Free Demon's Dream by Laura Hawks Page A

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    “Yep. Sand baths, mud baths and more. All you could possibly wish for.”
    She stopped and gagged slightly as the putrid smell hit her dead on. She immediately put a hand up to her mouth to help prevent the penetration of the scent. She wouldn’t show any more weakness than she had to but damn this was a horrid odor.
    Mel pulled a face at the vile smell. Even his stoicism couldn’t repress the brief look of disgust as he scanned the area to find a way across the expanse. It was too quiet and he knew that something must have killed all those poor bastards rotting up a stink and they were probably already being sized up as the next victims. He opened his senses to scope out the area.
    “I don’t like this,” he whispered to her softly. He didn’t tell her that he couldn’t sense anything for fear of causing a full blown panic from her. He bent over to pick up a dead limb and toss it forward towards the edge of the bubbling waters of the murky pond.
    Tentacles writhed from the pond in all directions and became extremely close to touching them. Backing away, she instinctively pulled Azamel with her. The tentacles were massive and far reaching. There had to be fifteen of the limbs flailing about. Not finding anything, the tentacles started to hoist its massive body out of the water in search of whatever disturbed it.
    Mel’s eyes widened at the extreme size of the creature as it rose from the convoluted depths. It resembled an octopus only much larger. The creature slowly moved out of the water, its dual eyes scanning the area and finally focused on their frozen forms.
    Mel debated on whether to expose some of his powers to her. As a result, he remained still a bit longer. All of his abilities seemed to work in this realm with the notable exception of one: the ability to leave. He didn’t need to tell her that. It was pretty evident that particular power failed when he first tried to get them to his home safely upon his arrival. However, he also had not ever shown her the full extent of his powers. After some consideration, he decided to risk it, consequences be damned. Azamel called upon the demon that he carried within him, allowing it minimal access to his consciousness. He snarled at Clarissa to run and take cover, waiting only long enough to see that she obeyed him for once before allowing the monster to surface.
    Mel’s eyes turned a florescent green and his skin darkened. Light appeared to flow from his fingertips. Without so much as a sound from his lips, he lifted his hands and blasted the creature with a blinding light which enveloped his whole body, cocooned every tentacle in a white, shimmering haze with lightening running throughout its body. The ball of light swelled and pulsed before it imploded. The creature disappeared as if sucked in by the universe itself. When all was quiet, he managed to put the snarling demon back into remission. Mel took a deep breath as he grimaced slightly and turned to meet her gaze.
    Clarissa stood there shocked. She knew he was an old demon and powerful but not that powerful. Her gaze went to where the Kraken was and then back at him. Her face was pale, her eyes wide and she just stared at him contemplating the energy that reeked from every pore. Although she couldn’t see his face, she saw the light that glowed from it, a vibrant green.
    ‘ Funny ,’ She thought stupidly, ‘you would think the light would be blue like his eyes or red like a demon’s not green like mine. ’
    Peering once again where the Kraken’s remains were scattered, she slowly turned back to Azamel and raised her chin slightly. She marched up to him and stood toe to toe, color coming back into her face. He said nothing, waiting for her to speak. She just looked him over before her emerald orbs returned to his iridescent eyes. Giving an inaudible shrug, Clarissa pivoted towards their original path and called over her shoulder, “Nice job. Now you going to stand there all day and