Page 73 of Demon's Desire
“What is this one?” Soul asked as it started.
“It’s actually a paranormal podcast.” I chuckled a bit as I leaned against him. “I mean, it’s about what humans know and think about the paranormal. So it’s probably just fiction to you, but I like it.”
He smirked slightly. “Hm. This could be fun.”
This episode talked about the Perron family, the ones that inspired the first The Conjuring movie, and the real events. I noticed there were a few things that tracked with what Soul had told me about what demons did. Things would go missing randomly. They’d hear noises when nothing was there. They saw a couple of things move without a person touching them. They were all things that Soul was capable of. There was even an instance of one of the family members being possessed and acting strangely. Allegedly, when she was possessed, they witnessed the chair she sat in start to levitate.
After a while, I looked over at Soul. “Is any of this possible?”
He shrugged. “Technically, it’s all possible. Demons aren’t the only creatures you people consider paranormal.”
I froze when he said that. “They… They aren’t?”
He laughed at my expression and shook his head. “No. We aren’t. There are a few other species living among you. But I’ll protect you from them all.”
I rolled my eyes and tried to relax. “Thanks.”
His smile faded a bit, and he grabbed the remote, pausing the video. “Although… On the subject of paranormal creatures, there is something I wanted to mention to you. Is now a good time?”
“Is it ever a good time?” I gave him a weak smile.
“Good point.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, but since I can’t really go anywhere without you, I can’t check it out on my own. That bar, the one you interviewed at last night. While you were doing that, I checked out upstairs where the fire was. Something about it just seemed wrong to me…”
“Wrong?” I frowned. “Wrong how?”
“I just got this feeling.” He shook his head. “Like, the fire was concentrated in strange places while other spots looked barely burned. Fire’s not the most even disaster in the world, but still. I’ve seen enough of them to know when a burn pattern is off. So when you’re feeling better, I’d like to go back and look around.”
“Back… You want to go back?” I groaned. “Fuck… Alright.”
“I do apologize–” he began, but I cut him off.
“No, no, it’s alright,” I assured him. “If someone set the place on fire on purpose, we need to know. Just… still finding my balance.”
That made him smile a bit. “Very well. Let me know when you’re ready.”
I went ahead and started getting ready, putting on real clothes. I didn’t want to risk the walk since Jackson was already on us today, so I went ahead and ordered an Uber when I was ready to go.
I was nervous during the car ride over to the bar. I’d set the destination for the Uber to the restaurant next door, just so it didn’t look too suspicious. But beyond getting there, we didn’t have any ideas as to how to get inside.
“I think there’s a back door,” Soul said when we were only a few streets away from the bar. “We’ll walk around until we find it. When we do, I’ll make sure any cameras are busted and let you in.”
I gave a quick, short nod of my head to let him know I understood without tipping off the Uber driver to the fact that I wasn’t alone.
“I’ll check to see if anyone’s inside first, then I’ll let you in. If someone shows up, then you just say you thought you were coming in for a second interview, but you misunderstood, and we’ll leave,” he instructed. He’d clearly thought this through.
“Here we are,” the Uber driver said as he pulled up outside the restaurant. I smiled at him and got out, holding the door open for Soul. “Thank you so much! I appreciate the ride.”
He nodded at me and drove off as soon as I shut the door. We made our way to the sidewalk and started heading for the side of the building. It was one of those places where three or four businesses took up totally separate spaces, but they were all technically the same building, so we’d have to go all the way around all of them.
Around the back, there was a thin alley with large dumpsters. Thankfully, Soul was right. There was one back door for every business in the building.
“Will you check for cameras?” I whispered.
He nodded and walked through the alley. He paused at the end, then approached the wall. Suddenly his wings folded out from his back and he began flying a couple feet up in the air. I looked around nervously, as if anyone else could see him. When I didn’t see anyone, I turned back and saw him raise his fist. He slammed it down hard, then I heard something crash to the ground. After that, he flew back down to the ground, folded his wings back in, then turned to me, beckoning me over.
“What the hell did you do?” I whispered, looking at the small camera that had fallen to the ground.
“It’ll just look like a bird or something flew into it,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go.”