"No, I'm not doing that." I mumbled to the shadowed person I saw in the corner of my room.

I was sitting in my room, doing my homework while the demon in the corner rambled off to himself. Yeah, you may think I'm crazy for seeing a demon. But I have always called it... a bright imagination. Just without the color part.

I called the demon Drako, I got tired of calling him "it". I don't know, it kinda just fit..

I also gave him a last name; Solomon.

I turned 16 a month ago, and he's been here ever since. I first met him the night when the clock struck twelve. He would whisper crazy things, or just tell me how much he loved the color crimson red. I can only see a shadow when the lights are off.. but I know he's there.

He didn't scare me, he actually calmed me quite a lot.

Ever since my birthday, which I hated to celebrate because my real parents would never be there to celebrate with me, hah, congratulations on me being adopted.

I've heard his voice. He sounds like any other human, just deeper, hard to make out, almost like static in his words.

I groaned, scribbling an answer down for my homework before I shut my book and leaned back in my chair. The only light source was the lamp on my desk next to my bed, so I reached over and flipped it off, letting the moonlight fill the room. I hated homework. It's just aggravating work you have to do after school at home. It doesn't even have a cool name.

I brushed my brown bangs out of my face, letting my dark blue eyes shine in the moonlight.

I heard him whisper again, wanting me to go outside, explore more. I didn't understand why he always wanted me to go outside, but maybe I should...

The only thing I know about him is that he is fairly tall, around 5'10 or so, his eyes glowed a deep red when he got angry, he didn't like other people (neither do I), and that he liked watching people suffer. We had that in common. Mostly. I liked watching people in pain, I didn't mind pain of my own either. What did they call that again?

I stood up and ignored the eerie shadow he put off in the corner of the room. I've tried to shine a light on him, but I can't see him no matter what. When he disappears, he's in my head, I can't get away from him. When I ask him questions about what he is and where he came from, the only thing he tells me is that he's my demon and that he's made up of all of my anger, frustration, sadness, and hate. Kinda cool if you ask me.

I've been in the sociopath category for a while, but my adoptive parents never got me therapy, they were scared it would make me more depressed having someone to talk to apparently. Maybe I'm being mellow dramatic. Okay, I am being mellow dramatic. So what? It's what they said.

I grabbed my coat off the wall and looked over at the corner, where I knew he stood, "You gonna disappear or come with?" I asked jokingly. Almost as if I could see a visible shrug, he disappeared. The shadow became thinner, and the wall looked normal and not morphed with darkness. He didn't like coming out in the daylight. He stayed as a shadow. It made me wonder if he had another form I didn't know about.

My parents were asleep, I was quiet, and then I was out the house and walking down the street-light-lit street.

The demon talking and whispering to me in my head. I once asked if everyone else had a demon and he just said that they did. They obtain them at the age they let their demons in. Which I didn't understand at first, but I figured out that he meant that their demons all showed up at times they would possibly be able to handle them most. But it was weird, because no one else talked to another person inside their head, or the shadows in the corners of their rooms. Just me that I can tell.

I mean, the town wasn't small, there was tall buildings everywhere, and even cars down the streets always. Just we lived on the edge and no one ever cared to come back to this neighborhood. I was free to roam, and go wherever. There was never missing kid reports. Never murder reports. No bomb threats. Not even any suicides. People only died from old age. Ya'know, out with the old and in with the new.

But as I kept barging him with questions, he started to give way and answer. Apparently only some people can see their demons. Some people get driven to insanity with them, and some people make way with them. Then there was the people who control them. While I walked down the street, the post lights flickered overhead. It was a cloudy night.

My feet stepped in the puddles on the side of the road, no cars were out that night. I didn't have a phone, I was told I wasn't allowed, there was too many scary things out in the world. What I found funny, was that the most scary thing I could find, was my own mind. The way it follows people, keeps leads, tracks, and sometimes... It will murder in cold blood. But that's just my mind. I'd never do that in real life.

With my own hands.

In cold blood.

Right?

Drako reacted to my thoughts, his growling sounding as if happy or thrilled. I wondered why he didn't attack me or maybe try to kill me. But that could possibly be because if I died, so did he.

I hummed, "Isn't it dark enough? Can't you lurk in the shadows beside me?" I asked.

I didn't have friends, I didn't want them. They are only nuisance's in my eyes. I didn't see why others would want them either. They come to your house to sleep over, using your bed, couch, food, and sometimes shower. I found that.. just weird..

But then again, I am a sociopath, maybe that's how we work. How we're wired. I didn't want to be a sociopath, I was just told I was after I had stalked a little kid home after school. I was caught writing notes on her. How she lived. How she acted. How she, herself, was wired. Maybe I was just trying to be normal?..

No, I don't even care for normal. Being different is exactly where I am and where I'll stay.

I sighed, and looked behind me, an eerie feeling in the air once fog started to surround the ground like a blanket. I was getting close to an alleyway. I didn't even know I had walked so far into the town, getting caught up in my thoughts again..

I breathed. Everything was quiet. The cars up ahead weren't making any noise, Drako shut up, the buildings weren't humming with chatter. The car passing me on the street didn't even have a sound. I blinked and looked to the left of me, where the shadows lurked, where I saw Drako standing in the dark. Stalking. Listening. Staring. Possibly even smiling.

I grinned and shook my head, "C'mon." I steadied on, while Drako walked in the shadows of each alleyway.

Only we can see our demons.

Only we can fight with or against them.

In other towns and states there was murders, homicides, kidnappings, and even suicides. Don't get me started on the bomb threats.

But our town.... I started to call it "The Devils Worship Toll" when I was around seven. No one was ever killed, and it was creepy, but peaceful. Maybe, if I left the city Drako would finally kill me.

Or maybe if I just leave the town he would disappear. It was possible that no reports were ever made because their demons took them..

I also read too much into things all the time, though.

A slight ringing came to my ears and I started to get sound back again. This wasn't a out of the normal thing, my hearing went out a lot.. Usually when Drako was trying to make himself known and visible to me. So I usually look for him and everything goes back to normal after I find his shadow.

But there was times he did it for me to notice what he was saying. It was the only power he had over me. Honestly, I don't see how he can be strong at all. I didn't care for anything. I didn't hate anyone. I didn't dread anything. I was just there and so was he.

I saw red and blue lights flash up ahead. My eyebrows furrowing. I looked to my left to see Drako in the shadows still.

Just making sure. I still wasn't too sure if he could kill other people on his own accord, but most likely not. He's only a shadow after all.

☽ ☥ ☾

I stood behind a far corner of an alleyway. There was a woman on the ground. Lying still. Dead. They surrounded the area with tape. Thankfully, I was far enough away that I wasn't in their way. They didn't even know I was there. I looked up to the top of the hotel it had seemed she jumped from.

A person..

No.

A thing.

No.

A demon stood at the top, staring down at what it had done. It had pushed the girl down..

It had murdered her.

I looked to the, now, right of me, where Drako watched the scene of the murder with me, in the open but in the shadows.

There was multiple cop cars, the usual red and blue lights still flashing. An ambulance was there but it was useless. She was dead. It wasn't even a "she" anymore it was an "it".

The demon looked back down at me, it's eyes a glimmer of green. I saw horns that went up in a curl. He was tall, muscular but thin. I quickly stepped away from the wall, about to walk away from the scene. After all, I didn't want to be near it, I don't want to be accused of a witness. Maybe even the murderer.

I started back down the sidewalk I came up on, pulling my hood over my head, almost on a timer it started to sprinkle and pour down rain.

Thank you.

I thought to myself. Drako was following me, I could feel it, I didn't have to see it. I knew he was there, it was like the whispers following me. I flinched when I turned around a corner and everything went quiet.

"What?" I looked up from my feet, seeing the street blacked out, the buildings vacant and dark, the streetlights off, the road itself looked as if it could have been emitting a black eerie fog. I looked for Drako, assuming he was somewhere in the darkness.

But he was nowhere.

"Where are you?!" I growled to myself, looking for what I might as well call my own personal demon.

I mean, who looks for their demons these days?

Me apparently...

I went into an area of a park. It was open with a field to play on that led into trees. That was where the town edge ended. I wouldn't be in the town anymore if I went in there. I guess, if I wanted to test that theory I had earlier that would be where I would need to go.

I heard a whispering. I was standing under the one tree in the open field. When I turned around, slight relief in my sigh, hoping it was Drako.

I froze.

I blinked, looking at the demon standing in the light of the moon. His eyes were gauged out, dripping with black blood as it seemed. He had such pretty green ones before, though..

The whispers stopped, his body had no clothing, only a dark emitting fog that let you see nothing. Not like earlier where he had on a suit and tie. The human clothing matched the demon rank..

"You're her demon.." I mumbled, my eyes tracing the demons horns, how they curled and added a foot to his height. His hair that was everywhere and looked as if we didn't have any gravity by how it was floating.

Did Drako look like this?

I visibly swallowed back bile, looking into its darkened nonexistent eyes.

It didn't answer. It didn't move.

I stepped away but it stepped forewords.

If this is where I die then at least I got to see a demons true form.

The demon itself was easily a foot taller than my own..

He stepped closer again. Once under the tree's shadow, he started to morph. His eyes becoming visible as he grew taller, his legs becoming thin to the bone, and its mouth ajar as its bones snapped and his sharp teeth became more visible. I got goosebumps, staggering back as it came closer without stopping. I heard bones pop, crack, and smelt something horrid. Almost as if a rotten body was coming off of him. Once I stepped into the light of the moon again, he stopped walking. The rain hitting my cheeks from me looking up to see the monsters face.

My breath hitched when it made a noise almost like a gasp but lower. A growl.

My eyes followed the demons hand as it reached out to me. I blinked and watched it as it's body continued to morph. It's arms elongating.

This thing was strong.. Scary even. But I wasn't fazed somehow. I could ask how he killed that woman, but I didn't care. That was between him and the dead now.

"Why are you here? She's dead now, why are you still here? Shouldn't you go to hell now?" I asked, my tone loud and trembling. But I wasn't scared, Why did I sound as if I was? I've never been scared before....

"Not all demons.....go to hell." It sounded as if he gasped out his words to me. I could hear his breathing now.

I couldn't hear Drako. Where is he?!

And why do I care!?

"More.." It grumbled out in a gasp.

It was so strong it could live away from her. It could live without her..

It didn't need her.

It was free.

Would Drako become like this?

It's hand came out in the moonlight, giving it a visible "human" look but the shadows emitted particles of darkness.

Of death.

Looking ahead at the hand that was eye level to me, I looked up to meet the creatures burning green eyes. Literally burning. They were flames that glistened with the black goop on his face.

"Come with me.." It grumbled.

I had a repulse, I didn't want to go. But,..what if..

I reached my hand out, and just before it reached the demons hand, something from behind the demon himself, reached through and ripped out an item from the demons abdomen.

I heard an audible gasp and a scream that heightened to deafening measures. My palms over my ears while I squinted and watched the demons eyes emerald flames grow, devouring its whole body in one fast swoop. And left on the ground was green aflame, burning, goop, turning to ash. I didn't feel the heat from the emerald fire at the time or after. I looked up to meet crimson red flames. I knew those eyes.

"Drako.." I whispered to myself, taking my hands off my ears. He was still his normal height, and I couldn't see his form all too well with all the smoke.

But I could see his hand, holding a small object. A credit card?

I could see the reflection of black goop and plastic. He flicked the card over to me, it landing on the ground.

"This is.." the card was face up, a middle aged plump woman on the ID. This was her ID... the woman the demon killed..

Drako grunted in the darkness, a low grumble.

I was correct.

"So, he didn't live without her... he still had to have an object that once belonged to her. Maybe one that was most valuable to her?.. Or one of the most valuable.." I mumbled. Drako moved forward.

"You aren't ever going to kill me are you?" I asked, looking up at Drako's burning red flames that suddenly went out along with his body dispersing into black particles. Then he was gone, but not for long.

"Now why would I ever do that?" He asked, his voice more visible in my head now. Still sounded as if behind a static TV, but not as bad as earlier. Did he gain power by killing someone else's rogue demon?..

And.. was I the bait?

The deep, dark, laughter from Drako told me I was right. I was the bait. So thats where he went..

"It lived on with him through a personal item.. Even though he had took a human form I doubt he ever had fingerprints.. maybe just flat pads of a thumb.." I muttered to myself, "But I can't be sure unless I get ahold of one." And I knew Drako would never volunteer. Not yet at least.

It was still raining, and the clouds started to flicker with lightening overhead and distant grumbling. The field was somehow darker now that everything had settled down. The moon hidden behind the angry, water wielding demons of the sky that poured their wrath onto the humans of the city.

I thought about it before picking up the ID. If I touched it, it would leave me as a suspect. But if I kept it,...it would mean I had item from the first visible crime scene in the city. I had the ID. And if it stayed here, it would only get covered in dirt and leaves and more rain. Now I had some important information at the tip of my fingers. Drako growled in my head, making me grin.

"How's it feel to be stronger because you done a little good?" I asked, "Don't go using me as bait again. What if I'd died? You're still too weak to live on alone. Wouldn't want that now would we, Solomon?" I used Drako's last name, a smirk on my face. I had power over my demon. I just needed to bond with him now. Learn how he works. Watch how he moves. See how he, himself, is as a demon. Figure out how his mind works. Be inside his head before he takes over my own.

But would he really do that to me?

Yes, I'm fond of him.. But do I trust him?

No. I trust no one.

My thoughts seemed to be to myself on the way home, Drako too absorbed in his own new feeling of pleasure. Feeling of murder.

Feeling of success.