Misfit by Jon Skovron

his hand on the possessed’s forehead.
    “Swear that you wil never possess another mortal man or woman,” he said.
    “I swear,” said Asmodeus.
    “I release you,” Paul said.
    The possessed convulsed, then fel unconscious. A fine mist coalesced above Emile’s head. For a moment, Asmodeus appeared in his true form—a creature with three heads: man, ram, and bul . He bowed in thanks first to Paul, then to Astarte.
    Then his form dissipated.
    “What was al that about?” asked Paul.
    She looked at him then in that way she had, her fierce green demon eyes piercing down to his soul. It stripped away al the safeguards he held up during the fight. She disarmed his heart until he stood before her, the same man who had thrown himself off a cliff because he loved her too much. Stil holding his gaze, she walked slowly around the bed until she stood in front of him.
    She held out her hands and he took them immediately in his.
    “I’m pregnant,” she said.
    It hung there in a silence that stretched on for a long time.
    Then Poujean, off in the corner, cleared his throat.
    “Would it be appropriate to offer my congratulations?”
    “Of course it would,” said Astarte. Her eyes were stil locked on Paul’s, and there was a vulnerability in them that he had never seen before.
    “Part demon, part mortal,” he said.
    “Yes,” she said. “A halfbreed.”
    “Forbidden by Hel ,” he said. “And Heaven.”
    “Yes,” she said.

    “They wil hunt us,” he said.
    “Yes, they wil ,” she said.
    “They wil kil us,” he said.
    “They wil try,” she said.
    He slowly knelt down and pressed his forehead to her stomach.
    “You wil see,” she said, stroking his hair. “This is our destiny. This child wil set right that which has been wrong for so many centuries now.”
    “I love you,” he whispered. “Nothing else matters.”

A DATE AND DESTINY 7
    “Ms. thompson! study hal is for work, not sleep!”
    Jael jerks awake, Father Aaron’s voice ringing in her ears.
    She mutters an apology as she massages the indentation on her cheek from her geometry book.
    Another one of those visions.
    Or memories. Whatever they are. She wasn’t even aware of fal ing asleep this time. One minute she was studying isosceles triangles, the next she was watching her dad chop a demon to pieces.
    Her hand touches the gem that hangs around her neck and again she wonders what it is and where it came from. Hel , like she told Father Ralph? She said it more to freak him out than because she believed it.
    But is it real y such a stretch? And why is it the one thing her mother made her father promise to give her?
    Maybe these visions she’s been having are supposed to happen. Maybe it’s what her mother wanted.
    For the rest of the afternoon, she can’t shake the gruesome visuals the necklace showed her. First that fish monster in that place with the giant clamshel s.
    Then her parents, clearly in love, and kil ing demons together. In a weird kind of way, it’s like a dream come true. She’s always wanted to know more about her mother. And seeing her father as a badass exorcist mage (or whatever that Haitian guy cal ed him) definitely explains a lot about the way he is. She wishes she could have known him back then. Of course, she wishes she could have known her mother at al .
    “Hey, Betty! Wait up!”
    She’s just leaving school after the last bel when she hears Rob’s voice. She turns and sees Rob standing at the top of the steps with some of his skater buddies. He waves to her, then pul s his board from the strap on his backpack, jumps, lands the board on the stair handrailing, and slides down.
    “Mr. McKinley!” yel s Father Aaron from his post by the door. “Not on school property!”
    “Sorry, Father,” cal s Rob over his shoulder as he lands at the bottom of the steps next to Jael.
    “Wow,” says Jael. “Um, hey.”
    Rob kicks the board up and catches it with one hand, then brushes his hair out of his eyes. “Hey,” he