Thorn Read Online Free

listening?” she asked Amy. “You agree with me, right?”
    “Of course,” Thorn whispered.
    “Of course,” Amy lied. “Gina’s really immature.”
    “Exactly. I just don’t want to be all gung ho about avoiding her and have you or Kelly pussy out and not do it, so…” She tapped the dashboard. “You think we should just have the party at a club instead? Yeah, Gina doesn’t like cigarette smoke. Maybe she wouldn’t even come.”
    “Yeah, good idea.”
    “Yeah. And Kelly, don’t wear what you’re wearing now to the party. If Gina does show up I don’t want to give her the impression that it’s okay to dress like a bum around us.”
    Kelly examined her clothing and bleated her apologies. Pleased with herself, Lexa checked her smile in the mirror again, still smacking her gum. Thorn had always been amused that no demon claimed her, and that none ever had. Lexa was all Lexa. Ever since Amy had met her at freshman orientation last summer, Thorn had encouraged Amy to have a high opinion of her. She was extroverted and Amy wasn’t. She was pretty and Amy wasn’t. She had friends and money and Amy didn’t. The constant comparisons Thorn kept in Amy’s mind sapped the few positive thoughts she did feel about herself, and Lexa, who kept outwardly inferior girls in her social circle so she could look better than them in public, was keen to reinforce Amy’s negative self-image.
    “Okay, well, I guess I should get going,” Lexa said. “Just wanted to show you my new car. Ahh!” She made a mock-astonished face with wide eyes and mouth, then squealed excitedly.
    “Yeah, super cool.” Ever longing for acceptance, Amy did her best imitation of enthusiasm. She’d become good at that imitation over the years. While Lexa fiddled with the radio, Amy leaned forward on the far side of the car and whispered to Kelly. “I think you look fine,” Amy said. Kelly smiled thankfully. Thorn frowned.
    The girls exchanged goodbyes, Amy exited the vehicle, and Lexa drove off. Eight of Thorn’s follower demons waited near the apartment’s stairs, eager to one-up each other and impress Thorn should he need any assistance. He told them to wait there while he followed Amy inside.
    Amy shut her bedroom door and stepped over the biology textbooks that cluttered the carpet. Thorn had tried to coax her into business school, or musical theatre like Lexa, but she’d resisted and started a premed track, which had troubled Thorn these last few months. She seemed quite fulfilled following her passions in the sciences, so Thorn had introduced her to friends he could use to prey on her insecurities, and kept her isolated from any sense of community she might find in college. This was easy, because she was poor, not girly in the slightest, and ugly to boot. Thorn reminded her how little she fit in whenever she met someone new, and her resulting shyness kept her depressed and alone. Still, he eyed the books strewn across the floor with distaste.
    A mirror rose above Amy’s dresser—the same mirror to which Thorn liked to keep her glued for hours each week. She removed her shirt and gazed discontentedly at her wide hips, her flabby belly, and her square face. Demons had helped shape a culture in which most young women were kept quiet, their independence scoffed at and their bodies objectified, even by themselves. Many women realized the lies and dealt healthily with them by the time they hit thirty, but foolish adolescents like Amy fell into Thorn’s grasp time and time again. Body image lies were almost too easy now.
    Thorn had known for years he would need to have Amy kill herself before she grew too old, but now, with her death imminent, he almost regretted having to do it. Not because he cared about the girl, of course, but because she was his home. He’d spent more time with her than with any living human, even Madeline or Jed. Most demons kept a pet human or two, and naturally grew accustomed to their emotional routines, but Thorn