When any of us show up in this world, they called us demons or fallen angels. Those names will do. Without bodies we can’t accomplish much. Even the strongest amongst us couldn’t do much except harass mortals who couldn’t even remember us. They are always there, whispering, encouraging evil.

I was never one for whispering.

I hated the Fallen who could not admit that they had been wrong. Most disembodied are weak and easy to banish back to Hell. Some are more persistent. They desire to be real more than anything. The jealous will do anything to possess a body of their own.

There’s always some dumb mortal who’ll listen to the whispers and open the door to let them in. But human bodies were never intended to hold the Fallen. They must compete against a mortal spirit that was tethered there first. Unless their soul is completely rotten, mortals will begin to fight back eventually, so demons are relatively easy to banish back to the dark.

What demons really want is a body of their own. If you leave a perfectly good body around empty then something will come and live in it.

There are lots of bodies that will do to live in. Several of the creatures that humans consider monsters are really the Fallen inhabiting some physical form. The greater the spirit, the better the body must be to contain it. Pathetic little imps will live in pigs if given the chance. A warrior or a prince of the Fallen requires a worthy vessel, golems, oni, even some forms of undead will do. Yet even after I’d found a breach in the wall of Hell that led me to the mortal world, there was nothing here capable of holding me.

I could not really understand humans, so I observed them. I also watched my kind. I grew to hate them both even more. I hated the Loyal for throwing away their precious gifts. I hated the Fallen for our stupid pride. I was furious at the Creator because He had been right all along, and I had been stupid, but He would no longer hear my words. So I wandered the Earth, angry.

Then one day I found something.

* * *

Kurst was rather enjoying himself.

“Did you really think it would be that easy, Franks?” he asked as he ducked under a swing that whistled through the air where his face had been. “You know the quality of body that I require. You should, since you stole my first one and ruined my second.”