Malcolm sucked a breath, trying to calm himself. His heart still pounded in his ears. "What is that?"
"A demon." Ulises glanced back. The loa had laid the crumpled monster on its back. Several were crying. "An asanbosam. Its soul is now burning away." He stared back at Malcolm. "Do you now believe?"
Malcolm nodded.
A smile curled at the side of the old man's lips. "Then I will teach you. I will make you a hunter."
"What?"
"I am old, Malcolm. I feel it. Someone must carry Hounacier. You are her groom and I will teach you."
A thousand questions whirled though Malcolm's head. He stared at the monster that everything he'd ever known told him shouldn't exist. The white-shirted officers unlocked the broken cuff from their prisoner's wrist. He embraced one of them, tears of joy running down his face. The fire along the demon's body had begun to fade and with it, its grotesque features seemed to melt back into the body of the dead bald man.
"Do you accept this offer, Malcolm?" Ulises asked.
The teenage Papa Ghede looked up from the beastly corpse. His one eye met Malcolm's and the boy smiled. In that moment, Malcolm realized the loa was real.
"Do you accept?" the old man repeated.
Malcolm felt himself nod. He lowered his gaze to the machete, seeing a beauty to it he hadn't seen before. There was an intelligence to it. "I do."
About the Author
Raised in the swamps and pine forest of East Texas, Seth Skorkowsky always dreamed of being a writer. He gravitated to the darker sides of fantasy, preferring horror and pulp heroes over knights in shining armor. His first short story sale, “The Mist of Lichthafen,” was long-list nominated for a British Fantasy Award. When not writing, Seth enjoys tabletop role-playing games, shooting sports, and traveling the world with his wife.
Dämoren is his debut novel. Seth will also be releasing Mountain of Daggers, a sword and sorcery rogue collection, in 2014. You can find out more about Seth at www.skorkowsky.com
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If you enjoyed Dämoren, we urge you to post a review on sites like Amazon and Goodreads. Tell us—and others—what you thought! Studies show peer reviews are the most effective forms of advertising, especially for books from independent publishers; plus, connecting with our readers is always exciting and inspiring! Seth would love it, and we bet it’d make him write book two, Hounacier, that much quicker.
Thank you!
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For more information about the Valducan series, go to www.ragnarokpub.com
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