I sat in the front seat, next to my dad as he drove us home. I felt incredibly awkward, the feeling growing every time I glanced back at the guy in the backseat.

Kindle was oblivious to this at the moment, having his head in his hands as he gazed out of the window. Hair flicking up at random points as it tended to do, eyes wide. I'd be a liar to say I didn't notice the longing in them.

"So." My dad began, breaking the silence. "Not that I'm not thrilled my son is making new friends, but how come I've never seen you before..um.."

He waited for his name, and Kindle started just barely when I panicked and broke in.

"Kyle is pretty new around here. He and I have just recently gotten close." I blurted, and Kindle's eyes trailed over to me, pairing perfectly with his confused expression. Kat may have been convinced by the strange name, but I wasn't taking any chances with my dad. "Decided to hang around this summer." I finished.

"Oh, that's cool." He said, and Kindle looked at him now, a little alarmed. "Well, Kyle, you're welcome at our home anytime."

"I'll probably be around for a while." Kindle mumbled, and my dad turned the corner.

"How come?" He asked, chuckling a bit. "Can't stand your family, huh?"

"Uh..yes. they're rather...hellish."

"And we're here." I muttered quickly, and undid my seat belt as we pulled up to the house. My dad parked the car and pulled out the keys, exiting rather swiftly. I was about to leave myself when I noticed Kindle frantically trying to undo his.

"This isn't letting me go." He said, his face desperate.

I shuffled in my seat, turning around and sitting on my knees to stare at him, baffled as I gripped the sides of it.

"Did you press the button down at the end?" I asked, voice dull.

"What button?"

"Oh my god, Kindle." I groaned, and gently hit my face against the headrest. "You know where you locked the seatbelt before?" I asked, and he peered down at it. He let go of the seatbelt for a moment, a hand hovering over the red button.

"This?"

"Press down on it." I said, and he did. He looked astonished when it clicked and the seatbelt whipped back into place.

"That's absolutely fascinating." He said, blinking down in awe at the simple contraption. I rolled my eyes and got out of the car, going around to his side and pulling his door open.

I grabbed his arm, and tugged him out of the seat. "Totally. Come on, then."

Now a little embarrassed, Kindle pulled away from me and trailed behind. He nervously ran a hand through his hair, which I still remembered used to be flames. What did he have to be nervous about? The demon's disguise was pretty convincing.

I made my way to the door, pushing the already ajar entrance further open. My dad now sat at the table, and my mother was near him. Her red hair was down for once, resting at her shoulders in all it's frizzy glory. She held a bottle of water in her hands, muttering to my dad as he just smiled softly and leant forward to kiss her on the cheek. I knocked my hand against the wall to make my presence known, and they both looked up.

I listened to Kindle shuffle up behind me, and it was hard not to picture the tall, awkward demon just staring at my parents in confusion. It must be weird for him, the only humans he probably ever saw were the ones..downstairs. I had a feeling they weren't exactly peaceful.

"Took you guys long enough." My dad joked, and I smiled uneasily at him.

"Seatbelt issues." Kindle said from behind me.

"Who's this?" My mother chirped.

"Kyle." I pointed to the demon over my shoulder. "Just a buddy from school. We'll be upstairs."

"I'm running with your father to get dinner soon. You boys let me know if you want to come with." She said as I started to my room, Kindle close behind me. I grabbed the stairs, my fingers tapping against the banister as I made my way up.

"Are we going to go?" Kindle asked me as his head popped up into my room, and I turned to face the demon.

"Do you want to?"

"Of course not." Kindle said, his tone turning edged. "That's far too dangerous. The other demon could find you before we know how to stop them."

I paused, tugging at my sleeves. "Okay, then."

I walked to my bed, kicking off my shoes and nudging them to sit near my closet. Kindle approached, narrowing his eyes at me before doing the same thing. He was quiet as I slung my things down to sit near them, clasping his hands together.

"So..what exactly do you do in here?" He questioned, and I shrugged lightly.

"Watch tv, sit out on the roof and doodle a bit. There's not much to do, really."

"What's Tv? And what's doodle?"

I stepped up to the small tv, turning it on and sitting down on my bed. Kindle stared after me for a second, before exhaling and sitting down on the floor. He stared at the screen expectantly, blinking in surprise when the black surface suddenly lit up.

Amused, I switched to a random channel. A movie was playing, a rather old one at that, which kinda surprised me. Sorcerer's Apprentice, one of my personal favorites. The demon stared at the screen in awe, reaching a hand out and pressing his palm to it, and I could hear the static.

"Wow." He said, eyes wide.

"We've come a long way." I shrugged, and leant forward a bit, my arms resting on my pillow and I tilted my head in my hands. "That leads to my biggest question. How long have you been a..well..yknow..anyways? " I asked him.

Kindle just sighed, rapt by the images onscreen. But he held up a hand, and he tapped a few fingers in a pause before copying the shrug I did moments before.

He was silent, so I took this second pause as an opportunity to reach to my desk and grab the water bottle sitting there. I took a drink, and Kindle sighed again.

"Well, I died sometime around 1420..so.."

When he said that, I gasped and covered my mouth as I accidentally inhaled water into my lungs, coughing. Kindle stared at me in horror and slight concern as I tried to get myself under control.

"The middle ages?" I exclaimed, and Kindle just brushed his hand along the side of my bed and leant up near me.

"Are you alright?" He asked instead.

"I'm fine." I said, still shocked. "Wow, man. How come you don't talk all..ridiculous and such."

"I picked up a few things." He rested his chin in his palm. "Parroted people enough that I just eventually grew into it. I had the time to adapt. Not all of the accent went away, though."

I just shook my head in amazement. I couldn't believe he'd been down there for so long. It was 2017, for crying out loud.

"So what sent you-?"

The whites of Kindle's eyes suddenly bled into black, and he stared at me, fiercely.

"Please don't ask me that."

I stopped and lifted my head from my hands. I nodded, just barely, and Kindle's eyes returned to normal. He shuffled back to the ground, turning around to face the tv as he ignored me.

I considered asking the guy if he wanted a blanket or a pillow, but I figured it wasn't the best idea to talk to him right now. We both sat there in silence as we finished the movie, the only sounds being those of shock and amusement from Kindle as he expirienced his first tv.

My mom eventually called up to us that she and my dad were leaving. I watched out of the window, which was near my bed, as they backed out of the driveway, and sped away. Kindle and I were now alone, and I wasn't too thrilled to be with a pissed off demon.

"Do you want to go downstairs?" I finally asked. "You can choose a new movie to watch, and I can get you a blanket or something."

Kindle popped up, any anger or frustration from the previous events erased from his actions. "Sounds nice." He said, and made his way to the stairs.

I watched after him for a moment, before getting off my bed as it creaked and following the demon downstairs.

I blinked at the lack of light as we rounded the corner, watching Kindle wince a bit as he gazed out of the window. Everything seemed to be lighted and shadowed with shades of blue. I understood Kindle's new frustration, the sun would set soon.

I ignored this and slowly walked up to the tall demon, slipping past him to lead him into the living room. A small cabinet sat under the last tv in the house. This was where we stuck all of our dvds and such. We used to have a grander selection (courtesy of my aunt getting rid of the ones she had) but most were sold in a garage sale a couple summers ago.

"Just browse through these." I said as I swung it open, that too creaking. Kindle looked at me and I felt that weird shock again as I pulled away from the metal handle.

"Alright." The demon responded, and he sat down in front of it and crossed his legs, beginning to search through them with a bit of excitement.

I paused for a second, stopping behind Kindle with a hand propping me up against the wall. I grimaced, and watched him go through the movies.

"I'm sorry."

Kindle spun around slowly to look at me, two cases in hand, arching a brow. "Why?"

"I have no right to prod at personal stuff. I'm sorry." My tongue felt weird when I said this.

Apologies are...uncommon from me. How come I was just handing them out to Kindle? Not just that, but my instincts knew I shouldn't be so carefree when it came to him. He was a demon. Demons are wicked, awful creatures. He could be lying to me about everything. So how come I want to hear and believe every word he's said? It was all too weird. Too weird for me.

Kindle just looked at me, fascination still lingering in his expression."You have no need to be sorry. It was a simple mistake."

I just nodded at him, and he turned back to his previous activity. I made my way to the laundry room.. and the kitchen. I took our container of salt off the counter and rested it under my arm, my feet lightly tapping against the hardwood floor on the way to the laundry room. It wasn't hard to find the blankets. I picked at random, coming up with a dark, maroon colored one.

Kindle probably didn't care, so I shrugged that over my shoulder and made my way over to the demon. He held four movies in his hands, excitement on his face.

"Good to go?" I asked him, and he shrugged.

"I think so." He stood up. "You're going to have to show me how these work."

"Sure. "

God, this was scarily casual. Not like there was an imminent threat of another, stronger demon looming over us, we totally had the time for a movie night. Kindle tilted his head at me, his eyes trailing to the container of salt under my arm as we walked back up to my room.

"Good idea. We can line the doors and windows for extra precautions." He said.

I shouldn't have been surprised that he knew my plan, but I was anyway. I didn't just want to line my windows and door, though. There was literally going to be a demon sleeping on my floor. If he really was awful, like I expected, I didn't want him strangling me in my sleep. I'd keep the container on hand at all times, until it ran out and I had to fill it up again.

We made our way up the stairs, Kindle trailing behind me like a lost puppy. I returned to my bed and dropped all the things in my arms onto it. I held the container of salt for a second before letting it sit on my dresser. I then turned to Kindle, who was gently setting the movies he'd picked on the floor. I bit my lip for a moment, before picking up the blanket and handing it to Kindle.

The relief in his eyes almost made him seem completely human, but I knew he wasn't. I then turned and handed him a random pillow from my bed. I wasn't extremely worried about not having enough, I was what you'd call a hoarder.

"Matt, what's a doodle?" Kindle prodded, and I chuckled under my breath as I went to pick up a movie from Kindles pile.

"A drawing." I explained as I opened the DVD, snorting a bit when the disk for Finding Nemo flashed back at me. I put the movie in, walking past Kindle, who now sat with the blanket around his shoulders. I reached my dresser, rummaging around a bit on the top of it before retrieving a decent sized blue journal. Before I knew it, I was seated beside the demon, opening the journal and showing him.

Small little sketches of birds, walking people, and houses were smudged across the first couple pages. I definitely wasn't the best artist out there, but I had some pride in my work.

"You're talented." Kindle said, and I shrugged halfheartedly.

"Nah, you should see Sally draw."

The demon paused at this, arching a brow. "Who is Sally?"

I closed my journal, blinking over at Kindle. "A friend from school." I stood again, nearly missing the look that passed over his face. Kindle seesawed his hands together, the side of his mouth quirking down a little.

"Finding Nemo, huh?" I chuckled to myself, commenting on Kindle's choice of movie. The demon turned an embarrassed gaze on me, now pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

"It looked rather interesting." He said defensively.

My gaze trailed to the other movies, and laughed out loud. "The Conjuring, Marley and Me? You've got quite a range of genres there, buddy."

"You're making me feel embarrassed." He remarked, ears turning red, and I laughed again.

"That's the point." I rolled my eyes and rested my head in my hands. "It's called teasing, Kindle."

"Your teasing is irritating." He hissed, and I chuckled again and turned on the movie.

It wasn't long before my parents got home. By that time, were were only about five minutes into the movie. Kindle was already invested in it, though, as could be heard by his sigh of frustration when I paused it.

"What now?"

_______

I thought things couldn't get any better today until I was greeted with two paper bags of food. Kindle and I were seated in my room again, this time both on the floor. Kindle was staring at his box of chicken nuggets with a very concerned look, but I couldn't care less.

"Are you sure this is chicken?" He prodded at one. "This is very unnatural. Chickens aren't shaped like this. "

I popped one into my mouth when he said this, sitting against my bed and arching a brow at him.

"I'm pretty sure. Well, whatever it is, I'm lovin' it."

Kindle ignored me at that, and I couldn't help but be offended because that was a wonderful pun right there.

"If you're so scared of the nuggets, just have some french fries. I can promise you they are just potatoes." I said, taking another bite.

"You do realize demons really don't have to eat, right?" Kindle set his things aside and wrinkled his nose. "Only when they're in vessels if they want to keep them healthy, which, they wouldn't be doing with this food."

"You may not have to, but I don't see why you wouldn't." I stretched my arms, yawning and sitting back a little further, the pillow behind me rustling.

"Can I turn the movie back on again? This is rather boring."

"Knock yourself out ."

"Why would I want to do that? You're rude, Matthew."

_______

Finding Nemo was over, as was the Conjuring, which Kindle just laughed at, and we were now more than halfway through Marley and Me. It was getting rather late, and despite being exhausted, I couldn't find myself able to rest. My head was pressed against the closed window, eyelids heavy. We had already salted them, inside and out.

Kindle shuffled in his makeshift bed, and I let my gaze travel down to meet his own. I was a bit worried, as I had no reaction to the whites of his eyes suddenly glowing a pale yellow now.

"Aren't humans supposed to sleep?" He asked. "Not to mention you're a teenager, you should be getting quite a lot of it."

"I don't usually sleep." I said. "When I do, it's only for an hour or so, and the dreams get weird if I have any at all. I'd rather just stay awake." I ran a hand through my hair, sighing. "It's not worth it."

"How come?" Kindle asked, intruiged. The glowing of his eyes was just now beginning to unsettle me.

"It's not a big deal." I said dismissivley, and turned the tv up a few notches.

"Don't you wish you could?" Kindle leant up, resting one arm on my bed and leaning up uncomfortably close. He reached out a hand, to which I stared at warily. "I think that's something I can help with."

"I guess so-" I mumbled, and without saying anything, Kindle gently pressed the back of his hand to my temple. I immediately felt drowsy, and with lidded eyes stared at the demon.

"Get some rest, Matthew." He said, and I slowly nodded and curled up around my pillow. I hardly was awake as I pulled my blanket over me, and then I was out like a light.

Of course, it only felt like a few seconds and then I was opening my eyes to my dimly lighted ceiling. With a sigh, I rolled over to face the tv. It was on the home screen for Marley and Me, playing on repeat.

With a creak from my bed, I leant down a little farther to spot Kindle stretched out on the floor, snoring and looking like he was getting the best sleep of his life. Huh. I never knew demons had to sleep. Guess he needed some extra energy for keeping that form.

My eyes trailed to the clock. 4:00 AM. Two hours was something.

My mouth was rather dry, so I cautiously got to my feet to search for a water bottle. I stepped over the sleeping demon, muttering unhappily to myself when I couldn't find one in my room.

I made my way down the stairs, my quest now being to get to the kitchen. Earlier, I had changed from my sweater and jeans into some loose-fitting clothes, a white t-shirt and a black and grey striped pair of pants. But my sockless feet hitting the coldness of the ground sent shivers up my spine anyway.

I thought the feeling would change once I reached the rug, but to my surprise the cold and unease just got worse. I slowed my steps, listening to each individual creak as I made my way to the fridge. I opened it and was greeted with a hum as I pulled out a cold plastic water bottle.

And there, I caught it. The sound of pressure being put on the wooden planks.

I was standing completely still.

Slowly, I closed the fridge. My heart was racing, and I felt like the protagonist in those stupid scary stories. Instead of whirling around and giving myself whiplash, I let the ground under me creak as I turned to face the noise. There was nothing in sight.

It probably wasn't my proudest moment, but as soon as I saw the coast was clear, I booked it to the stairs.

"Kindle." I called as I raced into my room, my voice hitching. I really did feel dread this time. Kindle was no longer there. I slowly made my way to the window, and I saw the lines of salt were broken.

I really was panicked now, I'm not sure what kept me from screaming when I stumbled back and ran into the side of my dresser. Pain bolted up my side, and I stumbled again, this time into something that was more of a liquid mass.

I jerked my arm away as it grabbed for me and I stared up in horror at the towering thing. It couldn't seem to hold itself together, for its face kept sagging and sinking and dripping down, parts of it ripping apart just to stick itself to another part. It was so dark a black that it took away from everything else.

No face. Just one white slit in the center of its head.

A sick feeling rolled around in my gut, and it's head suddenly stopped dripping. It hardened awkwardly, like ice in the middle of melting.

"She's coming for you." It said, in a soft, sad, human voice, and the slit widened to reveal a single white eye. The eye trained itself on me, and I crashed to my knees, unable to look away.

The thing stopped sinking completley, and hardened into a disfigured human shape. Two long, black arms slowly extended from it's side, a single hand of dark claws lifting up my chin.

"Matthew."

My body trembled, and I bit down on my tongue hard to keep from making a sound.

The thing stared at me for a good, long moment, and finally drew it's hands away. I nearly sobbed in relief as it did this. It might finally go away.

My relief was short lived, however, as it just lunged forward and pinned me down, fast. Claws and teeth raked down my neck and sides and I screamed in agony, kicking and thrashing and doing anything I could to get away. Desperately, I clung to the leg of my bed and kicked out at the thing with all the energy I could muster, my heel catching it in the eye.

It gave a final strangled hiss before staggering away, it's form melting down until it was just a flash of black escaping out the window.

I lay there, curled up in a ball in my own blood, sobbing. I gingerly touched the ragged cut on my left side before hissing and cringing away. It wasn't long before the world grew tilted.

I thought it was cruel when I opened my eyes and they once again faced the ceiling. This was pretty messed up to be heaven. Maybe this was hell. I'd have to relive that over again.

Bracing for the worst, I rolled to the side, this time greeted by the odd sliver of sunlight. I blinked the daze away, not really believing what I was seeing. I rolled over again, the relief and excitement racing through me was exhilarating as I spotted Kindle still passed out on the floor.

"Kindle?" I called, surprised at my hoarse voice. I guess I really did need a drink last night, no wonder it was in the dream. Weird, my neck felt kind of tight-

The demon's eyes snapped open, but I was not prepared for the horror in them. Kindle stumbled to his feet, which was confusing.

"What, not allowed to sleep in or something? " I joked, and cringed lightly because wow my sides suddenly felt really sore.

Oh no.

Kindle made his way to me, and I frantically reached up to touch my neck, it felt wet and sticky, and when I pulled my fingers away, they were coated with a scarlet substance. Yep, that's it, I'm was going to be sick. I felt my eyes begin to roll into the back of my head.

Kindle lunged forward and grabbed my hand and threw an arm around my neck, staring at the blood himself before staring back at me, shock clearly on his face.

"I thought it was just a nightmare." I whispered, tears forming in my eyes. Holy shit.

"Let's get you cleaned up." Kindle said, his voice surprisingly soft.

It turns out not only was my neck soaked in blood, as were my shirt, sheets and blankets. The cuts weren't as bad as I expected, guess I just bleed a lot.

My parents were both at work, so at least I had the time to wash the blood out, or replace things if I had to.

I threw out my shirt, that thing was beyond saving. I'm feeling kind of relieved that most of my other stuff was pretty dark.

Despite my protests, Kindle insisted he help patch up my wounds since I couldn't just go to the doctor for this. What the hell was I supposed to tell them anyway? And my parents when they inevitably called them? The morning was.. pretty rough.

Kindle was now stitching up my side, and it hurt like hell.

"How do you even know how to do this?" I hissed, trying not to cringe away as the demon painstakingly lead the needle through my skin.

"I have been up and about more than once, you know." He rolled his eyes, and I hissed again. "My previous vessels have gotten injured, so I learned how."

"You've had vessels before?" I asked as Kindle finished and cut the line. "You seem like the good old fashioned, make your own form kind of demon."

"I wasn't as strong as I am now." He responded, and spun me around to tend to the stratches on my neck. "How are you going to explain these?" Kindle asked.

"I'll wear my sweater to hide them." I said, sighing. "The ones they see, I'll just tell them they're from Ryan's cat."

Kindle looked up from cleaning the excess blood, and I realized just how close he was. "Ryan doesn't have a cat." He said simply, and arched a brow. "Last I knew, also, they don't make cuts that severe."

"They don't know that." I said quickly, and Kindle just chuckled and started bandaging the cuts on my neck.

After he was finished, Kindle waited as I pulled my sweater over my head. The familiar fabric was welcoming.

"Now, are you going to tell me what happened?" Kindle prodded, and I looked at him, a bit irritated.

"What are you, my therapist?"

Kindle rolled his eyes and rested his chin in his palm.

"For today, sure."

"I don't see the point." I snapped. "I already told you. Some weird ass monster decided to attack me in my dreams."

"Yes, but I get the feeling you aren't telling me everything."

"Why is it so important to you?" I asked, irritated.

Kindle looked genuinely upset.

"I'm supposed to protect you, and I've already failed at that miserably." He said. "I Just want to know what happened so I can stop it from happening again."

I laughed out loud, and leant forward a bit. "Kindle, you're a demon, you aren't supposed to do anything for me, except possess me, maybe. How am I to know, anyway?"

"I'm not like that." He protested, his frown deepening.

I shook my head and sighed. The stitches on my side were stinging.

"The creature..thing.." I began, and Kindle perked up a little bit. "It said 'she's coming for you'." I irritatedly pulled at my sweater.

"That's it?"

"And then it said my name. Yknow, as all creepy things do."

Kindle looked at the ground, dissapointed. "Great. Knowing that other demon is a female won't really do us much help."

"Hey, you asked for it." I said, and Kindle sighed.

"Whoever she is, she's already pinpointed your location." Kindle said, face anxious. "This isn't good. We have to consult the medium, very soon."

"We can go today if you want." I said, and Kindle looked at me eagerly.

"Of course, we should leave right away-"

"I'm going to stop you there, buddy." I said as I pulled out my phone. "We just need one more person to join us on our merry little adventure, then we're good to go."

I dialed the number, and waited as it rang.

"Hello?" Answered a groggy voice.

"Morning, Ryan. Hope you've had your breakfast, cause we're demon hunting today."