Read Online Demon by Erik Williams - Free Book Online

he’d heard the words spoken by Uriel when the seraph had first bound him. And in the time since, Semyaza had done his best to burn them from his memory. Yet here was his jailer, reciting them to him once again.
    â€œA shapeless mass, bound shall you be, cut off from freedom and peace and grace. All around you shall discord rule. In darkness’s embrace shall you dwell.”
    â€œThank you, Uriel. Hearing it is much more painful than remembering it. Yes, yes. Bound to your cell or bound to the flesh. And when I fight a soul, discord rears its ugly head. I have figured it out.”
    â€œThe battle does not cause discord. It is you, Semyaza. Your presence free of a prison causes it. Only when you are confined, as you are now, does order return. Yet you cannot hold onto it or any other body. You are not flesh and spirit like man. You are only spirit pretending to be a man. Do you see?”
    â€œI see you pretending to be a man.”
    â€œMaterialization. A power you have long been stripped of.”
    Semyaza said nothing.
    â€œWhat will this bring you? The soul of the next body will fight you just as the last did. Even if you are successful a few more times, you will find it harder and harder to find another vessel.”
    â€œThen I will keep going until I cannot find another and wipe out as many people as I can.”
    â€œStill the old hatred of man.” Uriel rubbed his hands together. “All because they were treated differently from us.”
    â€œThey were elevated over us! Mud people over beings of light! Bend the knee to them? Never. I will not serve.”
    â€œBeings of earth and light. Inferior yet superior. You hate them and yet you cling desperately to the body of a man.” Uriel looked away, out the window again. “Your light, like the rest of Satan’s legion, has been stripped. And you will remain that way, separated from grace and the warmth of the Firmament, until your day of final judgment.”
    â€œThen I will kill until then.”
    â€œYou are not killing any souls, Semyaza, and that is what matters. These bodies, without the soul, are just flesh awaiting resurrection. And an angel, void of light, is just a demon. So who are you really punishing?”
    Semyaza looked at Uriel. “It is not about punishment. These mud people do not deserve the grace I have been stripped of. They do not deserve to live while I am chained in darkness, alone and unwanted and cold.”
    â€œI can end this at any time, Semyaza.”
    Semyaza looked back out the windshield. “Then why have you not?”
    â€œBecause you need to be humbled. If I stop you, it will not mean anything because I have defeated you before. You will blame me. Blame God. But you will not blame yourself. Instead, you will surround yourself with the cold of your hate and plot your escape for a thousand more years. A mirror needs to be held before your vanity. And you will either shatter that mirror or accept the reflection.”
    â€œIf not you, then who, Uriel? Who will stop me? One of your brethren?”
    â€œNo,” Uriel said. “Man will.”
    Semyaza hissed. “No man will defeat me.”
    â€œYes, he will. Maybe he will be of flesh. Maybe it will be one of the souls of a body you try to usurp. You will lose, Semyaza; and you will find yourself back in darkness, chained and alone. Maybe then you will find humility and repent at long last.”
    â€œNever.” Semyaza turned to Uriel, but the seraph had disappeared. He turned back. Basra approached. “Never.”
    Buildings now lined the road as he entered the outlying area of the city. Semyaza slowed. He wanted to make the swap outside of Basra, where the population was still small.
    A car passed him. Semyaza looked at the people inside. A young man and woman. He made his choice fast before they pulled too far ahead.
    He released his temporary vessel, and his formless self flew toward the car. Fast. Any