In “Dark Revelation”, my short story written for Storm Moon Press’ Queer Fear anthology, I decided to make a villain as a half human half demon. I’ve wanted to write an Incubus Demon for as long as I can remember. For this story, I actually opted out to research demon characteristics and made it my own. I haven’t read a lot of them, though, so I wrote how I’d imagined it in my head. For all I knew, Incubui loved sex, and hey, I could use that to my advantage to make it a darker-themed story. It wasn’t an aww type of story, either. My demon raped his prey before he killed it. The demon needed sex to fulfill his demonic needs.
Now, moving on to the appearance of the demon. I had my own vision for how the demon in my story would look, and here is a tiny snippet from “Dark Revelation” to show how I described the demon:
Skin went from light tan to bruised purple, covering his entire body. His nipples and tongue turned orange, and four horns sprouted: two on his forehead, and longer ones on either side of his head. His eyes shone red, bright enough to light the room. His pupils vanished.
That was what my demon looked like inside my head, and he didn’t have wings either. When I eventually checked out the image search engine to see what incubus demons looked like, they usually had at least two horns on their heads and large wings along with fangs. Why follow those and make the story unoriginal? I figured it would be better if I actually created my own look, reinventing the incubus demon in my own way instead of trying to go with the popularly accepted norm.
The opening for my short story was actually tough for me to write. I didn’t expect someone to disappear quickly, but it was how the story flowed. It gave me a chance to explore the human side of Derek from “Dark Revelation”. If Derek was completely human, he would find a wonderful man to spend his life with easily, but being a half human and half demon didn’t give him the happiness he so badly wanted. I tried for a balance between good and evil. Derek was able to be like that. The good side about Derek was he had the willpower to sacrifice himself by living in isolation away from people. So, after I succeed having Derek isolated, I had to figure out how to make the story more horror-centric so it would balance out with the erotic. I wanted to give the readers the entertainment of reading a bit on the romance side right along with the horror. That was when I added new people and made the demon go crazy with his demonic hungers.
I tried to avoid using too much gore because it was basically a cheat to make the story plain old scary. I needed to get the reader inside the main character’s head to show how afraid he is. Yes, there is gore in “Dark Revelation”. It is not like Derek’s half demon is actually a clean demon. Every kill the demon makes would be a mess. It’s part of the package, no matter how hard any one demon tries to avoid it. There will always be a mess. There will always be blood. I can promise you the fatal scene isn’t that bloody. I wanted to keep the gore part to a minimum and let the readers enjoy the scary part. At the same time, I hope it will make readers feel something for the victims. Because when I wrote the murder scene, I felt more sad for the victim and Derek who had to suffer the consequence for being around humans.
Intrigued? Then I think it’s time for you to enjoy the short except from “Dark Revelation” below. I hope you like it and check out the Queer Fear anthology.
“Look at us on our fifth date.” Derek Fowell chuckled weakly, feeling nervous. Against his better judgment, his feelings for Matthew Zee had grown. Something was different about him, but Derek couldn’t pinpoint it. For now, he wanted to enjoy the meal and get to know Matthew better.
Matthew smiled and showed off his perfect, straight white teeth. “So far, I’m enjoying your company.”
“I agree. How was your day at work?”
“Ready to order?” the waitress interrupted.
“I’d like to get a strawberry salad with chicken. Can you put the dressing on the side, please?” Matthew smiled first at the waitress, and then at Derek.
“Absolutely. And you, sir?”
“I’ll have the same, but with steak. Medium-rare, please.”
“I’m sorry, sir. We can only serve medium and above for the steak.”
“Medium’s fine, thanks.” Derek handed the menus to the waitress.
Once the waitress left, Matthew cleared his throat. “My day at work wasn’t bad. I just cleaned patients’ teeth and tightened a kid’s braces. Nothing exciting.” He chuckled and took a sip of red wine. “What about you? You never told me what it is you do.”
“Oh, I don’t work. My parents died several years ago, and they left me a rather large sum of money. I made a smart investment, and so far, it’s working out. I’m financially secure for the foreseeable future.
“Ah, I’m jealous. I’d love to not to ever work again.”
Their meals were delivered, and they ate in silence. Derek took his chance to watch Matthew eating. Strong sweet scents attacked his nose, he sniffed deeply. Mix of strawberry and his pheromones. Matthew clearly became horny just as soon as Derek slid his right foot toward his. Matthew’s cheeks grew red and avoid making an eye contact to Derek. Grinning, he changed his attention to his salad. Everything in his view turned red and something inside him awoke. Squeezing his eyes shut, breathing slowly, and his breath ceased the minute he heard his inner voice. He’s horny and smells delicious, it growled.
Shut up, Derek mentally shouted back at that inner voice. He shook his head, and his vision was back to normal. Colors and all. It wasn’t his demon eyes looking up at Matthew’s puzzled face. “Excuse me. Nature calls.” Derek walked away before Matthew could respond. Derek was pissed. It had been four dates without even a peep. It wasn’t until things had become more personal between him and Matthew that the inner voice had decided to speak up. Derek locked the door behind him in the restroom, and then his legs gave out. His muscles twitched, his body shook, and his head might as well be splitting open as the demon he valiantly fought took control of his limbs.
“About the fucking time. I’m back!” the demonic voice crackled.
Derek screamed in the demon’s head. You can’t do this. Not Matthew! Please, I
beg you. I’ll do anything as long as you don’t touch Matthew. Please!
Did the demon keep his promise to Derek? The answer is in “The Dark Revelation”. You can find this story along with four other erotic horror shorts at Storm Moon Press’s book store: Click HERE.
Zach Sweets is an army brat originally from El Paso, TX. He now resides in Arizona, where he moved to start a new adventure with his partner and dog. Zach writes as often as he can and likes to push himself with writing challenges. Joining the M/M Romance group on Goodreads.com has immensely boosted his motivation to become a successful Deaf author, writing about man to man love, with some horror thrown in for good measure. His latest short story, “The Dark Revelation”, is now available in Storm Moon Press’ Queer Fear anthology. Zach can be found on Twitter @ZachSweets.
