A black mist appeared in the center of a dark alleyway. It pulled at the shadows from the surrounding buildings, drawing the darkness toward its core. A shape formed within. First a head. Then shoulders. Then the rest of the body took shape.
A boy stood where the mist had been. He opened his eyes, surveying his new surroundings. The sounds of the city echoed between the walls of the narrow alley. Sirens and car horns blared into the night while the voices of pedestrians drifted into his recently formed ears.
He felt neither fear nor dread from this experience, only confusion as to how he got there. Someone had to have summoned him. And, of all the places on earth, why this location?
Before he could consider the questions swimming around his head, a teenage girl stepped out of the shadows. She stopped, head turning every way except in his direction. Her body visibly shook. He could see the whites of her knuckles as she clutched the straps of her backpack tightly across her shoulders.
He cocked an eyebrow. In this setting, it would have made more sense for a serial killer or a shady politician to meet him there. Not an average schoolgirl.
Maybe this was a coincidence that she happened to be there when he appeared. He could be invisible.
He glanced down at his hands. No, that wasn’t it. He could see his hands clearly. Plus, he could tell that he and the girl were the same age. Demons, when summoned, came as the age of their summoners. Sort of an uncontrollable prerequisite for their passage to earth.
When he looked up again, he started. The girl was standing right in front of him, dark eyes looking up at him expectantly.
“Hello,” she said in a small voice.
His chin nearly touched his chest as he looked down at her. “Um, hello.”
“I need your help.”
He chuckled. “Well, aren’t we ready to get started. What can I do for you?” he finished in a mocking tone.
“Can you kill a demon?” she said cooly.
His curiosity grew. A devilish smile broke out across his face and his eyes reflected the mischief behind them. “Do you know what I am?”
She nodded.
“Great! Then you already know that I can kill anyone. Why else would you have summoned me—I’m sorry, I never got your name.”
The girl shook her head. “I know how this works. If I give you my name, you’ll just possess me.”
His smile grew. “What if I give you my name? Will you tell me yours?”
A shadow passed over her face. He watched her with peeked interest. Not only did she no longer look scared, she actually seemed to take offense at his offer.
The demon ran his tongue across his teeth, letting his canines dig into the pink, meaty flesh as he waited for her reply. Blood trickled over his bottom lip and down his chin. She quickly averted her eyes to the ground, looking pale.
He watched her for another minute before caving in to the awkward silence.
“So where’s this demon?” he groaned.
The girl glanced over her shoulder. Her head whipped back around and she grabbed his hand, tugging him toward the end of the alleyway. “Not here,” she whispered.
“Does that mean the demon’s not in this alley? Or we’re just not going to talk about it here?”
“Come on,” she grunted, trying her best to drag him along.
“Can’t I get a name? Your name? The demon’s name? Anything?”
His question was lost to the noise as they stepped onto the crowded sidewalk, instantly enveloped in a sea of people. Most of them wore large overcoats since the temperature was beginning to drop off significantly in the evenings. Others seemed to brave the weather a little better, although they still had on a light jacket.
The demon glanced at the girl walking a few steps in front of him. She wore a white, short sleeve shirt atop a pair of faded skinny jeans. Back in the alley, he hadn’t noticed how dilapidated her clothes were. Her jeans barely looked fit for a clean-up crew on a highway let alone a night on the town, and her shirt had dark stains on it that seemed to be crudely scrubbed and then thrown back on.
“You know what would make this night great, what’s-your-name? Shoplifting! You can get a nice new wardrobe. I could use a jacket,” the demon tried, hoping to elicit a response from the girl.
When she said nothing, he pouted and crossed his bare arms over his chest.
A taxi honked its horn, distracting the demon from his sulking.
He glanced around, looking for the vehicle. His attention was drawn toward the headlights of the cars, casting their light across the pedestrians. Shadows played on the sides of the buildings. They were not like the ones that brought him to earth, having come from a place of perpetual darkness and suffering. These shadows danced between the realm of light and dark. They knew only freedom.
He reached out, his fingers hovering over one of the shadows. If he could become one of them right now, he would.
“We need to turn in here,” the girl shouted over her shoulder.
The demon lowered his arm and followed her down a dark side street. The sounds of the city began to fade into the background the further they went. Something felt off about their detour. The demon slowed, keeping some distance between him and the girl.
The street began to narrow, looking more like the original alleyway where he had been summoned. The shadows that were once nonthreatening now wanted to consume everything around the demon, including him. He could feel a ripple in the air that sent a chill down his spine.
The demon stopped, staring at the back of the girl. She took a few more steps and then stopped, too. Before she turned around, she waved a hand over her head. The darkness answered her in a way that the demon had never seen before. It congealed around her fingertips, forming a sort of liquified, black layer over her nails.
The demon took a step back.
“I’m sorry for the theatrics,” the girl said, turning to face the demon. His eyes widened.
Dark veins protruded beneath her skin. Her face had gone pale again but, this time, it was not because of him. She smiled, lips cracking. Dark red blood flowed from them, trailing down her chin and neck. “I get bored too easily if I kill right away. And I like to see what I’m up against. Your soul is going to be easy to harvest.”
“Harv—” he shook his head. “What are you talking about?” he demanded, his voice cracking at the end.
“Humans are great company. And their souls are little more than nuisances that can be controlled when I use them as a host, like this girl.” She raised her hand up to her crimson-stained lips and giggled. “But I’m really after demon souls. They amplify my powers.”
The shadows shot around her and she disappeared. The demon whirled around and began sprinting through the dark. He could no longer hear the sounds of the city, even though he knew he was getting closer to where they had entered. The alley was widening again. Hope bubbled up in his chest. Then a dark fist slammed into him, taking away his hope and bringing back the fear in one fell swoop.
He staggered, tripping over his feet and falling backward onto the ground. The girl was on top of him suddenly, crushing his chest with a strength he had not thought she could possess. She had pinned his arms down with her legs. He tried throwing his weight up with his hips to dislodge her but she did not budge. She was unfazed by his feeble attempt.
She reached behind her back with one hand and pulled out a knife. The demon only stared at it, wondering what she planned to do with it.
“You can’t kill me with a human weapon,” he grunted.
The air was quickly leaving his lungs. He was not even sure how that was possible. But she did say she was powerful. How many other demons’ souls had she harvested? That word sounded horrible. The demon hoped it would not be too painful.
The girl’s mouth twisted into a cruel, manic smile. “Do you want to know how I do it?” she asked, excitedly.
The demon bared his teeth at her.
She laughed. “Fine, I’ll just show you.”
She drew the knife over her head and sent it down at a blinding speed. The demon gasped as it plunged through his chest. He could taste a metallic flavor on his tongue and when he tried to swallow, blood filled his mouth.
The girl pulled her hand away. The knife’s handle protruded from his chest like a gravestone. He noticed the insignias engraved in its handle. They were summoning sigils. They called his soul to hers.
Shadows began to climb out of the wound in his chest. They drifted down toward his feet and crept up over his face, covering his mouth, nose, and eyes. The surrounding darkness became dense. It wouldn’t be long before the shadows overtook him completely.
The girl was just an outline above him now. Her shape bent over him, hot breath in his ear.
“Lonan,” she whispered. That was his name.
That was all it took for his soul to become hers.
