Page 12 (1/2)

Chapter 1 LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

PART ONE VISITORS

Chapter 1 LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

"My eyes! They stabbed out my eyes!"

I shoot awake Start to struggle up from my bed An arm hits the side of my head Knocks me down A man screams, "My eyes! Who took my eyes?"

"Dervish!" I roar, rolling off the bed, landing beside the feet of my frantic uncle "It's only a dream! Wake up!"

"My eyes!" Dervish yells again I can see his face now, illuminated by a three-quarters fullFear scribbled into every line of his features He lifts his right foot Brings it doardsmy nose smashed

"You took the to hate He bends and grabs hten Dervish is thin, doesn't look like much, but his appearance is deceptive He could crush my throat, easy

I swipe at his hand, yanking my neck away at the same time Break free Scrabble backwards Halted by the bed Dervish lunges after me I kick at his head, both feet No ti hirunts, shakes his head, loses focus

"Dervish!" I shout "It's htmare! You have to stop before you-"

"The ain He's staring at the ceiling-rather, that's where his eyes are fixed "Lord Loss" He starts to cry "Don't please not again My eyes Leave them alone Please"

"Dervish," I say, softly this ti the side ofhim cautiously "Dervish Derv the perv-where's your nerve?" Knowing frohts that rhymes draw his attention "Derv on the floor-where's the door? Derv without eyes- what's the surprise?"

He blinks His head lowers a fraction Sight returns gradually His pupils were black holes Now they look quasi-normal

"It's OK," I tell hihtain "You're hoet you here Your eyes are fine It was just a nightmare"

"Grubbs?" Dervish wheezes

"Yes, boss"

"That's really you? You're not an illusion? He hasn't created an ie of you, to torment me?"

"Don't be stupid Not even Michelangelo could sculpt a face this perfect"

Dervish shth watery globes "How you doing, big guy?"

"Coolio"

"Did I hurt you?" he asks quietly

"You couldn't if you tried," I s him about the hit to the head, the hand on my throat, the foot at my face

I sit beside hiht Murht I was back there I"

And then he weeps, sobbing like a child And I hold hi hier in the universe of demons

Never trust fairy tales Any story that ends with "They all lived happily ever after" is a crock There are no happy endings No endings, full stop Life goes on There's always so new around the corner You can overcoer, look evil in the eye and live to tell the tale-but that's not the end Life sweeps you forward, swings you round, bruises and batters you, drops soet to the one true end-death As long as you're breathing, your story's still going

If the rules of fairy-tales did work, o That's when Dervish regained his senses and everything see Ahappy pause

I had to write a short autobiography for an English assign-up of my life I had to discard my first effort-it was too close to the bone, and would have only led to trouble if I'd handed it in I wrote an edited, watered-down version and subinal It's hidden under a pile of clothes init out now to read, to pass soh it a lot these past feeeks, usually early in the ht, when I can't sleep

I was born Grubitsch Grady One sister, Gretelda Grubbs and Gret for short Nor time Then Gret turned into a olf

There's a genetic flaw in my family Lots of my ancestors have turned into olves It hits in your teens, if you're one of the unlucky ones You lose your mind Your body alters You become a blood-crazed beast And spend the rest of your life locked up in a cage-unless your relatives kill you There's no cure Except one But that can be even worse than the curse

See, des, with a hatred of humans matched only by their taste for human flesh They live in their own universe, but some can cross into our world

One of the Demonata-that's the proper term-is called Lord Loss A real charht arms Horrible pale red flesh Loads of cuts on his body fro on rief of hu us silently when he crosses into our universe, invisible to nor in on funerals the way you or I would pop into a cafe, dining on our despair, savouring our sorrow

Lord Loss is a powerful demon master Most masters can't cross from their universe to ours, but he's an exception He has the power to cure Lycanthropy He can lift the curse froenes, return them to humanity

Except, y'know, he's a demon, so why the hell should he?

"What are you reading?"

It's Dervish, standing in the doorway ofof coffee in one hand, eyes still wide and freaky frohtmare

"My autobiography," I tell him

He frowns "What?"

"I' of Life with Demons as a title Or maybe Hairy Boys and Girls of the Grady Clan What do you think?"