The Demon Side Read Online Free PDF Page B

‘outbursts.’” Etta’s voice stayed calm as she sat up on her bed. This was not good. I couldn’t have normal conversations with some girl. But my lips wouldn’t stop flapping. Of course, I’ve never come across a fleshling I could actually converse with, so my curiosity got the best of me. I hoped curiosity doesn’t kill Demons the way it does cats.
    “If you don’t like it, why do you go?”
    Etta didn’t respond, but her eyes widened and her body froze. I waved my hand in front of her, but she didn’t even blink. Then out of nowhere, she began screaming and jerking around as if she were being gutted. John burst through the door and jumped on top of her, trying desperately to pin her limbs down.
    “Stop! Stop! C’mon, Etta!” John used everything he had to hold on to her. After a few short moments, Etta’s body went limp. John scooped her up into his arms and disappeared from the house.

Chapter Five
     
     
    I’ve seen what happened to Etta before. Hell, I’ve done it to people before, but I didn’t do it this time. He’d arrived. Whatever Demon haunted her before finally caught up to her. I didn’t know how long he’d been around. Did he know another Demon inhabited the house? Did I let my guard down for a minute, allowing him to see me? Why didn’t I sense him? I let my head get too wrapped up in this girl and my own curiosity, a mistake I couldn’t afford.
    I was too low on energy to go looking for the new houseguest right now. René was so drunk I’d barely pulled enough energy from her to flash into the bedroom. I retreated to the attic to rest.
    The house filled with the sounds of the rats scavenging for food and René’s muffled snores. The woman didn’t even stir when John barreled out of the house with Etta. I doubt she would have cared if she had heard. I usually sat on the prickly pink insulation in the attic at ease, enjoying the stillness the night brings, but tonight I was far too on edge. Every creak of the house caught my attention. I waited to hear the familiar electrical humming sound Demons give off. Most people, no matter how hard they try, can’t hear it even when a Demon is so close he’s practically on top of them. The ones who know what they are listening for describe it as the loud buzz you hear when standing next to high voltage power lines.
    The obnoxious metal music of Etta’s alarm going off broke my meditation. Two days I sat listening, but detected no sound of another Demon roaming the property, just René waking up, getting drunk, and passing out. Every now and then I caught John’s voice on the answering machine. He was visiting Etta or her doctors somewhere after work and they would be home in a few days. But that’s all I could get before Rene would delete the message and go back to more pressing matters, like her date with the vodka bottle.
    With what I’d learned about the Divads so far, I could only assume that John had taken Etta for her emergency psychological evaluation. Maybe Etta was simply some crazy girl with a vivid imagination, and I gave her more credit than she deserved. Maybe I just got too tied up in what she wanted me to see: a pathetic girl who had already been tortured so much she had nothing left to give or that I wasn’t able to see that there was nothing here for me but the rats. I wouldn’t risk my territory on theories though. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to search the house, looking for any sign of another Demon.
    Starting with shutting off Etta’s alarm, I traced my hands across the unmade light purple cotton comforter on the bed. Nothing. I then did a once over across the hardwood floor around the bed. If it were another Demon that caused Etta’s freak out, he would want to be as close to her as possible. The closer you are to an object or person, the less power you use controlling it. The larger the object or person, the more energy you use. Since energy is what keeps Demons alive, we tend to reserve as much as