Chapter Twenty-One
The cries of the demon strapped to the chair echoed through the house. Grace, up in her kitchen preparing two cups of tea and humming to herself, seemed unaffected by the noise. She went through the motions casually, as though eerily accustomed to the sounds. Down below in the furnished basement, Grace's sister, Faith, was busily doing the Lord's work. They'd found this particular demon, who'd taken it upon itself to occupy an innocent young man whose body now suffered due to its selfishness, that evening, skulking about the house.
Grace returned to the basement bearing two cups of tea. "Has he said anything yet?" she called out sweetly to her sister. The demon's mounting scream was her answer. "Guess not!"
Faith was bent over the demon, a strange knife in one hand and a bottle of holy water in the other. The demon was smoking and bleeding, one eye swollen and the other damaged enough to be blinded. This didn't seem to concern Faith as she dribbled the water over the blade, then stabbed it into the demon's chest just above its heart. Its flesh sizzled, the wound flashing a crackling yellow.
"You might want to start talking, dear," Faith advised the demon, twisting the blade just so. It hissed out a harsh breath between clenched teeth. "Where are they? We know you've been working with them."
"Go to Hell, bitch!" the demon snarled.
"Quite the contrary, filth," Grace replied conversationally from behind her sister. "Our souls are bound for Heaven, where we will be rewarded for our services. You, on the other hand, are bound only for oblivion if you do not reveal their location."
"Then hurry up and get it over with!" the demon spat bloodied saliva in Faith's direction. She avoided it easily and gave the knife another vicious twist. The demon howled in mad laughter, throwing its head back. "Anything you can do to me is nothing compared to what he would do! You both suck!"
"Shall I summon him?" Grace asked her sister in an undertone. Faith frowned at the cackling creature before her. "He would want to see this, I'm sure. He could get their location out of it in no time."
"Patience won't like us taking him from her," Faith replied, withdrawing the knife from the demon's chest and turning away to clean it off. Grace clicked her tongue.
"Patience will just have to learn to share, then! It isn't fair to the rest of us if she's the only one he blesses!"
"You know it's not up to us, sister," Faith reminded her. "Ever since Patience first got into contact with him, she's been...different. Haven't you noticed?"
"If by different you mean arrogant, then yes, I have noticed," Grace supplied bitterly. "She has accepted a sin to her bosom; how can he associate with her still, knowing that?"
"It would be arrogance to assume anything," Faith pointed out sagely. Grace immediately sobered and nodded. "But you may be right. We might need his help with this."
"Prudence ought to be summoned as well," Grace said quickly as she hurried towards the basement steps, Faith at her heels. "I fear we may need her help. She's very...persuasive."
"Agreed."
The sisters emerged from the dark cellar into the warmth of the kitchen and immediately clasped their hands in prayer. After a moment's silence, the beat of wings sounded and Puriel descended into the room. He looked to the sisters in turn, his marble face stoic. "Why have you sent for me?"
"We have a demon servant to the King of Hell," Grace replied. "We are certain it knows the location of him and his whore."
"And it has not revealed this yet?" Puriel prompted. Both women shook their heads. "I see. I will get it to talk. In the meanwhile, summon Patience. She has had first-hand contact with the whore and will know her weaknesses."
"What of Prudence?" Faith interjected. Puriel's lips curled in a displeased scowl.
"She has fallen. I no longer wish for her association within your circle," the angel replied coldly. This came as a surprise to both women, who looked between them in shock. "It is unimportant. Get Patience. Now."
"Yes, Lord Puriel," the sisters replied as the angel went down into the basement.
Patience arrived in a great deal of pomp and ceremony an hour later, Angelica in tow. She pushed past the sisters impatiently and went to join Puriel in the cellar. The angel had been dealing with the demon for some time now, the creature's screams so loud they permeated the house's upper levels.
Angelica approached Grace and Faith and solemnly asked if they had discovered anything from the demon. It unsettled even those seasoned witches to hear a child speak so plainly and calmly about torture and monsters. Both sisters felt Patience had been wrong in associating her daughter in the circle so young, especially after they'd begun to help local hunters find their targets. While they believed they were doing God's work and would be rewarded as such at the end of their lives, something about little Angelica, barely nine years old, participating in the methods bothered them.
"Why don't you go read the Good Book in the living room, dear, and let us handle the bad man?" Grace offered, bending to smile kindly into the girl's blank face.
"Mommy doesn't try to get me out of the way like you do," Angelica declared. "I'm going downstairs. I want to see the bad man." She made for the cellar door, stopping when Faith crossed her path.
"No, you are to stay up here with us, dear," the older woman insisted firmly. "It is best."
"You're not my mommy," Angelica replied simply and raised a hand. Faith had barely a moment to react when she found herself cast aside. Grace caught her sister before she could be injured, staring back at Angelica as the little girl disappeared down into the basement.
Puriel and Patience stood before the demon's steadily-weakening vessel, faces contorted in intense displeasure. The demon had told them nothing, denying even any association with the King of Hell or his whore. "You were the thing that invaded my sacred space, demon, do not think I do not know you," Patience said coldly, driving the special blade into his upper arm and prompting another cry of anguish from it. "You will tell us where she is!" She drove it into its flesh again and again, each violent stab punctuated by its screams.
"Mommy, I want to try," Angelica's voice sounded behind her mother and the angel. Patience turned to her daughter.
"You're not ready yet, darling," she told her soothingly. "But you may stay and observe. You will need to do this one day."
"Let her do it," Puriel ordered suddenly. "She should know what to do now."
"She is but a child, my lord!" Patience protested, moving to stand in front of her daughter protectively. "I will do anything you ask, but do not ask this of my daughter!"
Puriel pushed Patience out of the way, snatched up the knife from the witch's hand, and passed it over to Angelica. Angelica gripped the imposing weapon in her small hand and approached the demon. It stared down at her, swollen eyes creasing as it laughed.
"You can't be serious! She can't do anything to me!" it sneered. In response, Angelica stabbed it in the thigh, hilt-deep, and twisted. It writhed against its bonds, tears spilling from its damaged eyes. "Enough!" it gasped. "Enough! I'll tell you!"
Puriel quickly joined Angelica and gripped the demon's chin in his hand, forcing it to look up. "Tell me!" he roared.
The demon's eyes flicked swiftly down at the Devil's Trap then back up at Puriel's face. It grinned maliciously. "Oh, I'll tell you all right. I'll tell you anything you want to know!" With that, it opened its mouth wide and expelled its black essence. Puriel released the thing's face and fell back in surprise, crying out when the smoke unfurled out and blinded him. Patience quickly began chanting the exorcism, but it was too late. The demon had pushed itself into Angelica's body.
It spun round on the angel and witch, grinning with the girl's innocent face. "Follow me, if you can!" It laughed a childish shrill laugh and vanished.