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"Only you can make it stop."
"It'sscaring me!"
"Scare it back."
"It's going to eat me! Don't let it eat me!"
"You're being tested, Andrew. You can pass the test. You must learn to hate
the demon, not fear it."
"I hate how scary it is!"
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"Hate.Hate is the key. Control your hate. Control your rage. Don't let the
demons win. Can you do that? Can you truly, deeply hate?"
"I ... I think so."
"That's not good enough."
"Yes, I can."
"There are demons in the woods, Andrew. They're lost demons trying to find
their way back home.Three of them.A mother and two children. Can you hate
them?"
"Yes."
"Can you kill them?"
"Yes."
"I'm going to give you a knife. Can you slam it into the bodies of those foul
creatures, no matter how much they scream, no matter what tricks they try to
play on you?Because demons will lie to you. They'll change form. They'll
pretend they love you. Can you kill them?"
"Yes."
"Then I shall release you."
I felt the hatred flowing through me, just as the pain had flowed through me
before. The hatred felt good.
Really, really good.
* * * *
I RODE IN A chariot of gold, pulled by two fire-breathing steeds that were
the most beautiful animals I'd ever seen in my life, even when they started
ripping out chunks of each other's flesh.
The world was cast into darkness, but the sun burned my eyes.
I smiled at my hatred.At my rage. That's what kept me strong. Demons were
weak. Their compassion was their weakness, and I'd exploit that until their
severed heads rested at my feet. Granted, the knife I'd been given really
didn't seem sufficient for a demonic decapitation, but I'd worry about that
when the time came.
The chariot stopped.
"You must go now," Mr. Burke said. "You must fulfill your destiny."
"Will I ever see you again?"
"Yes. I will give you this beacon." Mr. Burke extended a sparkling silver
object toward me. He affixed it to the metal plate burned into my chest, my
mark of honor. "This will let us find you, and bring you home."
"Will you watch over me?"
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"I won't, but your guardian angel will. I'll watch the recording after you're
back safe and sound."
"Thank you." I hugged him as if he were my father.
Then I began my journey.
I wandered for days.No, not days, but months.Years. For years I wandered the
dirt path, fearful of the horrific noises emanating from the forest on each
side but not letting my fear show.
I cradled my precious knife in my hands.
I realized I hadn't eaten or slept in years. That was kind of weird.
To help the months pass, I decided to make up a song.The Demon Song.
I am the demon hunter named Andrew.
Whose exploits will...
What rhymed with "Andrew?"
Andrew,Bandrew ,Candrew ,Dandrew ...
I am the demon hunter named Mayhem.
Whose exploits will...
Damn.
Demons, demons, time to die.
For I will poke you in the eye.
And then you shall begin to cry.
As I sing your fatal lullaby.
I grinned at my own cleverness.
"Daddy!"
I spun around. A horrid creature emerged from the woods, its scaly skin as
red as Red Vines brand original licorice twists.
The little girl demon.
The creature was so repulsive, so gag-inducing, I wanted to fling my knife at
it and end its vile life right now.
But I wasn't that good at knife throwing, and I didn't want to lose my
weapon. Anyway, demons were tricky creatures, and so I had to be careful.
It was running toward me.
"Daddy!Daddy!" it repeated.
This demon looked somehow familiar...
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I hated it.
I wanted to rip its head off of its tiny shoulders.
It was moving quickly.
Don't fear it, don't fear it,don't fear it.
No demon could harm me.
Nothing could harm me.
A tree looked like it was eating somebody, but it may also have been bathing
him.
I held my ground as the demon rushed at me.
Yes, I knew this one! Its name was Theresa!
Dumb name for a demon.
The demon stopped a few feet away from me. It bit its scaly lip as if unsure
about something.
"Daddy?Are you okay?"
I'd be a lot better if this piece of crap demon stopped calling me "Daddy." I
wasn't the parent of anyhellspawn .
The demon backed away.
Did it really believe I was its father?
It couldn't possibly. But its tone of voice was so convincing.
Demons were tricky creatures.
I could be tricky, too.
"I'm fine," I said, in my most soothing voice as I hid the knife behind my
back. "Come here. Come to Daddy."
The demon walked toward me.
Slowly, untrusting.
I had to bite my own lip to keep from laughing.
"Daddy, what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, Theresa."
"Did they hurt you?"
I nodded. "They hurt Daddy bad. He needs you to comfort him. That will make
everything okay."
The demon walked to me and wrapped its filthy arms around me. I wanted to
gag.
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I pushed the monster away.
"Daddy...?"
I slammed the knife into it, laughing as its warm blood spattered against my
bare chest.
Chapter Twenty
Helen's Side
WHERE COULD THEY be?
"Theresa!" I screamed so loud my throat burned. "Kyle! Where are you?"
I had horrible visions of my children caught in wolf traps, impaled by
spears, dangling from meat hooks, and worse.Much worse.Grisly supernatural
deaths at the hands of ghouls and ogres. Pretty much any tragic fate that
could befall my children, possible or impossible, flashed across my mind as I
wandered through the woods.
I couldn't lose them now. I just couldn't. I cried out for them once more,
not caring if I was alerting more killers to my presence.
Then I remembered the limousine.
I limped toward the road, drenched with sweat, each step feeling like a great
white shark chomped on my ankle. I fell twice, but I doubted I could make even
this much progress if I'd broken anything, so as far as I could tell my ankle
was seriously messed up but still in one piece.
I fell again when I reached the dirt road. I knew I had to be a sorry sight.A
pregnant woman who'd been beaten half to death. It would be a miracle if I
hadn't lost the--
NONONONONO!!! [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]