Page 2 of Bad Demon

“No,” Daddy said. “She’s not staying in this house. You’re not keeping her.”

Sparks burst from Mommy’s hands, fire dancing on the tips of her fingers as she screamed.

The monster standing beside Daddy lifted his hand and slashed it through the air. Blood sprayed across the floor, and everything went quiet.

Mommy hit the floor—hard.

Daddy roared, and I covered my mouth with both hands so the monster didn’t hear me screaming.

Daddy knelt on the floor and lifted Mommy in his arms. “Goddammit, Grady, this wasn’t supposed to happen. You weren’t meant to kill my fucking wife.”

“She gave me no choice,” the monster said.

Mommy needed to wake up. Why wasn’t she waking up?

Daddy yelled at the monster to leave as magic buzzed through the room. The monster hissed and snarled as Daddy’s magic wrapped around him, and the monster was dragged by invisible hands from the kitchen and tossed outside.

I crawled out from my hiding place. “Daddy?”

His head shot up, and his eyes glowed bright. “You did this. You killed her!”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t do it. It was the monster.”

“Go to your room,” he hissed.

“Daddy?”

“Now,” he yelled.

I spun and ran up the stairs and shut myself in. Curling into a ball on my bed, I cried and cried until my eyes were puffy and sore, and I couldn’t breathe through my nose.

There were noises downstairs. Voices.

My door opened, and I sat up. “Grandpa?”

He looked at me. “We need to pack your things, Fern.”

“Where am I going?”

He took a bag from my closet and started stuffing my clothes inside.

“I don’t want to go.”

He grabbed my arm, pulled me off the bed, and shoved my coat on. Then he took my hand and dragged me from my room and down the stairs. I searched, but Mommy was gone. I could hear Daddy talking to someone, but I couldn’t see him.

“Daddy!” I called as Grandpa opened the door and led me out.

We got in his car, and we drove away. No matter what I said or did, he wouldn’t look at me or talk to me. I was scared, and it was dark. We drove for so long that, eventually, I fell asleep. When I woke, the sun was starting to come up.

I sat straighter and looked around. “Where are we?”

He didn’t answer, he just got out of the car, got my bag, and opened my door. “Out,” he said.

I climbed down, and he grabbed the back of my coat instead of my hand as we walked toward a big old building. We took the stairs, and he banged on the door.

I didn’t like this place. I didn’t want to be here.

“Grandpa?”

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