There was nowhere to hide.

The chakram of light brightened the dark and grimy alley that my target fled into. The creature—a demonic entity allured by sin—snarled in hopes of scaring me away, but it wouldn’t be long before the demon was purged by yours truly.

Hunting pitch-black, seven-feet tall fiends at night would sound crazy and impossible to anyone, so imagine the satisfaction of cornering one after a five-minute chase—blood pumping and heart racing to achieve the unthinkable. That adrenaline only heightened after hurling my chakram and seeing its power exterminate the beast on impact.

“Got’cha.” My victory taunt came with a heavy breath from fatigue. All was up in this game of cat and mouse except the one downside of purging a demon: its odor. Honestly, I wasn’t sure which was worse: the smell of sulfur it left behind, or the foul stench of rotten food coming from the dumpsters in the alley.

Whatever. Putting down demonic animals was nothing new. For the past three months, I had slain many demons responsible for manipulating human aspirations and manifesting their dark desires into reality. Sometimes I’d wonder what gave me the ability to see and fight monsters only spoken of in fairy tales, but deep down, I didn’t mind not knowing because I now had freakin’ superpowers. Like, who cares, right?

A trail of purple mist meant my night of purging evil wasn’t over. I liked to call it the Shadow Current, a source of negativity created by demons. I followed the trail through the urban outskirts of New York City and ended up two blocks away in front of a house that desperately needed renovation. Seriously, the unmown lawn and broken mailbox flooded with envelopes were giving abandonment vibes. If a demon was inside, it most certainly manipulated the homeowner by now. They love to mess with people living in this type of environment.

The theme song from the movie, The Exorcist, played in my head as I knocked on the door expecting to fight some possessed person ready to curse my mother's name. But after receiving no answer for what felt like three minutes, I knew my fantasy version of the film wasn’t going to happen. Regardless, I needed to get inside and slay the demon. Who knew what twisted desire someone in there might’ve had. It could’ve been to wish death on someone, to destroy the city, or something far worse than I could think of.

A burgundy brick on the ground from the crumbling exterior of the home caught my eye. I picked it up and did the obvious: smashed the window and prayed no one saw or heard the glass shatter into a hundred pieces. Yes, this was risky, foolish, and could’ve put me behind bars tonight, but the thought of a demonic creature corrupting an innocent man, woman, or child drove me to do whatever was necessary to make sure that didn’t happen.

I avoided the shards of glass and crawled through the window into a dark and silent living room. Only torn-up ivory couches and small tables covered with dirty white mats were visible until the glowing red eyes of a demon poked out from behind a wall.

“Hey, ugly,” I called out while generating light energy in my hand to manifest a chakram. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with.”

It launched out of hiding with claws spread to tear and maim, but its pursuit came to a swift end after being struck by my chakram. The black saliva oozing from its mouth spilled between the cracks of the wooden floor as the creature disintegrated from the radiance.

There was still work to do. No way did a weak demon like that create the Shadow Current that led me here. It would take a horde of them or one powerful fiend to generate that much negativity, so I explored the run-down house in search of the real threat.

My rash choice of action began to play with my paranoia while looking around. What if someone saw me break the window? Hell, what if someone already called the police?

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All of those worries left my mind when an eerie chill breezed through my curly silver hair after stepping into a gloomy bedroom. A middle-aged man was surrounded by dollar bills with his face contorted into a wide grimace.

“I should’ve figured someone would try to rob me,” he said in a demonic voice. “And of course it’d be a dumb, Black teenager. I can kill you legally for breaking into my house.”

The thought of this racist asshole possessing a weapon came to mind, but I stood my ground and sneered. “Look, I’m gonna keep this real simple: you're possessed by a demon that’s feeding your greed for money, and I’m pretty sure all of the cash is actually coming from banks and wallets belonging to other people.”

“And you think I care? I’m sick of being underpaid in this corrupt world while ungrateful bastards throw money all over the place. And yeah, I’ve done some dirt to make ends meet, but I’ve also worked hard for decades, dammit. Once I’m rich and not struggling to survive in this dump, all of my sins will be erased.”

Sucks for this guy, really. But I had to break the demonic spell. Sorry not sorry.

Before I could do anything, one of the demons crawled its way out of the shadows and stood tall behind the man’s smaller figure. Its crimson, bloodshot eyes glared with vicious intent. It wanted nothing more than to devour me with its razor-like fangs that were only matched in length by its piercing, jagged claws.

“Money is everything. Money is power,” the man shouted with a maniacal laugh. Ugh, talk about dramatic.

His words were followed by a roar from the creature. It stomped with enough force to shatter parts of the floor and knock me off my feet, leaving me vulnerable to an attack. It rushed forward and raised its arm to deliver a crushing blow, but I rolled out of the way and flung a chakram in its direction. The weapon penetrated the monster’s torso, causing it to whimper in agony and stumble back before fading into nothingness.

The man charged with his hand reaching for my neck. I couldn’t react fast enough to avoid my back being slammed against a wall with his fingers digging into my throat. “I won’t let you have it,” he growled through gritted teeth. “It’s mine, I tell you. Mine.”

Desperate for air, I stabbed into his right eye with my nails and pushed him back to gain some separation. It was time to free his mind and put an end to this.

“Sir, I’m sorry your life’s been rough,” I exhaled, raising my left hand at him as he held his face and wailed from the pain. “But money can’t save you from your sins.”

A ray of light released from my palm, illuminating the room. The shriek of a demon reverberated in my ears as the brightness gradually dimmed until the dull and peeling walls were visible again. The demon controlling him was no more, and the man stood motionless before collapsing on the floor, his unconscious body allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

A relief that was short lived.

“Dad?” a child-like voice called out somewhere in the house. I turned my back to the doorway and stood still at the sound of scampering.

This is not how things usually went.

“Who are you?” The kid was now behind me. “What happened to daddy? Where’s all the money for my surgery?”

Oh, God.

See, because of my ability to undo sinful acts caused by demons, the ocean of stolen cash that flooded the room had vanished and returned to its rightful owners. My power couldn’t reverse death or physical damages, but it was good enough to prevent the city from crumbling under demonic influence.

However, there were rare moments like tonight that left me uncertain of whether I did the right thing or not. Regardless, I kept my back turned and ran out of the house, hoping to get far away before the kid called the police.

The brisk wind of the evening hour made me zip up my gray leather jacket and slide my hands into the pockets while marching a good distance from the home. In doing so, I felt a vibration from my cell phone and took it out to look at the text on the screen.

Ali I’m outside. Did u forget about our reservation?

“Damn,” I muttered, peering down at the message from my boyfriend, Lucas. I texted back, Of course not... I’m not home right now tho. Can u pick me up? Sending the location.

Imagining his frustrated face while texting my location filled me with guilt. This wasn’t the first time I had forgotten our plans, and because of how caught up I usually got with chasing demons, I knew it wouldn’t be the last.

Instead of texting me back, he arrived ten minutes later in his car with the expression I had visualized. The worst part about it? Today was our anniversary.

“Hey, sorry I wasn’t home. I was—”

“You can tell me about it on the way there. Just get in.”