The Devil's Demeanor Read online

  Stephen agreed, and, boy, did that turn out to be a mistake.

  The next day, a Sunday, they went to the closest church. As soon as Stephen stepped out of the car and saw the building, he started sweating. He wasn’t sure why at first, but an anxious feeling grew in him the closer he got to the entrance. By the time he stepped foot inside he was screaming in pain and fear. Dad had to drag him back out onto the steps before Stephen would calm down.

  Stephen was so scared and embarrassed that he ran back to the car. Dad took him back home.

  Chapter 2

  If Dad had been worried about Stephen before, that was nothing compared to what he was now. He wouldn’t allow his son to hang out with Lucy after school unless they did so at his house, in his presence. Stephen had to come straight home after school. At first he thought he was being punished, that Dad thought he’d been acting out at the church with that tantrum. As it turned out, Dad believed the complete opposite: that Stephen had truly been harmed by stepping inside the building.

  He believed his son was possessed.

  Stephen didn’t know what happened to him that day, nearly a week ago. He had been overcome with a fear greater than he’d ever felt before. He explained that to his father, who then made the rules. Stephen knew this could only last until he went off to college.

  But he didn’t care about the limitations on his social life; he worried about his sanity. He didn’t think he was possessed by a demon, but there was definitely something wrong. It had to have something do with the thing that bit him.

  One night, he dreamed not of rape or murder but of a closed black door in what looked like the long cavern he’d visited before. He opened the door and walked through. Statues lined a vast hall, statues of monstrous bats.

  Stephen gasped. These statues looked like the creatures from the vision, the ones that outran the lightning. Was this their home, or some kind of shrine?

  He wandered down the hall, toward what looked like a throne. On the throne sat a book. He picked it up. The book was large and black, and he couldn’t tell from what it had been made, but it felt like skin. He opened the cover and saw crisp white pages. On them were symbols he couldn’t read; they consisted of slashes and weird shapes.

  He sat on the throne and went through the tome. There were illustrations that made Stephen think of caveman drawings. He continued looking through this book until a clearing voice startled him.

  There was something large and squat standing at the entrance.

  Stephen jumped up from the throne, spilling the book onto the floor.

  He recognized the creature standing before him. It looked like a bat with a jackal’s face and red wings. Its shiny, sunken eyes stared at him from across the large hall; Stephen could see those eyes from fifty feet away.

  “What are you doing here?” the creature asked. Stephen didn’t see its lips move.

  “I was just reading—”

  “No!” it interrupted. “How did you get here?”

  “I don’t know.”

  It studied him, coming closer on all fours. Stephen backed into the throne, accidentally falling into the seat once again. The creature placed its hands on the arms of the chair. Its horrible face was inches from his.

  “This is unprecedented,” it said, mostly to itself. “Man has never breached the fabric of reality the way you have. You…you must be one of them.” It grew suddenly nervous.

  “I’m just dreaming,” Stephen offered.

  The creature grinned. “Then, please, wake up. You shouldn’t be here. I’m worried about what this could mean.”

  Its grin faded at those last words. Stephen’s heart raced. It was unnerving hearing what sounded like an intelligent voice coming from this thing, without its lips moving. The creature backed away, picking up the book.

  “You were reading our history?” it asked, turning the pages.

  “I can’t read any of that.”

  “Then let me do it for you.” It turned the book around so Stephen could see. “Before there was you, there were us. We predate your race by millions of years. We were even here before the dinosaurs.”

  It showed drawings of tiny black things crawling from an ocean.

  “However,” it continued, “before us, there were them.”

  Another drawing showed men with squiggles of light radiating from them.

  “Who are they?” Stephen asked.

  “The gods. And they don’t like us one bit. Things seemed fine until the lizards came and took over our lands. So we wiped them out. The gods didn’t like that. They saw us as a parasite that killed anything it came in contact with. We tried to kill everything that attempted to replace us as the dominant species on this planet.”

  Another drawing showed the black creatures attacking dinosaurs and man.

  “So the gods struck at us, wiping out nearly our entire race. But we escaped below ground, where they couldn’t reach us. For millions of years, they’ve been unable to get us because they can’t step foot on earth without sacrificing what they truly are. They can only watch.”

  “How do you know there are gods?” Stephen asked.

  “The oldest of us says so.”

  “So, the gods are like God?” he asked the creature.

  “No,” it whispered. “Though I did get them confused the day you went to that holy place....” It looked embarrassed.

  “Wait—what?”

  “It’s time for you to wake up, little one. I’ve told you too much, though there’s nothing you can possibly do with this information. Or can you? Are you another spy sent by the gods to destroy us?”

  The creature was suddenly angry. It charged at Stephen, who fell, toppling the throne. He’d closed his eyes when he fell, but when he opened them he found himself in bed, once again on top of his covers. Safe and sound.

  * * *

  Stephen was relieved when he graduated from high school. It had more to do with getting away from his father than anything else. He hadn’t told Dad about the dreams or the creature, though he felt he should have. What could Dad do, though? So far, nothing much happened as a result of the bite beside the nightmares, but he feared his father would put him in some kind of hospital.

  Stephen didn’t think he was crazy, but Dad did. He had to get away. While in college, he planned to study his problem more. It would be safer then, where Dad couldn’t keep such a close eye on him like he did now.

  Unfortunately, Lucy would be going to a different school. They had only been going out for five months, but he believed he loved her. Neither of them had said the words, exactly, but he felt she loved him too.

  One weekend in August, they went for a walk in a park near his house. Dad would be furious when he came home from work and found his son gone. Stephen didn’t care. He was a high-school graduate, and hadn’t had any episodes lately.

  Dad still looked at him with narrowed eyes, however.

  They hadn’t returned to church, but Stephen doubted he’d freak out the way he did last time. The demon, or whatever it was, admitted it confused God with “the gods,” but Stephen still shivered when he thought of that creature’s fear acting as his own. If it could express its own terror through him, what else could it do? Could it see through his eyes, smell what he smelled, feel what he felt?

  Was it becoming him?

  Stephen and Lucy sat on a bench and stared at the trees across from them. The summer weather felt great, a far cry from the chilly January night of the attack in the cave. Stephen was comforted by Lucy’s presence next to him and didn’t want to lose it. If they hadn’t already been accepted into their respective colleges, he would’ve gone to hers.

  “There’s something I have to tell you,” she said to him, taking his hand.

  He squeezed it. “What is it?”

  “I love you very much.”

  He grinned. “I love you too, sweet heart of mine.”

  She placed her head on his shoulder. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “We’ll stil
l be together,” he promised.

  “I know, but I’ll miss being next to you, touching you.”

  “Oh. I’ll miss that too.”

  They sat with their fingers locked for a quiet moment before she said, “I think I’m ready.”

  “Ready for what?”

  “Sex.”

  Stephen gulped. “Are you…sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. Um. I guess I am too.”

  “It will be a great way to say farewell, until next we meet.”

  He kissed her head. “I love the way you talk, sometimes.”

  “Sometimes?” She feigned offense.

  “Always.”

  “When should we do it?” she asked.

  “Tonight?” He sounded a little too eager and tried to hide it by coughing.

  “Okay, but where? We can’t go to your house because of your crazy dad. My parents are home, too, and they would kill you if they knew what we were doing.”

  Stephen contemplated for a moment before saying, “Larry’s parents are out of town.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Larry? Really? I can only imagine what his room smells like.”

  They laughed.

  “He has a guest room,” Stephen added.

  She nodded. “Sounds good.”

  They sat together a little longer, and Stephen couldn’t help thinking about the creature again. Would it be able to experience sex? The thought almost diminished his excitement for tonight. Almost.

  * * *

  It was in September that Stephen got the call from Lucy. He took the call out in the hall on the community phone, exposed to the passersby. He was happy to hear her voice. At first, anyway.

  “I miss you so much,” he told her. It had been a month since they last saw each other, since that wonderful night together.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  His chest suddenly burned and he could hear his heart in his ears. “What?”

  “I’m pregnant.”

  He leaned against the wall as students walked past him. Some looked at him as though they feared he was dying. He regained his composure and said into the phone, “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh my god.”

  “Are you mad?” she asked.

  He couldn’t find his voice. He tried to say no, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t mad, but he wasn’t happy either. “No,” he finally managed.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked.

  “Do you want to keep it?”

  “Of course I do!” She wasn’t feigning offense this time. “Do you want to keep it?”

  She sounded so far away and he wanted to be close to her. He didn’t often think of being a father, especially at his age, but he always hoped to be a more tolerant one than his own. “Yes,” he found himself saying.

  “What?”

  He realized he’d whispered the answer. “Yes,” he said louder.

  “Really? Oh, I was so worried about what you’d say. I’m so happy, Stephen.”

  “Me too.”

  “I’ll have to tell my parents.”

  “Oh, no.” He slapped his head. “That means I have to tell my dad, too.”

  “Oh, boy.” She laughed. “I feel sorry for you.”

  “Thanks, hon.”

  * * *

  Lucy’s parents took the news fairly well, but weren’t completely happy with the situation. Stephen’s dad, on the other hand, didn’t take the news well at all. He dropped to his knees in the middle of the living room and prayed to God to protect his son and kill the unborn child.

  Lucy stood in horror as she listened to his words. Stephen couldn’t have been more embarrassed or offended. He tried talking to his father, but the man wouldn’t stop praying.

  “You’re overreacting, Dad!”

  “The baby will be evil,” Dad said as he took a breath. Then he started praying again.

  “You’re being ridiculous, Willem!” Lucy yelled. She looked mad now.

  “It’s not your fault, honey,” he said to her. “It’s the demon possessing my son. It passed that evil to your baby. I just know it.”

  She looked at Stephen. “What is he talking about?”

  He pulled her away from his praying father and took her to his room. “I’ll deal with you later,” he said to Dad.

  Once in his room, he closed the door and turned to Lucy, who was standing in front of the bed. “I have something to tell you,” he said as he sat down with her. “Earlier this year, I was attacked by an animal in a cave. Ever since then, I’ve had really bad nightmares. They were so bad that I would wake up screaming. Dad is worried about me because of those dreams. He thinks I’m possessed. It’s nothing.”

  “What kind of animal was it?”

  “I don’t know,” he lied. He couldn’t tell her it was a giant bat, or a demon. “I didn’t see it very well. I went to the hospital and got it taken care of, so I’m not sick or anything. My dad’s just really religious and it’s making him talk crazy.”

  “Being really religious doesn’t make people crazy.” She still looked worried, but she nodded her understanding. “He’ll never accept this, will he?”

  “Maybe some day, after the baby is born and he sees it’s not evil.”

  She lay down. “I’m so tired, and don’t want to go back to campus on Monday.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “Let’s just quit school and run away together.”

  He laughed. “Are you serious?”

  “No.”

  She didn’t sound so certain, though.

  * * *

  Stephen and Lucy talked nearly every day and got together every weekend for the next two months. She told him that everyone at school stared at her and shook their heads once the bump started showing. A teenaged, unwed mother? For shame!

  “We should get married,” Stephen said one day. They had talked about this more than once, but hadn’t taken any steps toward making it reality.

  “I’m waiting for to ask properly,” she said with a smile.

  They were on their special bench in the park. Stephen got down on one knee, and though he didn’t have a ring, he took her left hand, kissed it, and said, “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes.”

  They kissed. They told Lucy’s parents, but not Stephen’s dad, and set a date in December.

  Chapter 3

  Lucy and the baby died before any wedding could take place.

  School was over for Stephen. He refused to return after Lucy’s death. He didn’t do much of anything, in fact. Well, he cried almost every day in his room. He couldn’t understand what happened to her. She had been driving from a doctor’s appointment when she lost control of the car and drove off the road. She had been crossing a bridge at the time, and the fall had been...

  Stephen shivered as he thought of the terror she must have felt as her car fell fifty feet to the river. How had it happened? Had she been distracted by something in or out of the car? Lucy had been a safe driver, always attentive of everything around her. He couldn’t imagine her being distracted for a second.

  What if it hadn’t been an accident? The thought suddenly popped into his head unbidden. What if Lucy was murdered? Who would do such a thing?

  What would?

  He hadn’t dreamed about the creature or its world for quite some time. Had it found out about the baby and decided to get rid of it? Why would it do that? The thought made him so angry he screamed, right there, in his room. He screamed until his throat was raw. The bedroom door swung open and Dad stood there.

  “What’s happening?” he asked his son.

  Stephen didn’t answer.

  “I know you’re hurting, son, and I’m sorry about what happened to Lucy and the baby. I truly am.”

  Stephen got the sense he wanted to say more, but instead he backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. Stephen closed his eyes, feeling the cold tears between his lids, and thought of the place with the throne and history book. He wante
d to return there to look through that book again. If there was a clue to the creatures’ weaknesses, it would be in there.

  He took a moment to think about what he was about to do. What if the creature had nothing to do with Lucy’s death? What if it had been an accident?

  He realized he didn’t care if the monster was responsible or not. He hated it for the nightmares it had given him. He hated it for turning his own father against him. Stephen wanted to hurt it for hurting him.

  When he opened his eyes he was there, in the grand hall. He saw the throne up ahead, with the statues lining the path to it.

  The book was there.

  He ran up to it and held it to his chest. He tried to will himself awake, hoping the book would come with him. Nothing happened. His heart raced. Could he wake up at all if he needed to? He tried again and woke up in his bed. The book was not there. He closed his eyes again, and when he opened them he was back in the hall. The book was on the floor.

  “Shit!”

  He picked it up and hid behind the throne. He went through the book, still unable to read the language in which it was written. He understood the illustrations enough, though. He got past the last page the creature had shown him, with the beings made of light.

  On the following page was a drawing of a figure that was not made of light. It looked like it was falling from the sky, though. Stephen didn’t understand. He flipped back to the previous page, and then back to the dim figure. On the page adjacent was what looked like the previous two illustrations combined. Whoever drew it must have been angry because the drawing was very dark and jagged. Stephen flipped the page and saw the dim figure was now as bright as the gods.

  Something clicked in Stephen. The drawings made a strange kind of sense.

  Suddenly, he heard grunts coming from the entrance to the hall behind him, followed by the sound of movement. A couple of somethings had come in and were walking toward him.

  “Where is the history?” he heard one of them say.

  “I left it on the throne, Great One,” said another, and Stephen recognized that seductive voice. It was his creature.

  “No matter. There is something we need to discuss.” The other voice was deeper, sickly, but sounded a lot like the other’s.