-1The sickening memories of the murders raced through my mind, each replaying out in heartbreaking detail over and over and over again. I had never intended these atrocities…if I had ever suspected…if I had just been more aware…but I was not. I had softly counseled the boy, hoping to drive away the darkness from his mind. I had told him that humans were sinners, but that his father's sins should have no influence on his own behavior. I had told him that his father paid dearly for his crimes.
Little did I realize that his father was not truly dead, but only hidden from me. Demons never die. Like my kind, they only die in the flesh, their spiritual selves continuing on as they originally were…and one particular demon, who in the flesh had sired this wide-eyed innocent, was still here. He whispered and cajoled and threatened, twisting my words before they ever laid themselves on the heart of this sweet child. What young Tobias Henkel heard, instead of my gentle encouragement, was a message of hatred, a battering and insistent drive to bring wrathful vengeance upon his fellow man…a message to cleanse the earth of sin so that sinners would pay dearly for their crimes.
Then the darkness came. It overtook me when I was open and defenseless, caging me and stowing me away in a dark, tortured recess of the boy's mind. I watched helplessly as the demon bullied and pushed, swore right left and center, until young Tobias was merely a whimpering pile of consciousness as trapped as I was. I watched in horror as knives slit through skin and arteries. I listened to the demon telling his son that this was what I wanted him to accomplish, that this was what God wanted.
Unable to stand this blasphemy, I howled in rage and threw myself against the bars of my cage, battering myself hand, foot, wing, and head against the bands of darkness that surrounded me. The only reward I received for my efforts was yet another wave of spiritual nausea. Realizing that my efforts were in vain, I again reached out to the innocent and broken human trapped with me, quietly bolstering and reassuring him…and encouraging him to rebel. I looked on with pride and a disgusting amount of petty satisfaction as he fought and debated with his demonic father, throwing verses of Holy Scripture out with the skill and ease of a priest teaching catechism at Sunday school. Tobias boldly quoted Luke 15:10 in the defense of the young woman who sat bound and weeping nearby. "I say unto you there is joy," he recounted, "in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." His spirit shone with conviction and truth, making his voice ring out in the small and stuffy barn. Our victory was all too short-lived as the demon flew into a black rage at the boy's contradiction and unleashed his dogs. I forced myself to watch the gruesome display that followed, swearing to recount this unto my brethren and unto the Most High when I freed myself, that justice might be brought down upon this unholy creature.
For a short time, the demon retreated back into our shared mind, most likely to seethe over how close he came to defeat.
I pressed myself up against the black bars of my cage, my face glowing with holy vengeance. "So, how did it feel, dark one, having the Word thrown at you like that? The boy is strong. He will overcome you eventually and when he does I will be freed…and when that happens, I will hunt you down and throw you back into the Pit in the most ignoble and humiliating way possible…if your kind can even still feel humiliation, shameful beast."
The ugly creature hissed and spat, his eyes black and empty pits as he reinforced the shadowy bars of my cell. Apparently he took my vow of holy retribution under consideration. "Don't you understand?" he chuckled, his voice still possessing the country twang of his former body. "The boy listens to me, as well he should." He barked in a short burst of wicked laughter. "You of all people should understand, angel. 'Honor thy father and thy mother', isn't that one of the commands given to these stupid creatures by your master?"
I threw back my head and laughed bitterly. "Father? You are no more father to this boy than I am akin to a squid. A father raises his son in the ways of the Lord, on the shining path to righteousness. You have raised this innocent lamb in the ways of your master, not mine. He obeys you only out of fear and ignorance, not out of love or loyalty."
Snorting in disgust, the demon eyed me keenly. "Be that as it may, he follows me nevertheless. The boy is mine by blood and I find him useful for the time being." Leering, he stuck his foul visage into my direct line of vision. He was so close, I could see the individual serrations on his foul fangs. "Time to go to sleep, Raphael."
I growled as the dark bands tightened around me, pinning my wings and arms to my sides and plunging me into nothingness.
