Chapter 9

Azazel

Felix lay limply on the hard, cold, concrete of Winzeldorf's only jail cell. After Herr Grumman had clubbed him unconscious with his hunting rifle he'd been brought here and locked up. How long he'd been here he didn't know nor did he care. He had changed into something monstrous and frightening. There was no place for him anymore. He was no longer human, he was something else. He wasn't a man, and he wasn't an animal, so his death was assured. Now he understood the final part of his dream. He had metamorphosized into a demon and soon they would kill him. His life was essentially over so why bother trying.

The metal door to the room suddenly creaked open with a rusty groan. Felix remained where he was staring blankly at the gray back wall. He heard a pair of footsteps walk into the room and pause before the bars of his cell. He was prepared to ignore his visitor until he heard the mewl of a cat. Stiffly he rolled over to be confronted by a pair of emerald eyes. It was Anna's black cat Maxi. And where Anna's cats were, Anna herself must be close by. Sure enough, when he looked past the cat, there stood Anna on the other side of the black bars.

"Hallo Felix." Anna said quietly. "Have they been treating you well?"

"Does it really matter?" Felix croaked.

"Of course it does. You have just as much right to be treated fairly as anyone else." Anna declared.

"Well you're the only one who thinks so." Felix mumbled bitterly.

"I know." Anna sighed and crouched down to be at eye-level with him.

"What will happen to me now Anna?" Felix whispered sadly.

"It is hard for me to say. Your immediate fate is swiftly approaching and it might not be what you expect it to be. Beyond that the future is too liquid for me to see truly, it all depends on the choices you and others make." Anna replied softly.

Felix was confused. Anna spoke like he was going to survive his imprisonment. He knew he wasn't going to make it. They would kill him when they worked up the nerve. Until then it was simply a matter of time. Anna wasn't crazy or stupid like most people seemed to think so she should know this as well. Perhaps she had seen something in one of her visions that told her that he would live. Stiffly, awkwardly he moved into a sitting position facing Anna. Her black cat Maxi slipped between the bars and padded forward to sniff him before rubbing itself against his knee.

"So what do you think I should do?" Felix inquired.

"Take good care of yourself; don't carelessly throw your life away. Experiment, see what you are now capable of, find your new limits. And never forget the lessons of the war; do not let yourself become a vessel of hate for it shall destroy you." Anna solemnly proclaimed. "Now come along Maxi, I believe our time here is up." She cooed to her cat. It glanced back at her, seemed to seriously consider whether or not to listen, before it trotted away back to Anna's arms. "Auf wiedersehen."

Anna rose stiffly, her traitorous joints betraying her age. She gave him one last sad look before turning away and leaving. The last thing that Felix noticed about Anna was that she wore a new flower behind her ear, a black silk rose. He'd never seen a flower that color behind Anna's ear. She wore all sorts of colored flowers with little care whether they matched other articles of clothing or not. Once he's seen her in all black with a sprig of tiny white flowers. Another time she'd worn a demure brown dress with a deep red carnation. What influenced her choice in flowers he didn't really know; his best guess what that it somehow was a reflection of her mood at the time.

The rusty metal door clanged shut and Felix was alone once more. His eyes drifted shut and he sighed bitterly. Now what was he supposed to do? His previous lethargy and apathy had been erased by Anna's visit and now he found that he was bored. He was sore, tired, and hungry too, but right now he was more bored than anything else. He shifted restlessly taking note of each any every sore muscle as each made its condition known to the connected nerves. First he stretched his arms in all directions and rolled his shoulders. Then he rotated his head and neck in circles until the stiffness faded. And then he twisted his torso and arched his back until he heard a faint crack. But when he came to his lower half he ran into some trouble.

As he stretched his legs out in front of him to continue his stretches he saw his feet for the first time. His old worn out shoes had burst open at the toes and soles to reveal his stocking covered feet. His feet had apparently almost doubled their shoe size and they looked oddly shaped. Slowly Felix reached down to remove the ruined remains of his shoes and his socks. When his hand came into view he was shocked until he remembered that that was what his hand looked like now. Carefully he undid his laces and teased off the shredded remains of his sneakers before he was able to peel off his stretched out socks. What he saw was quite shocking to him.

He only had two toes. He closed his eyes and shook his head before looking again. There were still only two toes. They were thicker and much longer than normal toes. In fact, they looked almost exactly the same as his fingers. His foot was longer too and it looked like there was a smaller third toe on the inside of each ankle. Experimentally he tried to move the smaller toe on his right foot and watched it twitch and flex a little. Then he curled his other two toes and studied how they moved feeling both horrified and fascinated. As he stared at his deformed, red-furred feet he wondered how much worse his metamorphosis would turn out to be.

Before he could explore his new appearance further the metal door swung open again. In the doorway stood three people, Herr Katzen the sheriff, Heidi Feder, and Wolfgang Kleinfeld. Herr Katzen held a dented metal tray with some very plain looking food on it. The sight of food reminded Felix that he was hungry, very hungry. Both Wolfie and Heidi looked frightened, but determined until they saw that he was awake and looking at them. Heidi darted behind Wolfie seeking protection from the monster and Wolfie visibly paled. Herr Katzen slowly approached the bars, lowered the tray to the floor, and slid it through a slot just wide enough for the tray and its contents as he scrambled back. Then the sheriff whispered something to the two teens and departed.

Felix sat perfectly still and watched them wondering why they were here. Wolfie stared back, his pale face and tight expression the only clues that he was afraid. Heidi was obviously terrified by his appearance as she cowered in Wolfie's shadow, her blue eyes dilated with fear. Felix almost laughed out loud at the irony. Just over a week ago she admitted that she had a crush on him and today she was frightened by the very sight of him. After several minutes of staring hunger won over Felix's curiosity and he clumsily scrambled over to the food tray and began to speedily eat. The silence grew oppressive.

"What are you?" Wolfie abruptly demanded. Felix paused in devouring his meal and contemplated whether or not to answer.

"Wolfie, don't." Heidi whimpered, obviously terrified.

"Why not? Felix is gone, something happened to him and I'm sure this things knows something about it." Wolfie snapped giving further evidence to his nervousness.

"So? Don't make it angry. It might do something to us." Heidi whispered loudly. Felix resisted an urge to snort at that.

"I don't care if it can, I want some answers!" Wolfie declared forcefully.

"You want answers?" Felix asked between bites of stale bread. Out of the corner of his eye he watched both of them jump.

"Yes, I do." Wolfie confirmed.

"Answers to what?" Felix inquired looking up from the tray at them.

"What happened to Felix Sunday night?" Wolfie demanded bluntly.

"Good question. Too bad I don't know the answer to that." Felix replied polishing off the last of the food.

"Bullshit!" Wolfie snarled viciously.

"What filthy language, if your mother heard it she would smack you silly." Felix commented trying to hide his surprise at his friend's unexpected outburst.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother!" Wolfie snapped.

"Sorry, my mistake." Felix murmured.

"You should be sorry! If I find out that you did anything to Felix you're dog meat!" Wolfie threatened.

"Oh, I'm so scared." Felix muttered sarcastically.

"You should be." Wolfie proclaimed confidently. This time Felix did snort.

"I could very well be 'dog meat', but you won't be the one turning me into it. You were never a fighter. You couldn't even bring yourself to hit the piñata at Johann's ninth birthday party." Felix snorted. Wolfie was now whiter than a sheet.

"How did you know that?" He asked faintly. Felix simply stared back at him. He was unsure of how he could explain things so he decided that it was best if he didn't say anything at all.

"Wolfie, let's just go." Heidi whimpered fearfully tugging on his sleeve.

"How did you know that?" Wolfie demanded.

"Why don't you talk with Anna Gartner? She knows many interesting things and she never gets enough company." Felix suggested.

Wolfie looked like he was going to say something else but Heidi began to drag him from the room and he gave in. The metal door opened and closed and both teens vanished leaving Felix alone again. He sighed and shoved the empty food tray back through its gap so hard that it banged against the opposite wall. The sheriff exploded back into the room with his nightstick gripped tightly in both hands looking around wildly. Felix fought back a snicker as he pointed towards the metal tray. Herr Katzen gave him a venomous look before taking the empty tray away and leaving the room.

Now what was he going to do? Now that his hunger had been lessened and his company had left his boredom returned full force. He could start thinking, but his thoughts right now would be dark and depressing, so he decided to pace his tiny cell for a while. He gathered his oddly shaped feet underneath him and attempted to stand up, but ended up toppling over onto his face. He frowned and tried again holding onto the edge of the wooden plank that served the cell for a bed. This time he was able to stay on his feet, but it somehow didn't feel right. In fact it almost hurt to keep his feet flat on the floor.

Felix tried to take a step towards the bars and suddenly found himself off balance. No matter how many times he tried he kept falling down like he was drunk. He found it highly frustrating and let loose an animalistic growl from his throat. Shocked by the sound that he made he froze before starting over. He carefully studied his legs, bending and extending them several times. Then he gathered his feet beneath him and stood up again. This time when he tried to take a step he stood on the balls of his feet like a four-legged animal does instead of flat-footed like a person. He managed two steps before he lost his balance again somehow and toppled to the floor.

He was nearing the end of his patience with this particular exercise. Something was throwing off his balance making him stumble and fall like a drunk. Angrily he smacked the floor and yelped in pain. He'd hit part of himself instead of the floor and it hurt a lot. When the pain faded he realized that he hadn't hit any part of his legs like he thought he had. So what did he hit? Felix turned his head and spied something long, thin, and red. As he watched it, it twitched and curled like a boneless snake. At one end of the red thing was a triangle shape, like a spear or arrowhead. Then as he looked for the other end he found himself shocked again. The red thing was sprouting out of his behind. It was some sort of devil tail.

Before he could deal with this new horrifying discovery the door opened yet again to admit more visitors. This time his guests were his own parents and the two priests. His mother was clinging to his father's arm and he was supporting her with his free one. They took two steps into the room and stopped. They stood perfectly still and simply stared at him. Felix wanted to tell them to stop, but his obedience and subservience to his parents was ingrained too deep for him to disobey it. So he sat and waited for them to be finished like the good, obedient son that he was. After some length of time they appeared to be finished and left the room.

But as soon as his parents left the room Father Hermann and Father Drachen entered. Father Hermann looked grave as always and looked at Felix with no readable emotion. The withered old man was in full priestly attire looking like he was ready to attend Mass and not visiting a jail cell. Father Drachen was also dressed for Mass and his arms held a bowl and a Bible. The younger man was visibly nervous and he almost dropped the bowl when he held it out to Father Hermann. Felix sighed and sat cross-legged in the center of his cell facing the priests. He easily guessed what was coming.

Father Hermann began with the Lord 's Prayer in his raspy smoke-ruined voice raising his hands in an appeal to the Almighty. After he finished he dipped hid hand into the bowl, holy water Felix guessed, and made the sign of the cross in the air with his wet fingertips. Then the old man began flicking the blessed water into the cell. Most of them hit Felix in the face, but he didn't flinch. Father Hermann continued blessing and praying for a while as Father Drachen assisted. The entire time this went on Felix simply sat and stared at them wondering if his staring would frighten them. Now that he didn't have to talk to the dinosaur of a priest he had little fear of the man.

When they finally finished they retreated from the room and once again Felix was alone. He was sick of experimenting and exploring for the moment so he awkwardly crawled up on the hard cot. There was no mattress or pillow, just a sheet laid over a plywood board on legs. It was hard and uncomfortable, but not as hard and uncomfortable as the concrete floor. Felix curled up on his side facing the blank gray wall and closed his eyes. A little nap sounded good right about now. And about five minutes later he was asleep.


The village hall was packed tonight. Felix couldn't remember the last time that he saw so many people in the same place outside of Church. Every seat was filled and many more stood along the edges of the room. He bet that there were people crowding at the front doors too, but from where he was standing that was impossible to see. The massive room was filled with the echoes of whispered thoughts and mumbled rumors as the assembled crowd waited for the meeting to begin. Felix was waiting for the town meeting to start too only his attendance was mandatory.

He sat sprawled on the floor of a small chamber behind the stage. He was bound by a crude, makeshift set of shackles that were little more than chains twisted into loops held closed by electrical wires. The loops bound his wrists together, encircled his neck, and hobbled his legs making any sort of flight impossible. One either side of him stood very nervous, muscular men who held his chains and were itching for any excuse to jerk them. Felix, however, was the model prisoner so he had very little to worry about. Then the volume from the hall dropped to zero as the mayor, Herr Reicher, ascended the stage.

"Fellow citizens of Winzeldorf. Last Sunday a strange and terrible event occurred. Today Father Hermann will tell us what happened so that all these cruel rumors can be put to rest." Herr Reicher declared. He abandoned the podium and the elder priest of Winzeldorf took the microphone.

"The Monday of that week," Father Hermann began in his raspy voice. "I was approached by Herr Hausmann to look at his son, Felix, who seemed to have a strange affliction. I agreed and Father Drachen and I went to the Hausmann home. There we examined Felix and I determined that he was most likely suffering from some sort of demonic possession. It was arranged that we would return and perform an exorcism Sunday night. When that day came we performed the exorcism with little problem until the final stage was reached." Father Hermann paused, coughed hard for a minute, and took a sip of water from a glass Father Drachen provided before continuing.

"Felix began to convulse as the demon began to be affected by the power of the Almighty God. Then instead of being cast out of its mortal vessel like it was supposed to, it began to change its mortal vessel to reflect its corrupt presence. As the transformation seemed to be complete there was a flash of fire and a blast of brimstone and the monster vanished. Later we learned that Herr Grumman came across it in the woods and captured it. Since then, the demon has been held in the jail." The old priest stopped again and waited for the shocked whisperings to subside. When it finally grew quiet the old man spoke again.

"Tonight you shall see the beast that has taken Felix Hausmann's life and I shall reveal its nature to you." He declared and gave a hand signal to Felix's guards.

The men lifted him by his armpits and dragged him out of the back room and onto the stage. His appearance was met by screams of horror and disgust and half the room panicked. They stood up and tried to flee from the 'monster' but those who remained sitting blocked their way. It took over twenty minutes before things were calm again. Felix watched all of this in silence trying to decide whether to be depressed or disgusted. What were they afraid of? Couldn't they see that he was in chains? What fools they all were.

"Calm yourselves and look at this creature!" Father Hermann demanded forcefully. "Remember its face, for it is the demon Azazel and today, October 10th, is his day. Today is his day when the ancient Jews would cast out a goat from their village filled with their sins sending it into his care. Now, on his own day, we shall cast him out of our town to be exiled forever more!" The old priest decreed.

The crowd gave a cheer and thunderous applause as he was dragged away. It seemed that they wouldn't kill him after all, they were simply throwing him out of town permanently. So Anna had been right about his future, he would still have one. He would be stuck out in the woods for however long he managed to survive. He would be at the mercy of nature unable to depend on any human being for help. His dream said nothing about this future, only death, and now he understood. Felix Hausmann is dead… Long live Azazel.