Demon Breathing Down My Neck

Chapter Seven: Weiner Dog's Instinct

"Ty loves going through the door."

I gasp. "A portal? He goes through a portal?!"

Malik shrugs. "I'm not sure if he's talking about a door in the closet or the closet door. He says him and Big Baby play in the closet."

"If there is a portal in there, that would explain why you heard another demon. There might be multiple evil spirits coming in and out of the portal. Or something could have even been talking from out of the portal."

"A portal to where?"

"Probably some hell or dark heaven. If Tyrone has fun there and isn't tortured, it may not be one of the more wicked places, but a place of illusions and deception."

Malik buries his face in my belly. "I don't want to go! What if a monster grabs me and takes me to the closet?!"

"Did Tyrone say there's monsters in the closet?"

"He says there's funny monsters! But I don't believe him! There's no such thing as a funny monsters!"

"You'd be surprised at how often demons have a sick sense of humor."

"You know a lot about demons."

"I fight them for a living. Now, you really don't want to go? I can drop you off in the living room with your mama."

Malik squeezes my hand tight and hugs me with his other arm. "Don't leave me! Big Baby will get me for betraying him!"

"You can stay with my partner angel. Does that make you feel better?"

Malik nods and stops hugging me. I crackle my wings out of my back, the cool, conditioned air rushing along the edges of my energy skin. I tightly grip Malik's sweaty hand, surge my invisible energy body around him, and shift us both to the first spiritual dimension.

"Whoa! I finally get to do this without being tickled!" he yells.

My heart twinges as I gently lead Malik towards Tyrone's PJ Masks bed. We wade through the fluffy cotton, hard plastic, and sharp springs. We come to the wall separating the bedroom from the living room. Malik pauses at the wall. I walk halfway through the drywall and plaster when his grip around my palm becomes like a boa constrictor.

I backtrack through the wall in the blink of an eye and follow Malik's frozen gaze to the opposite wall. A trail of small, bloody footprints and handprints smears up the pale yellow wallpaper. Malik wrangles my hand so hard that his wild pulse tears through my palm.

I whisper, "What did you see?!"

Malik stares blankly at the wall.

I wave my hand in front of his face. "Was it Big Baby?!"

Malik's eyes don't follow my fingers at all.

"What did you see?! What was he doing?!"

He mutters, "That's what he really looks like."

"What does you mean?!"

Malik whimpers, "I don't like him anymore! I don't like him at all!"

"Can you tell me what you saw?!"

"I never want to see him again!"

I gently take Malik's pale face in my hands. "Why? What did he look like?"

"He's not a baby! He's not a baby!"

"Can you explain that?"

"He's dead!"

"I already know that! What did-you know what, never mind. It seems like I'll see him for myself very soon!"

The bloody prints shimmer and evaporate into nothing. I scoop Malik up, and with one thunderous flap of my wings, flash through the wall. We hurtle to a stop directly in front of Liya as she bosses Kayla, Kiara, and Tyrone around about where to sit for the family emergency meeting. She stops in midsentence and glares at me.