Michael thought a lot about the encounter with Benjamin. Another human here was already something he could hardly believe, but his words kept going through his mind too. When Xantier asked where he was with his mind Michael didn’t answer. When the slender fingers of the demon wrapped around his neck he closed his eyes, mentally readying himself for getting hit. When nothing happened he opened his eyes again and looked up at Xantier with fear, the absence of an immediate reaction could only mean the punishment for not responding would be more severe than a simple hit.
“Come with me,” the demon hissed as he threw Michael to the ground. He started walking and Michael quickly got to his feet. Making the demon wait would only worsen the situation.
Much to his surprise they didn’t go to the spiral staircase leading towards the bedroom and torture chamber, but seeing Xantier walk up the sixth staircase didn’t make him feel much better. He hated going there and look at those mindless zombies, the reanimated corpses Xantier was so proud of. Especially since the demon had promised him he would be one of them after he claimed his soul. He still followed the demon, if he wouldn’t he would be punished and he didn’t want that. He walked up the stairs with lead in his shoes and followed the demon inside. “You’ll like this,” Xantier said and hearing those words Michael knew he wouldn’t. He noticed how the demon pointed to one of the zombies and he looked at him. Immediately he recognized him and his heart sank. “Dave,” he muttered. Dave, one of his fellow demon hunters and a good friend. He walked over to him and grabbed his arms. “Dave!”
Dave looked at him with empty eyes, he gave no sign of recognition.
“Come on Dave, you know me! Please, talk to me!”
The eyes remained empty and he didn’t respond.
Xantier gloated over the scene and he looked at Michael. “He’s dead. You’re talking to an empty shell, a moving corpse.” He noticed how Michael slowly let go of Dave again. “And the best part is, he obeys me.” He looked at his new addition to mindless slaves and pointed at him. “Rip your own arm off.”
Slowly Dave took his own arm and started pulling.
“Make him stop,” Michael whispered as he watched it with horror in his eyes. “Please make him stop!”
“Stop,” Xantier ordered and Dave stopped. “I can make him kill you,” he said to Michael as he walked over to Dave. “I can, but I won’t. Because that privilege is mine.” He turned to look at Michael. “I will reunite you soon. Although…” Xantier showed a big grin. “Your living bodies will be in the same room, your soul won’t go to where his went.” He walked back to Michael and grabbed him in his neck. Michael gasped and took Xantier’s hand to loosen the grip, but he couldn’t. He closed his eyes when the fingers tightened around his neck more and he tried to breathe, but he couldn’t. “I told you I’d make you beg to kill you. And you will. Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow, but you will. And the longer you wait, the more fun I will have.” He released Michael again, who fell to the ground, gasping for air.
That night Michael barely slept, the demon didn’t let him. He was submerged in a world of pain again and when the red sun rose he could finally go to his mattress and attempt to sleep. A couple of hours later he woke up with a kick in his side and Xantier announced he would leave to visit one of his demon friends. He expected Michael to be home when he would return and that he would have cleaned the fourth room. Michael nodded and watched Xantier leave, before lying down again and watching the ceiling. It was difficult to think about anything else than the pain in his body, but soon a memory of the previous day returned. Benjamin. Hadn’t they promised to meet up again today? He worked himself in an upright position and looked at the door. There was no leash around his neck this time, since he had clear instruction to get some cleaning done. He might as well go outside for just a moment and see if Benjamin was there again. He hoped he would be, he could use it to talk with him. He got up and limped towards the door. He went down the stairs carefully and made his way outside the castle.
~
Benjamin sat on the boulder where he had met Michael the previous day. Instead of watching the castle he looked at the three hellhounds who walked around. He had brought them along today, in this world filled with demons he felt safer with these by his side. When he heard one of the hellhounds growl he looked up.
“Hush,” he said to the hound, who listened and stopped growling. “That’s the human I talked about.” He jumped down from the boulder and walked up to Michael, but the friendly greeting died on his lips when he noticed how beat up he looked.
“Do I look that bad?” Michael asked when he saw Benjamin’s expression.
“Well,” Benjamin began when he heard all three hounds growl and step forward. He looked at them with a frown.
“You said they didn’t attack humans, right?” Michael whispered as he looked at the hounds he had been taught to fear.
“I think,” Benjamin began slowly, “you smell like a demon.”
Michael rubbed his arms at that comment and he had a desperate look in him. “I guess… it makes sense some of his smell rubbed off, we,” he swallowed, “he…”
“I understand,” Benjamin said with a compassionate sound in his voice as he stepped forward. He took Michael’s arm and looked back at his four-legged friends. “Stop that!” he told them. “He’s human, can’t you see? Surely you must smell that behind the scent the demon left on his skin.”
One of the hounds came forward to sniff Michael. He sniffed and sniffed some more, before he looked up to examine him. As if the hellhound reached the conclusion he was indeed not a threat he sat down again. After a sigh of relief, Michael looked back at Benjamin and he told him what had happened after he returned to the castle. Benjamin listened and tried to comfort him as well as he could, but he couldn’t do much more than offer support and a friendly hug. After this they started talking about their lives before they got here, Benjamin was in the middle of a story, when he heard the hellhounds growl again. He looked up and noticed someone walk up to them.
The man looked human, with neatly cut black hair which started turning grey at the temples, but he had a slight greyish tone in his skin and green eyes. He had a pair of glasses on his nose and wore a red, velvet jacket with black pants. He watched them, ignoring the growling hellhounds completely. When one of them stepped forward he glared at it and the hound stayed where it was. “Xantier’s pet,” he said with a heavy, baritone voice as he looked at Michael and his eyes moved to examine Benjamin. “I have not seen you around before.”
“Borastius,” Michael whispered.
“Where is Xantier?”
Michael swallowed heavily. “Out, visiting a friend.”
Borastius nodded to himself. “Then I have no purpose of staying here,” he said as he moved to turn around.
“Wait,” Michael said as he stepped forward. He noticed how the demon looked at him with an impatient look. “Can you help my friend back to the human world? I know you visit there to feed.”
The demon looked from Michael to Benjamin and he shook his head. “I will not. He got himself into this realm, he must find his own way out.
Benjamin felt the hope from Michael’s words shatter by the answer of the demon. Would he truly never see the human world again?
“And why will you not help him?” Borastius continued.
“Me?” Michael asked, “but I…
“You are a spellcaster. You can create a temporarily tear in the border of our two realms. I am certain Xantier has the books about it.”
“Books?” Michael asked.
“Of course, he is a spellcaster too. He uses spells to travel between realms, just like I do. We just doesn’t need the charms humans need to cast spells, but we sometimes do have to read up on certain magic.”
Michael looked at Borastius and then at Benjamin, who looked hopefully at him. “I… I don’t have my charm. I can’t cast a spell without it.”
Borastius shrugged to that. “Xantier certainly has some lying around, he likes taking trophies from the demon hunters he kills.” A sly smile appeared on his face. “Maybe you can even discover a way to unfetter the chains Xantier bound you with.”
“How does the contract work?” He decided now was a great moment to ask a question he couldn’t ask Xantier, or with Xantier hearing it.
“That is a demon’s secret, I will not reveal it.”
While Michael looked disappointed, Benjamin frowned at Borastius. “It’s just a piece of paper,” he said to the demon
The grey demon looked at Michael’s new friend without saying anything. He slowly folded his arms together. “Why do you say that?”
“During my stay here I overheard two demons talking, they had little regard for humans, calling us stupid for giving up our most priced possession so easily. That fuelled my earlier suspicion. Even before coming here it never made sense to me why a demon would go through a difficult process of getting someone to sign a contract and I started to assume a demon is just not able to take a soul unless it’s given. And as I learned more about earth-bound and wandering spirits back home, it started to make more and more sense what the contract really is.”
Borastius didn’t say anything, nor did he show what he felt about what Benjamin said.
“Why does he collect souls?” Michael asked softly and he noticed how the demon looked at him now, although he didn’t speak. “Xantier, he doesn’t eat them,” he continued and he gestured to Benjamin. “He said the souls float around the main tower.”
The demon shrugged and for a moment it seemed he wouldn’t answer the question. “We all feed through different means,” he started explaining eventually, “some eat meat, some consume souls, some have found a way to harvest the energy from the eternal souls, like Xantier. And I, I take energy from living creatures. Unlike Xantier I rarely kill a human, I just… take what I need.” As he said that he extended his hand towards Benjamin, who looked at him with a surprised look on his face, but soon frowned and took Michael’s shoulder for support. “That is all I require. I suggest you two hurry.” His eyes settled on Michael. “Xantier will not be pleased to find you reading his books.” That remark made Michael go pale, but he nodded.
“And how can we know you won’t tell him?” Benjamin asked.
Borastius looked at Benjamin and shrugged. “Xantier and I are not on good terms. Why would I care what his pet and his human companion are up to? Although I must say I am curious if you will succeed.” He nodded to them and turned around to leave.
Now the demon left again, Michael and Benjamin looked at each other.
“Do you think you can do it?” Benjamin asked.
“I might.”
“Are you… are you willing to take that risk?”
Michael remained silent for a moment as he thought about it. Then he looked at Benjamin with a resigned expression on his face. “What more can Xantier do than he already did? He can torture me for another night, but if not for this he’ll find another excuse. I want to help you get back. I can’t escape this fate, but there’s no reason for you to stay here.”
“Maybe you can,” Benjamin began, but Michael shook his head.
“Let’s just go.
*** © Mariska Bekker ***