Page 7

DECLAN

I didn’t normally watchmy brother on weekends, but my parents were doing some maintenance around the house and Ollie got bored. He called me asking to play and since I didn't have anything better to do, I took him to the park. My shop didn’t open until late afternoon on weekends anyway. I didn’t take days off, but I took half days on weekends to give myself a chance to rest.

I got a lot of funny looks in this neighborhood, so I was mostly just playing with my phone and staying out of the way when the demons showed up. My spine straightened automatically, worry for my little brother making me overcautious. I considered taking him home, but when I saw the kids ignoring the demon boy, it made me hesitate. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, and he actually looked heartbroken that people weren’t playing with him.

Since I’d been watching him, I saw the interaction between the demon boy and the human one. The kid looked curious and was asking the demon boy what he was doing under the slide when that Karen came out of nowhere, screeching like a banshee. I might be cautious around paranormals, but I didn’t like her talking to the demon boy like that. Bullies werebullies, no matter their age.

When she realized she had no backup amongst the rest of the families at the park, she huffed and stomped off, dragging her poor kid behind her. He looked mortified, his ears bright red. I felt a little bad for him, but what can you do? You don’t get to choose the family you’re born into.

“Thank you.”

Blinking, I turned back to the demon who’d come to the little one’s rescue. His horns weren’t on fire anymore, which notched down the intimidation a bit. He still looked like a criminal, but that had less to do with him being a demon and more because of the dark look on his face and the leather jacket, despite the warmer than normal fall weather.

“It’s nothing. I just don’t like bullies. I–”

“Dec! Dec! Those boys invited me to play basketball. Can I go?”

Ollie came flying in out of nowhere, his face flushed from all the running he’d been doing and a big grin on his face. He must’ve been too busy to see the interaction with the demons, and he barely gave them a second glance now. He was too excited to play.

“Sure, buddy.” I knew better than to stand around, Ollie wasn’t going to wait forever, so I gave an up nod to the demon as a goodbye. “Hope you have a better afternoon.”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously, though I didn’t have any fucking clue as to why. I ignored it, following Ollie out of the playground and toward the basketball courts. That was the first interaction I’d ever had with a paranormal that didn’t go to shit. I didn’t want to stick around and give him a chance to get pissed at me or something.

We were at the basketball courts for a while before I saw the demon kid again. He was alone this time, no sight of the older demon behind him. It was getting close to lunchtime and parents were calling their kids to head back home, so it was only Ollie and one other boy on the court. They threw the ball, bouncing it off the rim, and it bounded away, smacking the demon boy in the back. He spun around with a snarl, baring his teeth at Ollie and the boy he was playing with. Tension settled in my shoulders as Ollie jogged closer, giving the demon boy a sheepish grin.

“Sorry. You okay?”

The demon boy didn’t answer, just continued to glare at Ollie like hewanted to murder him for making a mistake. Ollie gestured to the ball that was closer to the demon than to himself.

“Can we have our ball back?”

The demon glanced behind him at the ball and took a few steps back. He picked it up, holding it in one hand to show it to Ollie. I saw what was going to happen before he made a move, but I couldn’t get over there fast enough to do anything about it. The demon punted the damn ball so hard it cleared the building with the bathrooms. I was at Ollie’s side in an instant, tucking my brother behind me. The demon boy lifted his lip in a sneer, waiting for me to say something to him. I chose to ignore him, turning and nudging Ollie towards the court.

“Come on. We’ll ask for another ball inside.”

Ollie looked confused and upset, but he followed me easily as I led him away. I shot an irritated look over my shoulder at the demon boy, but he wasn’t looking in my direction. He stormed off again, kicking rocks in front of him. Whatever his issue was, messing with my little brother didn’t help his mood any.

“Why’d he do that?” Ollie questioned quietly.

“Because some kids don’t know how to play nice. Did Mom and Dad say they wanted you home for lunch?”

He shrugged, his head down and his hands shoved into his pocket. The boy he’d been playing with ran off after the demon boy kicked the ball away. It left us alone and after checking in with my parents on when they wanted Ollie home, I played on the court with him for a while before taking him home for lunch.

“I recognize that kid from school,” Ollie said randomly on the walk home. That made me uneasy, and I had to work to keep the grimace off my face.

“Oh yeah? Is he any nicer there?”

Olie shook his head, which was pretty much what I’d expected. “He’s in a different grade than me, though. I’ve only ever seen him at recess. I asked him to play once, but he said he didn’t play with humans and told me to leave him alone.”

“Then I would listen to him. If he doesn’t want to make new friends, that’s on him. I don’t want you pushing it and getting hurt.” He was obviously unstable, but I didn’t say that part out loud. Kids were impressionable,and I didn’t want Ollie making decisions on paranormals based on my interactions with them.

“Hey, Declan? Do you have any paranormal friends?”

“Nope. But I don’t have many friends to begin with. I work too much.”

“You’ve got me,” he pointed out.

That made me smile, and I dropped my arm around his shoulders. “True. Who needs friends when I have the world’s best little brother?”