The Demon Side by Heaven Liegh Eldeen

too late, and you weren’t far enough into the pregnancy for it to change you. But how did you really lose the baby?”
    “Could you let me go now?” Etta gave one last pathetic tug of her arm and I released it. Seeing the tears in her eyes, I knew I caused more pain than I had intended. I stirred up suppressed memories of an unwanted child’s creation and demise. She climbed down the access back into her bedroom closet when something took over my brain and mouth.
    “Etta, if I don’t know every detail, I can’t protect you.” I heard an unfamiliar note of compassion in my voice.
    Etta clung to the opening, and then dropped to the hardwood floor below.
    “Tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll talk tomorrow after school. But I have more questions, too.”
    “That is fair enough. You will not see me until then.” What the hell was I saying? Did I just make a date with a fleshling? I admit, part of me enjoyed this unconventional developing relationship. I had a chance to get inside of a strong girl’s mind, to actually hear from her mouth all of her fears, weaknesses, and doubts. It could be a buffet of ammunition and an opportunity I couldn’t afford to miss. At least that’s what I told myself for the next twenty-four hours while I waited in the attic for Etta to come home from school.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Hearing the door open, I flashed downstairs to see the figure entering, sure it wouldn’t be Etta. She shouldn’t be home until three-thirty in the afternoon and René had left for the bar down the street a few moments earlier. I was hoping I would catch the Incubus when I was stunned by two brown eyes. Watching Etta come into focus from the blackened nothing made my body tingle until I saw a set of hazel eyes follow her. There in the family room stood a boy roughly six-foot-two, about a hundred and eighty-five pounds with a broad, muscular build. Probably a football player from her school. I knew his type, the all-American boy on the outside with his straight white teeth and shiny golden locks, but devious, dark, and dangerous on the inside. He feeds off his ego, his sexual conquest and social standing. Great makings for a Demon.
    “Thanks for driving me home, Gabe. You didn’t have to do that.” Etta stood nervously at the end of the loveseat where the punk sat himself down.
    “I was on my way home, anyway.” His heart rate picked up. This boy wasn’t on his way home.
    “Etta, he’s lying. Get rid of him,” I commanded.
    “Well, I appreciate it. Would you like something to drink?” Etta didn’t even acknowledge me. Either she was ignoring me or she had taken her medication and it blocked me out.
    “Sure, you got any soda?” Gabe called out as Etta went to the kitchen.
    “Pepsi,” Etta yelled back.
    “That’ll work.” This punk, or should I say Gabe, walked around the family room picking up the family photos. He stared at each one. This boy was up to no good.
    “You seemed pretty freaked out today. Do you usually get so hysterical over something as simple as a mouse in the girl’s bathroom?” Gabe lifted his shoulders as he took a deep breath. Something in the air caught his attention. His body language changed. He squared off his shoulders and lifted his chin. It wasn’t a normal stance for some high school riff-raff, but something you only see in true seasoned warriors.
    “What can I say? It was a mouse.” Etta appeared from the kitchen carrying two sodas and handed one to Gabe.
    “Etta, listen to me, you need to get rid of him. Something isn’t right with that boy.” This time Etta looked right at me as she flopped down next to Gabe.
    She sat purposely ignoring me, and on top of that, breaking her promise to talk to me right after school. The audacity! She hit a nerve she should know better than to hit. I wouldn’t put up with her insolence anymore. I wasn’t her father, who would just shrug off her outright disrespect.
    Before I acted out my punishment, I decided to give her