The Devil's Demeanor Read Online Free

“It’s the demon possessing my son. It passed that evil
to your baby. I just know it.”
    She looked at Stephen. “What
is he talking about?”
    He pulled her away from his
praying father and took her to his room. “I’ll deal with you later,” he said to
Dad.
    Once in his room, he closed
the door and turned to Lucy, who was standing in front of the bed. “I have
something to tell you,” he said as he sat down with her. “Earlier this year, I
was attacked by an animal in a cave. Ever since then, I’ve had really bad
nightmares. They were so bad that I would wake up screaming. Dad is worried
about me because of those dreams. He thinks I’m possessed. It’s nothing.”
    “What kind of animal was
it?”
    “I don’t know,” he lied. He
couldn’t tell her it was a giant bat, or a demon. “I didn’t see it very well. I
went to the hospital and got it taken care of, so I’m not sick or anything. My
dad’s just really religious and it’s making him talk crazy.”
    “Being really religious
doesn’t make people crazy.” She still looked worried, but she nodded her
understanding. “He’ll never accept this, will he?”
    “Maybe some day, after the
baby is born and he sees it’s not evil.”
    She lay down. “I’m so tired,
and don’t want to go back to campus on Monday.”
    “Neither do I.”
    “Let’s just quit school and
run away together.”
    He laughed. “Are you serious?”
    “No.”
    She didn’t sound so certain,
though.
    *   *   *
    Stephen and Lucy talked
nearly every day and got together every weekend for the next two months. She
told him that everyone at school stared at her and shook their heads once the
bump started showing. A teenaged, unwed mother? For shame!
    “We should get married,”
Stephen said one day. They had talked about this more than once, but hadn’t
taken any steps toward making it reality.
    “I’m waiting for to ask
properly,” she said with a smile.
    They were on their special
bench in the park. Stephen got down on one knee, and though he didn’t have a
ring, he took her left hand, kissed it, and said, “Will you marry me?”
    “Yes.”
    They kissed. They told
Lucy’s parents, but not Stephen’s dad, and set a date in December.

Chapter 3
     
     
    Lucy and the baby died before any wedding
could take place.
    School was over for Stephen. He refused to
return after Lucy’s death. He didn’t do much of anything, in fact. Well, he
cried almost every day in his room. He couldn’t understand what happened to
her. She had been driving from a doctor’s appointment when she lost control of
the car and drove off the road. She had been crossing a bridge at the time, and
the fall had been...
    Stephen shivered as he thought of the terror
she must have felt as her car fell fifty feet to the river. How had it
happened? Had she been distracted by something in or out of the car? Lucy had
been a safe driver, always attentive of everything around her. He couldn’t
imagine her being distracted for a second.
    What if it hadn’t been an accident? The
thought suddenly popped into his head unbidden. What if Lucy was murdered? Who
would do such a thing?
    What would?
    He hadn’t dreamed about the creature or its
world for quite some time. Had it found out about the baby and decided to get
rid of it? Why would it do that? The thought made him so angry he screamed,
right there, in his room. He screamed until his throat was raw. The bedroom
door swung open and Dad stood there.
    “What’s happening?” he asked his son.
    Stephen didn’t answer.
    “I know you’re hurting, son, and I’m sorry
about what happened to Lucy and the baby. I truly am.”
    Stephen got the sense he wanted to say more,
but instead he backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. Stephen
closed his eyes, feeling the cold tears between his lids, and thought of the
place with the throne and history book. He wanted to return there to look
through that book again. If there was a clue to the creatures’