Forget You (Demon Underground Series)

Praise for the Demon Underground series

Other books by Parker Blue

Forget You

Copyright

Forget You

Dare Me

DEMON UNDERGROUND SERIES

Bite Me

Try Me

Fang Me

Make Me

Dare Me (coming 2013)

Demon Underground Series

A Shade Short Story

by

Parker Blue

Bell Bridge Books

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events or locations is entirely coincidental.

Bell Bridge Books
PO BOX 300921
Memphis, TN 38130
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61194-279-8

Bell Bridge Books is an Imprint of BelleBooks, Inc.

Copyright © 2013 by Pam McCutcheon writing as Parker Blue
Dare Me
(excerpt) copyright © 2013 by Pam McCutcheon writing as Parker Blue

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

We at BelleBooks enjoy hearing from readers.
Visit our websites – www.BelleBooks.com and www.BellBridgeBooks.com.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cover design: Debra Dixon
Interior design: Hank Smith
Photo credits:
Hood & background (manipulated) © Curaphotography | Dreamstime.com
Face © Elena Rostunova | Dreamstime.com

:Mmfg:01:

This story takes place five years before the events in
Bite Me,
the first book in the Demon Underground series.

SHAWN SAT HIDDEN in the shadows inside his adobe home and glared outside at the relentlessly sunny day, hating how it kept him trapped inside. Here, in the desert of New Mexico where people believed in aliens and UFOs, and the brotherhood of
Penitentes
still practiced their self-flagellation ecstasies in secret,
he
was considered weird.

The land of enchantment? Maybe for other people. Other teens. For him
 . . .
not so much. The nice day kept him inside, for fear someone might pass by, even out here in the boonies, and catch a glimpse of the freakish demon boy.
Welcome to another episode of
As the World Spurns, he thought bitterly. Out loud, he muttered, “Being part shadow demon sucks.”

Shawn said it more to lash out at his father than because it was true. When he got no reaction, he said it again, louder. Why did his father have to have children, anyway? Why couldn’t Shawn have been born to fully human parents?

His father turned away from working on the computer and asked, “What’s the problem now?”

Shawn’s twin sister, Sharra, came over to rub his shoulders, trying to soothe him. “It’s okay, Dad, he’s just restless.” Then, whispering so only Shawn could hear, she said, “What’s wrong with you lately? You act as though you have a burr up your butt all the time. Come on, remember your promise. Don’t get mad at Dad—don’t let him get mad at you. Take it out on me instead.”

Shawn shook his head mutely. It was a stupid promise, even if she did make him pinky swear. How could he take it out on her? Sharra was the only good thing in his life.

Louder, Sharra said, “Come play a game with me.”

He glanced at her and scowled. His blond sister’s pretty features were hidden by the curse of the shadow demon. Everywhere there should have been skin, all you could see were swirling energy ribbons of golden light. Unfortunately, he matched her, but the ribbons whirling through him weren’t so pretty. They looked more like giant worms, dark and grey, endlessly moving through his skin. That’s what came of being a shadow demon, existing partly in this dimension, partly in others.

The only time they didn’t look like members of a freak show was when they were touching another living being—another non-shadow demon, anyway. That grounded them in this world, making them look and feel fully human. But it hadn’t happened since Mom had deserted them, three years ago. Apparently, she couldn’t take living with children who looked like monsters anymore. Who could blame her?

“No thanks, I’m not in the mood for games.” Shawn knew he sounded sulky, but he didn’t care.

“Come on,” she wheedled. “Let’s play Grand Theft Auto.”

“Why? So I can beat the crap out of you again?”

“Don’t be so sure about that, Shadow Boy. I’ve got moves you haven’t seen yet.”

“Big talk for a loser, Sunshine Girl.” Though his father’s dumb nicknames usually cheered him up, he wasn’t in any mood to be teased into a good humor. Not even by his sister, his best friend, and the better half of their Dynamic Duo. Shawn asked, “Don’t you ever get sick of this? Don’t you ever wish we could have normal lives, like every other sixteen-year-old on the planet?”

She shrugged. “Of course, but it’s not like we can change what we are. What good does it do to complain?”

“So sorry your own existence inconveniences you,” his father said. Dark worms swirled through his features, too, so Shawn and Sharra couldn’t gauge his feelings by facial expressions. Instead, they’d gotten very good at learning to judge his moods by the tone of his voice. For example, now, his voice was filled with sarcasm, with just a hint of anger.

Sounding horrified, Sharra protested, “I didn’t mean it that way.”

Of course she didn’t. Sharra was the good twin. Shawn was the bad one, the one who always got into trouble. The Dynamic Duo usually balanced each other out—he made Sharra more bold, and she smoothed his rough edges. But not this time.

“I did,” Shawn said. “I hate living trapped in this house. How come everyone else can live a normal life, and we have to live like
 . . .
like
 . . .
lepers?” It was bad enough dealing with a cracking voice and a changing body. But when puberty hit, life had turned to crap. He and his sister had started looking like Dad, their awareness constantly moving through other dimensions. It was weird, having strange images and feelings flicker through him from other realities. He still hadn’t gotten used to it, though Dad said he would, eventually.

“Don’t exaggerate,” his father said. “Why don’t you talk to some of your online friends?”

The computer was their only real link to the outside world. Through it, their father made a living doing research, and they ordered food, clothing, all the necessities of life. Shawn wanted to work with his father on the computer, to help bring in some cash, but his father wouldn’t even let him do that, insisting that he be a kid as long as possible.

Shawn shook his head. “My friends aren’t home.” Sometimes, when he was online, chatting with friends he’d never be able to meet, Shawn could pretend he was as normal as everyone else. But today, that false sense of normality didn’t hack it.

In fact, it really hacked him off. “Why can’t we live somewhere else, like Albuquerque?” That’s where his friends were right now, at a gaming convention he couldn’t attend.

“You know why,” his father said, his tone warning Shawn not to push it.

Shawn didn’t care. “Yeah, but there’s a Demon Underground there.”

“I wish I’d never told you about that. As I said before, it’s not for us.”

“Why not?” Shawn persisted. “At least we’d be around others like us, instead of stuck here in Nowhere, New Mexico.”

“No one else is like us.” His father’s voice had turned curt.

“Maybe not exactly like us, but they’re all part demon, right? We could fit in better, maybe have something resembling a real life.”

“No.” This time, he sounded uncompromising.

But Shawn couldn’t leave it alone. “No? Just
 . . .
no
?” he asked incredulously. “How about an explanation for once, Dad?”

“Don’t, Shawn,” Sharra whispered. “You
promised
.”

Shawn had never broken a promise to his sister before, but this time he shrugged her off. Sharra was too nice, always trying to make peace between the two of them. Well, he didn’t want peace.

“Shadow Boy, you’re—” his father began.

“Don’t call me that,” Shawn yelled. He wasn’t a baby anymore, to be cajoled by a stupid nickname. Shawn didn’t want to be calmed down. He wanted an explanation. He wanted
change.

Dad turned to Sharra. “Sunshine Girl, maybe you can talk some sense into him.” His words were calm, but his tone of voice showed he was trying not to lose it.

“Why should she?” Shawn demanded. “She feels the same way I do. She’s just too nice to say it.”