by N. P. Martin
"Jesus," she said looking around in confusion. "What happened? Are you…" Her eyes went to the man still lying on the ground behind me. "Did you do that?"
"I…yeah…sort of…I can’t explain…" I shook my head, my body still buzzing with power. "Let’s just go."
I helped Kasey up and we started to hurry out of the alley. "What the hell just happened?" Kasey asked as we emerged onto the street.
I glanced over my shoulder and looked to the alley, expecting to see the demon still laying there, but he wasn’t.
He was gone.
"I wish to hell I knew…"
2
The place Kasey called home was a tall apartment building that had long since been condemned. In any other part of the city, the building would’ve been torn down straight away, and a new one built in its place. But since this was the Maze—so-called because of its crazily intersecting alleyways and backstreets—abandoned buildings often stayed abandoned. Which was good news for Kasey, because it meant she always had a place to crash that didn’t consist of a cardboard box under an overpass.
Kasey had lived in many squats over the years in different parts of the city. She was once in the foster system like me, but dropped out after a particularly nasty abuse situation. At just twelve years old, Kasey and a few other children in the foster home were forced by the parents to take part in Satanic rituals. During these rituals, Kasey and the other children were repeatedly raped and abused by visiting strangers, as well as by the foster parents. When they weren’t being used in the rituals, Kasey and the other children were kept in the basement, caged like animals. It was only when one of the kids was murdered during one of the Satanic rituals that the cops eventually came calling, and the whole abuse ring was discovered. Once Kasey was freed from her captors, she went off the grid, going to live on the streets instead. The streets are obviously a dangerous place for a twelve year old girl, but Kasey figured it had to be safer than the foster system, which had only let her down and exposed her to all sorts of vile abuse.
Kasey and I met about a year later, when she stepped in and saved me from a gang of girls at my school who decided to bully me for being a "skanky foster kid". Kasey barged into the middle of them like a leather-jacketed Tasmanian Devil, waving a massive switchblade in the girl’s faces, adamant she would use it if the girl’s didn’t fuck off, which of course they did, in swift fashion. We became best friends after that. She was the least pretentious person I knew, and also the most loyal. Kasey would’ve fell on a knife before she would do anything to hurt me. Coming from a background of abuse in the foster system myself, the fact that I could trust her in that regard meant a lot to me. Though in hindsight, I do feel extreme guilt over the way I eventually treated her, and over how much in the dark I kept her when it came to explaining what was really going on with me. It was just at the time, I didn’t feel like I could tell anyone, nor did I want to drag Kasey into something that might end up getting her killed. We do what we think is right at the time, I guess.
The apartment Kasey stayed in was on the third floor of the building. Other people lived there as well, mostly junkies who would appear in the corridors like ghosts from time to time when they had to go out and get their next fix. Although, I couldn’t judge anyone for being a junkie as I was damn near one myself. Hell, I was one. So was Kasey, who had the third floor to herself most of the time.
"I’m still wracking my brain trying to figure out what happened tonight," Kasey said as she pushed a couch against the door, which had no working lock. Then she sat down, puffed her cheeks out and threw her head back onto the couch as if she was beat.
I should’ve been beat as well, given all the partying I’d been doing. It felt like I hadn’t stopped in months, which I hadn’t really. The alcohol and drugs kept the demons away, stopped me from seeing them. They were supposed to anyway, until that demon showed up tonight. My heart was still racing, my mind still clear. The power I’d felt seemed to be mostly gone now, except for a few residual feelings here and there. I tried once or twice to get that power back, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t even sure I wanted it back. As exhilarating as it was, it was also scary.
Who am I kidding? I thought. Of course I want it back. Why wouldn’t I? It saved my damn life tonight, and Kasey’s.
"What happened after I got knocked out?" Kasey asked, her dark eyes struggling to focus on me. I was slightly worried she might have concussion.
"I’m not really sure myself," I replied shaking my head. "Everything just…happened."
"Everything? And how are you still standing? I’m crashing like fuck here…"
"I’m fine."
Kasey stared at me with half-closed eyes, her jagged fringe hanging over one side of her face. "How the fuck did you put that guy down? I just don’t get it."
I sat down on the edge of the windowsill and looked down onto the street below. "I hit him with an iron bar."
"An iron bar? Seriously?" Kasey shook her head as she looked like she was about to visit oblivion for the second time tonight.
I nodded as I went and grabbed a blanket from the end of the couch and draped it over her, just as she laid her head down. "It doesn’t matter," I said in a quiet, soothing voice. "You’re safe now. Go to sleep."
"I love you, Princess," Kasey barely whispered as she fell immediately into a deep sleep.
"I love you too, Kase."
I spent most of the night on the couch next to Kasey, but awake. I couldn’t stop thinking about the incident with the demon, and how it was linked to everything else that had been happening lately. The one thought I couldn’t get out of my mind was something the demon had said to me: You don’t know what you are.
Not even who I am, but what I am. The implications of that were mind-blowing, and also frightening. Was the demon implying I was some sort of supernatural monster like him? Is that why I was suddenly possessed with the ability to see his kind, and also apparently bestowed with some sort of supernatural power? The demon said my scalp would net him considerable esteem, so what did that make me? A demon, like him? Not likely. An enemy of his then, and as such, maybe a force for good, given that demons aren’t?
I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that all of this was in my head either. Maybe I did for a while after my eighteenth birthday, when my sense of reality got flipped upside down. Of course, I thought I was going crazy. Anyone would. But after a while, the new reality started to seem normal, until I came to believe that it probably didn’t matter if I was crazy or not. It didn’t change the fact that shit was happening around me, and to me, that had real world consequences. If nothing else, tonight’s confrontation with the demon proved that beyond all doubt. In trying to kill me, the demon had at least validated my new reality.
He had validated me and whatever I was.
Somehow, I was something other than human. There was no running from that fact now. It was now imperative that I discovered exactly what I was, and where I fitted into the new reality that was steadily opening up around me.
Everything was going to change. Of that, I had no doubt. Whether things would change for the better or for the worst, I didn’t know.
Although all the early signs seemed to be pointing toward the latter.
I waited until Kasey was awake before leaving as I didn’t want to leave her sleeping with the door half-open. When she awoke, she screwed her face up as if she had a massive head ache. I also noticed bruising around her neck and right arm. She no doubt felt like she had been hit by a truck. I made her get up though, so she could barricade the door behind me again. Then I left the building.
It was a chilly October morning outside, and I zipped my green army coat up tight as I began walking toward the bus stop a couple of blocks away. There wasn’t much activity that time of the morning. It was almost peaceful, until that is, I started getting the feeling I was being watched. It was a tingling feeling in the back of my neck that wouldn’t go away, even though I had looked over my shoulder several times and seen
no one. As I stood waiting on the bus, the feeling persisted, and I soon began to wonder if my demon friend was stalking me as part of some revenge plan. But no matter how hard I looked, I saw no one watching me, from near or far. The few people around were all heading to work, their heads down as they grimly trudged along.
On the bus, I was able to relax a little, the tingling sensation in the back of my neck now gone. It had been a strong sensation, and I wondered if my newfound power had made it stronger. Was I now endowed with some sort of spidey sense? If so, I would take it. I mean, why the fuck not, right? To be honest, I was happy enough to take it all: the increased strength and speed; the heightened perceptions; a fighting ability that was somehow innate; and not forgetting the magic light, or whatever it was. It all felt right somehow, and that in itself scared me, for it begged the question:
Where was it all going to lead to?
The bus dropped me in Fairfield, near the house where I lived with my foster mother, and my brother. I can’t say I was looking forward to seeing either of them. They both thought I was going off the rails. Six months ago, all I cared about was going to college to study art. That long-held dream didn’t seem so important now, much to Diane, my foster mother’s, disappointment. So as I approached the modest house, I did so with dread, especially as I’d been out of contact for three straight days. Josh hated when I did that. He said he always had visions of me lying dead in an alley, which I always laughed off as ridiculous. After last night, I didn’t think it so ridiculous anymore.
As I walked to the front gate, something made me stop suddenly. That feeling in the back of my neck had returned, but this time it was accompanied by a hot, urgent feeling in my gut. It felt like warning signals going off inside me. Turning to look down the street, I saw a figure standing on the corner. A man in a dark trench coat, tall with longish wiry hair and a pointed goatee beard. Not the man from the alley last night, but someone different…yet the same.
Another demon.
He stood about fifty yards away, close enough for me to see his eyes glow a vermillion color, and his lips part in some sort of smile. Despite being another demon, this one seemed different, or rather, felt different. His presence chilled me to the bone, as if he emanated pure evil.
Then I heard a voice inside my head, whispering my name. "Leia…"
I put a hand to my head as the voice kept whispering, and I knew it was the voice of the demon down the street. His forced entry into my mind was causing jarring pain, as if his presence was incompatible with my own. Worse still, I didn’t know how to eject his presence, so I was forced to listen as he whispered to me telepathically, his sick delight at the pain he was causing apparent from his voice.
"Time is approaching, Leia…"
"No!" I said shaking my head as if to dislodge the voice. "Leave me alone!"
The demon laughed, his harsh voice cold and conniving as he continued to stare at me from down the street, just before disappearing as if he was never there to begin with.
"What the fuck?" I said, wondering how he could just vanish like that.
"Leia?"
I turned to see my brother standing at the front door. His tall, athletic frame was dressed in a black T-shirt and his favorite MMA shorts. "Josh," I said, hoping he hadn’t just seen what happened.
"Where the fuck have you been, Leia?" he asked as I walked down the path toward him. "What the fuck did I tell you about staying in contact? You could’ve been fucking dead."
I shook my head dismissively. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about my brother’s concern. I was just too damn shaken up to deal with it at the moment. "Well, I’m not."
I tried to brush past him and he grabbed my arm, his dark brown eyes staring into me. "How long is this shit going to go on for? This isn’t you, Leia."
I snorted. "You don’t know what I am…"
"What the hell does that mean?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. Will you let go of my arm now, please?"
"I’m just worried," he said, releasing his grip on me.
A sudden pang of guilt stabbed at my belly, and I sighed. "I know you are. I’m just…"
"Just what?"
"I don’t know. I need sleep. Can we talk later?"
Josh shook his head. "You know, you can tell me if you’re in over your head. I can help."
I resisted the urge to snort again. "Trust me, Josh, my situation doesn’t require you to beat anyone up."
"Fuck you, Leia. I’m only trying to help."
Shit.
"I know you are, and I’m sorry. I just need some sleep. We can talk later, okay?"
"Sure, whatever. At least let Diane know you’re home before you skulk off to your room. She was worried sick."
Shit again.
"I will," I said.
"And Leia?"
"Yes, Josh?"
"You aren’t the only one going through shit, you know…"
I frowned, as Josh rarely showed vulnerability to anyone. He was always the strong one, the protector. "What’s wrong?" I asked him, even though I knew in my gut what was wrong with him. We were twins (though not identical), so it stood to reason he was probably experiencing the same twisted reality as me, the one with all the demons in it. Hell, I knew he was, and had done for months now. It was just that every time I went to broach the subject, I would either chicken out, or he would stonewall me. Both of us were clearly afraid to admit, even to ourselves, what was happening.
He looked pained for a moment, like he was on the brink of admitting something. But he shook his head instead. "Go get some sleep. We’ll talk later."
"You know you can tell me anything, right?" I said.
He snorted derisively. "Are you fucking kidding me? Your hypocrisy is staggering sometimes, Leia."
Fair enough…
I shook my head. "I’m just saying we should talk, that’s all."
We stared at each other for a long moment, and it felt to me like he finally confirmed my suspicions, if only with his eyes, which all but told me that he was a resident of Demon Land as well.
But before I could say anymore, Diane appeared in the front hallway, dressed for work at the bank downtown. Diane was in her fifties, but with her blonde hair and makeup so expertly done, she looked more like forty. "Leia," she said, her large blue eyes filling me with remorse. "You’re back."
I nodded, hardly looking at her. "I am. I would’ve called, but…"
Diane stared at me as if she didn’t know what to do with me, though I noticed her roaming eyes do an automatic check to see if I was still in one piece, and not hurt in any way. She had been our foster mother for the last five years, and had treated Josh and I like we were her own blood. Naturally, she wanted the best for us both, which was why she was so saddened by my recent behavior. Hurting her wasn’t my intention, but hurt her I did. "I have to go to work now," she said somewhat coldly. "Help yourself to breakfast in the kitchen."
"I think I’ll just go to my room and lie down for a while," I said.
"You look like crap, Leia." She sighed and shook her head. "Perhaps it’s for the best you two are getting your own place. I really don’t think I can do this anymore." Her eyes welled up with tears as she walked away.
"Diane…" I called after her, but she had shut herself in the bathroom.
"Nice job," Josh said as he closed the front door. "I’ll talk to her. Just go to bed, Leia…"
Feeling like I was leaving a trail of destruction in my wake, I trudged upstairs to my room and fell into bed, hoping the demons didn’t invade my dreams as well.
3
The little girl knows there is a monster in the house.
She can hear it breathing outside her bedroom door. The low growling noises have woken her. So have the floorboards in the hallway, which sound like they are about to splinter and break under the weight of the creature standing on them.
An involuntary scream erupts from the little girl’s mouth.
In response, the monster’s growl
increases in volume until at its howling peaks it’s the only thing she can hear, drowning out even the thundering bass of her heart and the splintering staccato as the creature's claws splinter the wood of her bedroom door.
The little girl screams again, this time for her daddy. “Daddddeeee! Daddddeeee!”
Her screams are met with equally loud shouting from her mother’s bedroom, a stone's throw down the hall, where it is clear that their own door no longer separates them from whatever waking nightmare has entered their home.
"Leia! Josh! Get out—"
Two loud banging noises cause the little girl to startle violently, further fraying her already shattered nerves. The sounds are gunshots. There is no mistaking them.
Her mother shouts—screams—again. “Kids! Get out of here n—"
The little girl curls up tight on top of her bed, petrified and confused, her mind spinning as she struggles to comprehend what is going on.
The monster outside her door makes a strange barking noise before it stomps down the hallway toward the second lot of shouting.
The little girl shuts her eyes tight as she hears the sound of her parent's bedroom door getting smashed in. Loud grunts and shouts are heard, like fighting is happening within.
Then she hears her father’s voice this time. "Fuck you! I’ll fucking—"
His voice cuts off abruptly, soon replaced by her mother's shouting. "No! I’ll fucking kill you!"
Fear or not, the little girl is compelled out of bed by some instinct, despite the fact that her seven-year-old mind has begun shutting down against the sudden horror she’s been plunged into.
But I have to see if Mommy and Daddy are all right...
Despite her reticence, the little girl opens the door to her bedroom and peers out into the dark hallway. Piercing through the darkness is the sound of her mother’s voice. Not words, but grunts of effort and aggression as if she is hitting something.
