A Demon Bound (Imp #1)

by Debra Dunbar

“Candy Star,” she

The bartender practically knocked down a waitress in his rush to ask my boobs what they would like to drink.

Could this day have any more wild swings between shit and great?

“You have no idea the number of neural connections in the human brain. Plus, they change from moment to moment. You’re literally not the same person you were a few seconds ago, each experience changes the connections in slight ways.

Insane people have followed me all over downtown and for blocks informed all passerby that I was a fire–breathing, plague–spreading devil come to kill them all and end the world.

“History is important to us, to me, and to humans in general. It links us to our ancestors and

makes us see the totality of our achievements instead of just what we can accomplish in our short lifetimes.”

Keeping historic items around, it helps connect us with our

past and allows us to feel like we can individually contribute to a chain of knowledge and advancement that builds our future.”

“I’m not going to just kill you,” I told him calmly. “I’m going to Own you so I can keep you with me forever. I’ll peel the skin from you one strip at a time. I’ll reach up your ass and pull your insides slowly out, gnawing on them and ripping them with my claws. I’ll dislocate every joint in your body one at a time. I’ll take your bones and heat them, burning bits of you with your own flesh, and just when you think you’re dead, I’ll bring you back and do it all over again.”

I felt him build one last bit of strength within himself to fend me off and smiled as I reached out to touch… the wall. He was gone. Gone. Where the fuck could he have gone? I had him. He was locked in place. No fucking way. Not again.

I shrieked in rage

and hit the wall with my fist. That wasn’t helping, so I turned around and grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be Craig’s dead body. With a blast of energy, I ripped his arm off at the shoulder and began smashing it against the wall with all of my might. “Son of ...

“You cockroach,” the angel said, his voice oozing cold fury. He actually hissed a bit when he said it, like a snake. I seriously thought I was going to piss my pants. “I spend my time and energy establishing protection for this man, and you lure him over here and get him killed. What a waste.”

Demons are not sentimental, and as much as I liked Wyatt, my own personal well being should always come before anyone else’s. I shouldn’t have thought twice. It should have just been an automatic defensive action. Instead, I dropped the energy back within me and launched myself physically at Gregory. He clearly wasn’t expecting it. I knocked him to the ground away from Wyatt who slumped beside us clutching his throat. My stupidity continued as I straddled Gregory’s huge chest, grabbed his curls with my hands and whacked his head repeatedly on the ground.

“You are just an imp, a baby imp,”

will not slip through my grasp. You will not escape me.” I could see him struggle to gain control when, almost as if with a will of its own, he hissed, “Mine.”

For good measure, he flipped me over on my back and punched me in my stomach. Looking up at him, gasping for breath, I realized that he’d totally lost control. His face was white and solid looking without pores in the skin, and blackness filled the entirety of his eyes. His teeth were no longer human, but sharp pointed little spikes, like piranha teeth.

The warmth flooded me and the burning pathways in my personal energy filled with an electric glow. Reddish purple soared through my being. ‘Mine’ I thought silently as I floated in the stream of color. It was a faint and fleeting thought, without intent or power; almost like an echo from someone else. Strange.

You will get in your car with me, and you will drive to Waynesboro. You will obey all the human traffic laws or I will destroy your vehicle and slowly break every bone in your body. Repeatedly. Over the course of several days. Do you understand?”

while. Candy must drive like a ninety year old lady on her way to church

He learned quick, this angel did. To hide my amusement, I trembled a bit and tried to look properly cowed.

He leaked. The power flowed off him in waves. It was like sitting next to an open oven. And his form sucked. It was so weird with the strange skin and faint glow. He blurred at the edges sometimes, too. “You don’t have the slightest imperfection in your form,”

“I’m a private investigator out of Hagerstown,” I told him. “I’m doing surveillance in a divorce case. I just wanted to let you know that your wife is fucking the propane delivery guy. His wife hired me to get proof after she found some naked pictures of

your wife on his phone. You seem like a nice guy, and I just thought you ought to know.”

His wife probably was cheating on him. Loser was so hung up on what could have been that he can’t have been very present in their relationship.

have mad skills,”

“You are the worst liar in all of creation.

You seem really obsessed with the sin of lust.”

Really, really far. I’m sorry to tell you this, but from what I can see, the sin of pride is a major component of your character. Dude, you’re fucking old. You should have these things pretty well ticked off your shopping list by now. I’m seriously disappointed. Seriously.”

“She’s just a demon!” Althean said in panic. “You can’t kill me over a stupid, worthless demon!” Gregory picked him up by the throat and held him, his feet dangling from the ground. “She’s mine