She smiled back, and for a minute, it felt good.
“It’s sexy,” he added.
She rolled her eyes. “And that is your cue to exit stage left.”
“I don’t know what that means, but I’m going to assume you mean I need to leave.” He leaned down and kissed her. She was pretty sure he’d meant it to be light and quick. Apparently, her hormones had other ideas. Serenity deepened the kiss. His taste and smell comforted her, and she wanted to latch on to any comfort she could. Besides that, kissing Dair was like jumping off a mountain with no fear that you would hit the ground. It was exhilarating, toe curling, breathtaking, and life giving all at once. In short, she loved it. One kiss from Dair would help her feel less anxious while he was gone. Silly? Maybe. Did she care? Not hardly.
When she pulled back, breathless and eager for more, she couldn’t help the satisfaction she felt at seeing him just as flustered as she was. She loved knowing he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
“Now you can go,” she said.
His eyes held hers for a few heartbeats, and then he was gone. A chill filled her body as a horrible feeling swept over her. It hadn’t been there while Dair had been next to her, but now that he was gone, she couldn’t help thinking she just might have seen him for the last time.
That thought seemed to wipe away any good feelings she’d had when he was there. Now her limbs felt heavy, and her eyelids threatened to close. She’d just slept, so how on earth could she possibly be tired? Serenity blinked and jerked herself upright as she fought the need for sleep. The last thing she wanted to do was sleep while Dair was away. Somehow she knew that this time it would fling her into a world of torment and pain. As a way of distraction, Serenity listened to her aunt scurrying around in the living room and kitchen. Darla had always reminded her of a fairy flitting from here to there, never still and always chipper. Her face held a continual smile, and she always had a positive thing to say to everyone she met.
By midnight, she was barely able to keep her head upright as the moon climbed higher into the sky. She heard the booming voice of her uncle, but that was the last thing she remembered as sleep took her against her will.
Dair looked around the small space where he found himself standing. He’d gone from the warmth and inviting atmosphere of Serenity’s room, to a cold, stark cell. The bars caught his eyes, and then he turned and saw the bed where a man, clothed in a white jumpsuit, lay. He was on his back with his arms up above his head and his hands folded under his head as a pillow. For a man who was locked in a tiny room, surrounded by concrete and steel, he seemed extremely content even in sleep.
Was this really his charge? He frowned as he continued to stare at the man. What could this man possibly do to change the course of history? Not that the Creator couldn’t use him, but why would he want to when surely there were so many better humans? Then, who was he to question the Creator?
Dair walked over to the man. He leaned forward and pressed his hand to the prisoner’s forehead and closed his eyes. He was immediately pulled into the man’s mind, but instead of being met with the man’s thoughts and dream, he was met with evil.
“It’s about time you showed up, Brudair. I was beginning to get bored.” The demon stood on a low hill. An orange sky surrounded him, and dead trees stuck out of the rocky ground all around him. This wasn’t the man’s dream; it was the demon’s power at work in the man’s mind.
“And who might you be?” Dair asked in a bored tone. He was really getting sick of Lucifer’s demons interrupting his work.
“My name is of no consequence. But perhaps the meaning will be good for you to know. I am habitual. I am addiction. I am the one who strips wills and drives men to their knees, focused only on what brings them pleasure. Once they get a taste of what I offer, they never turn away. It’s almost too easy.”
“You’re in a prison. It’s not like you’re working with the most wholesome of society,” Dair pointed out.
The demon shrugged. The form he had taken was very similar to the man he inhabited, but there were a few changes. For one, the demon’s eyes were almond shaped with slitted pupils, like a snake’s. His nails were long and black, and his feet looked like something that belonged on a lizard. The effect was quite disturbing and confusing to the mind.
“Influencing these minds so easily makes it easy to attack the innocent and unsuspecting. From there, it’s a deadly cycle. They get angry, they get confused, they turn to the pleasures of the flesh, in whatever form that might be, and then here I am, or one of my brothers. Like dominos lined up in a row, tap one, and they all begin to fall.”
“Not all and not always,” Dair challenged.
The demon scoffed. “You live in a world of hope, Brudair. It is a world that does not exist. The man’s mind you occupy right now is a murderer, rapist, thief, con artist, drug addict, and has a pension for cutting up his victims’ faces. What say you now? Is the human race really worth saving? Is this man really worth saving?”
Dair wanted so badly to get out of the man’s mind, but no matter how he tried he couldn’t leave. It was like he had no power, no influence. Such a thing had never happened before.
“What’s the matter, Brudair? Feeling a little stuck?”
The smug smile on the demon’s face made Dair’s fists clench. “What have you done?”
The demon shrugged. “I just thought it would be good for us to spend a little time together. You, who is so faithful to the Creator, like a dog following his master with no mind of his own. Don’t you get tired of dancing like a puppet?”
“I’m the one who dances? What about you? Your entire existence is ruled by your master. You have no power except that which a human allows you. You are nothing—an abomination to the natural creation.”
The demon’s face twisted into an evil sneer. Apparently, he didn’t like to hear the truth. Too bad for him.
“You know nothing. Lucifer will rule this realm, and he will bring these filthy humans to their knees, bowing before him where they belong.”
“And where will you be? Have you considered that? Your master does not share power. You will be on your knees, right alongside the humans. You’re a fool if you think otherwise. Now, tell me what you want.”
“I want to show you what you are trying to save,” the demon said and then snapped his fingers.
Suddenly Dair was surrounded by images. It was as though he’d stepped into a movie. He saw the man who’s mind he inhabited and realized the demon was showing him the man’s memories. Dair tried to brace himself. It wasn’t as if he’d never seen what human beings were capable of, but no matter how many times he witnessed it, it never got easier to watch.
His jaw clenched as he watched the man stalk an unsuspecting woman. He wanted to yell at the woman to run, or to grab her himself and take her to safety, but all he could do was watch helplessly. He saw the man as he purposely let the woman know she was being followed, her fear exciting him. It was nearly half an hour later. The woman had attempted to run down the street, looking for someone to help her, but there was hardly anyone out, and those few she saw didn’t want to get involved. He grabbed the woman and dragged her into a dark alleyway. When the man began hitting her, and ripping at her clothes, Dair took a step toward the demon. “Enough!”
The demon only smiled. “Oh, I think not.” He snapped his fingers again, and the woman’s appearance changed. Suddenly Dair was looking at Serenity as the man continued his attack.
Dair realized with a sick feeling that this wasn’t a memory. This was the demon’s influence over the man’s dreams. He was putting the image of Serenity in the man’s mind, giving him a taste for a new victim.
“Did I mention that he’s up for parole on good behavior?” The demon taunted.
Dair wanted to look away. But at the same time, he didn’t want to leave Serenity, even just a projection of her, to face the man alone. Dair tried to use his own power to change the influence, but it was futile. He had no power
in the face of such evil. There was so much darkness in this man that his heart was completely hardened to any form of change or reformation. He was beyond any kind of positive influence.
All Dair could do was stand there and watch as the woman he loved was defiled and ripped to pieces. He kept telling himself over and over that it wasn’t her, and it never would be. He wouldn’t let this monster near her. He didn’t care what he had to do; there was no way this man would touch his Serenity.
“He’s quite passionate about his work, don’t you think?” the demon asked, sounding so gleeful it made Dair sick.
When the man was done and Serenity’s body lay still, her eyes open but unseeing, her chest no longer drawing breath, Dair felt hate, such as he had never known. The rage ripping through him was like a surging hurricane, and he was ready to destroy anything that got in his way. His eyes zeroed in on the man, and he took a step toward him.
“Did you know that you can kill a man while in his mind?” the demon asked.
The statement made him stop. His head turned slowly from the man and rested on the demon. “What did you say?” he asked, and he didn’t recognize the voice that came out of his own mouth. He was sure his eyes were completely black and roiling with emotion.
“The mind controls the entire body. You have influence over the mind, you fool,” the demon cajoled. “You can kill a person by influencing the mind the same way you do for a dream. Did you seriously not know that?” He laughed. “All these centuries upon centuries and you never knew just how much power you wielded? You just get more and more pathetic by the minute. Seriously, it’s almost embarrassing, and we aren’t even on the same team.”
“What are you saying?” Dair understood what the words meant, but he wanted to know what the demon was getting at.
“I guess I’m going to have to spell it out for you. Damn, you would think the Creator would form his beings with a little more sense. I just told you this sicko was up for parole. I just placed a nice image of your lover in his mind, and once he gets a taste for something, well, he sort of gets fixated. So, once he gets out, what do you think is the first thing he is going to do? He’s been in here for quite a while. A nice little hunt is exactly what he is going to want to do. But if something were to happen to him, then he wouldn’t be up for parole because he’d be, well, he’d be dead. Boom, problem solved.”
The demon was giving Dair a way to solve the problem that he’d caused. But it would require him to take a man’s life. That was a big no-no in the eyes of the Creator. But what was his other option? Hope that the man did something to screw up his chances at parole? What if he got out and did start hunting Serenity? That thought once again brought his blood to a raging boil.
“All it would take is one little suggestion to the part of his brain that tells his heart to beat,” the demon continued. “So easy and so un-messy. I never understood these weirdos that like the mess when killing.”
“You’re a demon and you’re calling them weirdos?” Dair asked, thoroughly disgusted.
The demon shrugged. “To each their own. Now…” He clapped his hands. “Let’s get on with this. We have others to visit. Consider it my version of A Christmas Carol. You know that horrid book that tells of the greedy man going and seeing all those ghosts?”
Dair nodded.
“Well, we’re going to see a bunch of potential ghosts tonight.”
“Potential?”
“I imagine this man isn’t going to be the only one on your new hit list by the time I’m done.”
Dair clenched his jaw. He tried again to leave the man’s mind, but no matter how much he told his power to move, it didn’t. “My power isn’t working,” he pointed out. “I can’t influence this man in any way.”
The demon winked at him “I’ll take care of that when we get to that part.”
Dair stared at the man who was frozen, looking down over the dead body of Serenity. “It’s not her,” he told himself.
“But it will be,” the demon cooed.
“SHUT UP,” Dair roared.
“Oh, the stoic Brudair is losing his shit. This is so much better than I realized it was going to be.”
Dair’s mind was spinning. Could he really kill someone? For her? Yes, yes, he could. But this man wasn’t able to hurt her right now. He was in prison, and there was no guarantee that he would ever get out. Did he really want to take that risk? Did he want to disobey the Creator and face those consequences?
“Ugh, this is getting tedious.” The demon groaned. “Let’s go on to the next one. You must need a little more incentive.”
Now Dair was no longer in the man’s mind. He was in a new cell looking at a different sleeping prisoner. He didn’t want to go into this criminal’s mind. He could literally feel the evil coming off of him. Surely this man couldn’t be up for parole?
“Let’s take a look, shall we?”
The demon placed his hand on the man’s head, and once again Dair was in the mind of a disturbed human being.
“Are you ready to hear what this piece of work likes?”
Dair shook his head, but he knew that wasn’t going to stop his tormentor from telling him anyway.
“This man likes young girls. Nothing over the age of eighteen, and that’s pushing it. And if she is eighteen, she must be a virgin, pure as the freshly fallen snow. He likes to be the one to rip that precious jewel away from them. His brand of torture is a little unique in its own sort of twisted way. You see…” The demon folded his hands in front of him as if he was talking about how cheese was made and not how a man rapes young girls. “He prefers his victims blind and silent. The fact that they can’t scream, no matter how terrified they are, gives him a sick thrill. So he sews their mouths and eyelids shut. Pretty creative, right?”
Dair glared at the demon. “And?”
“Oh, no, he’s definitely not up for parole. But he’s planning a prison break. Let me tell you, he’s wicked, but he’s smart too. I’m pretty sure he will make it. And when he gets out, he’s going to be so hungry.” The demon snapped his fingers again, and a scene began to form in the man’s mind. Serenity was walking down the street in Yellville, right past the elementary school, giving the man the name of the town in which to find her. The demon purposely gave Serenity an innocent, pure, wholesome look, not that it was difficult. She was innocent, pure, and wholesome.
The scene continued to unfold and, once again, Dair was forced to watch the man attack Serenity. The glee in his face as he sewed her mouth shut, the terror in her eyes and the way her body shook with uncontrolled fear, was enough to drive him to his knees.
“STOP! PLEASE STOP,” he cried, not ashamed in the least he was begging a demon. Dair would do worse for his love. But the images didn’t stop, and he had to watch as Serenity’s eyes were sewn shut.
“You have the power to end this, Brudair,” the demon said. “All you have to do is end their lives. And poof, no more problems. The longer you take to decide, the more wonderful men we will visit. And one woman who has a nasty hatred for those women more beautiful than she. Which is practically any attractive female because she looks like she was beat with an ugly stick and it was stuck on repeat. I mean, that would make anyone bitter, right?”
“Why are you doing this?” Dair asked, knowing it was a stupid question. Why do demons do anything? Because they were evil pieces of crap that deserved to burn in the fires of hell for all eternity.
“The boss needs Serenity out of the way. The best way to ensure that happens is to take you out. So…” He motioned his hand between them. “Voilà, we have this little soiree. Don’t worry, Serenity isn’t sitting around bored waiting on you. She’s having her own little dream fest.”
Dair’s heart clenched in his chest. His eyes zeroed in on the demon. “Lucifer is with her?” he asked, but he already knew the answer.
“The master’s whereabouts are not your concern. You concern should be with these low lives who will soon be hunting your female. Unless, of
course, you decide to be a man and do the right thing.”
Dair wanted to hit something and, yes, he wanted to kill someone or actually two someones. The demon snapped once more, and Dair wanted to rip his fingers off. They were again in a new cell. Before Dair could say anything, the demon placed his hand on the prisoner’s head.
Dair sucked in a deep breath. The man whose mind they currently occupied had Serenity tied up and was repeatedly submerging her under water. Again and again, he would drown her and then bring her back to life.
“I’m tired of explaining things.” The demon yawned as if he required air or rest. “It’s easier for you just to see what’s in store for her if this one gets ahold of her.” The demon crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You do realize this is just going to go on and on until you finally do what you have to do. Only the death toll is going to keep rising.”
Dair’s eyes were glued to Serenity, whose body was blue. She was dead. And instead of bringing her back to life this time, the man was crawling on top of her. Dair couldn’t watch, not again. “Forgive me,” he whispered under his breath as he turned away.
“Do you think she’ll forgive you when she’s being drowned? Or when her eyes are being sewn shut? Do you think she’ll have any mercy on you when she’s being cut up? Do you think your precious Serenity will be thinking good thoughts of you when another man is touching her? Do you—”
“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT. UP.” Dair was breathing hard. He was at the end his rope. He couldn’t stand to see one more horrific thing happen to the woman he loved. It had to stop. He had to ensure that nothing could happen to her. He had to kill them. There was no other option. They deserved death, didn’t they? How many victims had died such terrible deaths at their hands? How many more would if he didn’t stop them? It wouldn’t really be murder; it would be justice. Justice for their previous victims, and justice for the victims that would have been theirs if he didn’t end their lives.
“They really don’t deserve to live, Brudair.” The demon hissed. “You could be the instrument of justice that your Creator uses to make their wrongs right. Just think what kind of favor you would be doing the world by ridding them of this scum. The human justice system didn’t even do that. They let them live, they let them eat for free, exercise, and read books. What about their victims? Do these men really deserve to have such luxuries when their victims were raped, drowned, dismembered, and so much more? What kind of man are you if you let them live?”