Blackwater Springs

Chapter Thirty-Four

1

    No! Evie's voice rang out in Audrey's head.

    "Good choice, young Audrey. Now, where is your Mark?"

    "My Mark? What do you mean?" She feigned confusion.

    The demon's eyes burned into her. "You know what Mark I mean. The bitch told you your history. Now, where is it?" Each word was an unspoken threat.

    "She told me about the Mark of Cain, but I don't have one." She turned her hip from the figure, shielding the birthmark from sight.

    The demon saw the movement. He grabbed Audrey's wrist and turned her so she was facing him. His gaze ran over the length of her naked body, until it landed on the slight discoloration, shaped like an eye.

    "Looks like we found it," he said, more to himself than Audrey. He touched the Mark with his fingertips, then jumped back, clutching his hand. "It's the real deal."

    The stench of burning flesh permeated the stale air. Audrey glanced at her captor. Thick tendrils of smoke billowed from his right hand. Blisters formed then looked on the fingers of his left hand, and small pinpricks of bone white could be seen through the blood and infection that poured down the hand. His eyes met Audrey's, and he smiled, although it was obvious he was in pain.

    "Don't worry," he said in a conversational tone, "I'm used to this. I'll be back to normal in no time."

    "How many people have you-" killed, her mind supplied. She swallowed, and continued, "-you know, helped, like this?"

    He stroked her hair. She recoiled, and the pendant jumped in response. "I don't keep count. I'm a good guy, Audrey. I only want to help."

    Evie screamed in her mind, a wordless sound, yet it still conveyed how she felt.

    "I'm sure you are. But I'm wondering. If I do as you say, what do you get in return?"

    "What makes you so sure I want something?"

    Because no one makes a deal with the Devil without payment. "I just assumed."

    "Your assumptions were incorrect. Hell is full of people, no doubt, but most of them were good people in life. Your God chose to send them to Hell for minor infractions. Adultery, homosexuality. Things of that nature. Does that sound fair and just to you?"

    Audrey shook her head. She wasn't sure where the demon was going,  but thought it best to agree.

    "Many of us feel the same way. With you and I as leaders, we can rise up, take our rightful place in Heaven."

    Audrey's eyes widened. "Are you saying you want to - to overthrow God?"

    The demon gave her another malicious smile. His teeth gleamed in the flickering candlelight.

    "Precisely."

2

    "Are you sure that's gonna work?" Audrey asked.

    "Of course it'll work. It's written in the Bible." He sneered at the word. "'Satan will be released from his prison and will come out'," he quoted.

    "So you're-"

    "Satan?" He laughed. "Of course not."

    "Well then, what are you?" she asked, half out of curiosity, half to stall for time.