American Monsters

“I just … I feel like if I could focus on my parents, I’d be able to get them to you a lot quicker.”

“And you want your vengeance, naturally.”

She saw no point in lying. “Yes,” she said.

“You are impatient,” said Astaroth, “yet, to me, not even a moment has passed since your parents were born. You place far too much importance on the passage of time, as if time has any bearing on this place, or those who dwell here. Your parents will not escape me. That is all you need to know.”

Amber bowed. “Yes, Lord.”

“There is something else you wish to say.”

She looked up. “My Lord?”

“Speak, girl.”

A hesitation. “I’ve been carrying out my duties, my Lord, but on occasion I’ve had to call on the extra strength you provided in order to do so.”

“You have been consuming the vials of my blood.”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“Two, my Lord.”

“And you want more.”

“No, my Lord, actually, I … I don’t. Your blood makes me stronger and it’s … intoxicating, but I’ve been, uh, I’ve been seeing things. And hearing things. Hallucinations. I was—”

“You worry that you may be losing your mind,” said Astaroth.

“Yes, my Lord.”

Astaroth smiled. “You are my representative. As such, you must be open to different ways of thinking, to new ways of processing information. My blood is helping to expand that capacity.”

“So I’m not going crazy?”

“Oh no, you most definitely are. But, as long as you stay useful to me, you will remain alive.”

“But … but Lord Astaroth …”

“Begone, little creature,” said the Shining Demon, turning to Axton. “I have other matters to attend to.”

Amber hesitated, but left before Axton started screaming. She didn’t like the screaming.

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AMBER RETURNED TO THE wall behind Walmart, and the circle of fire around her died and she stayed where she was, her hands curled into fists. Bright light raked the air in rhythmic sweeps, announcing the presence of the Kingston Valley Fire Department. Right about now, perhaps, they were discovering the eyeless remains of the security guard inside, or maybe they were gazing in puzzlement at the dozens of little furry bodies lying in pools of water and whiskey.

Amber left them to it. She didn’t know what happened when the civilian world encountered the horrors of the Demon Road. She didn’t know who they called or what they did. She didn’t care.

She hopped the wall, made for the Dodge Charger parked by the kerb. The trunk popped as she neared and she reverted. Gone was the six-foot, red-skinned goddess, and here was her shorter counterpart, the girl with her brown hair in tangles and her belly stretching her tank top. Her face lost the high cheekbones and the perfect nose and the plump lips as it settled into its normal, less beautiful shape. Months ago, this reversion would have depressed her, but these days there was someone out there, a girl with tattoo sleeves and a smile as wicked as her sense of humour, who found this version of Amber quite beautiful indeed.

The thought of Kelly made Amber smile. But then she remembered their last conversation, when Kelly had found out that Amber had agreed to become the Shining Demon’s representative, and the smile faded and died.

She opened one of her bags, took out sweatpants and a T-shirt, pulled them on over her activewear. Then she rooted around for her phone, finding it right at the bottom. She’d had it for three weeks and already the screen was cracked. She stuffed it in her pocket, closed the trunk and got in the Charger.

“All done?” Milo asked as he turned the key. The Charger started with a roar.

“Of course,” she said.

They headed away from the flashing lights. “He say anything of note?”

Amber shook her head. “Not really.”

“Did you tell him what’s bothering you?”

“He’s not my therapist.”

“Did you mention the hallucinations?”

“I did. He said it’s to be expected.”

“So it’s a side effect he didn’t bother to tell you about?”

“We didn’t really have time to go into specifics, Milo. The blood makes me stronger, but it also does other things. He says it opens me up to a new way of processing information.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.”

Milo didn’t say anything for a bit. “The blood is dangerous. You’ve had, how many, two vials so far, since we left Desolation Hill? So that’s two in four weeks.”

“The situation called for it each time.”

“I’m not disagreeing. You last drank a vial four days ago. Have you had any hallucinations since then?”

Amber looked out of the window. “No,” she said.

“You haven’t even been hearing things?”

“I told you, Milo, don’t worry about me. We don’t need to worry about the blood, all right? Astaroth said so. He said no more hallucinations. He said I’m fine. So now the only thing we have to focus on is hunting down my parents.”

“And breaking your contract with Astaroth,” Milo said.

She sighed. “Yes. That too. Could you stop lecturing me now? You’re not my actual uncle, you know. We just say that so people won’t look at us weird. I don’t need a lecture, I don’t need to be mollycoddled, and I certainly don’t need to be reminded of how much trouble I’m in.”

“Okay.”