Demon Born

Chapter 2-1

2

Loc lay on his borrowed bed, eyes open, gaze fixed on the wood-beamed ceiling above his head. Although he himself did not need to sleep, the body he wore required rest, just as it also required food and needed to relieve itself at regular intervals. During the months he’d been trapped on this world, he’d learned to deal with such mortal requirements, and yet tonight he found it difficult to sleep.

Truly, he had not expected Catalina — Cat, he reminded himself, knowing that she preferred the whimsical nickname — to offer him a place to stay. He had come here because he knew this was the place where she had settled, and he’d recalled how he had found it so much easier to reach out and touch her mind than it was with other mortals. At the time, he had simply thought that he needed the reassurance of someone familiar, someone to speak to, if only for a few moments. It had never entered his mind that she would offer him a much-needed place of refuge.

This world was a confusing, chaotic place, and to be lying here now, with the whisper of the leaves telling him tales carried on the night wind, seemed so far from what he had experienced during his time on this plane that he was not quite sure what to make of it. Oh, he had never feared for his life; the borrowed body he wore might be weak enough, but the soul it concealed was as fierce as ever, and he knew he could have easily snuffed out anyone who dared to lay a hand upon him. It was more that he’d never before encountered such a cacophony of souls, a place where so many fought for their own agendas, their own petty triumphs. On the plane where he had sprung into existence, he had always been the lord and master, and the lesser beings who dwelt there had known to obey his every command.

Here on this world, he had no such authority, and knew that he must do whatever he could to blend in and pass as one of them, even though there was much about this place he found grating, from the constant traffic in its cities to the way most of the denizens of Earth seemed to spend their days with their faces glued to their phone screens, rather than interacting with one another. More than once he had had to swallow his pride, only because he knew that to annoy one of those whose assistance he sought would surely do him no good.

But none of those witches and warlocks, those hoarders of black texts and brewers of forbidden potions, had possessed the knowledge required to send him back whence he had come. He had kept his true identity secret, of course, and had pretended to be a mere mortal seeking the power to summon demons, and yet it had not been enough. All he had for his efforts was an indecent proposal from a witch in Barcelona, who’d told him that she couldn’t summon demons from hell but would like to send him to heaven, if only for one night.

He was not so innocent that he didn’t understand what she was asking. However, he had no interest in such things, and his refusal had not been polite. Blazing with wounded pride, she had ordered him from her house. He’d left because it was certainly not worth his time trying to explain to her that he had no interest in participating in such distasteful acts with anyone, and that his rejection had not been personal.

At the same time, he’d wondered whether he should select a human appearance that was less appealing. Doing so might have helped him to avoid such awkward encounters, and yet he was reluctant. Although he was not sure he wished to admit such a thing to himself, somewhere in the back of his mind, he had harbored the notion that he’d chosen this form because he thought Cat Castillo might like it, and if he ever needed to see her again, better to do so wearing a face that would not be cause for fear or alarm.

Not that she’d reacted to him in such a way when she’d first seen him, so many months ago. She had been startled, of course, but he hadn’t seen any disgust in her expression, only interest and curiosity. Perhaps it was because she’d already touched minds with him, and therefore knew he was nothing she should fear.

Which could also have been another reason why he’d come here when all his other options had been exhausted. Her spirit had drawn him toward this place like a beacon, and it had felt all too natural to speak to her again, although he had not reached out to her mind until they had physically spoken, since he thought that might have been intruding too much.

She had shown no fear earlier this evening, either, when he’d taken on his true form for a few seconds to prove to her who he was. That same flare of awe, but nothing else.

All this made him wonder why he lay here so wakeful tonight. The bed in this room was much more comfortable than many he had slept on while he performed his search, and the fan overhead kept the air from feeling too warm and stagnant. And since he had begun his day many, many hours earlier, in a slum outside Sao Paulo, he should have been happy to be here in the sanctuary that Cat had provided.

And yet….

She had looked well, in her pale, filmy dress with her arms bare. When he had seen her before, she’d been wearing bulky clothing that might have sufficed to keep her warm but was also very good at hiding much of her form. Now, he had seen far more of her than he had previously, and although there was no good reason for him to do so, he found himself dwelling on that first glimpse of her he’d caught as she’d come down the gravel path from the house, loose strands of hair waving around her face in the breeze, that same breeze blowing the thin silk of her dress against her long legs.

Why was he thinking of such things? Human women held no allure for him, as that witch in Barcelona had found out quickly enough. For some reason, though, Catalina Castillo seemed different, possibly because of the way he could touch her mind. He was unable to do such a thing with anyone else, and that peculiar quality made her stand out that much more from the throngs of humanity.

And perhaps…just perhaps…it was also because he knew that she would never recoil from him, no matter which form he wore.

Do not let your thoughts wander there, he told himself as he turned over onto his side. In a way, it was exciting to have so many different positions available to him in this body, where his wings would never get in the way. True, he hadn’t needed to sleep while inhabiting his true form, but still….

She has offered you sanctuary because she knows you have no place else to go. It is pity and nothing else that led her to make the gesture.

Loc did not think he liked the sound of that. He certainly did not wish to be pitied, he who had once commanded legions of demons and called an entire plane of existence his own, who had dwelled in a tower of basalt and whose every need was met instantly. But, thanks to that miserable waste of flesh Simon Escobar, it seemed all that power and majesty had been stolen from him. Whether Loc would ever get it back was certainly debatable at best.

You will, he thought, more because he knew he must believe in eventual success if he was going to continue to exist on this alien world. In the meantime, though, you have a place of refuge, and must do your best to manage until something changes.

What that change might be, he had no idea.