Page 12 of The Devil and His Ghost

The quivering man slowly peeked up at her. “It’s not that easy.”

“Oh no?” I snapped my fingers, and the office light flicked back on.

I blended back into the shadows, hidden from him, though Kendyll could still see me. With a wave of my hand, I summoned the discharge papers, and they rained down out of thin air to fall on and around the doctor. His signature and fabricated successful “treatments” littered the pages, all placed by me.

“Done,” I said from within my hidden world. “She’ll be leaving now, and if any trouble follows her—” I reappeared right in front of his face, my golden eyes the only shape within my horned black mass figure “—I’ll come back for you.”

Dr. Roberts went as white as the sheets littered around his trembling form. With my warning clear, I wrapped my wispy, clawed hand around Kendyll’s shoulder and swallowed us in shadows. When they cleared, we stood on the outside of a gate with a large sign that read Mountview Psychiatric Hospital. I stepped away from her and shed my extra demonic guise so that I once again looked like myself with the addition of the horns, claws, fangs, and golden eyes.

Kendyll’s gaze bounced between me and the metal gate with the stone building beyond it. “If you could get me out that easy, why go through all that fuss?”

I grinned. “It was way more fun that way.”

She shook her head, but the hint of a smile tugged at her mouth. She took a deep breath like she was basking in the air devoid of sterilizers and medicine. She spun around happily and began walking down the concrete road. “So, where are we off to now?”

I stared at the back of her head. “We?”

She stopped midstep and faced me once more. “Yeah. Me and you. You and me. We.”

I let out a disbelieving laugh and shook my head hard. “There is no we. I got you out of the shit hole. Now you’re free to do what you want. Go home and—”

“Home?” she cut me off. “I don’t have a home. Who do you think put me in that place? I’ll never go back there. I-I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Not my problem,” I shrugged.

Just as I prepared to step through shadows and leave, she reached out to grab my arm. This clingy scenario had déjà vu written all over it. She held on tightly and pleaded, “Why not?”

“Because I’m a demon who has no use for a human leech. We aren’t buddies. You needed help, and I wanted to have some fun fucking with people. End of story.”

“I won’t get in your way,” she tried to bargain. “I can help with chores or scaring people or whatever it is you do. Think of me as your lackey! Please? Just until I find somewhere to go. I won’t bother you for long.”

“You’re bothering me right now,” I hissed with narrowed eyes.

“Please,” she begged, the word coming out on a choked whisper this time. Her grip on my arm tightened, and her wide eyes became red and glassy behind her glasses. “Please take me with you. I can’t go back there.”

Fear, panic, horror—those were the easiest emotions for Mischief demons to manipulate and feed into. Because of that, we were masters in sensing them, even if we weren’t the ones causing the feeling.

Each one of those emotions swept through Kendyll now, the next more potent than the last. She trembled as an icy terror seemed to take her captive. I stared at her and searched her petrified gaze for the source of what had her this afraid. I would’ve expected anger or hatred to be on the forefront of her mind as she thought about the possibility of returning home to the people who had turned her over to the mental hospital, but instead, it was horror.

Something in her desperate plea and haunted gaze made me hesitate. She probably had no friends or connections, and the family she did have clearly wanted to be rid of her. Would it be awful to let her stay at my place until she found somewhere to go? Normally, I wouldn’t even bat an eye at someone’s plea, but this human had the Devil’s Eye. She wasn’t normal; she was gifted. It was rare to have a chance to talk to someone with her ability.

Besides, I was hardly at my apartment since I was always going out with the boys and fucking around with people. She could keep my place neat and tidy while I was gone, and maybe she could even help me get some power boosts by getting into some haunted shit.

Sighing, I relented, “Fine. You can come with me.” Before she could get excited, I shoved my clawed finger right into her face. “But only until you’ve found somewhere else to go, which better be sooner rather than later.”

“Okay! Deal!” she chirped, her terror sliding back into its recesses.

I really hope I don’t regret this, I thought as I swept us both away.

Chapter 7

Xander

(7 Years Ago)

MY PENTHOUSE APARTMENT WAS IN the highest room of a towering skyscraper. It was all dark colors with some of my Chinese roots sprinkled about in the decor, including a special display for my guqin, guzheng, and pipa.

The sun was just setting over New York City when I appeared in front of the wall of windows with Kendyll clutching onto me. Her eyes widened in amazement behind her glasses, and she stared in awe at the glowing skyscraper horizon.