How to Capture a Demon's Heart by Graceley Knox & D. D. Miers

Author:Graceley Knox & D. D. Miers [Knox, Graceley & Miers, D. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chaotic Press, LLC
Published: 2019-05-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Ranger

I’d just finished searching Darcy’s apartment for the glass philter when I happened to glance out a window and saw the friend from her framed photographs pacing the parking lot below. I slipped out, locked the door, and leaned against it to wait for them, wondering at my racing heart. Better not let Boras find out this one makes you feel human. I tried to ignore the uncomfortable sensations, but each time they surfaced I got a rush of anticipation for the next time.

Hundreds of years had passed without feeling anything but anger or fear. Anticipation, lust, righteous indignation, all were alien sensations hardly remembered. It was like limbs that had been amputated had suddenly begun to grow back, and the pain of it was excruciating and delicious torment. I wanted the bottle

Sitting across the dingy linoleum table from her at the truck stop, I again felt that stirring of emotions I’d thought impossible for so long. I watched her devour a burger and fries like she hadn’t eaten in days, apologizing between bites for eating in front of me.

“Stop apologizing. Do you want me to order something, so you feel okay finishing your dinner? Good Hel. I ate already. I’m not hungry. But I don’t want you worrying about me anymore.” I waved to our server and asked her for a piece of pie. “I don’t care what flavor, just pie. With ice cream.”

When she returned, she set hot apple pie in front of me. The smell of cinnamon filled my nostrils as I scooped melted vanilla ice cream by the spoonful and poured it over the flaky, sugar-glazed crust. “See? I eat. I eat too much, probably, because my body never suffers for it.”

“Cheeky.” She leaned back in her seat and wiped the corner of her full mouth to remove some barbeque sauce that lingered there. “Tell me about what you do. Is it ever challenging? Do you ever have to fight?”

I thought about Harold, a greedy farmer in Massachusetts who had traded his soul for the murders of his neighbor and the neighbor’s wife. They hung as witches, but that was where their torture ended. What would she think of you if she knew the farmer burns in Hel still, and you remember his face with perfect alacrity?

“Nothing I do is that interesting. I have chased a guy or two through the woods when they tried to renege on their deal, but nothing to write a movie about.”

She licked her lips and arched an eyebrow at me. “I doubt that, but okay, Mister Boring. Why do you keep doing it then?”

“I don’t have a choice. No soul, no freedom. And there are worse things I could be doing. Worse for me, that is. I know where those souls go. It’s not awesome.”

For the first time since we’d met, I saw recognition dawn in her eyes. “Shit. So, Heaven, Hell, it’s all real, and you’re the bad guy?”

“They’re real, even if they aren’t what your books of scripture tell you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.