Free The Devil's Prey (The Demon Within) by Jessica Stark

human. But here I am.’ I put on a brave smile, as it still hurts to talk about my father, especially after what I found out.
    ‘Are both your parents still alive?’ he asked.
    I picked up my walking pace, but Michel had no trouble keeping up. I really hadn’t talked to anyone about it yet, but strangely, I felt like I could open up to Michel. He was special too, so he knew how it felt to be different.
    ‘U mm, my mother is still alive, but my father died.’ I had already revealed so much, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and just blurt it out. “When I was about a year old, my dad was murdered by Andy and the devil. They were trying to get to me. The devil needed to bring his daughter, Lucy, back to life, but he needed a pure fairy to do it. So Andy got close to my dad, and when he found out he placed Lucy inside me. As I grew, so did she, getting stronger. Then last year, she started talking to me whenever I got mad. She took over, then when she was strong enough, she got out of my body by ripping herself from my chest. She was trying to kill me, and Andy joined in. So did the devil. He stabbed me…and now the devil wants me dead for killing his daughter, and all while I am finding out what I am capable of, and it isn’t even the third week back at school!’
    I was talking really fast , without taking a breath, and I was also walking a lot faster too- almost like I was trying to run from my own words. I didn’t even know if Michel could understand anything I was saying. He placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to face him. I hadn’t even realized we were at my place, but somehow Michel knew I lived there. I’ll probably never know, and I don’t think I want to know.
    ‘O k, whoa! That is complicated, but I caught on.’ He was staring at me. His face was serious, but once again I see amusement behind those electric blue eyes.
    ‘Y eah. It’s a lot.’ I shrugged him off my shoulders and took a step back. ‘It feels good to talk to someone. I haven’t even spoken about it. But there is something about you that make me want to open up.’ I was gazing at my house, hoping Mum didn’t come out, because she would be full of questions.
    ‘I have that e ffect on people. My father says it is part of a fairy quality.’ Michel shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal.
    ‘Well , this is my house. Ok, bye.’ I didn’t bother telling him, ‘See you later!’ because for some reason, I knew he was going to be sticking around for a while.
    ‘Bye , Summer.’ He smiled and started to walk back the way we came.
    The moment I knock ed on the door, Mum answered it and had me in her arms. ‘Summer, it is so good to see you.’
    I hug ged her back and inhaled the smell that was my mother. ‘It’s good to see you, Mum.’ She let me go, and we walked into the house. It looked the same as it had the last time I was here. I went and sat on the lounge, and Mum brought out tea.
    ‘How have you been , Summer?’ she asked, and I sighed and sank into the lounge.
    ‘Truth? It’s been hard. At school , everyone thinks I am crazy, and at the house it is no better. Everyone tries to understand me, but they don’t. They will never what it feels like to go through what I went through, Mum. Everyone just assumes I am ok, but really, I am not. And I hate it.’ I finally started crying, and Mum just held me like she has always done. When I settled down, she grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around both of us.
    ‘ I won’t say I understand, but I will tell you what it was like for me, Summer. When I got that phone call from Lauren, I thought I was going to die myself. She told me very bluntly that it was highly likely you were going to die. She told me that a demon escaped your body and that should have killed you, but somehow you survived. She then told me that the demon had stabbed you with a dark blade, and you had very deep wounds that were meant to kill you.’ Mum was crying, and I held