Free Infernal Father of Mine by John Corwin

trembled. Gravel rattled beneath my feet. I
flicked my gaze behind me and saw the train streaking toward the
car. Only one chance to save the man remained. Racing to the front
of the vehicle, I pushed. My efforts failed to even rock it back
and forth.
    This thing is immovable!
    "Justin, get out of there," David said, running
over.
    "I don't understand," I said, grunting and
pushing to absolutely no effect. True, I wasn't feeling very
strong, but even a normal human should be able to bounce a car on
its shocks. The train barreled on, heedless of the car in its path.
I felt my eyes widen with horror as I saw the engineer, a skeletal
creature with sharp wicked teeth and long black hair trailing in
the wind. It leaned out of the locomotive window and laughed
maniacally in a feminine voice.
    The laughter of the engineer and screams of the
driver mingled into one ear-piercing cacophony of pain. I dove from
the tracks as the train smashed the car with phenomenal force. It
exploded, sending car parts flying. Something slammed into my back,
knocking the breath from me. I sucked in a breath, wheezed a few
times, and pushed slowly to my feet. The man lay a short distance
away, miraculously alive. The train had vanished from
sight.
    And then I saw the skeletal figure walking
toward the man. Flesh hung from its naked form in wrinkled folds,
the contours of bones clearly visible through translucent flesh. It
cackled as the man tried to slide away from it. Despite the blood
all over his body, the man abruptly stood and started running.
Though his legs practically blurred with speed, he moved forward in
slow motion. I could only watch as he screamed in terror at the
creature reaching for him.
    "You're mine forever," it said in a ragged
feminine voice.
    "No! I don't want to get married," the man
shouted.
    The anorexic woman leapt for him. The man cried
out. They vanished in a cloud of gray mist. Before I could make
sense of anything, the tracks vanished, leaving only the ruins of
the houses and road. Fog billowed from all directions, rolling in
on us like the tide. I managed to spot David before losing sight of
him, and found him with an intrigued look on his face.
    "That was interesting," he said.
    "Interesting?" I said, groaning at the ache
between my shoulders. "I think we just fell down the rabbit
hole."
    "Maybe we did." He shrugged. "In any case, I
believe we just witnessed the beginning of a beautiful
marriage."
    "Now I know why I want to hit you all the
time," I said.
    He raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"
    "Because you're an even bigger smartass than I
am." I clenched my teeth.
    He motioned me to move. "Let's talk while we
walk."
    What with the earthquake, houses falling over,
and cars threatening to crush me, I'd forgotten about the minder
trailing along behind us. I pushed my incubus senses outward and
found several hovering only a few hundred feet away.
    "If I'm not mistaken," my father said after a
moment, "I believe we just witnessed someone's
nightmare."
     
     
     

Chapter 7
    Elyssa
     
    The Church of the Divinity loomed across the
street. The gray stone structure rose several stories high with a
steeple stretching to the sky. The imposing building was shaped
like a cross, with two huge wooden doors at the entrance. Elyssa,
Ivy, Shelton, and Bella stood in an alley across the street,
observing the area.
    "Looks like a place for creepers," Ivy
said.
    Bella pointed at the stain glass windows.
"Notice how filthy those are? It's like nobody is maintaining the
place."
    "The shrubbery looks wild too," Shelton added.
"Then again, this neighborhood doesn't look all that wonderful
either."
    Closed businesses and run-down houses lined a
street in dire need of pothole repairs. The few people wandering
the sidewalks pushed shopping carts full of their belongings or
drank alcohol from bottles in brown bags. In short, it was the
perfect place to hide a rogue organization.
    The front doors of the church swung open hard.
A petite woman with