Page 1 of The Devil and His Ghost

Chapter 1

Xander

(17 Years Ago)

THE WOMAN’S WAIL PIERCED THE air, sending a surge of buzzing energy firing through my body. A fanged grin stretched across my face from where I hid within the shadowed veil between the human world and the demonic one. The mortal lady was none the wiser to my presence, which made her believe her rocking chair in the dark corner of her living room was creaking back and forth on its own.

Her terror as she fled the room made me cackle, but only for a moment. She ran out of the house, and as the seconds ticked by, I realized she wasn’t returning. The human was such a fucking quitter, running after I’d just started having my fun.

“Killjoy,” I grumbled and stood from the hard rocking chair.

With a sigh, I walked through the shadows and appeared in the street outside of the house. Homes lined the road, and I scanned them, wondering if any other would provide a good source of entertainment and energy to fill this lurking Mischief demon.

I raised my black-clawed finger and pointed at each house. “Eeny … meeny … miny … moe!”

Looked like the white colonial home with its pristine appearance and ostentatious playset out back was the winner. Playsets meant kids, and that meant plenty of energy for me to soak up. Children were easy to scare with their overactive imaginations and lack of reasoning skills. They also drew the attention of any nearby adults, which meant even more opportunities to garner an array of responses to my antics. The more humans reacted to the chaos I created, the more powerful I became, which meant the more I could do.

Instead of creating a gust of wind with a snap of my fingers, I could summon a storm. Instead of lighting the wick of a single candle with a nod of my chin, I could conjure a flame to engulf an entire house. Instead of breaking a human’s bone with a small tap of my finger, I could render their entire skeletal system into sawdust with a single thought. Gaining power from human’s emotional and mental reactions to my fun was truly a sweet, sweet skill to possess, and I fucking loved it.

“Let’s see who will power my battery tonight,” I mused, running my claws through my messy black hair between my tall horns.

Smiling and humming happily, I shoved my hands into my jeans and stepped through shadows, appearing in the colonial home. I chose a room at random as my starting point. The Prince of Darkness Himself must’ve been smiling upon me tonight, because I found myself in a pitch-black closet, surrounded by frilly pink dresses and a toy bin of stuffed animals. Tucked right beside the toy chest was a small child, who hugged her knees tightly to her chest and stared at the shut closet doors.

I didn’t even have to hunt for my prey!

I remained hidden in the shadowy world of the paranormal, invisible to the human eye. Slowly, I knelt down to get level with the kid, snickering and formulating a plan on what I should do. Move one of the teddy bears? Laugh quietly but menacingly? Drag my claws slowly down the wooden door? The possibilities were endless!

Now squatted on the tiny human’s level, I grinned with a decisive nod. I’d pull on her hair with a small tug. It was a gesture that couldn’t be explained away, especially for a kid—a yank on your hair while alone in a dark closet? It was fucking horror gold. Already, I could picture the panic and—

“Boo!” she yelled, whipping around to face me with her hands splayed wide.

“Unholy fucking shit!” I yelled, jumping away so fast, I fell onto my ass and slammed my back into the closet wall.

The little she-devil covered her mouth with both hands and laughed so hard that she nearly toppled over. Meanwhile, my heart practically broke free of my chest in a mad dash to get away from what was happening.

When her giggles died down, she met my wide eyes. “You said bad words.”

I couldn’t regain control of my rapid heartbeat. Clutching my chest, I bellowed, “Damn right I did! You scared the shit out of me!”

She laughed quietly again and produced a small sparkly flashlight. It lit up her smiling face, framed by inky black hair. She shifted closer to me in her purple pajamas and fuzzy socks. “Why do you have horns? Are you a monster?”

“Yeah,” I replied flatly. “I’m a big, bad, scary monster.”

I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead with my clawed fingers. I truly thought luck was on my side tonight, but apparently not. I honed in on the shadows around me, confirming that they were definitely in place. This kid shouldn’t have been able to see me.

Looking back at her, I questioned, “How can you see me?”

Her green eyes widened behind her purple-framed glasses, and her grin fell. She quickly whipped her face forward and pointed the flashlight up toward the ceiling. “I can’t.”

“Oh, no?” I queried sardonically. “So you’re talking to yourself right now?”

She opened her mouth but seemed to quickly realize responding would dig her into a deeper hole. She firmly shut her mouth, but being a little kid, she couldn’t resist. So she quickly glanced my way and declared, “You’re not real.”

“Hey. That’s rude.” Offended, I flicked her forehead.

“Ow!” she hissed, rubbing the red dot now adorning her face.

“Mhm,” I grumbled. “Still think I’m not real?”