The Devil's Pet

Chapter 18

Sunday June 28, 2008

They circled each other like two dogs in a pit fight, moving toward the edge of the light then back to center looking for an advantage, ready to attack. Tables and chairs lined the perimeter of the circle, the hard dark floor impassively soaked up the light from above reflecting nothing upward, appearing black as coal.

“It won’t be so easy this time psycho.”  Sean hissed.

“So he touched you and you think you can stand up to me now?--I’m gonna skull-fuck you asshole.”  Boss immediately shot back.   

Sam watched the contest unfold perched atop a bar stool sipping whiskey, smoke lazily drifting up from his cigar while Sean and Boss continued circling each other accreting closer together by the moment.

Sam enjoyed pitting them against each other, savoring the anticipation of watching the fight to see who the best was physically. The moment had come, they lunged at each other--and then Boss fell to the floor by himself swearing profusely.

Sean leaped forward at Boss anticipating the force and pain of opposing blows only to find himself sprawled on the floor. He jumped up expecting an attack and realized he was in front of his chair in Cathy’s hospital room. She sat undisturbed in her wheelchair as she was before he fell asleep. Turning to check out the rest of the room there stood Sister behind him holding her hand out pointing to his chair.

“Please sit down. You were pulled from that horrid place to speak with us for perhaps the last time before you’re lost forever.”

Sean looked closely at Sister. When they met the first time he was still only himself, but now, this time he possessed enhanced senses and was more observant. She was wearing a formal nun’s garb, not the friendly white summer dress as before. The odor of musty clothes recently pulled from a long storage was deep in his nostrils, a dour replacement for the summer flowers of their last meeting. Her demeanor was also more businesslike and her eyes a darker green without the sparkle. He sat down as she asked. He had made his choice and she wasn’t part of it, but there was no reason to be nasty with her, not yet anyway.

“I see you’ve made the choice and enjoyed the touch of Satan. Your pleasure will be short lived--you’ll regret this decision.”  She swept her hand toward him with a look of revulsion on her face.

“Are you threatening me? Because with everything I’ve been through so far you can just get in line Sister. Everybody wants a pound of my flesh these days, so you don’t scare me.”

“It wasn’t a threat, but a warning that if you continue the game with Satan you’ll be lost forever. Although you’ve made the choice for Satan and enjoyed his touch you can still resist and refuse his instructions.”

Sean liked her at first but this time she was quickly proving to be a nuisance. He briefly considered knocking her across the room just because it might feel good, but he didn’t think she would be unprotected and he didn’t yet understand the rules well enough to take that kind of risk. He remembered the flies at Monk’s and the thought of choking to death on a pound of them crawling down his throat was not attractive.

“Sister I’m not going to get into another discussion with you about saving my soul just so you can put up game points for your side. If you want me to do something then you have to give me something in return. If you won’t help Cathy then stop wasting my time because quite honestly I don’t know how much of it I have left.” 

His thoughts turned to Sam and the fact that he would be most unhappy with Sean’s magic disappearing act. He imagined Sam in his Monk’s re-creation knowing where Sean was and who he was with but unable to know more. He’ll want to know all about this meeting. She’s causing me nothing but trouble. He wished she would go away. He would rather have the chance to plant his foot on Bosses neck.

“Look at you, thinking you’re better now because he’s given you physical advantages. You enjoy these benefits now but what will he want in return? You’re mistaken if you truly believe he’ll free your Cathy. He may for a time but at what cost--how many others are you willing to sacrifice to save one life even if it is your child’s? You must see that you’re being used for his purposes.”

“Sure I see that. But whether I listen to you or him I’m still being used, it just depends on what I get out of it for Cathy and you won’t help so I’m with him. It’s supposed to be a simple equation for us humans: he’s evil and you’re good, that’s the message you feed us but it’s not exactly the truth now is it? Maybe your rules are better for us than his because he is pure evil, but you aren’t pure goodness either or we wouldn’t be playing this game. I’m supposed to believe that whatever you do to us or for us is always in our best interest even if it looks and feels like it’s not. Well I’m not buying it Sister. You and your kind, whoever you actually are may like us or even love us and have the best of intentions but in the end we’re just playthings for you to fight over, no different than the goldfish we bet on in college.

The Devil, God, you--you’re all piranhas, the difference is your side dresses up nicer and has better PR--you might have the bible and churches and look holier and even smell better, but in the end you’re still the same species as ‘Him’ and you don’t like us to know that. Why do you do it?—I don’t know, maybe when you’re an all powerful being with no beginning and no end you need something to do to pass the time so you create a race of mortals to play with. I think it’s best if you count me as one that got away because I’m in so deep there’s no going back.”

Then he stood up from the chair and moved toward Sister trying to usher her gently out of the room. She reached out and grasped his wrist in her frail hand, her hold was surprisingly strong--and it hurt, but not from her grip. Starting at the point where she held him fire shot up his arm infiltrating quickly through his body, he wanted to pull away but his brain couldn’t give the order, his vision went blurry and his tongue became thick, he tried to speak but uttered only drunken sounding gibberish.

Sister was annoyed and spoke to him as an unruly child, “Be quiet and pay attention. Sometimes the spoken word is insufficient, especially when you don’t use the good sense that God gave you.”

He stood still while she held his wrist.

“There’s another way. You’ve faltered but it’s not too late. You still have a choice. Do you see what I mean, do you understand?”

Sean saw in his mind what she was trying to communicate to him. He nodded his head yes.

She released his wrist and wiped her hand off on her clothes. She made no attempt to hide the fact that she found him repulsive.

“Good then you’re on your own to decide what to do next.” 

Then she walked out of the room into the hallway and didn’t come back.

Sean walked back over to Cathy and sat down next to her letting out a long sigh. Sister communicated with him the same way Sam had, different message, but similar methodology—it made him wonder just how many degrees of separation there was between them. He saw in his mind what she meant him to see, but he didn’t like it.