Page 11 of Unleashing Mayhem
The other demons he’d met had all had them, but Sarkaron was a different type of demon, he’d said. It wouldn’t do to assume. Maybe that skull face he could summon was his only other form.
“You find this form displeasing?” Sarkaron asked in his low, gravelly rasp.
Matty was distracted for a second, hearing that voice again. He liked it, liked the way it sent a shiver down his spine. It was the voice of a creature lurking in the dark, whispering before it grabbed hold of an ankle andtugged.
Then Matty registered what Sarkaron had asked. His cheeks went hot. Had he really offended the demon after all?
“No.” Matty shook his head frantically. “I find it very, um, pleasing. It might be hard to take you into town though.” He waved a hand, encompassing Sarkaron’s impressive antlers, which would definitely set off some local alarms if seen. “Unless you can turn invisible?”
Sarkaron cocked his head. “Not true invisibility, not as such. But I can blend with the shadows.”
And then he did it.
It was strange to watch. Matty knew the demon was there, and he could just barely make him out, the faint outline of him. But if hehadn’tknown…
It was like one of those horror movie things, where someone sees a figure out of the corner of their eye, but when they turn, it’s nothing but the play of light and shadows. A flash of eyes glowing in the dark, maybe real or maybe not.
“That’s very impressive,” Matty told him.
Sarkaron emerged from hiding again, although wisps of his shadows continued to dance around him, obscuring and then revealing his features. “Fearful of so many things, Matteo. But not of me?”
Matty covered his hands with his sleeves, tucking them under the blankets. “I have other things to fear.”
Was the demon going to push Matty again, make him name names and spill truths?
But Sarkaron didn’t ask him any more questions. “You’ve seen my nightmare visage,” he said instead. “The sight has sent some men to madness.”
Ohh yes, the old skull face. Thatwaspretty creepy. Especially in Matty’s dreams, where Sarkaron’s limbs extended into those unnaturally long, thin appendages to go with it.
But Matty had always been glad to see him, grotesque as he might have been.
He was better than the alternative.
Was Sarkaron offended Matty wasn’t more scared of him? If he was a nightmare demon, maybe he prided himself on his ability to terrify.
“I watch a lot of horror movies,” Matty reassured him, tilted his head to the TV.
Those white eyes went from flat to gleaming. “You like monsters, sweet?”
Matty shook his head. “I’ve met real monsters. Zombies and slashers and killer aliens, those are just pretend.”
Sarkaron stepped out of the shadows. Or more like, he stepped out of the corner, and the shadows came with him.
“ButI’mnot pretend, sweet. I’m very real.”
He approached the couch, not seeming to walk so much as glide. Matty was frozen in place, mesmerized by the way the towering demon moved.
Maybe this was how Sarkaron got his victims. He paralyzed them with the beauty of his unnatural grace.
When he was directly in front of Matty, Sarkaron dropped into a crouch, one arm outstretched. Slowly—so slowly—he splayed those long fingers over Matty’s chest.
Matty jerked at the touch. Not because he was frightened but because while Sarkaron looked like he should be ice-cold, in reality he was warm. Sowarm.
It had been the same when Sarkaron had bitten Matty, his mouth hot against Matty’s skin, but Matty had thought maybe that was the magic of the summoning circle.
The warmth was nice, as was Sarkaron’s scent. Like smoke-laced fog. Was that a thing? Matty hoped it was.
Sarkaron stared into Matty’s eyes. Waiting for something.
