by N. P. Martin
What really threw me, though, was the fact that some other me was standing staring…at me. At first, I thought I was hallucinating, as my mind struggled to right itself. But the other me was smiling, his eyes were glowing red. He also wore the same dark clothes as me, right down to the dark green trench coat. It was me all right, but a much more evil version of me.
"That’s right," other me said. "You are looking at yourself. Or rather, at a representation of me, the demon who possessed you. Who still possesses you."
A rush of pure anger hit me, and instinctively I went to use my magic on the other me, but as I did, a great pain went through my whole body, and I tensed as if being electrocuted, before falling to my knees.
Evil Creed came walking toward me. "Make no mistake, I still very much own your body. What you see here, this form in front of you that reflects your own, it is just a mirage for your benefit. Only you can see it, for the most part. I just thought it might be a helpful way for us to communicate. So you can put a face to the voice, in a way."
I shook my head as the pain dispersed, and I got back to my feet. "As handsome a devil as I am, you couldn’t have chosen a different avatar?" I said. "Like maybe Jenna Jameson?"
Evil Creed shook his head. "I don’t know who that is."
"She’s a porn star."
"Ah, I see." He smiled, or rather sneered at me. I never realized I could look so damn evil. "No, Creed, as you like to be called. This particular form seems more fitting to me, and a lot more fun. You should see your face. Oh wait...you can." He chuckled to himself like it was all one big game to him, which it probably was.
"Fuck you."
"Now, now. No need for hostilities. You should be thanking me for releasing you at this time. Or would you rather I take you over completely again?" His eyes flashed red. "I can do so in an instant, believe me."
I shook my head. "What do you want from me?" I asked wearily, unable to believe that I was once again trapped in a situation that wasn’t of my own making. After everything I had been through recently, I thought I was due at least some respite from the madness. But apparently not. Apparently the multiverse thought I was due a bit more, because you know, the multiverse is an uncaring cunt. Ligotti is right about that much, I can tell you from experience.
The demon sat down in a chair by the large window that looked out over the financial district. He had a drink in his hand that I didn’t see him pour. "You’re just a vessel, a meatsuit to be abused, until it is worn out," he said.
I went to the minibar and found a small bottle of whiskey, which I cracked open and drank all at once, hoping the alcohol would calm my nerves. "That’s it? That’s all I am to you? Some cheap suit off the sale rack? Nothing more?"
The demon looked confused for a second. Then he smiled and nodded. "Ah yes, I see. You are referring to the fact that I marked you years ago."
"Yes, and the fact that you slaughtered my fucking family." I gritted my teeth against the fact that the demon responsible was now in the same room as me again—was now in me, for fucks sake. "Why did you do it?"
His red eyes glowered at me. It was difficult to even look at him, given that I was also looking at myself. "Because that’s the kind of being I am. A demon, as you humans like to call us. And also because your wretched father planned to trap and destroy me after he had drained me of all my power."
I frowned, unable to remember my father ever mentioning that he had planned on trapping the demon. I was under the impression that a deal had been made between them. "That’s news to me."
"Of course it is."
"But that still doesn’t explain why you had to kill the others. They were innocents, only there because my father forced us to be there." I shook my head. "You didn’t have to kill them…"
The demon laughed in a slightly deeper voice than mine. "Careful, Creed. You are beginning to sound naive, which I know you are not. Surely you know how things work with us by now? We don’t fuck around. Human lives mean nothing to us."
Don’t I know it, I thought.
"So you left me alive just so you could come back and possess me?"
"Yes. I like to mark certain humans for future use. For when I come here on vacation."
"Vacation? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me." I grabbed another mini bottle of whiskey and cracked it open.
"Not at all. Even demons need a break sometimes."
He was smiling, so I couldn’t tell if he was serious or just fucking with me. Not that it mattered. All that mattered to me was getting rid of the bastard so I could go back to my life. Speaking of which, Leona was probably out of her mind with worry, no doubt wondering where the hell I was, not to mention angry as fuck, knowing her. She probably also had people scouring the city looking for me. Given the sometimes very public acts of carnage perpetrated by the demon in my body, I was shocked Leona wasn’t able to locate me. I guessed the demon was good at not being found.
"The answer is yes," he said. "I, or rather you, was approached on several occasions by people claiming they knew you. I simply killed them. You probably don’t remember. I can read your every thought, by the way, just so you know." A wicked smile crept over his face.
My stomach churned as panic struck me. "Leona. Did you..." I couldn’t even say the words.
"Kill her?" The demon shook his head casually. "No, though I would have had I come across her."
I let out a sigh of relief, though I still felt sick at the thought of the demon killing Leona. Of me killing her. I sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at Evil Creed. "Are you done with me and your little vacation now?" I asked hopefully. "I mean, you’ve had your fill, right?"
The demon snorted. "I’m nowhere near done," he said. "In fact, I’m just getting started."
Jesus Christ...
"So you plan on using my body to kill more people, is that it?"
"If it tickles my fancy." He smiled. "My fancy is always tickled."
I probably would’ve laughed at that had I not felt so sick. Instead, I shook my head at him. "And when you’re done?"
"Then I kill you and move on."
The casualness of the statement made it obvious he wasn’t lying. "So I’m fucked."
"Maybe not completely fucked."
"What the hell does that mean?"
Evil Creed stood up and walked towards me, leaving his empty glass on a table. "It means two things. Firstly, despite what you think, I don’t just possess you humans so I can kill other humans, as much as I enjoy doing that. No, I’m also interested in some of you, the kind of human’s you are, the lives you lead here, however petty and inconsequential they are most of the time. As I said, it’s a break from the norm. That’s why I marked you all those years ago when you were still a boy." His eyes narrowed, and he looked at me kinda weirdly, as if perhaps I amused or intrigued him on some level. "I must say, you do interest me, Creed. You’ve grown up to be quite powerful for a human. You destroyed your demonized father, for instance. You also managed to banish that old goat Baal to Dimension X. You even managed to save this world from a madman bent on destroying it. You get shit done, Creed. I can respect that."
"So you’re a Creed fanboy now, is that what you’re saying? You just want to hang and be friends?"
Evil Creed’s eyes flashed a deeper red than before. "I don’t like your tone. I’m trying to give you a chance here, which you clearly don’t appreciate."
I held my hands up and nodded. "All right, I apologize, before you go treating me like a meatpuppet again to prove your point. What’s the second thing you meant?"
Evil Creed kept staring with glowing red eyes for another moment, as if he was contemplating ripping me apart just to be done with me. Then he shook his head, and his eyes went back to normal again, which is to say, less red. "The second thing is that I know you are planning on finding the rest of your family. You know where they are, yes?"
For a second, I wondered how the hell he knew that. Then I remembered he could read my mind. "Yes, I do."
"Good, because I would like to know how they escaped from my domain in the Underworld. No soul escapes from my domain. Ever."
"And yet my family did."
"Yes, somehow. I should like to speak with your mother again, to find out how she managed it. How they all managed it."
"Then what? You take them back to the Underworld with you?" I shook my head. "I won’t allow that to happen. You might as well kill me now."
"Answers will be enough."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"What choice do you have? You either take me along, or I take your soul to the Underworld after I’ve used up your body, which won’t take as long as you think."
I sat and thought for a moment. He was right. I didn’t have a choice. "Okay," I said. "But there has to be ground rules."
"Rules?" He looked disgusted. "I don’t do rules. I do what I want."
"If you want answers, there has to be rules. It’s the only way this is going to work."
Sighing, he shook his head melodramatically. "Fine, let’s hear them then. What are your silly rules?"
"For a start, you can’t control me all the time," I said. "You can ride along, but I’m in control."
"So when do I get to have fun, hmm?" He shook his head. "No can do."
My fingers gripped the edge of the bed and squeezed. "Then we compromise."
"Compromise? A hateful word if ever there was one. How?"
"You only get to use my body some of the time."
"Oh really? When?"
"I don’t know."
"Twelve hours each."
"Twelve hours? That’s..."
"Fair is what it is, and I’m not known for being fair, so take it or leave it."
I stared back at the demon and saw he wasn’t going to compromise any further. Like it or not, I would have to give myself over to him for a full twelve hours each day. I wondered if Dr. Jekyll was this perturbed at giving half of his life over to Mr. Hyde. At least Jekyll didn’t remember anything Hyde had done. I wished I could say the same about—"What do I even call you?"
The demon smiled. "You can call me Max."
"Max?" I said back, thinking things couldn’t get any more surreal.
"Yes, Max will do. Your human tongue won’t allow me to say my real name. So Max it is. I like Max."
"All right then, Max. I guess we have a deal."
"Good," Max said. "I’m glad to hear it. This should prove to be fun, don’t you think?"
"Oh, definitely, yeah. A whole load of fun indeed."
"That’s very sarcastic of you to say so."
I stood up. "There’s one other thing."
Max’s eyes narrowed. "What?"
"As you’ve been riding around in me for over a week, I need my body back so I can sort out the undoubted devastation you’ve left in your wake."
Max snorted. "Good luck with that."
"I need forty-eight hours."
"Two whole days?" He stood for a moment as he considered my offer. "Fine, but just remember, Creed. I’ll always be inside you watching your every move. Any attempt to screw me, such as attempting to exorcise me, will be met with severe punishment. Do you understand?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"Good," he said, just before his Evil Creed avatar disappeared. "Your time starts now."
2
Unfriendly Welcomes
Once Max had disappeared, I immediately teleported out of the hotel room in the Highlands to my Sanctum in Freetown. I reappeared in the living room, half expecting to see Leona sitting in there fraught with worry, or more likely, seething with anger at my unexplained and very sudden disappearance. But Leona wasn’t in the living room. Neither was she to be found anywhere else in the Sanctum.
Blaze was there, though. He walked in from the kitchen and paused a few feet from me, which wasn’t like him, because he normally came to me so I could greet him with a hug. But he kept his distance this time, and I knew why. "Relax, Blaze," I said. "It’s me."
Blaze’s yellow eyes seemed to narrow as his mouth curled into a snarl, and he started growling at me. Obviously, he could sense the demon in me. Blaze hated demons, especially after Baal and Demon Black. His snarl got nastier as his heckles raised, and thin lines of fire began to break out all over his body.
Shit, is he going to go for me here?
"Blaze, seriously," I said holding my hands up to try and calm him. "It’s really me. I know you can sense the demon that’s inside me, but you have nothing to worry about. I have it under control."
Yeah right.
Blaze continued to growl and snarl as he bared his large teeth at me. He wasn’t backing down, despite what I said.
Then he did something I thought he would never do. He attacked me. He came running at me like I had seen him run at countless monsters before. But I was no monster, or at least that’s what I told myself. The recent string of dead bodies left behind in my wake told a different story.
A sadness washed over me as Blaze, my faithful companion for the last fifteen years, bounded across the wood floor in attack mode, heading straight for me. But before he could reach me and start tearing at me his teeth, and burning me with his elemental fire, I teleported out of there.
I landed outside on the steps leading up to the Sanctum, and stood there for a moment shaking my head in dismay, unable to believe that my best friend was about to attack, and possibly kill me.
"Don’t take it personally," I heard a voice say then. A voice in my head that sounded just like mine only deeper and snarkier. Max the demon’s voice. "The mutt was going for me, not you."
"Christ," I said. "Am I going to have to put up with your fucking running commentary in there on top of everything else?"
"You know you are talking out loud? You don’t have to, unless you want to seem insane. Just think your reply, and I will hear you."
"Fuck you. Did you catch that thought?"
"Loud and clear." He hit me with a burst of pain in my head then, that made me slap both hands to my skull in case it exploded. "Did you catch that one?"
Gritting my teeth against the residual pain, I snarled out loud, "That was uncalled for."
"So was being rude to me."
"Rude? Are you fucking kidding me? You’re a demon. You’re not supposed to take offense."
"I know, I’m just fucking with you." His laugh chilled my blood. "This is all good fun, isn’t it, Creed? I’m glad I chose you to possess this time."
I shook my head. "Yeah, I’m real fucking glad as well. Wanna be BFF’s?"
Max went silent for a second. "What is BFF’s?"
"Christ. Forget it."
"Ah, I see. You were being sarcastic."
"What the fuck do you think?"
"What is a BFF anyway? A Big Fucking Fish? A Bereaved Female Ferret? A Battered Femoral--"
"Oh fuck, enough!" I shouted. "God! It’s a fucking Best Friend Forever, all right? Now just shut the fuck up and let me fucking think. Please!"
Max started tittering to himself. "Best Friends Forever," he said. "That’s amusing, Creed...and strangely sickening."
"Someone fucking shoot me now," I implored as I turned around slowly to face the street.
Then froze.
In front of me on the street was a group of heavily armed men. Some in dark suits, others in tactical gear. "Get down on the fucking ground!" one of the men in a dark suit said as he advanced towards the steps aiming a handgun at me.
Instinctively, I raised my hands in the air. "I think you’re making a mistake…"
"Get down on the ground and put your hands behind your head!" the dark suited agent bellowed again, this time adding, "If you don’t comply, we will be forced to shoot you. Do it now!"
Holy fuck. Can this hellish week get any worse?
"I’m willing to bet that it will," Max said cheerfully, as if he was standing right beside me. Frankly, I was surprised his Evil Creed avatar hadn’t made another appearance, just to fuck with my head further.
> "I’m sure you are," I muttered back silently at the same time as deciding it was time to teleport to somewhere that didn’t have men pointing guns at me. Only, when I went to use my magic, it didn’t work. Nothing happened. "What the fuck?"
"Last chance, Creed!" the gunman shouted.
He said my name. He has to be from Division.
"Division?" Max said. "What’s that?"
"Shut up. You caused this. You’re the reason they’re even here and about to fucking shoot me."
"I could wipe them all out in seconds…"
"No! Don’t do that. You’ll just make things worse."
"I know," Max said gleefully.
"Please, listen to me--"
Max started laughing. "You’re so easy, Creed. All your kind is. I’m not going to miss the chance to see you squirm under questioning as you try to explain the blood trail you left behind."
"That you fucking left behind!"
"Same difference."
"No, it’s fucking not the same!"
"I’M ABOUT TO FUCKING SHOOT YOU, CREED!" the Division agent balled.
"All right!" I shouted. "I’m complying!"
I dropped down to my knees as the lead agent came running up and slammed me face first into the ground. In seconds, I was surrounded by a forest of legs in heavy combat boots, some of which ended up kicking me in painful places.
"They’re a rough lot, aren’t they?" Max said as if he was watching the whole scene play out on TV.
Ignoring the demon inside me, I said to whoever would listen, "What’s this about? Did Brentwood send you?"
I was cuffed and hauled to my feet before I got an answer from the heavily built blonde haired agent who arrested me. "Yeah, motherfucker, he did."
"Why?"