The Devil's Assistant (Watty Awards Finalist 2011)

Devil's Assistant [8]

Chapter 8

Sunday morning I was up bright and early. I had spent the whole of yesterday packing but there was only so much I could do on my own, and Marianna had been called in to help at some point. She was currently asleep on the sofa, a roll of duct tape clutched in her hand that was hanging off the edge of the cushions. She looked kind of uncomfortable and I would have woken her up but she had stayed up pretty late last night and I had been up since five because of bad dreams. Instead, I left her to it, making sure I covered her with a blanket and removed the duct tape from her hand. There was no reason for her to suffer from my sleepless night.

 In truth I was pretty exhausted. Ever since that night at the office I had been having strange dreams, they felt so real but yet I knew they were impossible. People forming out of fog? It was pure madness, I put it down to too many horror films on my part and the fact that my new boss was like a wolf in sheep's clothing. He looked like angel, a badass angel but if there was even a shred of truth in the rumours, well he was more devil than angel.

Flicking on the TV there was a news report about a crash where 13 victims died. I normally would have ignored this type of news item as quite frankly it was depressing but when the pictures of the dead started to flick across the screen, I was startled by the eyes of one man who was a supposed to be a prominent businessman. The image of the masked man with the crossbow flashed before my eyes and I shook my head in denial before looking back at the screen. Several more faces appeared and were accompanied by hazy flashes of red tinted memories. I shook my head as to how impossible such things could be. No, I was going nuts, it was just a dream.

Getting dressed was simple. I had to go by the office today to pick up some files to sort through but I wouldn't start back properly until Wednesday. Mr Watson had arranged it so that I could move into the house in Chelsea and get settled in before I had to be back at the office so long as I sorted through the remaining backlog of paperwork and find any other discrepancies there might be. There's nothing like a bit of corporate espionage, I thought with sarcasm as I entered my bedroom which was looking considerably empty now that all of my personal belongings were packed up in boxes. Slipping on a loose fitting pair of jeans and a black tank top I made sure I was semi-presentable before heading towards the door. Waking Marianna up as I went, I handed her the baby monitor and a card with the office numbers on it, I patted my friend on the head who just waved her arm about and groaned before falling back to sleep.  I then proceeded out of the front door and into the waiting taxi.

It took me less time than usual to get into the office but that was probably because it was before 9 am on a Sunday so there was little to no traffic on the roads. I let myself into the building of Satani Media with my key card and clicked through the reception nodding to the security guard who was sat behind the reception desk, his back stiff and his eyes attentive as he stared at the screen before him. He didn't even really acknowledge me, not that I cared.

Stepping into the lift, I pressed the button to the right floor and stood there absently staring at the reflective surface of the lift. It was difficult to even surmise how much my life had changed in a year and I got the feeling that it was going to get a whole lot crazier in the months to come. But then again, it had already been turned on its head within the last week.

"Doors opening," the tinny elevator voice rang out across the confined space as the metal doors slowly pulled apart, which reminded me of where I was. I stepped out into the deserted corridor and headed towards Mr Satani's office.

The door was closed, but I paid no mind to that pushing it open and stepping into his gloomy office. A sound drew my attention to my right before a definitely male groan echoed through the room. Oh god, that is disgusting. Mr Satani, as I felt inclined to call him now as I distanced myself from the sight before me, was sat in his black leather chair with his head tilted back in delight as some blonde, barely clothed hussy grinded against his lap. She leant forwards and claimed Lucius' lips and his whole body arched up into hers before shuddering as he sagged back into the leather looked utterly depleted of energy. The woman suddenly became the focus of all of my attention because in the gloom of the office, she was hard not to miss. She had taken on an almost ethereal glow that cast the room in odd shadows that looked menacing to me before the light faded as it slowly soaked into her skin.