***
We gawked at each other at the top of the stairs. The demon had only been dead for twenty minutes and now it was back again! What kind of death was that?
About then Angie returned to the kitchen. “I complimented the officers on getting here so fast, but I told them it was a false alarm. I don’t know, maybe next time we should show them a demon’s body. I don’t want them to think we’re crying wolf, you know?” Angie stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw us. “What?”
“You know that demon we killed?” said Travis. “Well, it just said somethin’.”
We rushed back into the basement and opened the panic room door. Sure enough, though the demon was still wrapped in chains, it certainly wasn’t dead anymore. Both heads looked at us pleadingly, fear in its two good eyes. The bullet holes in its chest were gone.
“I’ve got to get a bigger gun,” murmured Granny.
Angie flashed her a look, then spoke to the demon. “Why did you come here?”
The demon stifled an obvious chuckle. “To get the Kelly Bishop-ah for the Demon Nation, of course-ah. The Boss put a bounty-ah on her head and whoever brings her back-ah gets all the soup-ah he wants forever-ah!”
“Why did you come alone?” I asked, being careful to stand behind Granny.
“Cuz the bounty-ah only counts as one-ah. If I had help-ah, I’d have to share my soup-ah. Slopgreez don’t want to share-ah. Slopgreez wants all the soup for himself-ah. I got two mouths to feed-ah.”
“You name is Slopgreez?” asked Angie.
The demon nodded. “But I don’t wants her anymore-ah. Let me go-ah back to the Demon Nation, I’ll never return-ah. I promise-ah.”
“Like we can believe anything a demon says.” Angie crossed her arms. “If you want to see your cave again you’ll have to tell us what we want to know first.”
Its two functional milky green eyes narrowed. “Like what-ah?”
“First, why should we believe anything you say?”
“Demons can’t lie-ah. We ain’t like humans-ah, it ain’t part of our nature to lie-ah.”
I could read people’s minds easily enough, but so far I hadn’t been able to pick up on any thoughts from a demon. Too bad. I definitely didn’t trust this one.
“Why does the Boss want the Kelly Bishop?”
“Don’t know that-ah. Only know he wants her-ah bad.”
“He’s doing what he’s told,” I said boldly. “The man, Mr. Deel, is the one who really wants me. And he tells the Boss what to do.”
Slopgreez became belligerent. “No-ah! Nobody in the Demon Nation tells the Boss nothin’-ah! He’ll put you in his soup-ah for sayin’ that!”
“Not if he keeps sending in slackers like you to get her,” said Granny with a chuckle. “Beside, we’re not part of the Demon Nation, are we?” The demon scowled darkly.
Travis had his own questions. “So how come you were dead and came back to life? Were you fakin’ it?”
“Slopgreez don’t know what fakin’ it-ah means. Demons die and come back-ah. You can’t kill us forever-ah. We’re immortal-ah.”
“Immortal?” spat Granny. “I’ll bet I could find a way to keep you dead.”
Slopgreez glared at her. “Many have tried-ah. No such thing-ah. There, I told you what you wanted-ah. Can I go now-ah? I swear I won’t come back-ah.”
Angie shrugged. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to let it go. I mean, if demons really can’t lie, and all. It did cooperate.”
“I don’t know, Angie. I don’t trust it.” Granny subconsciously touched the holster under her jacket. “Maybe we should try to kill it again, you know? Chop it into lots of little pieces and set them in the sun.”
The demon’s dark eyes flashed fear. “Slopgreez been good to you-ah! Please-ah, let me go!”
I scanned Angie’s thoughts and realized she’d already made up her mind to release Slopgreez, as long as he didn’t try anything stupid. Angie made her offer. “You’ve got to promise you’ll never come back here, and that you won’t try to harm any of us ever again. Especially the Kelly Bishop.”
Slopgreez nodded both heads vigorously. “Oh, I do promises-ah. I-ah will never come back-ah or try to harm the Kelly Bishop-ah again. Never-ah!”
The Kelly Bishop. It was kind of weird hearing everybody talk about me in the third person like I wasn’t even in the room. I guess that’s the nature of demon-speak.
Slopgreez looked and seemed sincere, but who could tell? I mean both of its heads spoke at the same time and sounded like they really meant it. But you had to remember, it was a demon. I didn’t know much about them but it seemed that words like truthfulness and trustworthy probably weren’t in their vocabulary. I was very uneasy about letting this one go. But if you couldn’t kill them, what could you do with them?
Granny reloaded her magnum as Angie unlocked the padlocks. We all unwrapped the chains. Granny caught the ugly creature by one of its throats and lifted it off the floor.
“You ever come back this way I’ll make sure you regret it.”
“I’ll never come back-ah, I swear-ah on the Boss’ left foot!” She released the demon and drew her handgun.
“Travis, open the back door.”
I moved as far from the demon as I could get, but stood ready with my bat. Travis opened the door. A red security light came on over the door and he punched in the code. The light changed to green. He took out his slingshot, loaded another steel marble and took aim.
The demon’s eyes grew large with anticipation. It looked to Angie for approval before it went anywhere. She nodded at the door. The demon took off running, but not before it hissed at me on the way out. Then it started laughing like a crazy person. We followed it outside.
“What’s so funny, Demon?” called Granny.
“Somethin’ I said-ah,” replied the demon as it trotted across the yard. Security lights came on and lit up the area. “I said demons couldn’t lie-ah. But that was a lie-ah!” The demon broke down laughing so hard it stopped moving. Travis fired. The marble struck it in back of its right head. Thwack! At the same time Granny shot it in the leg. It took off running again with a slight limp.
“Ow!” it cried. “I’ll be back for the Kelly Bishop-ah! You can count on it-ah!”
Granny shot it again, but the creature escaped into darkness.
“We shoulda killed it,” said Travis, looking at me upset. I knew exactly how he felt.
“We did kill it,” said Granny. “Crikey, there’s got to be a way to keep those things dead. Something a bit more permanent anyway, you know?”
I shivered in the December night air. We’d see that demon again, I was sure of it. The question was when would it come and how ready would we be?
“Damn those things,” said Angie. “You know, I should have asked it how it got in the house. I’ll call the contractors in the morning and let them know the house isn’t entirely demon proof.”
“You’re gonna tell ‘em ‘demon proof’?” asked Travis.
“No. But I paid a lot of money to make sure things like this couldn’t happen. By the way, mom, I finally figured out what you can get me for Christmas.”
“You’re cutting it close,” said Granny. “Only a few shopping days left and all. What is it?”
“I want you to teach me how to shoot a gun. And maybe you can help me buy one later, too.”
“But you hate guns,” I said.
“Yes, ordinarily. But these demons are tearing up my house and trying to steal my foster daughter. As far as I’m concerned, this is war. Guns are pretty handy in a war.”
If you’d like updates, free giveaways, or information on how to get your copy of Book #2, THE DOOMSDAY SHROUD, go to my website at www.rlgemmill.com
Thanks for joining Kelly, Jon and Travis in this adventure!
Available in eBook and print formats.
About the Author
When R. L. Gemmill was 20, he hitchhiked from Virginia to California to visit relatives. Along the way he climbed Han
dy’s Peak in southern Colorado, had all of his food stolen by ground squirrels in the Grand Canyon, and most importantly, began to read books while snowed in on the campus of Michigan Tech University. He had been writing books since the age of 12, but actually reading books changed everything. Gemmill taught biology and anatomy in Virginia for 32 years and is now retired.
R. L. Gemmill’s favorite quote (which saved him from depression and worse):
“If your life bores you, risk it.” James Dickey, author of Deliverance.
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