Free Demon's Dream by Laura Hawks Page B

pat yourself on the back or are you ready to move?”
    Mel frowned slightly at her odd behavior as he moved to fall in step alongside of her. They kept to the small footpath which circled the pond, neither speaking. He continued to remain silent to let her mind process everything. He was, after all, used to people’s behavior around him especially once they had caught even a small glimpse of the monster he kept so carefully contained within himself.
    However, even he had to admit this was the first time it concerned him as to what another thought. Her opinion mattered to him and he hated himself for that. Mel shrugged it off and vowed not to let it affect him. As he looked ahead, he spotted a golden glow in the distance. The gates were visible but somehow that put him on an even higher alert than before.
    Clarissa stopped and pulled him to halt beside her. As she scanned the area, she found her attention constantly returning to the left. Something was off and it felt more worrisome that anything they had encountered thus far. She lifted her nose into the air as she tried to breathe in the scent that taunted her- enticed her but still remained just out of reach.
    It smelled natural and yet of death. Not as rancid at the area they just walked through but putrid nonetheless. She took an unconscious step towards Mel, worry clearly evident in her eyes as she scanned for cover or protection should they need it.
    Mel watched her as she sniffed the air like a predator seeking its prey. An intense feeling of unease spread throughout his body. He scanned the area for any sign of foul play. He had reined in his inner demon so tightly after the Kraken incident that he relied on her senses for the moment as well as his own unease to try and determine what it was that caught her attention.
    They were so focused on what lie ahead, neither of them noticed the black fog which rose from the surface behind them. It slowly rolled over the ground towards them and started to send its feathery, adumbrated tendrils up their legs. Mel felt the dead cold creep up his body and looked down. He immediately grabbed Clarissa’s hand.
    “What the fuck, now ?” Mel’s limbs felt like ice as the fog kept rising, slowly turning the landscape into an inky cloud of cold despair.
    Clarissa squeezed his hand as the dark wisps rose and curled about their forms, slithering along their legs. A frigidness seeped into her core. It wasn’t an artic chill like winter but more the foreboding iciness of death. She needed to know how to repel this and it was something she had never before attempted. However, if they were to live she needed to try. She looked up at Mel and whispered, “Give me power and guidance.”
    Clarissa then she shut her eyes and tried to call upon her powers of premonition. Psychometry allowed her to see the past, present and future of certain objects and beings. If she succeeded, she might be able to discern what would repulse the creature that even now tried to seep the life source from them.
    She concentrated deeply. She was desperate and needed this to work. At first nothing happened. She couldn’t fail, she just couldn’t. She made another attempt to conjure her ability. She felt Mel lean closer to her as his arms wrapped about her, his powers flowed into her. He kept his senses focused on her changing vitals, fearful of giving her more strength than she could handle. This time as she opened herself to her abilities, her head flew back and she twitched. Images of cold, death, darkness, despair, hatred, loneliness all overwhelmed her. It needed peace but found only heartache and so it took to give the pain it felt. The cloud held her upright so she stood still as it fed from them while she learned from it.
    Clarissa saw its darkness and it was feeding from them. Actually it feasted more from Mel than her, for he had more darkness in him and eons worth of coldness and demon pain. Along with the cloud, she also sensed a bit of Azamel’s