The Corruption Within

by Ty Griffin

  The wings—my wings, I guess, or Veikr’s wings?—protruded through the wall behind me as if it were not there. They had no physical impact on the wall, and even though the majority of each were on the other side, I could still see them clearly.

  I heard a bubbling, fizzing sound and looked to see the monster liquefy into a puddle of flesh and carapace. A moment later the puddle had boiled away into a mist of sulfurous stench, and was gone. The glimmering sword remained on the ground for a moment or two before it vanished in a blink of shimmering red light.

  “Veikr,” I started, “what the hell just happened?”

  “That was AWESOME!” he yelled.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Did you see that? I just killed that thing! I shoved my sword right through its head or neck or chest … however its anatomy works. I absolutely demolished that thing, and saved your ass in the process, by the way!”

  “Wait, what?!” I demanded. “You did what? I’m the one who fought that thing! I punched it in the mouth, cut off its leg, and stabbed it through its head!”

  “Well, yeah,” Veikr said, his voice full of condescension. “Let’s ignore the fact that you laid there like a terrified puppy while the thing impaled itself on the sword. Who gave you the power to do anything? And protected you from its attacks? And gave you the sword?”

  “Uh …” I hesitated. “I’m guessing that was you?”

  “Of course it was me, Vessel! I saved your life and gave you the power to kill that thing! And it was freaking awesome!”

  “Awesome?” I yelled. “I almost died!”

  “But you didn’t. And you’re welcome,” he said smugly.

  “I’m welcome?” I yelled. “That thing almost killed me! I thought you were supposed to give me power, real power. All you’ve done is allowed me to survive, and barely that. So far you’ve tried to make me do stupid shit to people, help me run a little faster, and give me a sword for a monster to impale itself on! What kind of lame-ass power is that?”

  “We should finish this conversation later, Vessel,” he said, his voice calm and cool.

  “No, dammit. You’ve been in my head for less than a day, and I am already tired of you trying to tell me what to do. We are going to have this conversation right now!”

  “Very well, Vessel, if that is what you would like. I feel that I should warn you, though, that the crowd forming sees you only yelling at yourself.”

  I turned and looked at the street behind me. Several people had stopped and were staring with that teeth-sucking grimace people do when they see an elaborate, public marriage proposal end in rejection.

  “Dammit,” I mumbled. “We will continue this later.”

  “Indeed,” Veikr said.

  Red faced and watery-eyed with embarrassment, I made my way toward my bike, which happened to be lying on the ground a few feet from the gathering crowd. I saw a look of panic cross the faces in the crowd and realized with a jolt that I had no idea if they saw an insane lumberjack wannabe or some sinister, bat-winged monstrosity. I looked down and saw with relief that my body had returned to its regular appearance without me even knowing. As much of a relief as that was, it meant that the panic I saw in the crowd was caused only by my own mundane appearance. This was further confirmed when the onlookers quickly dispersed as I drew nearer.

  I picked up my bike, relieved to not find any significant damage, and started my trek back to Gabe’s. The rest of the ride back to the bar was routine. Of course, most things seemed uneventful in comparison to barely avoiding being eaten by some bastardized spider-leech monster.

  I rode to the back of the bar and leaned my bike against a wall in the alley. Then I walked around through the front door, waved at Gabe as I passed, and went into the back room. I opened the back fire door, pulled my bike into the back room, and leaned it against a shelf full of dry goods.

  I was about to head upstairs to take another shower when Gabe walked in and, leaning against the door jamb, said, “Feelin’ better, kid? You were gone for a good while to have just been going to make an apology.” His voice was cool and carried an undertone of obvious frustration.

  It took me a second to remember what he was talking about. A lot had already happened that day, especially considering it wasn’t quite noon yet. Oh, crap. I had forgotten to come up with an excuse for being gone so long. My mind raced. I couldn’t tell Gabe I had gone to talk to the cops about a string of attacks I thought he might have committed and framed one of his customers for. And I was pretty sure I shouldn’t tell him I had been attacked by some kind of monster on my way back.

  “Oh yeah, I had to go take care of something.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t say anything. It was obvious he was waiting for me to answer the unspoken question.

  “Careful,” Veikr warned in a deep growl.

  I gestured at my rumpled, foul-smelling clothes. Apparently when a demon spurts blood all over you, the smell does not evaporate along with the rest of the physical evidence. “Gabe, can I tell you about it in a few minutes?” I tried to give him my best sheepish look. “I fell off my bike into a puddle outside a Chinese restaurant. I don’t know what all was in the water, but I smell like death.”

  Gabe stared at me for an uncomfortably long second. I tried to maintain eye contact and show confidence, but I broke first. “Yeah, I could smell you all the way from the bar,” Gabe said. “Go on and take your shower.”

  “Thanks, Gabe,” I said, already moving toward the stairs to my apartment.

  “You know,” he said as I opened the door, “that smell is almost familiar. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

  My heart felt like it was going to leap up through my throat and out of my mouth. If Gabe was as dangerous as Veikr seemed to think he was, then he likely had some experience killing smaller spirits, like I just had. Did he already know that I was a vessel? Was he setting me up before he attacked me? Was he playing his own kind of cat-and-mouse game, just like the leech monster had done?

  I tried to sound disinterested as I said over my shoulder, “Well, don’t tell me if you figure it out. I don’t think I want to know.” I shut the door behind me and ran upstairs to the shower.

  Twenty minutes later I was showered, again, and wearing clean clothes, again. I had on my last clean pair of jeans as well as my last clean flannel shirt. I moved some bar towels from the washer into the dryer and tossed all my filthy clothes into the machine in a single load. I set both machines running and headed back downstairs.

  I could sense a kind of buzzing nervousness from Veikr the entire time, but he didn’t say anything. I think he knew I was trying to figure out what I was going to say to Gabe. At the bottom of the stairs, I looked at my bike leaning against the rack. I briefly considered throwing all my belongings into a trash bag, pushing my bike through the back door, and running away to god knows where.

  My legs were trembling at the idea of having to continue hiding everything from Gabe, and a cold, prickly sweat was making my skin crawl. I felt like I had fallen into a pit of confusing and overwhelming emotions. Every time I turned around, I found another player in the game tossing a shovelful of dirt onto my head.

  Barnett wanting information on Gabe: dirt.

  The cops throwing suspicion all over the place: dirt.

  Gabe attacking some dude in a dark alley: dirt.

  Gabe hiding pictures of victims in his demon dungeon: dirt.

  Veikr: dirt.

  Leech monster: dirt.

  Kayla being attacked: dirt.

  Some unknown monster demanding to know about the tutuvar: dirt.

  And the thing that started it all: the shadowy thing attacking Paul. Everywhere I turned, more and more dirt was being dumped on me. I felt like I was buried up to my neck, the weight pinning my arms and legs and making it increasingly difficult to breathe.

  I looked at my bike, debating what I was going to do. I wasn’t an especially brave man, nor had I ever been particularly concerned w
ith doing the right thing. Hell, right then I had no idea what the right thing would be.

  Veikr must have guessed what I was thinking. “We could do it, Vessel,” he said. “We could run, find a new place to make our mark. This place is dangerous. There are many powerful forces at work. We could find a new place to make our home, a place ripe for the taking. A place where we could more easily grow our strength and influence.”

  I didn’t really understand what he meant by “strength and influence,” but the idea appealed to me on a base level. I mean, who doesn’t want to be strong and powerful? And who wants to wade around the muck of sinister plots and concealed motivations?

  But there was something about the situation I could not let go of. It was a splinter buried deep in my skin, gnawing at me, festering, demanding my attention until I could work it out. I had to find a way to reconcile the gracious old man that was Gabe the barkeep with skulking, demonic, woman abuser that wandered the streets after closing.

  And there was Kayla, who had become my friend. Who had followed my lead to look into Gabe and had, in all likelihood, gotten hurt because of it. And what was I doing while she was getting hurt? Passed out on the floor of the bar drunk. I had to check on Kayla. I had to make sure she was all right.

  “No,” I said. “I’m not running away. At least not yet. I have to make sure Kayla is all right, and I’m going to find out the truth about Gabe.”

  “Even if it kills you?” Veikr asked.

  “What?”

  “Usually when humans make a declaration like that, they follow it with ‘even if it kills me.’ I wonder if you are willing to risk your life for this? Because that is what you are doing. I am telling you that man is dangerous—in a way you cannot even imagine.”

  I started to respond, but Veikr interrupted. “And before you bring up the spirit you already fought, let me put it in perspective for you. That spirit was a bee sting. The one inhabiting your barkeeping friend is a tiger’s claw.”

  His words staggered me. Not just the magnitude of power he was saying Gabe had, but the blatant confirmation that Gabe did indeed possess a spirit like I did. Or, maybe more accurately, was possessed by a spirit much stronger than mine was.

  After a brief hesitation, I shook my head. “No, Veikr. It doesn’t matter. I’m not just walking away. I am not going to abandon my friend. Besides, I’ve got you, right? If Gabe attacked me, you could help me fight him off, right?”

  “Vessel, there is a possibility you may have miscomprehended the extent of my abilities.”

  “Miscomprehended? You mean that you lied?” I demanded.

  “I did not lie, human. I can indeed make you more powerful that you can be on your own. You have seen evidence of this already. It is not my fault you took that to mean you would become a superhero.”

  “You literally said I would become a superhero!” I snarled.

  “I did …” His tone made it clear he was trying to weasel out of the conversation.

  I threw up my hands in exasperation. “Forget it. We’ll talk about this later. I can’t stand here all day.”

  I could feel Veikr buzzing with frustration inside my chest, but he remained silent. I took a second to compose my thoughts and walked out into the bar to speak with Gabe. I had not come up with a well-planned lie as to where I had been but was hoping he would believe I had been talking with Kayla for hours. Hopefully, he wouldn’t ask a lot of questions, or if he did, hopefully my brain began working quicker than it had been.

  The dining area was empty. I walked to the bar and leaned against it, waiting for Gabe to look up from the glasses he was drying. When he did finally look up, he continued wiping the same glass while staring at me in controlled frustration.

  “Gabe, I—”

  “This has not been a good day for you, kid,” he interrupted. “You steal my liquor, make a mess in my bar, and then disappear for hours. You went across the street to talk to a cute girl, I get it. But I thought you would come back here fairly quickly to try to make things right.”

  “I know. I’m s—”

  He interrupted me again. “I don’t need an apology. I need you here to do your damn job. If you’re going to work for me, you have to be willing to actually work.”

  Movement outside the window, across the street at Painted by Genevieve caught my attention. Genevieve had stepped outside and was closing the door behind her. Where was she going? If she were going to check on Kayla after hearing about her being attacked, this might be my chance to find out where Kayla was.

  Then I realized Gabe was still talking. “It’s not just the stupid mistakes with you, either. You’re getting into something. You came back the other day all busted up saying you were attacked. Attacked but not mugged. Okay, fine. But today you’ve got scrapes all over your face, god knows what all over your clothes, and you’re moving as stiff as a boxer after a ten-round fight.”

  Across the street, Genevieve had pulled out her keys and locked the studio door. She was planning on being gone for a while. She turned and started walking downtown. She left her gold, environmentally friendly hybrid parked in its usual spot, so if she was going to see Kayla she had to be close, likely at home and not the hospital, which was several miles away. I could feel my window to find Kayla slipping away, and my leg started twitching with nervous energy.

  “You’ve gotten into something you don’t want me to know about,” Gabe continued. “That is obvious. I’ve seen Barnett’s goons lurking about more than usual. Are you getting mixed up with him?”

  The accusation cut through my thoughts. “Wh-what?” I stammered. “No, I’m not working with Barnett.”

  My guilt must have been evident on my face, because disbelief was evident on Gabe’s. “Now is not the time to lie to me.” His voice was hard and just short of threatening, his face cold and tight. The only time I had seen Gabe look so harsh was when he was pinning the man in the alley. He put his hands on the bar and leaned toward me. I was a few inches taller than Gabe, but he had me by a few pounds. Even if he didn’t, the look on his face would have been intimidating. “What did you tell him about me?” he demanded.

  His eyes narrowed into angry slits, and I could see a pulsing motion in his jaw, just below his ears, from clenching his teeth. I had seen several terrifying things in the short time I had worked at Gabe’s, but his transformation from kindly, old barkeep into the menacing figure before me might have been the worst. I put my hands up in a placating gesture and took a couple steps back.

  “Gabe,” I pleaded. From the corner of my eye, I saw Genevieve had made it past the last of the large windows down the front of the restaurant and was almost out of sight. “Nothing, I haven’t said—”

  “Don’t lie to me!” Gabe shouted, and a faint blue light began pulsing beneath his hands.

  I panicked. Or Veikr panicked. Well, okay, we both panicked. And I ran. In a few quick steps, I was out the door and onto the sidewalk, Gabe yelling behind me. I felt the heat of Veikr’s presence in my legs allowing me to move quicker as I ran two blocks at a full sprint. I rounded the corner at an intersection and leaned my back against the building, my breath coming in short, struggling pants of the out-of-shape. I poked my head around the corner and was relieved to see Gabe had not followed me.

  “Holy shit,” I mumbled.

  “I told you he was a bad man,” Veikr said.

  “Holy shit,” I repeated.

  “It is not safe to return there, Vessel. Let us move on and find a new place to begin increasing our power.”

  “Holy shit.”

  The vibrating tension in my chest showed Veikr’s growing frustration. “Vessel, it is time to move on,” he said.

  The command in his voice brought my mind back into sharp focus, allowing me to remember my half-constructed plan. “Oh, shit,” I said. “Genevieve!”

  “No, Vessel. Forget the annoying old hag. Let us be gone from this place.”

  The vibrating in my chest grew into painful heat and pressure, like the
night before; Veikr’s not-so-subtle reminder of the pain he could cause if I disobeyed him. Within a couple heartbeats, I was doubled over in pain. I have heard people describe a heart attack as feeling like an elephant were sitting on your chest. This felt like the opposite, like there was an elephant inside my chest pushing with all its strength to burst out. Oh, and the elephant was on fire.

  It hurt.

  My immediate reaction was to yield, give up control, and obey whatever Veikr commanded me to do. Anything to make the pain stop. But in a flash of insight, I realized that this was not just a fight for the chance to see Kayla. This had become a battle for control over my own self. If I allowed Veikr to cow me into obedience, it would be the first step down a steep hill toward losing control over my own mind, my ability to make decisions, possibly even my soul. Maybe I had not always made the best decisions, but they were my decisions to make, and I was not going to let someone—or something—take that away from me.

  Through gritted teeth, I said, “No. I am not running away, at least not until I find out what happened to Kayla. You are going to have to kill me, leave me, or come along for the ride.”

  I could feel Veikr’s sadistic glee through my body as he said, “Those are not my only three options. I can always hurt you.”

  The elephant in my chest multiplied into an entire herd of elephants, and I could feel my ribs expanding, connective tissue tearing, bones slowly cracking from the pressure. “Oh, shit,” I moaned as I crumpled to the ground.

  I lay there for several minutes, writhing in agony. Well, it was probably only a few seconds, but it felt like a goddamn eternity. “Veikr, stop!” I pleaded.

  “Are you ready to listen, little human?”

  “Please,” I begged. “Just make it stop.”

  Instantly the pain was gone. Just gone, without a trace, as if it had never been there. “You are ready to obey then, Vessel?” The evil bastard asked. Slowly I pushed myself up off the ground, brushing dirt and gravel off as I got to my feet. An elderly couple gave me a suspicious glance as they walked by. I gave them a curt nod and walked in the opposite direction.