. His long hair glows, sun-bright, golden, and on sunny days appears to reflect on his face and turn his tanned skin a lighter version of the same color. His golden brows arch enquiringly over sparking teal eyes. Lynn told me all demons are tall, but she’s wrong—Gorge is about five-foot-five. Yet I see how she reached that conclusion, for although petite and slim, the picture of Gorge in my mind is of a tall, slender man, supple as a willow.
    Gorge and I belonged to the Heart of Clarion Restoration Society, the nucleus of a project to revitalize the downtown area, so after our first meeting we often saw each other. I made myself treat him like a regular human being, so he did not suspect I recognized him for what he really was. And I have to admit, if Gorge were a human he would be a pretty nice one, along with being absolutely stunning. Gorge owned and ran an antique store in downtown Clarion.
    Lynn thought demons had been here a long, long time. She thought they could be the inspiration behind legends and myth: elves, vampires, even angels. She wondered if an Otherworldy being touched Lindy’s spirit as it departed her body, giving it a powerful jolt. Maybe the jolt added to the spirit’s range of abilities, letting Lindy move away from her place of departure. And a demon - though it would have to be a mighty powerful one - could have messed with every mind in the apartment building, making them forget Lawrence. It could have removed any trace of the child before the police got there.
    I’ve been in the apartments; the units are similar in design. Even if Lindy went straight from the bathroom to the front door, she would see Lawrence’s stuff had disappeared. The place was cleaned out after she left to find me.
    But why would a demon murder Lindy Marchant and go to such lengths to erase all evidence of her son?
    I tried to relax. If Lawrence existed, there must be records of him. Lindy had not mentioned his age, but if he went to school, there was one record. If he was younger and went to day-care while she worked, there was another. Birth-certificate. Immunization records… . He left his mark someplace and Mike would find it.
    I tried to relax, and I couldn’t. I had the nastiest feeling in my gut.
    I ground my clenched fists in my eyeballs. I should get back to Lindy. I needed more information. If Lawrence was taken by Demons… .

    Lindy quietly sat under an apple tree. The apples rotting on the ground didn’t seem to bother her, and I noticed the wasps kept their distance. Jack and Mel watched me from the window in the backdoor as I walked over to her. Annoyed I didn’t go inside the house first, they flapped their hands at me agitatedly. I rolled my eyes at them.
    Lindy looked up at me and for the briefest of moments before her gaze sank again, although I know I imagined it, I thought I saw hope in her eyes.
    I put on my cheerful face. “A friend is making some calls, so it shouldn’t be long now.”
    I hunkered down in the grass next to her, folding my arms on my knees. In mid-November the grass was yellow and leaves almost covered the corners of the yard where they had drifted. I should get out there soon with the leaf blower. The harsh winter sun blazed down.