Unnatural Souls Read Online Free PDF

now I’d hit the dark
stretch on my street, where there weren’t any streetlights. I just
wanted to be home, away from the darkness, locked away in the
safety of my room where I hid the craziness that had become my
life. Was I really going to be able to outrun it?
    Suddenly, against my own will, I
stopped. I could see the faint light of our front porch in the
distance. Home … it was where every instinct told me to
run.
    But that would mean leading the demon
there, to my family. It wasn’t like my house had any real
protection. Nothing more than the human instinct that it was safe.
A warm light to scare the boogeyman away. But that warm light
wouldn’t protect my family when a demon followed me to the house. A
lock on the door wasn’t going to stop this monster.
    I thought once again about how amazing
it would be if that teleportation power kicked in about now. Take
me far away—anywhere but here. Keep my family safe. Keep them out
of this creature’s clutches.
    But a massive, clawed hand dug into my
shoulder, breaking my thoughts, and I realized my hesitation had
cost me any chance at fleeing. The demon twisted me around to face
it and yanked me forward. I stared up, wanting to shrink back but
incapable of doing anything. Its body was highlighted from behind
by the streetlamp, and I could see the drool dripping down its
fangs, and those angry red eyes staring down at me.
    I threw my hands up in a mixture of
panic and hope, trying to imagine another streetlight uprooting
itself, or a dumpster landing on top of the demon. How did it work?
Did I just have to be desperate enough? Did I just have to think
about something smashing the demon?
    Evidently not, because nothing
happened. The monster raised its hand, ready to do whatever it was
going to do, and though I kicked and fought to get out of its
grasp, it was too strong.
    Suddenly the creature slashed down
with its claws, and I instinctively closed my eyes tight and held
my breath, bracing myself for the agonizing pain. Instead,
something yanked me away—from behind. The demon’s claws ripped into
my skin … and then were torn free of my arm.
    I screamed in unison with the demon as
a flash of purest white light burst into life behind my closed
lids, accompanied by popping sounds. Too quiet to be gunshots—light
bulbs, maybe? Another light pole? Had I succeeded after all? Had I
thrown something at it that tore the monster away from me? My
shoulder felt wet, and a terrible pain was pulsing down my arm. But
the demon’s grip was … gone.
    I slowly forced myself to open my
eyes. Every streetlight in the neighborhood was dark, and it took a
moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they did, I saw
a figure in front of me, illuminated by the soft glow of the moon.
There was another figure at its feet. The new figure was … a
beautiful man with giant golden wings. Freaking wings! An angel?
The feathers shimmered in the moonlight with every tiny movement,
every breath he took, and it was mesmerizing. I forced myself to
look away from the wings to see that he was a tall man with dark
hair, though it was difficult to see anything else in the dark. His
eyes, though, shone like sapphires, lit up in stark contrast to the
demon’s red.
    The demon was the figure in front of
the man… And it was hissing in anger. Or fear. Perhaps
both.
    That man thing had saved me. Why? Why
would an angel care about what happened to me? My life had only
been tainted by darkness, death, and demons. I’d never actually
prayed to angels or anything—aside from when I’d tried to summon
one to save my brother. I was just a meaningless human.
    Just then, the demon bared
its fangs at the man and jumped forward, claws out, but before it
got very far the angel blurred, then reappeared, a flaming sword in
his hands. A blue flaming sword. The monster’s eyes grew wide, and even I could
see the fear in its expression.
    Whatever that blue sword was, the
demon didn’t want anything to do with