Chapter 11 #2
I head outside, where I find that I was quite wrong. Asmodeus is no longer in the house. Instead, he’s dunking a man’s head into the fountain the driveway wraps around.
I pretend I don’t see and hurry over to my car, but of course Asmodeus finishes up and slides into the passenger seat.
“I’m starting to think that guy is a masochist. Like how many times do I have to threaten him before he stops following me everywhere? He did go, ‘Harder, Demon Daddy,’ so what do you think?”
“I don’t want to talk to you or hear you or see you.”
“Good thing I can turn invisible then, eh?” he asks before he does so while that fucking ferret chills on his lap.
It’s like a wave of emotions is tearing through me but I have to stomp them all down. Stomp them down to that dark fucking hole where all of my problems go before I cover them up with the biggest weight I can find.
It also annoys me that Asmodeus is seeing this, and that he’s just sitting there playing with that ferret. I want him to say something that annoys me or do something so I can snipe at him.
About two miles from my mother’s house, I slam on the brakes and pull off to the side of the road before getting out of the car and briskly walking into the woods. I don’t get too far before my illusions flow out around me. I’m getting irritated and angry and losing my composure.
“So many angry Ellisons,” Asmodeus says as he pushes his way through them. He fist bumps one for some reason while I glower at them.
“Stay in the car.”
“Would it feel better to beat someone up? I offer myself as tribute.”
“In what world would that make me feel better?”
He grins at me before smacking one of my illusions. “I wanna fuck this one up.”
I gape at him, much as my illusion is doing. “You… you…”
“Yeah? I think your illusion liked that,” Asmodeus says with a smirk while he smacks him again.
I send my attention to that illusion with the intention of smacking him back, but the man is so fast I fail spectacularly as he goes and smacks another one.
“This one likes it even more,” Asmodeus says, grabbing the illusion and twirling him around.
I send five at him at once, feeling like it would benefit me greatly if I really could smack him around a little. The issue is that he’s already off trying to drag another illusion into some strange rendition of a waltz.
“You are going to pay for driving me mad,” I hiss as I split my attention between four of them only to have him grab one that I’m controlling and pull the illusion into his arms. It feels strangely intimate when he knocks the legs out from under the illusion I’m in and drops me into a dip, beaming down at me.
I quickly pull out of that illusion, letting him have at it, but he seems to know whichever one I’m focused on and pinpoints them so he can pester me.
And as he goes for the next one, I use my own body to slide up behind him and smack the side of his head gently.
“You’re not funny,” I say, pleased that I finally smacked him back.
I wave the illusions away, but my consciousness that’s still split between them seems far too interested in Asmodeus, and it takes a bit of focus to stop wanting to do more and send them away.
“I’m hilarious, thank you. Are you jealous? Would you like to dance with me?”
“Absolutely not.”
He smiles before dropping to his ass and lying sprawled on the ground. “Come on, lie down with me.”
“Why would I lie in that filth?”
“Because it’s fun,” he says as he knocks my legs gently before swooping in and grabbing me. No part of being dragged to the ground is enjoyable, but he grins like a banshee once I’m down next to him.
“This is pissing me off,” I declare.
“Honestly, I’m not the best one to ask for advice when it comes to horrible parents. I really don’t think you’ll like my advice to just kill them off.”
“Weirdly enough, you’re right for the first time in your life.”
That makes him laugh while I stare at the beautiful sky above me. The sun is shining between the leaves, and it’s almost enough, for just a moment, to make me feel like things aren’t that bad.
“I can feel the wetness seeping through my suit.”
“Yeah, my ass is quite moist,” Asmodeus says.
“Do you think I want to show up anywhere with a moist ass?”
“I don’t know why you wouldn’t.”
“You follow me when I ask you not to, pester me, and piss off my mother.”
“You’re welcome,” he responds, closing his eyes. His ferret, who’s been wandering until now, comes over and lies on his chest while staring at me. It’s clear she wants to bite me.
“Your ferret is so prickly.”
“Maybe I like prickly things,” he says as he opens one eye to grin at me.
I scowl at him in the hope he’ll shut up with all of that nonsense. I really don’t care to hear it.
But now that I’m lying here, I don’t quite know how to get up.
Asmodeus seems to have fallen asleep, which is a surprise when I swear the man never sleeps.
There hasn’t been one time when I’ve woken in the middle of the night and found him asleep.
He’s always on the roof, holding his rifle to his chest like he’s waiting for something.
I glance over at him. He has a rifle in one hand, his other hand on the ferret who is also asleep.
Here I am, torn apart by a family who haunts me no matter what I do, and there he is, a man with a family bad enough he killed them all.
Some days, it feels like I killed my family too.
He’s dead because of me, after all.
Fuck, fuck… I rub my head, trying to get away from my thoughts. I want to focus on something else. My chest hurts, and I press my hand against the scar and close my eyes.
I can still see him smiling at me… having no idea what I was going to do to him.
The sound of movement makes me open my eyes as Asmodeus flips onto his stomach, one hand holding his ferret as he pulls the rifle in place and fires.
He hesitates before shoving the ferret at me and standing in front of me.
“What’s going on?” I ask while I scramble to my feet.
“He was here.”
I look around because I’m positive that I was awake and would have noticed something, but I didn’t even hear anything besides Asmodeus waking up. What was loud enough he heard them in his sleep? Or did he just sense them?
“I shot him… I know I got him,” he says before he grabs my wrist, pulling me behind him while he moves in the direction he’d fired. The ferret is startled enough that it hasn’t bitten me at this point as I’m ushered through the trees.
Asmodeus stops in front of a tree and looks around, his hand still tight on my wrist. I realize he’s angled me so my back is against the tree and he’s covering my front.
He lets go of me and lifts his rifle, but he doesn’t seem to see anything.
Instead, he pulls out a knife and digs the tip of it into the tree where the bullet is embedded. He pulls it out and examines it.
“Huh.”
“What?”
“I missed,” he says. “I fucking missed. I never miss.”
“At this point we have to assume he has some superpower that is aiding him, right?”
He turns the bullet this way and that before popping it into his pocket. “I never miss. I missed…”
I want to ask him if he’s sure anyone was even there, but he’s far too adamant for someone not to have been.
“Why?” Asmodeus asks.
“Why what?”
“Which of us do these people want dead? Me? Or you? That guy stabbed you, so I have to assume it’s you, but… they’ve only shown up when I’m around.”
“You’ve been around me a lot,” I say when my phone beeps.
Unsure if it’s something important, I pull it out and see that I actually have two messages. One from my mother, which I missed, and a new one from Landon.
I click the one from my mother first.
Mother: I cannot believe your recent behavior. Why do you insist on disappointing me?
I glance up and see Asmodeus staring at me, but I can’t tell whether he read it or not. I switch to Landon’s text and realize it’s a group text.
Landon: Date night TOMORROW. Where? Nolan’s room. Who? All who want to witness Brandon’s blow-up girlfriend. Make sure you don’t bring anything sharp that could pop her. TOMORROW IS THE NIGHT. Who’s in?
Lex: Fuck to the yeah.
August: I’m not sure I can look her in the eyes after Brandon’s sex story. I feel extremely uncomfortable whenever I’m around him now.
Landon: You have no choice, you’re going.
Me: No thanks.
Asmodeus: May the demons grace us on this fine offering.
Asmodeus: For you lesser humans, that means yes, Ellison and I will be there.
Landon: DOES it mean that?
Asmodeus: The demons shall grace you tomorrow.
Landon: Are you going to kill us at dinner?
Asmodeus: Never drink from an unwatched cup.
Landon: Why? Why can’t I leave my cup unwatched in front of my closest friends?
Asmodeus: *heart emoji* *eggplant emoji* *devil emoji*
I look up at Asmodeus. “Do you know what the eggplant emoji means?”
“Penis.”
He sets a hand on my back with that declaration and hurries me off toward my car.
“If you know, then why do you send it?”
“Landon loves it.”
“I’m not sure he does, like… why send that to a friend?”
“The better question is… why not?” he asks as we get in the car, and I start driving again. I can see him scouting the trees and fields while we drive, but I think he knows that the person is gone.
“I just got to thinking… how did you get to my mother’s house?” I ask.
“Ah, delicious question. I stole Valerie’s vehicle as she made siren noises at me.”
“And… where is that car now?”
“Just like… on the side of the road somewhere. I left the keys in it so she can find it.”
“We have to go back so you can return it!”
“Nonsense. As the crow flies the siren will seek her booty.”
“What does any of that mean?” I ask.
“You will know when you’re older.”
“I’m older than you!” I growl.
Asmodeus just smiles, enjoying this shitty life far too much.