by Brian Rella
“Steve,” she whispered.
He stopped and turned to her, his eyes narrow, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Yeah?” he said.
“Ful’ghgta! Rah’fghla. Sjftar agj’kelft Arraziel!” she said.
Steve just stared at her, a stupefied look on his face. “What?” he said.
She didn’t reply, but watched as the shadows in the room began to crawl along the walls and gather at the corner of her room. She smiled and Steve cocked his head at her. “What the fuck are you smiling at?”
She began to laugh and Steve’s face changed. Something about her laugh must have shocked him. Then she saw him notice what she had seen growing in the corner of her room. Drunk and clumsy, he shrank back and fell to the ground as the shadows of the room took form and towered over him.
Arraziel filled the room. He had a ram’s head, black as the night and his eyes glowed with orange-yellow fire as he took shape. He gnashed his sharp teeth as his body formed above an inferno, his black skin glowing red, orange, and yellow from the blaze. Black fur covered his legs and he had hooves for feet, but the torso and arms of a man. She glanced at Steve and reveled in the terror she saw on his face. She turned back to the demon and Arraziel locked eyes with hers. Arraziel looked tranquil standing there, but did nothing. He was seemingly waiting for something. What is it waiting for?
“What the fuck!?” Steve yelled.
Jessie turned to Steve. “Shut your mouth!” she yelled at him. The demon turned to Steve and brought its finger to its mouth. Jessie watched as Steve’s lips merged and his mouth disappeared. The demon turned back to Jessie, waiting again, as Steve’s eyes bulged in horror and his hands went to where his mouth used to be.
What is it doing? Why does it keep looking at me?
Jessie’s newly twisted mind pondered the demon’s behavior and ran through scenarios which all ended extremely badly for the sexual-abuser, Steve. As she shuffled through how she could get Arraziel to exact her revenge, Steve squirmed like a worm in the mud until he finally found his legs and got up, lunging for the door.
“No! Stop!” Jessie said. Arraziel pushed Steve back to the floor and blocked his path to the door. Then he looked once again at Jessie.
It clicked. Arraziel does what I tell him to do. A wicked grimace spread across Jessie’s face.
“Arraziel, seize him,” she said and the demon picked him up by his hair.
Something on Steve’s waist shimmered in the light coming from the hall. His belt. His stupid, redneck, wannabe-urban-cowboy, shitty belt. Jessie had a sadistic idea.
“Fifty lashes with his belt; make sure the buckle makes his flesh scream,” she said, and sneered.
Arraziel gestured to Steve’s belt, and the belt flew from his waist and into the demon’s hand. Arraziel dropped Steve to the floor and kicked him to the corner of the room. Steve flew into the wall and crumpled to the floor. Arraziel began whipping Steve with his own belt, buckle side up. The blows came one after another with no respite. Steve grunted and moaned impotently as the buckle cut into him, tearing him deep to the bone. The lashes rained down all over his body and head, over and over as he tried rolling himself into a ball and covering himself with his arms and legs. Jessie watched, a perverse joy spreading through her, as the demon struck a blow to his head, gashing his eye from his skull, misting blood all over Jessie’s wall.
Jessie did not want to kill him. Killing him was too kind for what this sadistic pedophile was planning to do to her. No, death was a gift he didn’t deserve. He deserved to live.
“Arraziel, enough!” she commanded. The beast stopped mid-swing, looked at her, and nodded. The belt fell to its side and it stared at Jessie, waiting for her next command.
Jessie got off the bed, walked over to Steve, and looked over the man who was almost her stepfather. Her innocence gone, her heart and soul consumed by darkness and hatred, she felt no remorse while looking at the man who had threatened to sexually abuse her and whose daughter had physically abused her. As he mumbled through his throat, trying to speak, his eyes pleading, she didn’t need to hear him. She knew what he wanted: mercy.
“Arraziel, break him, but do not kill him,” she said.
Arraziel’s red eyes narrowed. He picked up Steve by his neck and held him in the air. Then he grabbed Steve’s hips with its other hand and twisted him slowly. Jessie could hear vertebrae crack in Steve’s back as his shrieks muffled through his throat. Arraziel dropped him and Steve passed out before he hit the floor; broken, but not dead, as instructed. Arraziel moved to Jessie’s side, presumably awaiting his next instruction.
Jessie felt a newfound confidence. She was no longer the weak, skinny girl whose almost-stepsister had bullied her and beaten her in her own home. She commanded a powerful demon to do her bidding and was drunk with power. Her mind had fractured and her morality had been warped by her abusers. In her current state she no longer felt compassion, or kindness, or remorse. Those feelings were gone. She was infected by evil and it coursed through her and blackened her soul. As Marie and Jenna burst into the room, Jessie had no objection to unleash horrors upon them.
“Dad!” Marie cried and went to floor next to her shattered father, not even noticing the demon that now stood at the side of Jessie.
“Grab her, Arraziel,” Jessie commanded.
Arraziel’s fur rippled as he snatched her from the floor in his enormous hand and held her while she squirmed and screamed.
Jessie cocked her head at her mother, whose jaw had gone slack and eyes gone wide. She seemed unable to move, she was so terrified. “Her, too,” Jessie said, motioning to Jenna. Arraziel’s eyes gleamed as he took her in his other hand.
Jessie’s eyes narrowed and she scowled as she walked calmly in front of the three of them. Marie was screaming like a banshee. Jenna looked sober for the first time in a long while as she whimpered and struggled to breathe in the demon’s grasp.
“Shut up, bitch!” Jessie shouted, and slapped Marie across the face. “Another word and I will end you.” She glanced at her mother with a sinister look. Both women got quiet. Jessie locked eyes with Marie.
“What to do with you, hmm?” she said. “So many possibilities for you. So many choices.” Jessie tapped her chin with her finger. “It must have been hard for you, Marie, growing up with that for a father,” she said, pointing to Steve, who was barely breathing on the floor. “I might have sympathized. I might have cared, if you weren’t such a disparaging bitch to me!” She punched Marie hard in the face. Marie’s head jerked back and blood trickled from her nose.
“Go ahead.” Marie’s voice sounded like the bleat of a goat. “Kill me, then.”
Jessie smirked and raised one eyebrow, “Oh no, little piggy. Death is too good for you, just like your father. You’ll spend the rest of your days as the animal you are. Like the pig that you are. Arraziel, turn this one into a big…FAT…PIG!”
Arraziel dropped Marie to the floor and placed his hand on her head. His black hand glowed red and she immediately started to change. Her hair fell out, her ears moved to the top of her head, and her nose began to take the shape of a snout. Her arms and legs shortened. Her hands and feet became hooves. She burst through her clothes and a little tail fell from her backside.
“Nooooooooo…” she cried, her words trailing off into a squeal. Her transformation complete, she ran out of the room on all fours, squealing.
“Your turn, Jenna,” Jessie said, detached, facing her mother. She had no emotion inside her as she met her mother’s eyes. She only felt hatred for the woman who had birthed her and had kept her in this miserable and abusive home.
“Jessie, please,” Jenna begged. “What has happened to you? What is this?” She was quivering in fear, barely able to pronounce the words.
Dawn began to peek through the curtains. Jessie walked to the window and pulled back the curtain in time to see Marie the pig running into the woods across the street. She turned back to her mother.
“Did you know?” she aske
d. “Did you know what she was doing to me? Did you know what you were forcing me to live with? I want to know, mother. Tell me.”
“Wuh…wuhhh…what do you mean?” her mother stammered.
“Mmmm. So you don’t know? What Marie used to do to me? What Steve was going to do to me?” she asked.
“Jessie,” she sniveled. “Whatever happened, whatever was done, I had no idea. I can make it better, baby. I promise. I can make it better…”
Jessie walked slowly to her mother and stood in front of her. They were eye to eye.
“No, Jenna,” she said, emotionless. “No, you can’t. Marie beat me, all too often. And Steve, the man you were going to marry, the man who you have me live with, was going to rape me. And you let them, mother. You could have had any man you wanted. You’re beautiful. And you chose a bully and rapist as a step-family for your own daughter.”
Her mother sobbed. “I’m sorry, Jessie. I…I had no idea…I’m…so sorry! My baby! Please forgive me…”
Jessie dropped her eyes to the floor and paused. She searched her mind and her heart for a place that still held love and compassion for her mother. There was no place like that left inside of her. She looked up. “It’s too late for that. Arraziel, my mother is too pretty. Fix that.”
“Nooooo! Please! Jessie…” Jenna screamed.
Arraziel lifted Jenna higher, so that she was eye level with the demon. He blew a plume of fire from his mouth and singed her face. She shrieked. Jessie watched as Arraziel put his hand on top of her head and squeezed and pulled his fingers together. Jenna’s hair caught fire as a horn was pulled from her skull. Then the demon took his finger and pushed one of her eyes higher than the other. The demon dropped her to the floor and took her arms in both of his hands. When he let go, her arms were bent awkwardly, her hands claw-like. She wailed in agony as Arraziel stomped one of her legs to a bloody mush under his hoof. He stood back as she moaned and looked to Jessie. Jessie nodded in approval.
“There,” Jessie said, emotionless. “Now you and Steve are perfect for one another.”
She looked to the demon and decided she was finished with him for now. “Arraziel, you may return to your world.”
Arraziel moved toward Jessie and Jessie’s confidence crumbled as the demon bent low and, eyes blazing, looked into her eyes. She felt a pull, a drawing out from within. He’s taking something from me. Jessie gasped as she felt the change inside. Then the demon released her and vanished back into the shadows.
Jessie steadied herself on her dresser as she tried to understand what had just happened. The sun was up now and light came in through her shades and filled the room. When she caught her breath, she looked up and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The person staring back at her was not a fourteen-year-old girl, but rather a woman, possibly in her twenties. Jessie touched her face and watched as the woman in the mirror touched hers. She screamed and ran from her room to the bathroom. She flicked on the light and looked in the mirror. It was the same woman staring back at her. Somehow she had aged several years.
Her expression turned ugly as her crooked mind made a twisted connection. Olga. This is her fault. She will pay…
Her mother and Steve were moaning on the floor of her room. She slammed the door on them to block out the noise—it only annoyed her. She went into her mother’s room and sat at her make-up table, looking her new self over.
Her cheekbones were more pronounced; her hair, fuller and longer. She had her mother’s lips and…she looked at her chest…she had her mother’s curves as well. She no longer looked like the awkward adolescent she was yesterday. She was a woman.
She went into her mother’s bathroom and showered. She dried her hair and brushed it, parting it on the side like her mother did. She found some clothes in her mother’s closet that fit her and tried on a pair of heels and then stood in front of the full-length mirror, examining herself from head to toe. She couldn’t help but smile at her looks. She took a step to leave and stumbled. She wasn’t used to wearing heels. Maybe some flats. She changed her shoes and headed for the front door. On her way out she grabbed her mother’s wide-brimmed hat and a pair of large sunglasses. No one would recognize her now. Not even Olga. She didn’t spare another thought about her mother or Steve as she walked out of the front door.
***
Jessie checked herself in the reflection of the bookshop window one more time and adjusted her hat a little lower before she opened the door. The bell to the bookshop jingled as she opened the door startling her. She was more nervous than she expected.
She walked straight down the first aisle to the cash register and could hear some shuffling of boxes and books in the back as she got closer to the small island with the weird clock behind it. Olga emerged from the backroom with a smile on her face.
“Good morning!” Olga said.
Jessie hesitated the slightest fraction of a second, trying to guess whether Olga recognized her or not. “Good morning,” she said, as calm as she could.
“How can I help you this morning?” Olga asked.
Jessie looked into Olga’s eyes from beneath her glasses, searching them to see if Olga recognized her. She doesn’t. Jessie’s smile broadened. “I was wondering,” she said, “do you have any books on the dark arts?”
Was that a flash of concern in her face?
Olga chuckled. “I don’t get many requests for those types of books in here, miss,” she said. “Was there a particular title you were looking for?”
Jessie removed her glasses and placed them on the counter. She pulled off her hat, tossed her hair back, and locked eyes with Olga. Still don’t recognize me, do you?
“There is, actually,” Jessie said. “It’s called Arraziel. Have you heard of it?”
Jessie watched Olga’s facial expression go from blank, to concerned, to recognition. Olga turned to run, but not before Jessie grabbed her arm and spoke the words to conjure the demon: “Ful’ghgta! Rah’fghla. Sjftar agj’kelft Arraziel!” she said.
The room darkened as the demon took form. Olga, looking terrified, yanked hard on her arm, ripping herself away from Jessie’s grasp with a grunt, and fell to the floor.
“Seize her!” Jessie commanded.
Arraziel obeyed and snatched Olga from the ground, lifting her into the air.
“In the back,” Jessie ordered.
Arraziel took Olga behind the curtains into the back room while Jessie went to the front of the store, turned the sign to closed, locked the door, and pulled the shades.
In the back room, Jessie cracked a crooked smile watching the old woman wriggle, struggling to free herself from the demon’s grip. “You won’t be going anywhere,” Jessie sneered.
Olga stopped her futile attempts at escape and stared Jessie down. “You don’t know what you’re messing with, girl! You have no idea!”
“Tell me,” Jessie said.
Olga cackled. “Fuck you.”
“It’s you that’s fucked, lady,” Jessie said.
“You think your threats scare me? Ha!”
“You will tell me what I wish to know or you will wish you were dead,” Jessie said. “Arraziel, this one is stubborn and I must bend her will. Let’s start with her arm. Twist and bend it until she has something to say.”
Arraziel took Olga’s arm and began twisting and bending it at angles it was not meant to be bent. Olga howled in pain. Jessie heard the bones break in her arm, and smirked as they popped through the skin, spraying blood all over the walls.
“Enough, Arraziel,” she said, and Arraziel stopped. “Now, have you anything to tell me?”
Olga looked ashen as she shook her head no.
“No!” Jessie roared. “Perhaps you need more motivation! Perhaps your knowledge lies just beneath the surface. Let me peel back the layers to see what’s in your head!” Jessie narrowed her eyes and nodded at Arraziel.
Arraziel’s raised his finger to Olga’s forehead. His bicep flexed as his claw-like finger dug under her skin. Je
ssie could see Arraziel’s finger moving underneath Olga’s kinky hair as the demon began pulling and ripping back her scalp, exposing her skull. Olga shrieked.
“Please!” Olga cried. “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you anything you need to know!” Blood tracked down her face and neck in long trails, splattering on the floor.
“Tell me, then,” Jessie said. “What is this demon doing to me? Look at me! Why am I aging?”
Jessie saw the dim light of recognition through the gore of Olga’s face. “The book…you…you didn’t finish reading the book,” she said.
“Tell me!” Jessie said.
“Because…” Olga was gasping. “Because, when you summon the demon, it gives you what you command, but exacts a toll. It gives, but it also takes.”
“What do you mean, it takes?” Jessie asked. “Don’t speak in riddles to me.”
Olga raised her head weakly. “You stupid child. You are aging because the demon sucks your life from you every time you use him to do your will. This is Arraziel’s price.”
“How do I undo it?” she demanded.
“There is no way,” Olga hissed. “Each demon has their own price.”
“What do you mean, each demon?” Jessie asked.
“Arraziel is just one demon of many. Read the book, fool. All your answers are there, and in the others.”
“Others? There are other books? Where are the other books? Show me!”
“Not here,” Olga said. “I have just the one. The others are scattered around the world. Go and find them yourself if you will.”
Jessie smiled and looked at Arraziel. She would find the others. She would have them all and she would rule them all.
“I will,” she said. “Arraziel, crush her.” Then she turned back to Olga.
Arraziel’s fingers made a fist around her waist, and Olga’s eyes bulged. Jessie heard her bones crackle and then a loud squoosh. Arraziel dropped her to the floor. Her body looked like a tube of toothpaste that had been squeezed in the middle.
“Arraziel, return from where you came.” Jessie braced herself for what she knew was coming. The demon moved toward her, its eyes blazing, and sucked more life from Jessie. Then he evaporated into the shadows of the room.