Matthew

I try not to lose it

I felt a cold dread run through me at that.

"Not Kindle." I began, eyes becoming lidded with sudden exhaustion. "Jade, what are you even saying-"

"The energies are different." My aunt said, and I could hear Ryan sound a faint whimper in the back of his throat. "Kindle's is still dark, but not like this. Not as...putrid. I could recognize it as soon as that faker stepped in the door. Couldn't you tell at least a little bit was off about him?"

I hesitated for a second, my immediate response being to deny the claim. But she was right. "He came to me earlier." I began. "And made Ryan leave. He talked about what happened back on the farm and how he sensed the other demon. He then suddenly became really open about everything, he told me about how souls are used to strengthen a demon's powers. And about the second demon's connection with another, far more powerful demon."

"And you just now decided to tell us this?" Jade said, her eyes wide.

"There were more important things to worry about." I responded, getting annoyed.

"So do we have a solid plan on what we're supposed to be doing about this?" Ryan broke in. "We keep him occupied while Jade creates a trap, right? Where would the trap be?"

Jade sighed, her fingers tapping at the crystal around her neck. "It's going to have to be rather large. Somewhere like a park. I can make it hidden, but not for very long. You'll have to get him to it before the cloaking fades."

"Fantastic." I retorted sourly. "How in the hell are we supposed to keep him distracted for so long?"

Jade got to her feet, heading towards the door. She paused at the handle before looking back at us. "Take him around town in the morning. Try and get more information out of him about the demons but don't let him catch on that you know he isn't who he says he is. Just keep him out of the way, alright?"

I got to my feet as well, watching as she opened the door. I raised a brow quizzically and she sighed.

"Call for him, then try and get some rest. The warding on the house will keep you safe if he attempts to pull anything."

I highly doubted that, but I really didn't have much choice. My throat felt strangely dry as I walked past her and out of the house. I stood at the steps leading to the door before walking down a little further, the faint breeze stirring up my hair and making me tremble despite the warm sweater that I wore.

I attempted to clear my throat, but my voice came out dry and cracked anyway.

"Kindle?" I called, my word being thrown away into the wind. I stood there for a few minutes, staring out at the empty road and dark windowed houses. It was an eerie type of peaceful. Everyone was asleep, neither with a single clue of the things that had gone down in the house behind me. Mist skirt around my ankles.

Kindle's impersonator hadn't shown yet, so I decided to call again. Before I could, though, I felt an even stronger breeze knock into me, sending me staggering. I whirled around to face nothing, blinking the daze away before I spotted him resting against the tall tree that overhung my aunts driveway.

"Hey." He said quietly, wiping at the new, tiny flecks of blood that were splashed across his face. I attempted to hold myself higher, looking more like I was about to sneeze than being any braver than I had been.

He looked less like Kindle than before. His body language was far more closed off and brooding. And the sudden angry outbursts I had come to expect from him certainly weren't attributes of the demon I knew. His boss would be pissed about how poor of an actor that he was, I bet. It was clear now that he wasn't Kindle, but he was somebody. I wonder if I could figure out who.