A periodic look at some of the passages and lines I’m most proud of. For this one, a passage from the forthcoming Prelude to Hellion. This is another one I get pretty chuffed over every time I read it.

“Are you two alright?”

“I…I think so.” Frances sighed and plopped herself onto Logan’s couch, which was when he saw the massive gash running along the back of her faded brown leather coat. There was no red to go with it, which was a relief, but Logan shuddered to think of all the creatures capable of that kind of cut. “Just…Dave and I were attacked across town. Found a nest of Skarlak demons and they were less that welcoming.”

“Those weren’t Skarlaks,” Dave muttered, his attention on Logan’s overstuffed bookshelf on the opposite end of the living room. It was a normal shelf, unremarkable in the fact that it was stuffed with Stephen King and James Patterson and volumes upon volumes of Marvel and DC collections.

Logan was never going to leave his real library out in the open.

“I know a fuckin’ Skarlak when I see one,” Frances snapped back. “The giant green horn on their forehead is a pretty big giveaway.”

Logan cleared his throat. “That, uh…that’s not a horn.”

Both Frances and Dave turned to stare at Logan. “What?” they said in unison.

Skarlaks don’t have horns,” Logan said, pursing his lips and choosing his words. “That…thing on their foreheads is actually their…you know…”

Logan’s eyes flicked downward; the teenagers’ gaze followed suit and their eyes widened when they realized what they were being told. Specifically, the fact that Skarlak demons were notorious for having their reproductive organs on their foreheads.

Dave went pale and he brought a hand up to his mouth. “You mean I grabbed that thing’s…?”

Logan nodded with a cringe, even as Frances buried his mouth in her hand to suppress a chuckle. She failed.

Dave swallowed hard. “Where’s your bathroom?”

The boy was gone down the hall before Logan could point the way with his bat. Frances bit back another smirk as the door slammed shut and the faint sound of retching came through the wall. “Well,” she said, “that explains why they all ganged up on him.”

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