I take my time driving to Nal’s pad. I thought I knew him pretty well after working for him for the last three years, but Duncan said some things that has me thinking. On one hand, Nal isn’t exactly going to win any good citizen rewards, but he cares more about his people than your typical demon. I normally wouldn’t give a shit, but the more I think about it, the more it looks like he was sending me to die. I could be wrong, I find it odd that he didn’t know Duncan was his boss. Of course, there is that chance that Duncan was just full of shit.
I pull up to the old Holiday Inn and park the Caddie. I grab my gear and Duncan’s head and step out of the car. Out front I notice Adam out front smoking a cigarette.
“Dude, you actually cut off his head?” His eyes go wide and his jaw drops slightly.
“Just like Nal ordered.” I lift the bag up slightly. “Wanna see?”
“Dude, no. I’ll pass.” It was funny to see Adam like this. I’ve personally seen him do things to people that would give your average person nightmares for years. I know what I need to get him this Halloween.
I laugh and walk in the door. I look over at Rick and Joe sitting at the bar. I walk over and take a seat on one of the stools. “Got any Jack back there.”
Joe nods and pours me a glass. “Ice?”
“Straight up is fine.” I grab the glass and down it. “Nal in?”
“He’s in his office.” He raises the bottle. “One for the road?”
I nod and grab the drink. “Time to give him his package.” I walk to the stairs.
“Hey Mitch,” Joe says.
I turn around.
“Easy on the new guys this time.” The two break out into a fit of laughter.
“No promises.”
I’m starting to doubt the things Duncan said last night. If Nal was really working for him, you would think his guys would be clued in that it was a problem if I made it back. Of course, the guys down below know they don’t stand much of a chance if I can get Eunie to cooperate.
It still doesn’t make me feel good about this whole thing.
I walk out of the stairwell and look down the hall. The new guys are sitting on a bench just outside Nal’s office. They stand up when I enter the hall.
“Nal in there?” I ask.
“The boss is in a meeting. They’ve been in there a while now. You can wait for him, if you like.”
I nod and sit down on the bench. “I’m sorry about the other day. Wasn’t personal.”
“That was some freaky shit, man.” He holds out his hand. “Jason.”
“Mitch.”
“Aaron.” The other guy shakes my hand.
“So, how did you do that?”
“Trade secret.”
The door to Nal’s office opens. A beautiful blond girl walks out of the room wearing a gray skirt suit. She looks down towards the head, but turns left towards the hallway. I don’t know why she was here talking to Nal, but I could get used to seeing her around.
Nal pokes his head out of the door. “Mitch, come in.”
I walk in and set the head on the table and untie the shirt. “One head, sealed and delivered”
“Holy shit, Mitch. You didn’t really have to bring the head.” I turn it over to show him Duncan’s face. “Why are his eyes like that?”
“Demon. You had some serious shit knocking on your door.”
His eyes widen. “How the hell did you take down a demon?”
“I have my ways.”
“So, he took over everything up north, from what I hear.”
“Yep. I finally ran into him at the warehouse.”
“Drug ops still in decent shape?”
“I’d say no. The only thing I saw were hundreds of people in cages. I didn’t look around though.” It never crossed my mind to walk back in and check. With the fire at the front of the building and Sara being taken out the back of the building, I had other problems to attend to.
“Recognize anyone?”
“Didn’t take the time to look.” I don’t tell him about freeing them, I want to see if he steps into anything on his own.
“Well, it’s a shame.” He reaches down into his desk. “I suppose you want this.” He hands me a small black notebook.
“You always find the good stuff.” I thumb through it before packing it in my backpack.
“Do you really think you can control your problem with that?”
“No, but it would be stupid not to try.” I had to do something. Facing demons is one thing, but I don’t want to have the angels knocking on my door any more than necessary. I stand up, walk toward the door, and turn around. “Who do you work for?”
Nal sits back and puts his hands on the table. “Most people would have asked that long before they got this deep.” He reaches down and pulls out a picture of younger Nal standing next to an older guy with graying hair in front on the deck of a large yacht. “That is my father, Vernon. The only asshole alive who would name his kid Roman.”
“I never pinned this as a family business.”
“It wouldn’t be this big if the world didn’t go to shit. It’s amazing how fast things grow when people stop caring.”
Drugs and whores. The lazy man’s way to happiness. If there was going to be a time for those things to boom, now would be the time.
“I’m gonna head on down the road. I want to sit down and read the journal.” I pull my keys out of my pocket. “Gotta make sure Sara is doing good too. I had to get the head to you before it made my car stink worse.”
Nal reaches back down, pulls out a set of keys, and throws them my way.
“What are these for?”
“Your car is a piece of shit. It is kinda my fault. Take my Expedition. Tank is full.”
“What is this going to cost me?” Everything Nal gives away has a price. Money. Service. There is always a price.
“You’ve done enough. Leave the Caddie. I’ll have the guys take care of it.” He walks up and shakes my hand.
“Thanks a ton, Nal. Call if you need anything, I’ll be at the pad for a while.” I walk through the door and back down the staircase to the lobby.
“What is the boss having you do this time?” Joe asks as I approach the bar.
“Nothing. I’m on vacation.”
“Not like you to take time off, Mitch. You feelin’ ok?” He pours me another double shot of Jack.
“I’ll be fine.” I have a lot to digest. None of which I wanted to talk to these guys about. I down the shot and put the glass back on the table. “See you guys around.”
“Mitch.” I turn around as I get to the door. “Take this.” He tosses me the bottle of Jack.
I nod at him and walk out the door. I know it won’t get rid of the screams, but at least they will be a bit more quiet tonight.
I walk out the door and to the new ride. I walk around it a few times to check it out. It’s not that I don’t trust Nal, but it would be stupid not to consider this being a trap. Nothing strikes me as being out of the ordinary, so I sit in the driver’s seat and take one last look around the inside.
I’m losing it. I can’t believe I actually bought in to Duncan’s bullshit back at the warehouse. If Nal really worked for him, there is no way I would still be alive. I put the keys in the ignition, start the car, and drive off. I get about five miles when my phone starts to ring. It’s not a familiar so I let it go to voice mail. A minute later it starts to ring again. I don’t want to play this game so I pick up the phone. “This is Mitch.”
“This is Zeke. We need you to check out a house out west.”
Guess I won’t be getting to that bottle tonight. “Give me the address.”
The End of Book 1
The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Spread the Word
Thank you for reading my book.
You’ve already rocketed to the top of my Favorite People In The World List, currently populated by Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin, the late Robert Jordan, J.A. Konrath, and Robert Kirkman amongst others.
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Follow Mitch as he fights to keep humanity out of the hands of demonkind.
Demontouched
The Demontouched Saga Book 1
Fallen
The Demontouched Saga Book 2
Book 3 - Coming May 2015
The Demontouched Saga Book 3
Book 4
The Demontouched Saga Book 4
Book 5
The Demontouched Saga Book 5
Book 6
The Demontouched Saga Book 6
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Thank you again for reading my book. I spent countless hours writing, and editing, my book to make it the best I could. I then sent the book to an editor in order to catch the things that I may have missed.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
I can remember the first fantasy book I read as a kid. It was Dragons of Autumn Twilight and the rest of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Raistlin, Tas, Tanis, and the rest of the cast had me putting my name on the list to borrow the book at least once a year at my school library. From the first read I fell in love.
From there my love of fantasy turned into a love of gaming. Dungeons and Dragons, Rift, and Shadowrun firmly had my attention throughout my teenage years. There was hardly a week… a day when my friends and I didn’t sit down to play something. Even when we weren’t playing, we had a blast just creating characters or talking about the settings.
Eventually, I taught myself how to be a dungeon master of the games. This allowed me to come up with scenarios and stories for my friends to play through. I didn’t need any preparation beforehand, everything I needed came from my head.
I don’t play the games like I used to, but I’m a much more avid reader than I’ve ever been. I’m thankful for my Kindle Unlimited subscription that allows me to keep something on the fly, even when things have been tight. Some of my favorite authors are Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin, the late Robert Jordan amongst others.
I would like to say that I was one of those people who loved to write from a young age, but I can’t. I didn’t believe that I had what it took to tell a good story, even though my time as a teenager said otherwise. It wasn’t until I explained an idea for a story to my wife that I grew the courage to even try.
Demontouched was not the story I told my wife, but another one that begged to be told. It was through the struggles of Mitch that I started to fall in love with writing. I don’t look forward to ending his story, but will be thankful he gave me a chance to tell it.
I have tons of stories swimming in my head right now, I only hope I get to live long enough to tell them all.
Thank you for giving me, and other indie authors like me, a shot.
Douglas Wayne
Douglas Wayne is a web writer, construction worker, and father. He grew up reading best sellers like Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickmann as a child, upgrading to Brandon Sanderson and George R. R. Martin as an adult. His debut novel, Demontouched (Book 1 of The Demontouched Saga) was released in April 2015 along with the sequel Fallen.
The Demontouched Saga
Demontouched - Book 1
Fallen - Book 2
The Children of Magic Series
The Mirror - a Short Story
Demontouched: The Demontouched Saga (Book 1) Page 7
