Page 17 of Dreaming of the Demon

After a quick glance over my shoulder to be sure he wasn’t following, I sped up my pace and kept walking. But then the Ogre spoke again.

“Girly, I can see you there! Did you come to steal my pears?”

I sped up some more. I was nearly running when I heard the rustling, cracking sound of a huge body breaking through the hedge. Great—he hadn’t even bothered to step over it—he’d just crushed his way right through it!

I started running in earnest then, though I still kept a tight grip on my basket. After all, it wasn’t heavy at all, so it wasn’t slowing me down. I might as well hold on to my valuable harvest of pears—or so I told myself.

I was nearly to the curve in the road when the Ogre spoke a third time—and this time his words had power in them.

“By the laws that bind us all, I bid you now to stop and stall!”he roared from behind me.

His roar shattered the early morning quiet and the birds which had been singing in the nearby trees suddenly fell silent. I tried to keep going and ignore him but, to my horror, I found that my footsteps were slowing. Suddenly it was like I was moving in slow motion, with every step getting harder and harder to take. And every minute I could hear the Ogre getting closer.

I dared to turn my head again and saw that he was only a few paces behind me. His long greasy hair was whipping in the wind and his putrid scent, like unwashed genitals and rotten garbage left in the sun, was suddenly all around me. His long, curving jaws were open and I could see a horribly long, red tongue behind them, reaching out as though he wanted to taste me!

I opened my mouth and screamed for help—only because I had eaten a Golden Warbler pear, Isangit instead.

“Help!”I cried and it came out sounding almost operatic—like a soprano singing a high note.

The Ogre let out a grating laugh.

“No use to cry, you’ll soon be dead. I’ll grind your bones to make my bread!”

My heart was pounding as though I was running a marathon but my feet were now stuck to the ground as though someone had super-glued the soles of my sneakers to the stones of the path.

I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate. Oh God, was I really going to die here and now? Aunt Gertrude had tried to warn me about evil Creatures—she’d told me I shouldn’t wander too far from the house near the edges of the magical bubble that surrounded the town. But I hadn’t listened to her and now I was going to pay. This was the end—the Ogre was going to bite my head right off my shoulders! Or else he would literally tear me limb-from-limb. He would?—

There was a rushing sound in my ears and suddenly Malik was there, right beside me. He was dressed less formally than he had been last night, in jeans and t-shirt that strained over his broad chest, but I barely had time to notice his clothes.

Before I knew it, the Incubus was putting himself between me and the Ogre and glaring menacingly up at my would-be attacker.

“Get back!” he growled, his voice deep and menacing. “And remove the spell you cast on my woman!”

I was able to turn my head enough to see the Ogre scowl at his words.

“If she’s your woman, take control! She trespassed on my ground and stole!” he declared.

“No, I didn’t!” I said but again my words came out in song—a squeaky, high, frightened melody that was in all minor keys, probably because I was still scared to death. I appreciated Malik standing up for me, but the Ogre was taller than the Incubus by several feet and his big, meaty fists looked capable of crushing a person’s skull with one blow.

“She stole, she stole! Look at her bowl!” the Ogre insisted.

“If you mean her basket, I don’t see any problem,” Malik said coolly. “She was simply harvesting fruit.”

“My fruit she took! Just take a look!” the Ogre grated.

“I’ve been picking pears from that tree for years,” I sang. “He never claimed them before and besides, I only picked from…from the branches hanging over the hedge.”

My voice was starting to wobble because I was still so afraid. Also, the Ogre’s scent was nauseating. I just wanted to get away from him but my shoes were still stuck to the path. And what if Malik decided to just give up and let the Ogre have me? I didn’t know the Incubus well enough to know if I could trust him to stand by me or not.

But despite my doubt Malik stood his ground.

“You heard the lady,” he said firmly. “She only took fruit from this side of the hedge—you don’t own the path. It’s not on your property.”

“But the tree belongs to me!” the Ogre declared.

“I don’t give a fuck,” Malik growled, clearly losing patience. “Now are you going to take your stasis spell off her or am I going tomakeyou do it?”

As he spoke, his eyes began to glow with a Hellish light and he seemed to increase in stature. His shoulders got even broader and he was suddenly a head taller and even more muscular. The sharp points of his curving horns gleamed in the sunlight and even his tail looked ready to attack. It hovered in the air beside him like a cobra about to strike.

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