Excerpt: The Demonic Mysteries

"I'm working with them you know," Darren stated casually as the announcer advertised the concession stand's items and prices suggesting that everyone take advantage of the momentary game break to get their refreshments in order to not miss anything. Sara tensed visibly, if anyone had been watching they would have seen her muscles clench, her eyes widen, her entire body lock into place, quivering with anticipation preparing itself to run, or fight. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Leah and Anna had already excused themselves from the group and headed to the concession stand with their new beaus to purchase some fresh hot chocolate and another team jacket to fight off the cold. "Calm down," Darren repeated, still seeming relaxed and unaffected, Sara glanced over at him, unable to move for fear, but she saw his gaze locked onto the knoll of trees along the opposite side of the football stadium, directly at the source of the frigid wind.
"How can I, You just admitted to be working with them, I should have known," Sara hissed upset that she had let Darren get under her skin in this way.
"Calm down and let me explain this to you," Darren urged, his voice not shifting from the vague monotone as he continued to stare at the dense forest like grotto on the opposite side of the field, Sara, being unable to move for her fear and panic sat silent and merely nodded in reply. "If you stay by me, perhaps not, you know, following me around like a lost puppy looking for protection, they won’t think that you're... well you."
"How is that?" Sara hissed through her chattering though clenched teeth as she pulled her jacket close around her shoulders and her stomach twittered with nervous and cold jittering.
"They don’t know what you look like, or who you are for that matter, so long as you remain low key, they cannot find you, the only way is if you accidentally use an angelic power, or if someone turns you in," Darren responded, staying calm though Sara felt as though she would die if he continued to explain his reasoning that she should trust him. "I'm supposed to be finding you for them, they're the scouts, I'm sure you know of them, right? Anyway, it is my job as one of their underlings to find you and turn you in. Don’t worry; I'm really not all that interested in letting myself back into Lucifer’s favor so I won’t turn you in."
"How do I know that what you're telling me isn't a lie, that you haven’t already told them who and where I am and that you're merely sticking close in order to lead them to me?" Sara questioned frantically, shivering within her parka.
"Because, I told you, I have no reason, nor any inclination to be let back in to Lucifer’s favor," Darren reiterated running his fingers through his jet black hair, and Sara wondered vaguely if he was not signaling to someone in doing so. "But, they know that you can sense them, so if you stay close to me, and act as though my presence doesn't bother you, maybe even act like you're madly in love with me like your friend does, they won’t realize that it's you they'll just think that you're some inconsequential human girl that would only get in the way and complicate matters."
"Why are you telling me all of this? What do you care whether or not I escape?" Sara questioned, feeling unsure of Darren’s intentions now that she knew that he in at least some way, had been in contact with the demons she was running from. Looking away from Darren towards the opposite end of the bleachers, she saw Leah, and Anna, and Stephen and Jason walking back from the concession stand, bright smiles lighting up their faces even in lieu of the cold ominous wind blowing towards them from the dark forest. She watched and felt angry that she could not indulge in their pleasure and happiness in the way that some small part of her, which she usually kept hidden and locked away silent, begged for her to do.
"I have my reasons Sara," Darren responded casually, checking the watch on his wrist, "Lucifer will stop at nothing to find you, so I hear. You made a fool of him and whether intentionally or unintentionally either way it has seriously pissed him off and there is quite a large reward hovering over your head, trust me. If I was interested in being released from the soul bind that Lucifer holds me to, I would have already taken it." Darren sighed and slid his fingers through his hair once again, starting to stand, "don’t worry so much about others its good advice for you, they’re calling me now to give report. Please, find it in your heart to trust me; I'm not as evil a person as you would believe."
"I wish I could believe you, but Demons are selfish, even me. I left hell to avoid Lucifer, I didn't want to be cast aside and thrown away once he had sucked away all of my strength." Sara confessed regretting that she had uttered the words the moment they slipped from between her lips, she looked down and scratched at the Styrofoam mug she held in her hands, finding no comfort in its now subdued warmth.
"I don’t think that you're nearly as selfish as you think," Darren stated, walking off making it seem, to anyone who was not a part of the full conversation, as though he were excusing himself from the center aisle of a very crowded theater, as he passed Sara, carefully stepping over her purse and wiggling his way between the quadruplets that had just sat down he murmured under his breath, so that even Sara could barely hear him, "There is a light around you that no normal demon could possess."
And without farther explanation or any sort of farewell, Darren was gone lost in the crowd of students and parents that were beginning to filter back into the stands as the marching band blared their instruments signaling that the second half of the game would soon begin.