Page 22 of The Monster of Darkspell Comics

Fanny

I tuck my hands in my pockets as I walk beside Pashar.

Really, it’s more of a stroll because for once he’s keeping his stride in check so that I’m not jogging to keep up with him.

It’s almost romantic walking around and seeing the town all decorated and lit up for Halloween, and that brings a silly smile to my face.

A beautiful man sits on the fountain playing a stringed instrument I don’t recognize in accompaniment to the melody played by a small group of musicians, and vendors set out delicious treats and wares for the crowd wandering through the Halloween bazarr and visiting booths to play games.

“This place really goes all out for Halloween,” I observe as I stop to buy a candy apple.

“It looks great! I mean, the entire town square looks like some sort of haunted scene from the legend of Sleepy Hallow, or something. I know that we have the Trick or Treat Street that is coming to the mall, but this little weekend carnival is epic. Oooo, a psychic,” I squeal, pointing out the table set up at one end of the square with a big, glittery sign set up next to her.

Pashar’s gaze flicks to her, but he simply grunts in acknowledgement.

I bump him playfully with my shoulder and nearly fall flat on my ass when I bounce off him.

Thankfully, he catches my arm and steadies me before I can lose my grip on my candy apple.

Squinting, he peers at me questioningly for a moment before we start walking again.

“What’s wrong?” I whisper before taking a large bite of my sweet, but he just shakes his head, his brows lowering further in a deadly scowl.

“All of this activity in town will not help us locate where that human disappears to. It’s ridiculous having to deal with this when we are always several steps behind him.

And he just waltzes around out in the open everywhere without even trying to hide his presence.

How is it that it is this hard finding where he is holed up?

” he growls. “Vermin are easier to locate and exterminate than he is. I’ve flown over the town and the immediate surrounding desert looking for any hint of where he might be. ”

Oh. I immediately deflate a little as I continue to nibble on my apple, though its appeal quickly vanishes. So much for the romantic stroll. “Oh, is that what we are doing?” I say as I crane my neck and look around, putting everything into it so that he doesn’t notice my disappointment.

Of course, that’s the reason. Don’t be silly, Fanny , I scold myself.

Since when has Pashar ever done anything romantic?

He’s a demon. It only makes sense that we are walking around in search of clues for where Creepo might be hiding.

We do that most nights these days—except that usually we fly so that we can see the town from an aerial point of view, which is exciting in itself but also necessary.

For some reason, though, tonight just felt different when he fell into step beside me.

Maybe it’s because Pashar seemed unsettled earlier, though he refuses to admit it, much less talk about it.

I don’t know. All I know is that now I’m feeling a bit stupid.

“Yes... no,” he grumbles surlily, but he snatches my hand in his as he petulantly draws me away from a group of people passing by.

Something warm wraps around me, and though I can’t see it, I’m pretty sure it’s his wing.

I shiver as his invisible corethi uncurl from beneath his wing and brush against me, their feather’s tips trailing over my skin.

“We are also walking. I want to walk. With you.”

My lips twitch as I look up at him. “Yeah? Me too.” I tip my head back and breathe in the cooling night air. “It’s a really nice night.”

He grunts but tucks me a little closer to his side. “It’s not bad. It is not as nice as the nightmare realm.”

I arch an eyebrow at him and smile as I turn into him and hug his arm. “Oh really? You mean that pea soup fog filled with things that probably want to eat me?” I tease.

His expression lightens in response, and the corners of his mouth curve with amusement. “Perhaps they simply have good taste.”

“Are you saying that you want to take a bite out of me?” I whisper.

His step falters, his eyes darting toward me. His throat works, and I blink up at him. Did I actually catch him by surprise?

“Maybe.” Though he grumbles in reply, he looks very pleased with himself. His eyes slide to me and catch me watching him. “Eat your apple,” he says a little too gruffly.

I smother a smile and rest my head against his arm. Okay, so he’s a big, horrifying demon from one’s worst nightmares, and he wants me. I’m down for that.

“Do you think you might show it to me sometime? Beyond just what lies in your home?”

He stops walking altogether and stares down at me. “You just said that there are things in the fog that want to eat you, and you want me to take you there?”

I grin up at him and give his arm a squeeze. “Well, if you want to eat me, too, then it can’t all be bad, right?”

He blinks, and then a deep chuckle rumbles through him. “Very well. If you wish to be hunted through the fog, then we can do it now,” he says as he suddenly turns in the direction from which we’ve come.

“Wait!” I laugh as I pull back on his arm only to find myself dragged forward a couple of feet before he deigns to stop. He looks over at me inquiringly, and I tip my head toward the fortune-teller. “I still want to get our reading first.”

His head turns toward the psychic’s table, and his nose wrinkles.

“Seriously? If you want to know our future, I can tell you that. It will likely involve fucking at some point, at a minimum. Other than that, you have long years leashed at my side to look forward to. What else is there that is worth telling?”

I choke on a giggle as heat races into my face. “Come on. It will be fun. Get in the spirit.”

He grins wickedly. “If you really want me to get into the spirit, I can always go possess someone.”

I raise my eyebrows at him. “No paperwork required for that?” I ask innocently.

His smile is quickly replaced with a scowl.

“Right. Damn it all to the pit. I miss the days when a random possession or slaughter could easily go overlooked and never reach the ears of the Master or any of his bureaucrats. Everything is so bloody documented now.” He sighs heavily and turns us back toward the psychic.

“Fine, let’s go throw perfectly good money away. ”

“Awww, how magnanimous of you,” I tease as I pillow my head on his arm and continue eating my candy apple.

“I’m nothing of the sort,” he denies, but the corners of his mouth hitch with obvious pleasure, and I can feel the purr rattling his body even though I can’t hear it.

I grin as I finish my apple and toss the remaining stick into a wastebasket as we walk past it.

“I will just collect out of your hide later,” he adds with a dark chuckle.

Leaning in, I pinch his side, drawing a deep, rumbling growl from him threatening retribution. His head dips toward me, his eyes burning with heat that his illusion struggles to hide.

“Just keep that up, female,” he warns in a low voice. “I won’t be polite when I give you exactly what you’re begging for.”

I grin at him innocently even as I silently beg him to do exactly that. But after my reading is done.

The psychic looks up as we approach and take a seat in the two chairs on the other side of her table.

She glances between us and smiles. “Ah, what do we have here? A pair of lovers are wishing for me to divine their beautiful destiny together? Perhaps you wish to know if marriage and children are in your future?”

Pashar snorts, and she just smiles back at him, undaunted.

My eyebrows go up at her apparently oblivious expression.

Doesn’t she realize she has a demon standing right in front of her?

I wonder how a psychic doesn’t see him for exactly what he is.

Surely no one would wittingly ask a demon about marriage and children as if he were just a normal guy out with his girl.

I don’t know if I even quite qualify as being Pashar’s girl, but it still strikes me as odd.

“My offspring would gnaw the feet of anything that walked past them. That would be a hard no for me for the foreseeable future,” Pashar replies as he gives the psychic a chilling smile.

“As for marriage—why be so shallow and accept merely that when I’m binding her completely to me?

" he purrs in a way that makes me squirm.

The psychic, however, just stares at him, her smile slipping.

“Perhaps we should just get started and see what the cards have to say,” she says as she removes her cards from an old, worn case.

I lean in a little, bringing her attention to me. “Please.”

Her eyes meet mine for a moment as she shuffles, and I get the disconcerting feeling as if she is staring deep into my soul. I don’t flinch away but return her regard curiously until, finally, her gaze drops away, and she focuses on her cards as she flips the first one over.

“I see a fool’s journey,” she says casually, her fingers sliding over the figure of a young man carrying a sack suspended from a long stick over his shoulder.

“You’ve been wandering a bit, letting the winds of fortune carry you through life, and so you’ve ended up here in this little town, unaware and blissfully ignorant. ”