Why, then, did he now feel so guilty? The destruction of bodies and the taking of souls were not only his specialty – that was his sole purpose, without which he was no longer of any use to his master. His master was not one for mercy or charity, so if failure or uncertainty wormed its way into the demon’s performance, he would not be long in this world; he would be called back to the depths and tortured the way the lesser demons tortured the souls he delivered to them. These things he well knew, and yet…he could not find the same joy, the same ecstasy, the same satisfaction in the killing when he was in this earthly form as when he actually did those dirty deeds in his true form. As a rule, he tried never to be forced to kill while disguised as a human, choosing instead to lure victims to secluded places where he took on his true form to kill them, but the same was true of most demons. It was a kind of job security – if the humans didn’t actually see that there were demons walking among them, they chose to disbelieve the truth, keeping his kind safe from the general population. Still, most demons craved violence in whatever form they took, but that was not the case for him.
This excerpt immediately follows the one from last week’s HDH post, continuing the short story called “A Demon’s Fate” written for one of my demons from Bound by Blood. Over the last few weeks we learned that he is a lazy demon with a sweet tooth who nevertheless has great esteem in the eyes of his master. If you’re curious, feel free to go back and start from the beginning. Want more? Don’t worry. I plan to use parts of his story for my hooks for the next few weeks.
Bound by Blood is my gay paranormal erotic romance series set in modern-day NYC. I hope to be able to publish the first book in the series later this year.
Hump Day Hook is a weekly blog hop where participants post one paragraph from a published book or work in progress to hook readers.
The list of participating Hump Day Hook writers can be found here or visit the HDH Facebook group to find all the paragraph hooks. You can also search #HDH on Twitter for posts. Remember, writers love feedback so feel free to “like” and comment! Sharing is also appreciated.
*Image is a stock photo of a man with a bloody mouth (© Arman Zhenikeyev/Corbis)
