Fortune Cookie Assignment:
New people will bring you new realizations, especially big issues.
The blade crushed up against my throat, partially blocking my windpipe, but only made a small gash. My partner, Lexi, screamed and lunged forward in an attempt to free me, but she was blown back with nothing more than a wave of the demon's hand. This wasn't what we had trained for. Lower-level demons did not possess this kind of magic, which meant we were dealing with something more, something originating from one of the circles.
"What are you doing? Don't worry about me, Lexi! Exorcise this bastard!" My voice wavered under the stress of the blade.
This made the demon chuckle, "I wouldn't do that if I were you... Lexi was it? One slight slip of this blade and it'll go right through your friend's throat."
Remember your training, I told myself, You've gotten out of worse predicaments in the field, just because this isn't your everyday demon, doesn't mean you can't get out of this one either. Don't psych yourself out.
I grabbed the demon's wrist and pulled it away from my neck. It was shocked at my strength, in its moment of weakness, I elbowed it just below the rib cage in the diaphragm before twisting its wrist and pulling the entire arm behind its back. The blade fell to the floor and I had him pinned, Lexi was good to go, "Lexi, do it now!"
Without hesitating, she began to chant.
"No! Wait! I wanted to get you two to listen to me! Please, listen to me! I am not your enemy!" He shouted. Lexi paused for my order.
"You threatened to slit my throat. I don't know where you're from, but where I come from, that's exactly what enemies do. Continue, Lexi."
The demon struggled in my grasp, "Just hear me out! Please! Listen to me!"
I twisted his wrist further in on itself. "You have thirty seconds. You better be a fast talker." I nodded over to Lexi, she was to keep her guard up in case this demon tried anything.
"You exorcists never think about the demons that you exorcise, only the points it gets you with your masters. You don't stop to think why demons try to populate the Earth instead of the Hell we were born into. You don't stop to think that Hell might be hell for us too and that we would do anything in our power to escape its jaws. Is that good enough for you, young Exorcist? Or shall you condemn me back to the depths once more?"
I was shocked. Never in my five years of exorcisms had a demon ever pleaded for its life. Never had one begged me not to send it back. But, I realized, what he was saying was at least partly true. We had been assuming that all demons were these demented, dangerous, psychopaths who had only one drive, one motivation: kill. But, what if what he was saying was true? What if, at least some of them, were trying to escape from the turmoils of their origin?
"Rylan?" Lexi asked, "What are your orders?"
For the first time in my life, I hesitated. I had no idea what to do. All of my teachers, professors, and textbooks were all telling me that this demon was trying to manipulate me into letting him free. But there was that one piece of me that was telling me that he could have actually been telling the truth and who was I to condemn an innocent demon back to the cruelty it likely suffered endlessly. My hesitation, it seemed, would be my downfall.
In my moment of weakness, the demon slipped through my grasp and flung the blade towards Lexi. I screamed for her to move, but it was too late; the blade had punctured her heart and she fell to the floor, eyes glazed over. Blood pooled around her and tears flooded my eyes. My one moment of hesitation had cost Lexi her life. I was not going to let it happen again, this bastard was going to pay. I sure hoped that what it was saying about Hell being hell for demons too was true, because that's exactly where it was going.
Tackling the demon to the ground, I grabbed its arms and twisted them as far as I could behind its back and up towards the shoulder blades, then began to chant.
"Wait! No! I'm sorry!" The demon screamed. But I chanted louder. This bastard was not going to trick me again, not after what it did to Lexi.
Then, just as quickly as Lexi had fallen to the floor, and I had assumed as Lucifer had fallen all the way down to Hell, he dissolved through my hands into black smoke and funneled itself back to where it belonged, condemned to suffer.
