A Demon's Desire by Lizzy Ford Page A

Olivia and the others, but you weren’t exactly perfect,
either. I tried a few times to tell you I wasn’t happy in the
relationship, and you just ignored me. What was I supposed to do?
Anyway, I’m sorry, and I love you. I promise, if you come back,
it’ll never happen again.
    Adam
    Tristan’s anger flared. What kind of weak man
would fool around on a woman like Emma?
    Adam is dead , the shadows told him,
and Tristan fingered the letter, wondering if Emma knew, or if she
had walked away and never looked back. While he didn’t fully
understand it, his dark side was satisfied with the information.
How he would learn more was less clear. He replaced the card in the
box and the boxes on the shelf before exiting the closet. He
removed the backpack from his shoulder and crossed her dresser,
recalling the mission Mama had sent him on. Emma had gone to the
grocery store while Mama was supposed to pick up clothes. Mama had
admitted she was out of work and low on funds, and Tristan couldn’t
help sympathizing with the pleasant woman. Dark angel, she’d
called him again.
    He smiled. He did his best to choose matching
clothes and set them on the bed as he went from closet to
drawers.
    Tristan, I don’t want to go with the
snowman. He drew a breath, startled to hear Sissy’s complaint
clearly in his thoughts. He’d taught her quiet mind how to call to
him when it awoke and was thrilled it worked.
    “Tell him to wait for me,” he whispered, even
more pleased that his work had drawn out the evil spirit at
last.
    He’s in your chair. Sissy was angry.
Tristan smiled, placed Emma’s clothing in the bag, and strode
out.
    Tristan said they won’t hurt me . This
voice was Emma’s. She had to be quite distressed for her thoughts
to be so loud. He checked his cell to make sure he hadn’t missed
her call. She hadn’t called, still didn’t trust him. Disappointed,
he hoped she would one day. He debated calling her and then thought
of Sissy. The shadows chasing her were almost powerless during
daylight. He’d check on Sissy first then go help Emma.
    He returned to Amber’s apartment. Voices in
Amber’s room indicated the presence of both Amber and Mama. Tristan
entered the apartment and placed Emma’s bag on the couch before
moving to Sissy’s room. Her large green eyes were open and staring
at the shadow man she dubbed the Snowman, who did indeed sit in
Tristan’s rocking chair.
    Tristan eased the door closed, recognizing
the dark spirit for what it was despite its human appearance. The
man was tall and lean in a light gray suit with eyes the
silver-gray of clouds. The air around it was cold, and shadows
clung and danced around it, left briefly to welcome Tristan, and
returned. It was a shadow demon, one of the lesser demons from
Hell. He’d read about them in his occult research but never met
one.
    “Brother,” Snowman greeted him. A shiver went
through him as he realized his mother wasn’t lying about him being
half-demon.
    Tell him I won’t go with him. Snowman
looked at Sissy, hearing her words as Tristan did.
    “Who caged you?” Tristan asked and perched on
the bed beside Sissy. While unnerved, he didn’t fear the dark
spirit. It did only what its master bid, knew it only knew what its
master willed it to know. If it wanted him dead, there would’ve
been no greeting.
    “Witch,” was the shadow demon’s response.
    “Where is she?”
    No response. The witch must’ve forbidden it
from answering questions about her whereabouts, Tristan
reasoned.
    “What name?” he asked.
    “Olivia.”
    “Go back to your master; you are on my
territory,” Tristan commanded, recalling the name from Adam’s
letter to Emma.
    “Who caged you ?” the shadow demon
asked.
    “I’m not caged,” Tristan answered. He felt
icy shadows probing him.
    “We are not alike,” the dark spirit said.
“You are free but trapped in this weak form. How?”
    “I don’t know.”
    The dark spirit looked to Sissy again.
    “She is mine,”