The Demon Senders by T Patrick Phelps Page B

physical attraction, at least on my end, but something about the way she held herself drew me to her. Like something desired that is beyond your reach that suddenly, unexpectedly moves within reach. Rachel wasn’t a goal or an objective of mine, she was something more. Something foreign that held an allure so powerful and awakening that I knew, as I saw her standing there, holding the blanket with one gentle arm, the other resting playfully on her hips, my life as I once knew it was over and a new life had begun.
    And I was happy.
    I can’t say for sure, but I think that’s when I started to fall in love with Rachel. And that, my friend, turned out to be my second mistake.

    <<<<>>>>

    After I dried off, we sat on a log, side-by-side close to the fire. I told her what happened with the demon by the pond and how I faltered.
    “I don’t blame you at all,” she said, patting my back and then rubbing my shoulders. “It took a lot for you to even believe me enough to come with me, let alone to do what you needed to do.”
    That felt good, knowing that she understood how I was feeling. Her rubbing my shoulders felt even better.
    Despite what I had just done, sitting next to Rachel made me feel calm. Like that was where I was supposed to be and what I was doing (at that point just sitting on a log next to a fire) was exactly what I was supposed to be doing. Some questions started to bubble up through my calmness that, though they weren’t powerful enough to disrupt the serenity, were demanding my attention.  
    “Why drowning?” I asked. “I mean, to me it looked like whatever that thing was back there was pretty comfortable in the pond.”
    “Water is where they manifest and where they go to recharge. Like I told you before, they need water. Why, I’m not absolutely sure, but I do know that they need it. But when a sender enters the water with them, it kind of spoils the water for them. The water turns, I guess, and it turns into normal water. Doesn’t revive them and, as you well know, they lose their ability to stay under the water without drowning in it. ”
    “Does the water stay ‘turned?’” I asked.
    “Don’t think so,” Rachel said as she tossed another handful of branches on the fire. “I’d bet that when that demon you just sent back makes another transition sometime soon, it will use that exact pond as its transition point.”
    What Rachel said about the demon I just sent back, probably already planning on making his triumphant return, didn’t sit well with me. “This whole ‘good versus evil’ thing,” I said, “it’s never going to end, is it?”
    “One side will win, eventually.”
    “But the demons keep coming back and stealing more souls, which means that even more demons will be coming back and stealing more souls. There won’t be any souls left to steal after a while.”
    “That’s why your gift is so important,” she said, looking me dead straight in the eyes.
    “Important? It’s only important if I can send them back and make it so they can never return. All I’m doing is causing a delay.”
    Rachel said nothing. After a few seconds of her silence, I figured my last statement hit too close to home. Hell, if I figured out that I was more of a “delayer” than a “sender,” she certainly must have known all along.  
    Her being so quiet didn’t sit right with me. It’s not that I wasn’t comfortable with silence or was one of those types of people who feels compelled to fill every second they spend with someone in conversation. It was just that she knew a hell of a lot more about my new life, and her being so quiet wasn’t making me feel all warm inside. I felt either she had a ton more to say but felt I wasn’t ready to hear it or, even worse, she had told me all that she knew already. If that was the case, I figured there were way too many ways for me to screw up.
    Just when the quiet was starting to eat me up inside, Rachel broke the silence. “There’s another