Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
My only complaint is that these tight clothes leave little room for hiding weapons, though I really don’t need any. Being proficient with all sorts of blades, daggers, and knives has been ingrained in me as part of my training. After all, I’m the only witch in the Order.
Ever.
And I’m reminded of that pretty much daily, mostly by my adoptive sister, Larissa. She, like the rest of the Russos, comes from a long line of demon hunters who grew up thinking witches are bad and that we get our powers from the Devil himself. I made a lot of higher-ups in the Order pretty fucking pissed when they realized that wasn’t true.
Turning my phone on silent, I open my texts and see that Antonio, my oldest brother, is asking for a status update in our sibling group chat.
Any sign of the demon?
In the corpse. Waiting for a less busy time, I’m guessing. Then it’ll jump bodies.
Okay. Keep me posted.
Will do.
I shove my phone back into the pocket on my thigh and look around the funeral. Robert Henderson might have lived a boring, mundane life, but he seems to have made an impact. There are a lot of people here, and his wife has a big group of supportive friends and family around her.
It’s interesting, isn’t it, to sit back and look without any sort of emotional attachment to the legacy left behind. We all die, there’s no way around it. Most people hope to go peacefully after a long life, feeling fulfilled, surrounded by adult children, their kids, and maybe even some great-grandchildren. No one anticipates leaving early and unplanned like this. It makes me stop and think about the meaning of life, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s different for all of us.
Some people—the lucky ones—are meant to fall in love. They’re meant to build another person up with that love and make their partner’s life better. They’re meant to be happy and spread that happiness like a fucking disease. They have kids they should raise right so they can go on and repeat the cycle, leaving the world a little better with each generation.
Then there are others who deviate from the plan the universe has and will live a life that, well, sucks. Maybe not for them, but for others. Bad people get away with a lot of shit, and good people get their hearts torn out and stomped on again and again and again.
But then there’s the majority of us: we’re not bad and we know we’re supposed to fall in love, find our other half, so to speak…but we just don’t. And the empty ache inside is a fate we just have to accept and hope and pray it doesn’t eat us alive.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” I whisper as I wave my hand over the lock of the funeral home, magically unlocking it so we can sneak inside and take care of the demon. It’s nighttime, and I’ve just arrived back at the funeral home with my siblings to try and find the demon.
“What do you mean?” Larissa huffs, shaking her head as she raises her hands, looking annoyed already. “You said the demon was here.”
“I did, and it is.” I step to the side and let Leo go in first so he can disarm the alarm system. “But the energy is…” I hold up my hands, getting a read on the air around us. “Different.”
“In what way?” Antonio asks, pulling a long, silver dagger from his side.
“More intense,” I answer.
“Everyone be ready,” Antonio tells us.
Leo nods right as the alarm stops beeping. He puts a device back in his pocket, trading it for a knife as well. The blade has been soaked with a vanquishing potion I made. It won’t kill a demon, but it will stun them long enough.
We all silently slip into the funeral home and close the door behind us. It still smells like synthetic flowers but the sewer smell is gone at least. Though something else is filtering through the air.
“Sulfur,” Leo whispers, wrinkling his nose. “The demon is up and walking.”
“No,” I say as I shake my head. “Not just one.”
“What do you mean?” Larissa asks, whipping her blonde ponytail back. “You said there was one.”
“There was,” I press, trying not to get annoyed with her. I’m used to her snide comments and just overall bad attitude and I won’t let it distract me. “And now there’s more.”
We move through the entrance, going toward the basement where the bodies are held. The dark energy increases the closer we get, and I curl my fingers into my palm, summoning energy to use at my disposal.
“Hang on a second,” I say and hold out my left hand, stopping my siblings from going farther. Robert’s casket is along the wall right outside the morgue. Embalmed bodies aren’t always refrigerated between the viewing and the burial. Closing my eyes, I put a hand on the top of the casket. “The body is in there, but the demon jumped…and is…gone?”