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Chapter 1-2

The smell of sulfur increased tenfold and she almost gagged.

Jessica swore under her breath when a low and eerie laugh drifted on the wind.

She peered down the street and scrutinized the surrounding houses. It was well into the evening now. The sun had already set, and everything was dark and quiet. It was still with not a soul in sight. The houses all looked empty, their windows like eyes with blank stares.

As usual, there was no one else around to see the demon that undoubtedly lurked somewhere nearby, ready to cause havoc.

Why is there never anyone else around when these damned things show up? She halfway suspected that the demons planned it that way. They simply tried to find a way to lure her outside and to get her alone. Then they would strike.

Why did they have it out for her so badly?

Her nerves were fried. Jessica wanted to take a deep breath to calm herself, but the smell was so terrible that she couldn’t stand to breathe the tainted air.

The signature demon laughter grew louder. It made her skin crawl.

An uncharacteristically cold breeze whipped across her face. Jessica descended the porch steps slowly with her eyes wide and alert in search of any signs of movement.

She thought she saw a shadow move to her right and turned abruptly, only to find that it was nothing more than a—

What was that?

Confused, she squinted into the shadows. She’d initially thought she’d seen the shadow of a squirrel but her mind was a little slow in processing that it looked wrong. Now that it was brought to her attention, it seemed that the shadow had been that of a tiny creature standing—or walking—upright.

If she wasn’t mistaken, it even made an unusual noise. A squeak that had sounded a little too…

Human.

With the baseball bat gripped tightly in both hands, Jessica moved around the side of the house. She thought she’d seen the shadow disappear in that direction. The second she made it around the corner, it was like her vision was suddenly turned off. She couldn’t see anything but darkness, like a tall, black wall had reared up in front of her.

She blinked rapidly, but to no avail.

The eerie laughter she had heard stopped abruptly and left a terrifying hush in its wake.

Trembling, she clenched her hands around the baseball bat so tightly that they ached.

She was unable to understand why she suddenly couldn’t see. More than a little confused, she glanced sideways and miraculously, her vision cleared. When she glanced directly ahead again, however, everything went black once more.

Or so she thought.

She raised her head and peered upward. Her heart lurched when she realized that she hadn’t abruptly developed a blind spot. There was a huge demon in front of her.

It was so tall that it looked very much like a wall. She could barely see around it. If she focused on it, the only thing visible was its scaled, inky-black skin.

Blood rushed to her ears and she swallowed. She was half a second away from wanting to make a run for it. But even in that state of fear, she knew that there was no option to run away. Not with three defenseless kids sitting in the house, clueless as they played video games.

The demon gazed at her and for the first time, she noticed the two red dots that marked its eyes. Sharp teeth slowly revealed themselves as it grinned.

Jessica took several steps back but never once removed her gaze from the hideous thing.

“Help me.”

She blinked, stunned. She had never heard a demon talk before. All she knew was their condescending laugh.

“Please.”

Despite being scared out of her mind, she registered the fact that the demon’s mouth hadn’t moved. Plus, if she had to imagine what a demon’s voice would sound like, the voice she heard certainly wasn’t it.

She studied the creature carefully, now more confused than ever.

Then, she noticed its long fingers clutched around something.

Or someone, more accurately. The demon cackled and raised its fist, and she realized in horror that it clutched an imp in its talons. That was the strange shadow she had seen not long before—an imp. Tiny and terrified, the little creature was no more than three inches long, a bite-sized snack for the demon, for sure.

Jessica had learned the hard way that imps were devilish little creatures who loved to cause chaos at any opportunity they got.

She swore under her breath. How much more rotten can my luck get? A demon and an imp at the same time?

Sniffling sounds now caught her attention. The imp was obviously crying. On some level, she should have felt some sympathy toward the creature. She also realized the presence of an imp wasn’t exactly a good sign.

Debbie, Marie, and Patricia had already admitted to sending an imp after her. In light of the way she and Chad had retaliated, it wouldn’t surprise her if they had grown bitter and decided to send another after her.

In all likelihood, the bothersome little creature had tried to break through the living room window. Through sheer bad luck, it had gotten itself captured by a demon that had lurked nearby.

If it got eaten? Well, that served him right. In fact, she hoped he did get eaten. She most certainly didn’t look forward to having to fight both the imp and the demon. If the demon ate the imp, at least she would only have one creature to do battle with.

“Help me! Help me! Please!”

Jessica froze when she heard the imp’s pleas. In the dark, she could see its shiny eyes peering out at her from between the demon’s talons.

And at that moment, the large monster officially turned its attention away from the imp and to Jessica. She could almost see the thoughts flashing across its face. It clearly had decided that she would be the tastier, more fulfilling snack.

Aww, crap.

Without any further debate, she made a run for it.

She raced to the front of the house as fast as her legs would carry her. The demon roared behind her. Its hot, smelly breath was like fire on the back of her neck.

Jessica dashed out into the street and narrowly avoided a parked car. Seeing movement from the corner of her eye, she thought the demon had caught up to her. A second glance confirmed that it had. Instead, the imp flew alongside her. Its ugly little face was terrified. Instinctively, she swung the bat with all her might, but the tiny creature darted quickly out of harm’s way.

She realized too late that worrying about the imp was a big mistake. In the moment it took her to swing the bat, the demon caught up to her.

With a small shriek of alarm, she fell flat on the concrete, landed roughly on her stomach, and had the wind knocked out of her. As she struggled to breathe, she flipped onto her back in time to see the demon pounce on her.

There was no time to move or to even try to stand. With the bat in her hand, all she could do was brace herself.

When I’m found dead in the middle of the street, everyone will realize that I wasn’t such an impressive witch protégé, after all, she thought bitterly.

She even held the wrong end of the bat, but she did it bravely.

The demon fell upon her with a snarl of triumph, but the bat handle caught it in the eye. It wailed in pain and stumbled sideways with the bat protruding from its head. It groaned and collapsed beside her.

Jessica still lay in the middle of the street and turned toward the crying demon, dumbfounded. Thinking fast, she scrambled hastily to her feet. She grabbed the end of the bat and shoved it deeper into the demon’s big eye socket until it finally lay motionless.

Dead?

She couldn’t believe her sheer dumb luck had struck again. Then she realized that the imp still floated beside her.

Adrenaline still coursed through her. Jessica grabbed the bat and yanked it out of the demon’s eye socket. She ignored the demon goo that covered the makeshift weapon and began to swing at the imp again. Behind her, the demon fizzled into a pile of dust that drifted away in the wind.

The tiny creature darted out of reach and circled around her like a firefly from hell.

Jessica clenched her teeth and chased after it.

“I’ve had it with you damned demons and imps!” she screamed and swung the bat as she ran.

She lunged forward with her free hand and managed to catch it. It screamed and its tiny body wiggled in her grasp.

“Ouch!” she cried at a sharp sting in the palm of her hand. She released her captive and dropped it head-first onto the ground.

“You little jerk!” Jessica snarled through gritted teeth. She positioned the bat for a powerful swing.

“No, wait!” the creature squeaked fearfully. “Don’t kill me. I’m your familiar!”

The words froze her right in her tracks. She blinked and stared at the ugly little thing. “You’re my…what?”

But before she could say any more, the imp disappeared with a loud pop. She was left standing in the middle of the street, holding a baseball bat in the air. If anyone happened to look out the window at that moment, they would have thought she was a nut and probably called the police on her.

She lowered the bat.

An imp? Her familiar?

Jessica swallowed, completely confused. Although she didn’t know much about familiars, she didn’t think an imp could be one. She thought they were mostly talking cats like Grace.

She looked down the street to where the demon had been. It was gone now, disintegrated into dust. There was absolutely nothing left to show that it had been there in the first place with the exception of a slightly bad smell that anyone would simply believe was a clogged-up sewer pipe.

He had to be bluffing, she told herself as she made her way back to the neighbor’s house. Nevertheless, she made a mental note to learn more about familiars at the first opportunity she had.

She walked into the house in a daze, tossed the bloody bat out of sight, and found the children right where she had left them. The brats were completely absorbed in their game.

“What was that noise?” Stephen asked without taking his eyes off the screen.

“An eight-foot demon,” Jessica volunteered.

Somehow, she had expected such an answer to get more of a reaction, but the kids seemed to barely hear her. She threw her hands up in exasperation. Honestly, she was more than slightly annoyed that the kids were more interested in their game than in the fact that their babysitter had nearly died.

“Really, it was probably seven feet. But whatever. I sent its ass back to hell anyway,” she added.

“Oooh!” Gary turned to look at her with wide eyes. “You said ‘ass.’ I’m telling my mom when she gets back.”

“You just said ‘ass’ too, doofus,” Stephen retorted. “So I’m telling on you both.”

Jessica flopped down on the couch. “Out of everything I said, all you guys are concerned about is the word ‘ass?’ Seriously?” She rolled her eyes. “You know what? Next time there’s a demon, how about I invite him into the house? Then we’ll see who’s cursing.”

Tamika looked away from the game. “In addition to cursing, I’m going to tell my mom that you’re trying to scare us with silly stories. Demons?” The little girl rolled her eyes and turned back to the game.

Little brats.

Jessica looked down and realized she had traces of demon blood on her hands. She stood and headed discreetly to the bathroom to wash it off. All the while, she wondered why a demon and an imp were outside the neighbors’ house in the first place.

The magical world was clearly a more confusing place than she ever imagined.