Read an extract from The Demonfire Chronicles: Book One - Death by Demonfire by Marcus Heppell a new, exciting fantasy adventure.
Prologue
Demons exist. Not the kind that possess little girls and need a papery old priest to exorcise. Not the type that climb from the fiery bitter depths of hell. Not the type that haunt your dreams, filled with witchcraft. No, these are much, much worse. They live in their own realms, their own worlds and their own planes of existence. They are trying though, always trying. They do not share the same soul as a human like me or you. They have no soul. They crave a soul, a human soul. They will fight to get it regardless of the odds. They will kill; massacre and burn worlds to the ground just to get a soul because this soul, such a little thing, is the key to making them the lords of the universe. This universe and all of the universes in all the different realities. What can you do against such thoughtless brutality? When an enemy will die without a second thought just for your soul, what can you do? How can you fight an enemy who has no fear? How can you fight an enemy that has powers that you could never match or understand? An enemy that has numbers beyond recognition and that can attack at any time and any place. The answer is simple. You can't!
Chapter One: Rick Harvard
He was only nine the first time it happened. He had experienced something that day a nine-year-old should never have to go through. The papers would say it was a tragedy. They would say that many innocent lives were cut short by an avoidable mistake. They would say it was the family’s negligence. He lost both of his parents, his sister and all his pets and his childhood home. He lost everything that day except his poor excuse for an existence. That was the day he first saw a demon.
It had happened fourteen years ago. The doors and windows had been bolted shut, living in North London you never left anything unlocked. The demon had still managed to get in; he had melted the locks on the window and calmly climbed through. A high-pitched screech that had been let forth from his sister’s mouth woke the whole house. As he jumped up and out of bed he heard the scramble of his parents on the floor below. They shared the second floor with his sister; he bolted straight for the stairs knowing his parents would get there first.
He had arrived in his sister’s room to see his sister floating in the air next to his mum and dad, all three engulfed in flame. He heard a laugh that was so chilling it made his young teeth chatter and caused him to fling the door wide open to see behind it and the source of the laugh. Standing behind the door was an ordinary looking man, the only distinguishing feature that separated him from other men was the fact that this man had had fire pouring from his eyes and his mouth, streaming directly at his family. Obviously he was not human, he didn't know it then but the man was a demon.
He remembered he had felt an indescribable peace overcome his young mind then. He had not been fearful of the demon. Instead he had run at the demon planning an attack, some way of stopping the fire that was scorching his family. The demon had not even turned to look his way; he had just stuck his arm up and swung it at him, throwing his small-framed nine-year-old body across the room and crashing it against the wall. His body had not been able to take the impact and he had lost consciousness then.
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