Free A Demon Made Me Do It by Penelope King Page A

hate knowing—no matter
what—I’ll always be forced to share his affections with nameless,
faceless girls who provide him with a reason for
existing.
    And I hate myself even more
for feeling this way. I am a Justice demon, for Satan’s sake! I’m
supposed to be free from passion and operate only on reason and
rationality, not be subjected to crying fits of anger and the discomfort of
petty jealousies. What a crock of crap it is. Totally
illogical. And pathetic. What do I expect him to do…sit around and pine
over me night after night? Tell me he loves me more than anything
else and can’t bear the thought of living eternity without me? That
I’m his one true reason for breathing and without me his life has
no meaning?
    Yeah…dream
on . Demons don’t work like that. Only
Sapies get all wrapped up with their crazy emotions. Something
that, thanks to Liora, seeps into my life where it shouldn’t. At
least demons have the ability— and good
sense —to shut off the feelings they don’t
want to feel. Not Sapies, though. They seem to enjoy being enslaved
by them.
    But I can’t blame Bones for any of my
madness. He’s just as incapable of ignoring his demonic desires as
I am of ignoring my tainted-by-human ones.
    “ You sure you’re okay?”
Bones asks, studying my face.
    “ I’m fine…promise. Tonight
is just what the doctor ordered. Carnage followed by torment. Can’t
wait.” I fake a small smile.
    “ Okay…well, I’ll catch up
with you at Old Lady Sullivan’s. And be careful…don’t get too cocky
out there,” he says with a wink.
    “ Yeah, same to
you.”
    For a brief moment we stare into each
other’s eyes, both of us feeling what neither can say. Then, with a
grin as sinful as the devil himself, Bones shakes and quivers,
gracefully landing on two large paws. He lets out a lustful howl
and sprints toward a remote farmhouse in the distance.
    I take a deep breath and head toward
the bright lights of the city.
    ******
    About twenty miles from the
club, I wave my hand at a passing motorist who instantly screeches
his car to a halt. Now that I’m out in the open I can’t run
anymore, not without attracting the type of attention we all try to
avoid. It makes our lives easier to keep the Sapies in the dark
about certain things. If they really knew what was going on right
under their noses…
    I pop my head inside the passenger
window of the luxurious Mercedes. A well-dressed middle-aged couple
sit side by side, both wearing the blank fixated look of someone
under my spell. People are just too easy.
    “ Take me to the Galaxy
nightclub on the corner of Fifth and Main,” I command the driver as
I let myself in the back. The man instantly makes a dangerous and
illegal U-turn and begins driving to my destination.
    The couple remains silent,
as I have no desire for them to speak. I stare out the window at
the whizzing scenery and try not to think of Bones—what he is
doing right now . I
glance at the seat beside me; there’s a playbill and a bouquet of
flowers. Aww, how cute. Is it date night? But
this couple appears to be in their fifties or sixties; certainly
they are not still subject to the ridiculous rituals of
romance…
    “ Why are there flowers
here?”
    Both remain silent.
    “ You may speak,” I
say.
    The couple look at each other, unsure
who should answer. I roll my eyes. “Man…answer me.”
    “ They are Irena’s favorite.
I give her these flowers on the twenty-second of every
month.”
    “ Why?”
    “ Because she likes them,
and they make her happy. I like making her happy.”
    “ No, I mean why on the
twenty-second?”
    “ That is the day we met. It
is the day we were married. It is the day our son was
born.”
    How
touching . “You do this every
month?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ How long have you been
doing this?”
    “ Thirty-seven years and
three months.”
    My eyes narrow. Surely this
can’t be true. But under my spell Sapies are incapable of lying.
This man is telling me the