Moon Shadow

1

"Vanas differ from other demons," I said with half a shrug. "But what do I know? I'm just a con woman, right?"

"Yes, you are."

I gasped, placing my hand on my chest. The nerve on the bastard. Mxiu!

A vana was a soul that had escaped damnation and hitched a ride in a human's body, acting like a parasite while it fed on its host's soul before jumping to another.

Faith magic didn't work on vanas because they had already faced judgment. Someone—or something—was freeing them from a life of burning, and I had no clue who it was.

Mama Joni came close to me and whispered. "Please go help my son. This man can't do it, but he's too proud to admit it."

"Alright." I nodded at her.

"The magic of God is more powerful than anything in this world. If it didn't work on the demon, then nothing will," Pastor Hans said as I walked past him.

Sometimes, I believed the clergy was cursed with stupidity. All of them. There was no way they should have been this stubborn to facts. No way. I nearly shoved my foot down his throat to shut him up. But sadly, that wouldn't have helped. If I wanted to teach him a lesson by shitting on his fragile ego, then I had to show off. People—Me—called me the best occult detective in the world for a reason.

A narrow hallway filled with children's toys stood between the kitchen, Joni's room, living room, and entrance to the house. Entering Joni's room, I found him lying on his bed. The room's tidiness took me by surprise. My brothers had given me the impression boys' rooms were supposed to be like a dumpster truck.

A small table to the right side of the bed had candles on it, their honey scent filling the room. A wooden closet with a mirror on its door stood to the left, and next to it was a basket full of folded clothes.

A breeze came through the open window to the right, blowing loose strands of my hair on my face. I tucked them behind my ears and inhaled—the night air always smelled good.

Staring at Joni's milky-white eyes, I hadn't known he was this far gone. Mama Joni had said her son started acting weird after coming home from buying groceries. He could move objects without touching them and had an unnaturally deep voice, which he used to threaten her life.

After realizing a demon possessed her son, Mama Joni struck him on the head with a frying pan, then called Pastor Hans—who proved useless—before needing my services.

By my estimation, the vana had possessed Joni in the last eight to ten hours. But the thing was, it should have taken at least a day for his eyes to change to milky-white.

Vanas didn't work this fast.

Something was wrong.

Sitting beside Joni, I closed my left hand into a fist, activating my moon magic. A surge of energy increased within, like someone was slowly turning up the volume, making me clench my jaw. When it was at maximum capacity, my body hummed with raw power.

Moon magic was intoxicating, like that old boyfriend you couldn't stop going back to no matter how much of a fuck boy he was.

In the wrong hands, it could do a lot of damage.

Sadly, a lot of sorcerers thought I was the "wrong hands".

"Your tattoos are glowing," Pastor Hans said.

I always got weird glances from people because of the white tattoos all over my body. Tattoos weren't a common thing in Tanzania. So for someone to have white ones was blasphemy—especially in the eyes of the religious zealots. But I had no say in the matter; they came with the moon magic.