All The Wrong Signs

It should have been easy to relax with Lakyn. Eat our food and watch a movie in peace. It’s what friends did on the weekend.

Only I had a demon who was still enjoying aggravating me.

Blaze had let me finish eating before he started in on his antics. The moment I took our takeaway containers to the trash and came in, I gasped, seeing him holding a candle over her head.

Lakyn turned to look at me. “What?”

I pointed at her head, but before she had the time to look up, Blaze had sat the candle back down like nothing had ever happened. When she looked at me confused, I just glared at Blaze, who had a shit-eating grin on his face.

He was trying to make me look like an idiot.

Deciding that maybe Lakyn was right and ignoring him was the best route to take, I sat down and tried my best to ignore him. Easier said than done. He was like an annoying little brother, a thorn in my side. Every time I glanced over, he was either holding something over Lakyn’s head, poking at her, but never actually touching her, or even moving things on the coffee table in front of us.

I had just known that she would see him moving things on my coffee table, but Lakyn was cuddled up in a blanket I had brought her absorbed in the movie.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at him. “Stop.”

Lakyn looked over at me as I stared at Blaze, almost pleading with him through my eyes to just give me a break. To my surprise, he went and sat down in the chair closest to me. I didn’t question why he had finally decided to sit down and leave me alone. I was just glad he did.

“You know you can come stay with me if you don’t feel comfortable here,” Lakyn offered.

I smiled at her, politely declining her offer when all the time I wanted to yell at her. She was supposed to know what the hell was going on here. If it wasn’t for her, I would have never known about sigils. I would have never stepped foot into a bar. Never gotten a tattoo.

Letting out a long breath, I knew that wasn’t fair. This wasn’t her fault. It was Blaze’s fault. No, as much as I hated to admit it, this was a mess of my own making.

Once our movie was over, Lakyn offered to stay longer, even said she’d sleep on the couch if I needed company tonight. Once again, I declined, walking with her to the door. “Tell you what. Next weekend, your place, I’ll get the food.”

Lakyn smiled. “Yes. Sounds like a plan. Call me in the morning, so I know your demon hasn’t whisked you away.”

I snorted, “like I’d ever go anywhere with him.”

Lakyn laughed, but I felt the hair on my arm raise as Blaze come to stand so close behind me I felt his body pressed against mine. “That’s right, little witch. Where you go, I go.”

Ignoring the urge to elbow him, I waved by to Lakyn, watching her slip her headphones in and start walking. Shutting the door, I made sure it was locked before turning around to face Blaze.

“That wasn’t funny.”

Blaze frowned. “Can you be more specific?”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about,” I yelled at him. “You holding shit over her head. You were fucking with my head all night, trying to make me look like I’m fucking psycho!”

“I was just teasing,” Blaze said, stepping to the side letting me walk past him. “You need to lighten up.”

At his words, I stopped dead in my tracks. Yet another thing Collin would tell me when I would get upset at him for something he didn’t think I should care about. My shoulders dropped at the thought. Lost in my head, I could hear Collin’s voice after I confronted him when he had come home at 4 in the morning. “I was with the guys Riley. Damn. You need to lighten up.”

Blaze walked forward, and I jumped as his hand pushed back my hair that had fallen in my face. “I take back what I said. You need to toughen up, little witch.”

His words were so soft and gently but they only made my anger boil that much hotter. “How do you know what in the fuck I need? I need you to leave me the fuck alone. I need you to go back to whatever little prison you were in before you decided to make me the instrument of your amusement! Just leave me alone!”

Blaze instantly took a step back. Was he finally listening to me, or did he think I had lost all control? Tears were now running down my face and I’m sure I looked every bit like the crazy person I had accused him of trying to make me.

“I think you need to lie down. Get some rest.”

“You don’t’ get to tell me what the fuck I need,” I yelled at him as I pushed past him, going to my living room to turn off the tv and lights.

Sleep actually sounded really good, but I didn’t want to admit that to him. I was emotionally drained, and all I wanted was to pull the covers over my head and forget everything.

On the way to my bedroom, I stopped in the kitchen and grabbed my salt container. I had no idea if it would work or not, but I was tired of dealing with Blaze and if I could keep him out of my room, it would be worth it.

Walking into my room, I turned, pouring a line of salt in my doorway, looking up at Blaze’s expression when I was done. He looked bored as usual, but he didn’t try to walk into my room.

Opening my closet door, I used it as a shield to change behind. I knew I could have just simply closed my door, but I wanted to keep an eye on Blaze. He was still standing in the same spot that I had left him.

Watching. Waiting. But for what?

I really wanted to step into the hall and go to my bathroom to put on my moisturizer, but I didn’t want to leave my room. I had no idea if the salt was working, or if he was just waiting to see how this all played out and I really didn’t care.

Turning my lights off, I crawled into my bed, pulling the covers up all around me, blocking everything out. I felt almost like a child again, afraid of the dark, hiding my head under the covers for protection.

Maybe I should have left a light on.

It wouldn’t matter. My demon was already here.

“Blaze?” I asked.

“Yes,” his voice echoed down the hall.

“Will you being here attract other demons?”

He didn’t answer for several heartbeats. “No. As a matter of fact, me being here will keep them far away from you. You don’t have to fear the supernatural, Riley. Only me.”

Turning so that my back was to the door, I closed my eyes and tried to push him to the very back of my mind, but he wouldn’t stay. I had a demon in my house and instead of running next door to the church and banging on the doors until they granted me sanctuary, here I was pouring salt to keep him out of my room so I might could get a peaceful night’s sleep.

Turning back to face him, I jumped. I could see red eyes glowing in the hallway. I’d never seen his eyes glow. Then again, I’d never seen them when the room was pitch black. It served as a reminder that he was evil.

Knowing he was watching me as I tried to sleep made it near impossible for me to actually fall asleep. Even with the covers pulled over my face, I swore I could still see his red eyes burning a hole through my covers.

Finally, having enough, I sat up, “can you stop?”

“What am I doing now?” Blaze said as I turned on the lamp beside my bed.

I frowned, seeing that he had moved my kitchen chair and was sitting in front of my door. My salt was working.

“You are making your eyes glow to scare me.” I accused.

He tilted his head but smiled. “If I wanted to scare you, I would have done it by now. I was recharging, but if it’s distracting you, I can stop.”

Rolling my eyes at him, because that was the grownup thing to do to a demon when he was trying to keep you awake, I hit my light and laid back down. There was no more red glow coming from the hallway and I don’t know why but that was almost creepier than seeing it. At least with his eyes glowing, I knew where the fuck he was.

The house was silent besides the steady circling of my ceiling fan. I tried to listen for the tiniest noises, the faintest breaths, but I could only hear my own heart hammering in my chest.

“Blaze,” I called again.

“Yes, little witch.”

“Does the salt really work?”

He laughed. “No, but I respect your need for space.”

I rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling. There was nothing I could do to control him. He was too powerful. I had to keep him on my good side. Do whatever he needed within reason and send him on his merry fucking way.

“When you are free of your prison, what will you do?” It was a thought I couldn’t get out of my head.

Blaze sighed, “I really don’t know.”

I couldn’t be mad at his answer. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life either. We had both been gone from our worlds for so long, neither of us knew where we fit into this new life.

Silent tears ran down my face as I realized I would be doomed to walk this world alone. Who would want me? I was broken? A shell of what I once was.

I jumped hearing a noise like a sudden gush of wind, but eased when I opened my eyes to see that Blaze had come to stalk me in his favorite chair in my room. It made me feel better knowing he was here. I had him. At least until he found a way to get what he wanted.

“Can you chase bad dreams away?” I asked, not really expecting him to answer.

“Oh, I could, but you don’t want me to touch you, remember?” Blaze said, his voice low and husky. I hated to admit it, but something in my body had awoken to his words.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I pulled the covers closer around me. Blaze chuckled, “sleep my little witch. I won’t let any boogeyman get you tonight.”