Free Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels) by Alex Apostol

working. Lying there for over an hour, I felt as if I was
getting nowhere. My brain was still spinning, filled with thoughts of what
would happen if I was unsuccessful. If I didn’t leave my body soon, I was
likely to fall asleep.
    Deciding to take a break and try again after I
drank a glass of water, I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I
turned on the bedside lamp and froze in shock at what I saw. Lying there on the
bed next to me…was me . I stood up slowly and stared down at my hands. My
entire body was illuminated, as if there were a million tiny white lights under
my skin. I had expected to see myself as I normally saw ghosts, dull and void
of color, but I had never seen anything like this before. After I took a few
deep breaths to calm myself, I decided to start the search for the drainer. I
reached out my brightened hand to open the door, but hesitated for a moment
with curiosity. Technically, I was a spirit, so maybe I possessed the same
abilities as one.
    As I headed directly for the door, I closed my eyes
expecting to smack my forehead against it. An intense tingling sensation ran
through my body. There was no doubt in my mind something had gone horrible
wrong. I was going to find myself stuck halfway between the door or something
ridiculous like that. I opened my eyes and rejoiced in the fact that I was
standing, perfectly intact, outside. Not sure which direction to go, I stood
for a moment in thought. There were only two people in town I knew of who fit
the profile and I didn’t know where either of them lived. The bar and the café
were the only placed I’d come in contact with either of my suspects, but both
were closed.
    As I weighed the option of each direction, I felt
someone grab me by the arm forcefully. The entire town rushed beneath me as if
I were being dragged through the air. I didn’t have enough time to work myself
up into a good panic before I was released from the invisible grip and left
standing by Alli’s bedside. She lay silently under the covers, clearly in a
deep state of sleep. Realizing the drainer must be near and getting ready to
suck the life-force from Alli’s defenseless body, I walked into her closet and
waited. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew who I was waiting for. The only
other person that had been full of energy the entire time I’d been there was
Sari. Could such a seemingly perfect guy really be messing around with black
magic? He was from L.A., so anything was possible, I thought with
disappointment.
    Not more than a minute after I secured myself in
the darkness, I saw a dim figure appear through the crack of the door. The
indistinct form radiated a dark shadow around itself, preventing me from seeing
who it was. I stepped through the doorway and out into the open bedroom. As I
crept closer to the ominous form, I was stopped in my tracks. The person
standing before me was Alli.
    “I knew something was off about you…hunter,” she
said with spite.
    I stood there in shock, unable to think of what to
say. She had seemed like such a down to Earth, friendly person.
    “They told me someone like you would eventually
come for me if I wasn’t careful.”
    I stared deep into her black empty eyes and knew
exactly who the ‘they’ were that she was talking about.
    “So, what? You promise yourself to a demon and they
give you the secret to staying young and beautiful?” I asked with blatant
disgust in my voice.
    How could someone be so vain? She was willing to
sacrifice the lives of others for her own visage. There had to be a catch.
Demons never did anything for free. Whatever the price was, she seemed
oblivious to the fact that there would be an end to her existence. She cackled
loudly at my disapproval.
    “Why should I care about anyone but myself?” she
asked, rhetorically. “No one ever cared about me.”
    I could feel the heat of my animosity rising
quickly within me. Without control, my instincts took over and I ran full speed
towards her.