Devil's Soul

Chapter 37 (good thing I learned how to turn on the headlights)

I have some advice for you. If the idea ever occurs to you that a demon might be hiding in the forest, run. This advice is especially applicable if you do something to piss off said hypothetical demon, such as absorb the soul it has been eyeing.

Running is not something that I did, and Rumpels paid the price. I suppose I could have taken that opportunity to ditch both my carjacker and new demon enemy, but I felt sorry for the poor guy. I got him into this mess, and I couldn't just leave him. He didn't seem like a bad guy at heart, the way he fawned over moose and bananas.

So instead of retreating, I faced down the dumpster. It was easy to convince myself I was a powerful demon when my opponent was nothing but an ordinary shadow. There was no way I would let a stupid shadow get the best of me!

Then the shadow began to swell and bubble, and I could feel my nerve drifting away. I was sure that a demon was at the heart of the strange behaviors of the shadow, but I had never encountered anything like this before, and I was rattled by the thought of the unknown. I had no idea what kind of enemy I was facing, and I wasn't really prepared to face any kind of enemy.

Something was beginning to take shape in the shadow, but I could only see it when I wasn't directly looking at it. The figure emerged from the shadow, and it became solid in the lights coming from the IHOP. It was a young boy. Or it had been. Now he seemed to be some sort of creature in the shape of a boy. His pupils had entirely absorbed his irises, and his features were contorted into a snarl. His fingernails were long and sharp, like ten handy daggers.

I didn't know if he was past the point of communication, but I figured I might as well try. "Where's my friend?" I asked gently, in the same tone of voice I would use to speak to a normal ten year old boy.

"In the shadows," the boy hissed. He smiled to reveal his pointy teeth. "I hid him there."

"Oh, well, can I have him back?" I asked, squirming under the boy's penetrating gaze.

"You took my soul," the boy said, malice cutting across his words.

"I mean technically it wasn't yours," I began, but his glare cut me off. "But I'm sorry about that. I didn't realize you had claimed it," I quickly amended.

This seemed to appease him enough to not immediately rip my throat out with his fingernails, but he still looked angry. "Why were you able to absorb the soul, when I wasn't?" he questioned.

"W-what?" I stuttered. Had he been trying to absorb it before I arrived?

"I drew it toward me, but then I couldn't absorb it." He looked more sad than angry now, and I felt bad for him. According to Desmond, demons couldn't come back from this point of corruption, where they could no longer absorb souls. But all I could see was a sad little boy, and I couldn't help but feel like I had to help him, somehow. Then his expression became sinister again. "Maybe I will have better luck with your friend's soul, once I kill him," he declared and stepped back.

"No, wait!" I shouted, reaching to grab him, but he slipped beyond my grasp, into the shadow. I ran forward, hoping that I would find them once I was in the shadow, myself, but it was like I was alone in a normal-looking shadow.

I thought about what the boy had said about hiding in the shadows. He couldn't hide in the shadows if there weren't any. I snapped my fingers to ignite a flame, feeling mighty proud of the idea. But nothing happened. I snapped again. Nothing. I tried the other hand. Still nothing. I snapped frantically several more times, before giving up on the idea. The ability seemed to be gone, just like that, without me noticing when it had departed.

I reached for my phone, thinking of the flashlight ap, but then I remembered that Rumpels had confiscated it. Well, if he died, it was his own fault. At least that's what I tried to tell myself. But I wasn't giving up yet.

I sprinted to the car, switched on the lights in record time, and slammed on the gas. The car's engine thrummed in delight at the sudden burst of speed. It was clearly made for this kind of treatment. I sped to the back of the IHOP, and jerked the steering wheel. The wheels screeched as I swung around to face the dumpster, bathing the sight in glorious light. The boy and Rumpels were suddenly visible before me.

The boy recoiled from the light, leaving a gasping Rumpels free for the taking. I leaped out of the car and hoisted one of his arms over my shoulders. He was still coughing and heaving in lungfuls of air. He would probably be okay to walk on his own in a moment, but I didn't want to wait a moment. We stumbled toward the car, as I supported a good portion of his weight. I threw him onto the passenger seat, and he collapsed in relief, rubbing at the tiny handprint shaped bruises on his neck.

"It was so dark. I couldn't see. Something attacked me," he sputtered.

"You're safe now," I said before closing his door.

I should have kept walking toward the driver's side, but like a number of things that I should have done over the course of my strange life, I didn't. I stopped by the cowering boy and crouched beside him, balancing on the balls of my feet.

He didn't acknowledge my presence.

I gazed at him with my demon eyes, confirming that the black void surrounding his small body was void of soul fragments. I wondered if a few soul fragments would be able resurrect his humanity.

He had his back half-way turned to me, and his neck was hunched to give me a clear view of his reversed pentagram on the back of it. I touched my own pentagram, remembering how the Devil had grabbed that exact spot to extract my soul fragments earlier that day. It had to be an exit point. I wondered if it could also serve as an entry point.

I placed my hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm going to try to help you," I said.

"Don't touch me!" he snarled.

I retracted my hand. "I'm going to try and give you some soul fragments, but I'll have to touch you to do it."

The boy didn't respond, so I tried touching his shoulder again. This time, he didn't protest. I sat down so that we were back to back. Then I leaned to make the backs of our necks touch. I felt a shock at the sight of my pentagram and the boy gasped. He must have felt the shock too. It felt as if the boy's void was now an extension of my own and easing a few of my soul fragments into his void was almost too easy. I didn't give him much before pulling away because I wasn't even sure if the plan to restore his humanity was working. The exchange left us both a little breathless.

I twisted around to face him. Slowly, the boy looked up at me, aiming his clear blue eyes at mine. "What happened?" he asked, his voice sounding innocent and childlike. He had no hint of his earlier malice.

I cried out in relief and threw my arms around him. "You're going to be okay," I said, more to myself than to him.

"I did some horrible things," he said.

I pet his head. I was being uncharacteristically touchy, but I didn't care. "Shh, everything's okay now," I whispered.

He shuddered and relaxed into my embrace.

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