Page 2 of The Devil and His Ghost

Her hand remained over her forehead as she cautiously turned her head toward me again. “Everyone says you’re a filament of my imagination.”

I sighed. “I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘figment.’”

So I wasn’t the first thing she’d seen that she wasn’t supposed to? Humans who had the ability to peer past the veil between the world of humans and the one of souls and demons were gifted with an ability known to demons as the Devil’s Eye—people who could see ghosts, demons, and all manner of things that went bump in the night. Those who saw past the barrier could see demons like me, even if we were hidden by shadows.

It had been so long since I’d met a true Ghost Speaker, as we Mischief demons called them. Running into her would’ve been fucking cool if she wasn’t an annoying little kid who didn’t even know the difference between “filament” and “figment.”

“You don’t look like the others I usually see,” she announced slowly, waddling on her haunches as she faced me fully. She shined her stupid light into my eyes.

I didn’t doubt she was right. She was young, so I was most likely the first demon she’d stumbled across. With my tall black horns, glowing golden demon eyes, black claws, and two sharp canine teeth, I no doubt looked like a beast.

“Duh. I’m a monster, not a ghost. Didn’t we already establish this?” I looked around the cramped closet. “Why are you hanging out in here with a filament of your imagination, anyway?”

Her knuckles went white as her grip tightened on her flashlight. She drew her knees even closer to her chest and looked at the crack between the double closet doors. “I’m hiding from the scary man.”

“Scary man?”

I tilted my head closer to try to peer out of the crack myself. Had another Mischief demon already beaten me here? Was that the reason she was so unfazed by me? I didn’t sense another presence of Hell, but maybe we’d just missed each other. All was quiet on the other side of the door, and I detected no human or ghost, either.

A tiny grip suddenly latched onto my horn, tugging my head down and sideways. “Wow!”

“Woah. Woah, woah, woah,” I gasped, trying to glare through my dark bangs. “Let go of my horn!”

The tiny menace giggled but released me. I quickly sat back up to my full height while she wiggled happily in place.

“You’re funny, Mr. Monster.” She gave a hushed laugh.

I snarled my lip at her to expose my fangs and looked up at the ceiling with an incredulous huff. “I can’t believe I thought luck was on my side tonight. This is the weirdest—”

I froze when a pale finger prodded at my mouth. Shock held me prisoner as irritation personified got on her knees and shined her light right into my face while grabbing my top lip to pull it back over my teeth. Her eyes widened behind her glasses, and she gently poked one of my fanged canines. The gesture made the shock wear off.

Expression going bland, I managed to speak around her finger digging inside my mouth. “You don’t know what personal space is, do you?”

She finally pulled her hand back and sat on her knees again. Her big eyes peered up at me, and the longer she stared wordlessly, the pinker her cheeks became. Good. I hoped she was embarrassed about poking around in someone’s goddamn mouth like that.

The entire past fifteen minutes were absurd. She’d gotten more reactions out of me than I had out of her, which was the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen. My Mischief demon pride was wounded.

The stillness created the perfect backdrop for a scare, so in one final desperate attempt to get a reaction out of her, I whipped up my clawed hands and lunged forward while shouting. She didn’t flinch. A beat of silence followed. Then she smiled.

This fucking kid.

A weary sigh left me, and I dropped my hands in defeat. “Fine. I can see this is a lost cause. Well, as much fun as this has been, I’ve gotta go.”

Her smile dropped, replaced by distraught disappointment. “You’re leaving?”

I clasped my hands by my face and batted my lashes, asking sarcastically, “Was the Little Ghost hoping we could have a sleepover and tea party?”

The light in her green eyes dimmed, and her shoulders sagged. “Can I go with you?”

I curled my lip and raised a hand in flat rejection. “Eww. No. I don’t like kids.”

“Don’t like kids,” she whispered under her breath as she seemed to look through me, suddenly lost to her own thoughts.

Fucking weirdo.

“Yeah,” I drew awkwardly. “So … bye.”

“Wait!” she gasped, snapping out of her stupor. She moved lightning fast, reaching up to grab both of my horns with her flashlight now abandoned by her knees.