I got out of a cab later that night where the house party was taking place and opened the front door to the booming sound of the music. My nose wrinkled at the smell of drugs, sweat, and alcohol, which were all surprisingly strong in the early hours of the party.

Despite the unfamiliar tune that filled my ears as I pushed past a horde of my drunken peers, I knew it was Lucas’s voice singing to the heavy metal instrumental. My heart clenched in my chest when I made it to the front of the crowd. He was in plain sight, strumming his guitar with a fiery passion.

Halfway through the song was when I felt an uncanny vibe that only intensified when Robyn stepped out of the shadows and started to sing. My suspicions of her only increased after sensing her anguish, wondering why I couldn’t feel her emotions in the past.

Wanting to scream and warn Lucas about the witch he’s been working with, I stopped myself knowing my words would only fall on deaf ears. Even if I could voice my fears, no one would believe me.

With my only option to wait for the end of the performance, I stood in the rowdy crowd and glowered at Robyn until another unsettling feeling came over me. A purple mist had begun to replace the marijuana smoke in the air, and after analyzing the audience and following the Shadow Current, the sinister source was identified: a demon that hovered its murky body over a hooded male.

The person appeared out of place in the loud, active environment, and I watched in horror as the demon leaned down and whispered into his ear. It reminded me of the beast who had influenced Valeria to end her life.

Though afraid, I forced my way through a group of dudes vaping and got closer to the hooded man. His eyes were on Lucas, and he foamed at the mouth before grunting and taking a gun out of his pocket. An adrenaline rush took over my body at the sight of the weapon.

“No, don’t shoot,” I shouted at the top of my lungs, getting the attention of a few people and causing them to panic and react with screams. The crowd began to scatter around the large house, and the gunman, exposed, pushed his way toward the front door and scurried out.

“Ali?”

I turned around at the sound of my nickname being called out from the microphone. Lucas was a short distance away, gasping and approaching me in disbelief. Even though I wanted to stay and warn him about Robyn, I had to take care of a more immediate threat: the gunman.

“I have to go,” I said to him before running out of the house in pursuit.

The chase went on down several busy streets, with vocal concerns from onlookers being silenced by the rumbling chug of the passing train on the elevated track. Clouds in the night sky began to drop pearls of water until the rainfall intensified.

The gunman rushed in between two apartment buildings, where a barred gate prevented him from running any farther. He turned around to look at me, his hood dropping to reveal his curly, brown hair.

“Get the hell away from me,” he demanded in a devilish voice, pulling the gun out of his pocket.

I put my hands up in surrender. “Relax, okay? Please, I wanna help.”

“Help? No, it’s too late for that. Someone’s gonna die tonight.”

I turned my head at the sound of footsteps on the wet concrete. “Lucas?”

“Ali, thank God you’re safe.”

The assailant aimed the weapon at Lucas, who stepped in front of me like a shield.

“Listen, dude, you don’t have to do this. Just put the gun down.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Shut up.” The gunman shifted his target to me by pointing the weapon over Lucas’s shoulder. “That’s your main chick, huh? I’m gonna kill her and ruin your life, just like you did mine.”

“I don’t even know you, bro. But okay, you want me? Fine. Just let her go. She has nothing to do with whatever problem you have with me.”

The gunman laughed. “Look at you. You’re the cool guy, right? All the girls just wanna hop on your stick so damn bad. That was gonna be my spot, you thief.”

“Why the hell are you accusing me of stealing? I told you I don’t know you.”

“Oh, yeah? That’s exactly the damn problem. Nobody knows me, and it’s all because of you. You stole my lyrics and got recognition for them. All those songs you’ve been posting online and performing at those stupid gigs were made because of me.”

I saw the scarlet eyes of a demon in the dark, secluded area. It crawled out of the shadows and surrounded the gunman, growing larger as if it were a bloodsucker leeching off his vexation.

“Whoever you are, you have to calm down. Lucas is telling the truth,” I said to the gunman before tugging Lucas’s arm to get his attention. “You are, right?”

“Yes, I’m telling the truth. I don’t know what he’s talking about, Ali. Robyn’s been writing our songs since she… Wait.” An expression of revelation formed. “She didn’t write those songs,” he whispered to himself. “Dammit.”

The gunman stepped closer, waving the weapon at both of us with a shaky hand and an unbalanced posture. “You have my life, and I’m taking it back. The music, the followers—I want it. It should be mine. You wouldn’t be as popular as you are if it wasn’t for me.”

“Is being famous worth killing someone?” I asked.

“Yes. If you’re not somebody, you’re nobody. The world looks down on guys like me, someone in their mid-twenties who still lives with their mom and doesn’t own a car. Hell, I don’t even mind that stuff, but people don’t care about how I feel because the media has already implanted in our brains what we should and shouldn’t like. Even in this terrible economy where everyone is suffering, people look down on me even though we’re all in the same boat. Then I go online and see the lucky ones… How do you think it feels seeing people my age and younger becoming successful and doing things with their lives? It stinks.”

I understood him well. The pressure of wanting to be someone important and not just a random face in the crowd weighed on me a lot before I got my powers. Regardless, he was going about achieving success in the wrong way. All he wanted was fame; to receive attention and swim in a sea of praise.

The aura pouring out of him was guzzled down by the demon. Its appetite led to whispers that caused him to vent his frustration even more. “I wrote catchy songs, I just wasn’t getting noticed. Then I heard this thief here using my lyrics for his crappy band’s tracks and got a huge boost in his followers. No one even bothered to listen to me when I told them that this rock star wannabe stole my words. I was hopeless until I found this gun on the ground near my house. I knew I had to use it to kill the prick who did this to me.”

“Wait a minute,” I began, “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’m positive a demon manifested that gun so you can carry out your desire to kill Lucas.”

“And? You think I care?” he cackled. “You think some stupid ass story like that is going to save him?”

Lucas took small steps toward him. “Dude, I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know they were yours.”

“Listen to us,” I pleaded. “Don’t let fame and social media define you. The validation you get from it is not real. What’s popular today is irrelevant tomorrow. It doesn’t last.”

“Liars. It’s all that matters.”

Lucas grabbed the gunman’s arm and the two tussled over the weapon. Looking on in trepidation, I couldn’t understand my hesitation to do something about the demon in the background. It snorted in amusement and watched the physical altercation unfold. When I finally raised my left hand to purge it, not even a shimmer of light released from my palm.

What’s wrong with me? I thought to myself, trying to fight back an unexplainable feeling of doubt and fear. My attention shifted to Lucas, who was struck with a forward thrust from the attacker that pushed him against the brick wall. I looked around frantically for a weapon, spotting a steel rod on the ground. The only thing left to do was wait for the right moment to strike.

The two guys fought hard on the concrete, exchanging a few blows before the gunman stood up and backed away with the gun still in his hand. He pointed it down at Lucas, ready to fire.

On instinct, I swung the rod at his head, making direct contact. Just as he collapsed on the ground, a loud gunshot rang through the alley.

“Lucas,” I screamed.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” he stood up and repeated. “The bullet didn’t hit me.”

We both looked down at the gunman, watching the blood leak from the side of his head into the puddle of water on the ground. I bent down and grabbed his wrist just as the demon vanished from the scene. The absence of a pulse made me stand and back away.

“I-I killed him,” I fretted with my hand over my mouth.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, okay? This guy was going to kill us. We defended ourselves. Let’s get out of here.”

Lucas took me by the hand as we escaped from the harrowing incident that would haunt us for the rest of their lives.