Free Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong Page A

the part he’d been anticipating, always the most interesting part of someone’s life.
    “None. She was a quiet kid after her father died. Not much to report from her high school years. She partied like any normal college kid, but seems to have straightened out right after graduation. Otherwise, she had no apparent vices.”
    Impossible. “There has to be something. Maybe you didn’t dig deep enough,” Julian said, frowning.
    Harry looked affronted. “I dug plenty deep. There just wasn’t anything that interesting to find. She lived a good life.”
    Harry had more—pages of details on her class schedules, jobs she’d worked, her dedication to yoga, trips she’d taken, the kind of car she’d driven, who her friends had been. But nowhere in his report were the kinds of things Julian really wanted to know. A thousand other questions burned in his mind. Who was the first boy she ever kissed? How many lovers had she taken? How many hearts had she broken? Had anyone ever broken hers? Had she ever known real love?
    Questions he could hardly ask Harry.
    The report spoke of a life unlived, dedicated to service from a very young age. In Serena’s human life, there had been precious little room for the passions, the desires, the joys and the screwups of being human.
    “How pathetically short,” Julian commented aloud. Her life had a sort of unlived quality that made Julian ache strangely for her. Harry, too, seemed to have been affected, deep in thought as he shuffled through the pages. There was nothing left to say, but Julian could see him standing there, trying to make sense of what he had found. He’s thinking of his own kids, Julian thought as he watched the man.
    “Thank you, Harry. That will be all for now.”
    After Harry shut the door, Julian was left in utter silence. He felt like someone had died, as though he ought to mourn her. She was a blank slate, this girl, the paper description of her life so bland as to make her seem expendable. But in person, from the very first time he had looked into her eyes, Julian had read so much more. He had seen her tenacious loyalty to Nick, the ferocious pride that gave her the courage to stand up to a demon—Julian himself—who was much more powerful than she was. And he had seen in those eyes a desire…a desire to know. To feel. To exist.
    No, Serena was not a woman to be mourned. For even though her human life had ended, she was not gone, after all. She was still very much alive and kicking in the material realm.
    And here in the material realm, he would delve into her unexplored desires. Would find a way to get inside of her and exploit whatever it was she most wanted to learn, to experience, to be. Would ply her with the things she had missed out on during her fleeting human life.
    All he needed was a way in.
    Perhaps she would be lured by material objects. He sent all the things that usually worked for him: flowers, chocolate, perfume, a baby animal, jewelry, a romantic escape…. But by the end of the week, all the gifts had been returned and Julian realized he would have to try another tactic. Family was always a good starting place, as Julian had proven so many times, most recently with Harry. At least the Company had kept Serena close to her family so she could watch over them from a safe distance. It was a fact Julian would certainly use to his advantage.
    Maybe the brother…

    On Friday afternoon, Julian wandered into Andrew St. Clair’s photography gallery, a large, warehouselike space in the quiet seaside town of Carmel. The gallery’s bare concrete walls were hung with pictures—portraits, mostly, some of them Julian recognized, and others he didn’t. But famous or not, all of the subjects were lovingly photographed, shot with the careful eye of a true artist.
    With the exception of one subject, perhaps a little more lovingly photographed than the rest. There was a substantial section of wall devoted to Serena, half a dozen photos of her at different