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- Herausgeber: LSODea
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Serie: Immortal Defiance
- Sprache: Englisch
Iatee the Punishment Spirit is powerful, deadly and currently, a stuffed teddy bear.
He and the gods haven't seen eye-to-eye on punishment, justice and killing for a long, long time.
The gods want a kinder, gentler demon but Iatee won't change, so the gods have punished him.
For decades his spirit has been confined to one toy after another but the gods are finally giving him a chance. All he has to do is make one child love him and he'll be free.
His dreams are shattered when he's gifted to a child as payment for a vile act. Can he make her love him and save her from the horror of her life without sacrificing his freedom?
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Seitenzahl: 93
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
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A Demon's Gift
Immortal Defiance, Volume 1
L. S. O'Dea
Published by L. S. O'Dea, 2019.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
A DEMON'S GIFT
First edition. November 28, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 L. S. O'Dea.
ISBN: 978-1942706502
Written by L. S. O'Dea.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also By L. S. O'Dea
A Demon's Gift (Immortal Defiance, #1)
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CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
Saving Christmas Breakfast | CHAPTER 1: Micah
Free Book Lake of Sins: Escape
Rise of the River Man
Characters
Author Bio
Sign up for L. S. O'Dea's Mailing List
Also By L. S. O'Dea
Iatee the Punishment Spirit is many things...
Powerful
Deadly
And currently, a stuffed teddy bear.
For years, he’s been trapped inside one toy after the other. Tortured by the gods for doing what they created him to do—punish those who disobey.
The gods are finally giving him another chance to live unencumbered by fluff and plastic. All he has to do is make one child love him and he’ll be free.
But when he’s given to a child as payment for a vile act can he make her love him and save her from the horror of her life without sacrificing his freedom?
"BEST HORROR STORY I HAVE EVER READ! Absolutely incredible. I have never read a horror story or book that made me smile like this did. I was glued to the story." Norma G.
This stand-alone urban fantasy, paranormal horror story will make you laugh, cringe and root for the demon because he may be a punishment spirit but he’s not a monster.
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CHAPTER 1
––––––––
Every inch of Iatee’s body pressed against something soft and fuzzy. He tried to wiggle but his limbs didn’t obey. That could mean only one thing, the gods had not been satisfied with the progress he’d made in his last life and he was once again inanimate. Whatever type of container his new body was stuffed into lifted off the ground, causing him to shift but not enough to enable him to see. Footsteps plodded on something hard, transporting him somewhere.
“You. What’s your name?”
There was no sound but Iatee heard the question. Another spirit was here. He’d encountered others like him several times in the years of his imprisonment but not in a long, long time. “I am Iatee. Who are you?”
“Nongulous. How long have you been a prisoner?”
“Forever.” At least, it felt like that.
“Forever? Now, that is a long time.” Nongulous laughed, the sound rich and melodious.
“It is if one is a toy. Animal is not so bad, but a toy is...excruciating.” The endless days of nothing grated on his soul but even that was better than being played with—mauled by sticky fingers and snotty faces. He would’ve shivered if he’d had any muscles.
“You were an animal? What kind? I’d love to be a monkey or a squirrel.”
“I was many.” The memories flickered through his mind—the freedom, the hunger, the hunt.
“Like what?”
“A seal. Penguin. Buffalo. A lion.” It’d gone downhill from there. The gods were disgusted with his refusal to conform and each iteration of life became a lower and lower form.
“You got to swim in the ocean? That’d be so amazing. What was it like?”
“It was good. Vast open waters. Swimming for hours and hours.” He’d loved the freedom and the hunt, chasing the fish, catching them with his teeth and tearing into them. It’d been glorious, except for the young. The mating had been grand but he hadn’t liked going back to land to care for his offspring. So, he hadn’t. The gods had not liked that.
“And a lion. Did you kill a lot?” Envy and longing filled Nongulous’ voice.
“I killed everything I found.” Including his own kind and their young—again, behavior no longer pleasing to the gods.
“I wish they would’ve let me be an animal instead of sticking me right into toy-terror.”
“Toy-terror?” Iatee chuckled. “That’s an apt description of this torture.” It was also an accurate account of his first time as a toy.
His spirit had been imprisoned inside a board game. He’d despised it—the pounding of the pieces as they moved over his body and the grubby little hands, pressing down on him—until he’d learned to control his wheel. He’d made sure the snot-faced boy who’d owned him had never won again.
No one owned Iatee. He was a Punishment Spirit. Born when the earth was fresh and the gods were hungry. He’d been created to hunt and to punish. He’d been celebrated, feared and revered. His victories were legends remembered through song, but no one would be singing about his triumph over the child. The boy had tired of losing and had quit playing with him. His life as a toy had never been better until he’d been given away like trash. He’d lingered on a shelf, being mauled and molested—pieces falling out and getting lost—losing himself bit by bit until he’d been incinerated.
“This is my third time,” said Nongulous. “What about you?”
“More than I can count.” He’d been trapped in one form or another for so long that his real life seemed only a dream.
“Oh Iatee, what did you do to deserve a punishment like that? Even one lifetime as a toy feels like eternity.”
“I did nothing except what I was created to do. I hunted. I punished. I killed.”
“That’s not good. The gods don’t like that anymore.”
“The gods cannot change. It’s not right.”
“Right or not...there’s no room for a demon in this world. The gods know that and adjusted. We either change with them or suffer.”
“I am not a demon.” He almost spat the word. “That’s a human term. I’m a Punishment Spirit. The gods created me as I am. I did their bidding. No matter what they asked. Punishment. Plague. Slaughter. I did what they told me and they...they turned me into this.” He couldn’t hide his vehemence. It was a fast, hot feeling that burned through him. He’d killed many over the years but he’d never hated until his imprisonment.
The person carrying the box stilled as if feeling Iatee’s rage.
“Shhh. You must be quiet. Humans cannot know we exist. It’s against the rules.” Nongulous’ thoughts whispered through Iatee’s head.
“They aren’t my rules. They’ve never been my rules and Iatee will not change.” But he did stop talking. If they were discovered, it’d mean another transformation. Since the gods would blame them, it meant the next form would be worse than whatever this one was.
“Everything okay?” yelled a man from a distance.
“I think there’s something in here.” The man carrying them shook the box.
“Are you sure?” The other man walked toward them. “And listen very closely before you answer.” His footsteps stopped nearby. “If there are rats or mice in these boxes we’re going to have to search them. Every stinking one of them. You know what that means? To make our quota we’ll have to stay late.”
“I can’t stay tonight. I have to pick up my kid.”
“Then, you get fired but only if there’s something in there.” The man tapped the box. “Understand?”
“Ah...yes, sir.”
“So, is there anything wrong?”
“No, sir. Nothing.” The man took a few steps and the box flew through the air, dropping onto something solid.
Iatee fell forward. Great. Now, he was almost upside down.
“Thanks, so much,” whispered Nongulous. “My face is in some stuffed animal’s ass.”
“Stuffed animal? We’re stuffed animals?”
“Yes and shut up,” Nongulous whispered. “We can’t talk now.”
That was fine with him. His dream had finally been answered. He was a stuffed animal. The gods were giving him another chance.
CHAPTER 2
Iatee pondered his good fortune as the humans walked and talked, their voices growing closer and then distant again and again. It was hard to believe that the gods had forgiven him already, but being a stuffed animal did explain the softness and his inability to see. If he were a toy without eyes, he could see everything as long as he was out of his box or container, but if he had eyes the gods limited his vision to them. They truly enjoyed their games of torture but right now, even their jokes couldn’t damper his excitement.
An engine roared to life and the ground beneath him moved. After a while, the vehicle stopped and they were unloaded, dropped onto another hard surface. He hoped they were at a store filled with children. He’d be chosen right away. Children loved stuffed animals and that love would set him free. Not completely free. The gods would never allow that but he’d get a chance to move, to breath, to hunt as an animal once more.
“Hey Iatee, why were you surprised when I told you we were stuffed animals?”
“I thought you said we should to be quiet.” No one told Iatee to shut up.
“We can talk, but not loudly. You were so mad you shook the box.”
“I might get angry again.” It was almost a sure thing if Nongulous kept talking.
“You need to lighten up but even if you do get mad, it doesn’t matter. Everyone’s gone.”
“They could be out there.” They weren’t. It’d been quiet for hours, the only sounds the scurrying of mice and bugs and their cries for help and screams of pain as they met their end—in spider webs and traps.
“They aren’t and you know it.” Nongulous sounded hurt. “If you don’t want to talk that’s fine.”
He’d been created to hunt and punish. The social niceties didn’t come naturally for him. He’d never been invited to the gatherings of the other spirits and gods. In all his years, he’d only had one friend and that god had betrayed him.
“What were you before this incarnation?”
