The Demon Side by Heaven Liegh Eldeen Page A

if you don’t stop…” John threatened, but caught himself before losing his temper completely.
    “Etta,” I said, “tell him the truth. Tell him about Alastor.” Etta looked at me from the corner of her eyes, but said nothing. I should have encouraged her to lie, but right now was not the time to play games.
    “The Demon showed up at school today and attacked me in the bathroom. But, it’s okay now. He won’t be back. There’s another Demon in the house that is protecting me from him.”
    “You see, John? I told you. She’s psycho. The medications, the doctors, the weekend getaways aren’t doing a damn thing except wasting our time and money. I can’t keep feeding into her crap.” René stood up.
    “René, shut up and sit down! This is a family meeting and we are going to act as a family, do you hear me?” Without waiting for a response, John turned to Etta. “Etta, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me the truth, baby. You know those things aren’t real. Why didn’t you tell me the hallucinations returned?”
    “They are too real. Why won’t you believe me for once? Ask René. She used to see him until she became a drunk.”
    “How dare you imply….”
    “Stop it, both of you!” John kicked the coffee table from under him as he stood up and put his hands on his head.
    Etta looked at me. I could tell she was confused and scared about why I asked her do this, but it was the only way I would be able to get information I needed from John.
    “What did I do? What can I do?” John talked more to himself than to anyone in the room as he paced in circles around the family room. Rene gulped down her glass of vodka and began making her way toward the bar. That was my cue. I concentrated on the bar then flipped my hand forward, causing the bottles of liquor on it to fly across the room and shatter against the wall. René fell down from surprise. John jumped over the couch to her side. My smart and beautiful Etta picked up right away on my plan and jumped in, too.
    “See, Dad! I told you! They’re real,” Etta said with frustration.
    “She did this! She did this!” René cried out as she pointed toward Etta.
    “All right, Etta, I give. They’re real. So why can’t I see them?” John asked with doubt as he lifted René off the floor. I could sense what he was thinking: time for a trip to the shrink.
    “I don’t know, but one is here right now. His name is Raha-something.” Etta hoped he would sense my presence in the house by mentioning my name. I wondered how he could ignore the flying bottles.
    “And this Raha-something is the one that’s been causing everything, the night terrors…the screaming fits…the hallucinations?”
    “No. That was Alastor,” Etta tried to explain.
    “So there are two of them?” John tone was condescending. He didn’t want to believe in a force outside of his precious Marine Corps.
    “Yes! That’s what I have been trying to tell you!”
    “Etta, tell him exactly what I say word for word. It’s very important.” Etta nodded her head at my command.
    “Ask him if he served anywhere in the Middle East,” I encouraged Etta.
    “He did. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan, a few times. Why does that matter?”
    “Who are you talking to, Etta?” John stared at her as she answered me.
    “Okay, Etta, I need you to ask him and let him answer. What happened while he was there? Something he did released Alastor, and I need to know exactly what he did. It had to be something very bad.”
    Etta nervously turned to John. “When you were deployed, did you do something really bad?”
    “What are you talking about?” John seemed irritated.
    “Etta, it had to be extremely horrible. Innocent blood had to be spilled. What did your father do? Ask him!” I shouted, causing her to jump.
    “Why don’t you just ask him yourself, Ra?” Etta’s eyes were pleading with me not to make her do this.
    “I don’t have the energy for that now. I’ll show myself when it’s