8
The afrit appeared in a small room, empty save for a pentagram drawn on the floor. He looked around, glaring at nothing in particular, while tapping his foot impatiently.
The walls of the room were white. There was a door across from him. People were moving in the corridor beyond. Now when the fuck will my summoner show up?
As if to answer Aziz's question, the door flung open, revealing an older man with grayish stubble on his chin.
The Supervisor.
He walked in, seemingly perfectly at ease, glancing around the room until his gaze finally rested on the afrit. "Aziz, so nice of you to join us tonight!"
Aziz scoffed. This man was a pain in the ass, and full of it, too. He knew very well that Aziz had better things to do on a night such as tonight. Nevertheless, the Supervisor still took it upon himself to summon him. That damn Supervisor was just trying to piss Aziz off.
Not wanting to let his irritation show, Aziz let his emotions slide off his face, leaving a blank, if not more terrifying, stare in their place.
"What do you want."
The Supervisor feigned innocence. "Why, I merely thought that this time would be a good one to discuss some various thoughts and queries amongst us gentlemen-"
"Cut the bullshit." Aziz was starting to get legitimately pissed. Being summoned was bad enough, but being summoned by such a self-centered cur just made the whole event much, much worse. "If you wished to just talk, then why am I still in a binding pentagram?"
The Supervisor's face seemed to tighten, only minutely, but Aziz could read the motion loud and clear. It made Aziz smirk.
The binding pentagram was made to protect the summoner from the summoned. Reasonably, too, because most demons did not particularly enjoy being pulled around like puppets on strings. The binding pentagram could only be broken by the summoner, and if so, then it also broke all restraints on the demon.
Which meant that the much more powerful, angry demon could do whatever the fuck he pleased, and the summoner could only pray for mercy.
Yes, the Supervisor did not have nearly that much trust (if any) in Aziz. He and the Supervisor went far back, and it was an unpleasant history.
"Well, Aziz, we are feisty today, are we not?" The Supervisor smiled, having recovered and taken Aziz's previous comment in stride.
"You, maybe. Now spit it out already and we'll both be on our merry ways."
The Supervisor nodded, still smiling like the smuck he was. " I have a, ah, mission for you."
Aziz laughed, like legitimately threw back his head and laughed, at this comment. "What, you are asking a favor? How glorious, old man! Like I would help a human." He spit out the last word. "You must be desperate if you're calling on a demon to fix your shit."
"You know very well what is making us so... 'desprate'."
Yes, Aziz had. The Karzayk had been weakening. Really weakening.
The old man interrupted Aziz's train of thought, continuing, "And it is not a favor. You'll be working, hired and duly compensated in return for your efforts."
Aziz crossed his arms, looking terse. "And what would I want? Your human currencies?" Aziz scoffed. The Supervisor was getting senile in his old age if he thought that a demon had any want or need for money.
"No, no. Of course not. Such a powerful demon as yourself undoubtedly has no use for such trivial things as money." The Supervisor was patronizing Aziz, and it only pissed the demon off more. "No, I seem to remember coming by a certain object, I forget from whom it was obtained, but let's not worry about such trivial matters now! No, this object may be of some interest to you."
Aziz paused, his smirk faltering for a minute. He couldn't possibly... no of course not.
The Supervisor drew out an IPad. On it was an image, a video feed. As Aziz looked closer, he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
No... No no no this can't be happening....
All the blood drained from Aziz's face as he watched the feed, watched the live feed. It was happening. They had it. They had the only thing that mattered to Aziz, the only reason he stayed on this wretched world.
Everything for Aziz began to spin, and suddenly the world seemed like a very cruel place. He went to speak, but the words were caught in his throat. The Supervisor smiled, a sick, burning grimace crawling across his face.
"Now, now, Aziz, you shouldn't be so hasty to say no. I see that you have some interest in this. Do you want to reconsider my proposition? Do we have a deal? You work for me, I give you this?" The man gestured towards the IPad.
Aziz licked his dry lips, nodding but still terrified.
The Supervisor sighed and shook his head, then once again in a patronizing tone said, "Ah ah ah, a nod won't do, and you know it." The man leaned closer. "I want a blood pact."
Aziz finally found a voice, and in a low defeated tone said, "You... you bastard." His voice cracking on the last word. The Supervisor's reply was merely a chuckle. Looking down, feeling the weight of crushing defeat, Aziz sighed and nodded again. Then the demon elongated his fingernail, while the Supervisor pulled out a pocket knife. They both made about a three inch long incision in the right palm of their hand, they then went to shake. Aziz held back a shudder as he touched the cold, clammy surface of the human's hand. Fuck what have I just done.
The wound of the demon quickly healed, leaving only a faint pink scar. The man, though, had to wrap his hand in a bandage, tying the knot tightly so as to stop the bleeding.
The Supervisor smiled, triumph evident in his face. "Oh come, now! It can't be that bad, now can it?"
But it was. Oh god, it was. Aziz slowly began to let the reality sink in of what had just happened. He had just sold his soul to the proverbial devil, in return for the safety of his most cherished possession.
Feeling a deep sickness in his stomach, Aziz listen as the vile man in front of him began to elaborate on the details of the mission, a smirk now prominent on the stubbled face.
Oh how the tables have fucking turned. Thought Aziz morbidly.
The mission seemed like a suicide mission. Maybe it is. But no matter, Aziz would do anything now, anything at all.
* * *
Mariah walked down the cold corridors of section B of the ground floor, AKA Maximum Security. The whole placed looked the same, but lucky for her, she had swiped a map. Also the fact that Mariah had been working in the facility for over seven months gave her a major benefit when it came to traversing the halls.
A month ago, Joseph suddenly disappeared. Nothing. He just vanished into thin air. People that Mariah asked denied ever knowing him, that he had even been employed by the Company. Amy, Tracy, Keith, Kaylei, even that asshole Marc and his goonies denied ever seeing the skinny little linguist.
Mariah shook her head. She couldn't be going crazy, there had to be some trace of Joseph left in this god forsaken establishment! But the fact was, was that there wasn't. All the photos of Joseph were gone... All signs of his employment vanished. Mariah had called his landlady, and she denied ever having such a tenant. Everyone she asked, well, they looked at Mariah as though she were crazy! Even his room here held no sign of the guy. When Mariah had initially been looking for him, she'd barged in unannounced to find it had magically turned into a laboratory.
This whole thing scared Mariah, it really did. But now she had a lead. After a whole fucking month, Mariah had finally gotten some clue, some glimmer of hope, that she was not crazy and Joseph was still alive.
Walking through the winding corridors ever deeper into the Ground Floor*, Mariah reflected on how it happened. She’d been passing some nurses at lunch, and had heard them talking. They’d been talking about their wards. One from Maximum Security had mentioned a young, frail man with a shock of black hair and brilliant blue eyes.
‘Electric blue!’ the nurse had said, ‘They are so hard to forget. I could never think as to why someone who looks so obviously harmless would ever be put in the highest security unit. He isn’t even awake most of the time; they keep him sedated.’
At hearing that, Mariah had gone off to the computers with new-found determination. She had checked where the secure wards were located. Then she had systematically gone through the (conveniently hacked) database, marking off all the patients that obviously weren’t Joseph.
Now Mariah had narrowed it down to three cells, all bunched together. Each cell had an unidentified occupant, under constant sedation. One of them had to be Joseph. He has to be here. He couldn’t’ve just disappeared.
Mariah shook her head, coming to the first lower level checkpoint. It was merely a door with an ID swipe system, which she easily maneuvered. She’d gotten the hack information from a hopeless techie whom Mariah’d coyly flirted with.
As the doors sealed shut behind Mariah, she began to feel a queasy disposition. Coming back out would not be nearly as easy. Waving that thought away, she made her way down the hall.
Passing through the next five checkpoints went smoothly. The final one, though, had a guard. Lucky for Mariah, he was preoccupied, and she slipped past him, walked down the final hallway, and turned a white-wash corridor to find a dead end with three doors.
All three doors were the same heinous shade of white. Mariah stared at them, uncertain of which to enter first. Hell with it. Mariah moved towards the one on the left, and after a quick key hack, flung the door open.
Inside the room was a cot with an IV fee leading down to a pale, slender arm… connected to a female body. An older woman, pushing thirty, with brown hair and a shock of bruising on her face.
Shit! Mariah quickly backed out of the room, moving back towards the other doors. Next room proved to be empty, save for a chair with straps. Mariah shivered at the thought of what might happen in the cold, white cell.
Terrified at the time being wasted, Mariah fumbled with the key to the final room, finally managing to slip it into the lock and swiping with a satisfying beep. Opening the door, Mariah got a good look at the room. It was fitted, like the first one, with a cot and IV. But on the cot lay a frail form, white from lack of sunlight and thin from lack of solid food. There was a shock of black hair on the top of the person’s head.
Holy shit. She wasn’t going crazy. It was Joseph, it was Joseph.
Mariah ran forward, towards Joseph’s bedside.
“Joseph! Oh my god! What happened? What have they done to you?” Joseph’s eyes flickered, slowly opening to reveal two dim blue orbs.
“Oh my god…” Mariah breathed. The change was drastic. The once brilliant, if not reserved, linguist was now reduced to a hazy, slow… something. There was something wrong with him. Like he’d been beaten down and worn out. Maybe it was just the exhaustion and drugs, Mariah couldn’t tell.
Mariah swept the hair, now going past the length of his shoulders, out of his eyes.
Joseph’s eyes slowly crept around the room, focusing on nothing in particular. He let out a slight giggle, then mumbled, “Je dois rêver…” He seemed to finally see Mariah. His light blue eyes slowly focusing on her face. His eyebrows scrunched, and he said, “Cad é atá tú anseo ...?”
“Joseph….?” Mariah looked at him concerned. Joseph started laughing again. “Joseph… we need to get you out of here.”
He just kept laughing, saying, “le luci continuano a muoversi!” Mariah started unbuckling his restraints, taking care not to hurt him as she took the IV out of his arm. He kept on speaking in… god knows what language. It kept on changing. In the background Joseph was muttering something that sounded like a cross between English and French.
He was definitely high.
Mariah muttered, “What the hell do they have you on? For Christ sake get up, Joseph!” She was trying to haul the linguist to his feet. “chúng ta đi đâu?”
Mariah grabbed Joseph’s arm, dragging him towards the door. He kept stumbling.
“gökyüzünde hareket eder! Dur olun!”
“I don’t know what the fuck you just said.”
“Nǐ zhǐ huó yīcì, suǒyǐ zhǐshì qù tā mā de jiānguǒ!... Xìngrén..."
“Was that fucking Chinese?!”
Joseph giggled, his head lolling around.
Mariah huffed, then dragged Joseph out of the door, beginning to walk as calmly as she could with the freaking mobile-Google-Translator following behind her.
"Risovat' menya kak odin iz vashikh frantsuzskikh devochek , Dzhek."
"Joseph! Act normal, for god-sake!"
"normal ist wie ein Schmetterling, explodiert er in Grad über fünfhundert Fahrenheit."
"Joseph, shush!"
"vetëm për ju, shoku im flutur!" Joseph giggled some more.
They were coming up upon the next checkpoint. Mariah kept her head down, and as if by some miracle, Joseph shut up as well. The guard merely nodded them on.
As soon as they rounded the corner, though, Joseph started again. "I had the weirdest dream... Amy was in it..."
"Joseph I need you to focus, please!"
"Amy, she and me and that cute alien..."
Joseph was obviously high off his medications.
"Joseph, snap out of it or we're going to get caught!"
Joseph nodded, then went on, "Naw, no we aren't!" He giggled again, "The alien... he bit me hehe... bit me! And then Amy left and they got me into a room and asked about the silly bite." Joseph giggled, mumbling "ita inepte..."
Mariah shook her head, this escape was going to be hopeless if she didn't do something about Joseph's state, and quick. She finally decided to wrap her arm around his waist, making it seem as though he were drunk. Maybe that would be a better excuse rather than a patient shot up with god knows what drugs.
Mariah dragged him across the hall, him still mumbling about butterflies and other unknown things, laughing every now and again. They came to a split in the hallway, and Mariah went to consult her map. Only... "Shit! I left my map in the room!"
Joseph seemed to be concentrating, then slowly said, "Ma-a-a-p." Popping the "P".
Mariah suddenly began to breath faster, fear pumping adrenaline into her system. Without a map, they would get lost, and getting lost meant getting found, and getting found meant... well worse than what they'd already done to Joseph.
Joseph was busy talking aimlessly, "...Map, rap, sap, whap.... hehe whap. Mariahhhhhhh~" Joseph said, leaning towards her on an unsteady arm. "Muhhhh-reeeeee-uhhhhh." Joseph giggled looking around. His eyes finally settled on Mariah's concerned face. "Is whap," he popped the "p", "A real word?" Mariah ignored him, desperately racking her memory for the right direction. Finally, she thought oh to hell with it! And took the left path.
After a few minutes of dragging Joseph along, they finally came to the second checkpoint.
Thank god!
Mariah quickly scanned her card, then pulled Joseph through the steel door. From here on, Mariah knew her way. It was a lucky break.
Everything is smooth coasting from here on!
Just as they rounded the corner, though, Mariah saw guards.
Lots of them.
And....Amy?
Mariah breathed a sigh of relief. She could trust Amy! "Amy! Oh my god thank you I am so happy to see you! I was right I found Joseph!" Joseph, at hearing his name, giggled, while beginning to spin in slight circles behind Mariah.
Amy just stared through Mariah, making her shift uncomfortably on her feet. "Amy....?"
The guards were behind Amy.... As though Amy were leading them...
Realization dawned on Mariah's face. "You! You knew all the time, didn't you?"
Amy cocked her head to the side, giving a cold, condescending smile. "Well congratulations. You're not a total inept, Mariah." She began to walk forward in long, confidant strides.
Mariah involuntarily took a step back. "A-amy what are you doing?"
"I took pity on you. Everyone else was bribed or blackmailed into forgetting, but you, I knew, would not accept his disappearance." Amy kept walking. Guards rushed up to Joseph, putting his giggling form into handcuffs.
"But you, I took pity on you. That was a grave, grave mistake."
Mariah was backed against the wall.
Amy reached into her jacket, pulling out a long, cold blade. She gave Mariah another grim smile. "I will not be making that mistake again."
"Wait Amy!" Mariah said, cornered, "Can't we talk? There is a misunderstanding!"
"There is no misunderstanding."
Mariah tried to move to the side as Amy lunged forward, only to find that she was too slow. A searing pain shot through Mariah's shoulder. "Gah!" She screamed, gasping at the incoming pain.
Amy set her steely eyes on Mariah, her intent now evident.
Before Mariah could even make another attempt to flee, the cold blade had already become embedded in her skin. It ripped through her arteries and organs, straight up and into her heart.
Mariah gasped, trying to pull at the slick handle with numb hands. Amy twisted the knife, though, driving it deeper into Mariah's chest. Hearing finally a satisfying crunch, Amy let go of the knife and woman.
Gasping one last time, Mariah went limp and slid down the wall, leaving a brilliant red stain behind on the immaculately clean surface.
In the background, Joseph had gone silent, scarcely breathing. "M-Mariah....?" He said, his brain slowly beginning to work.
Amy turned to Joseph. "You," she said with a false, honeyed tone, "Should be getting back to bed."
Joseph finally began to register the recent events. "Mariah!" He began to struggled, tears threatening to blur his vision. "Wha... What... Mariah!" He turned to Amy. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO?!" The guards were trying to restrain him. "Stop no... let me go!" Joseph thrashed from side to side.
"Sweet Jesus." Said Amy, disgust evident in her voice. "Get him sedated, already."
With that, Amy turned and sauntered away, as if nothing had happened.
Joseph, meanwhile, felt the cold pinch of a needle breaking his skin, and soon felt everything going fuzzy. Before he knew it, everything was black again. He slumped, unconscious, mirroring the bloody figure in front of him almost perfectly.
* * *
OH MY GOD I JUST KILLED A CHARACTER! I'm so sorry! But it had to be done! *hides behind Aziz* Yeah we just can't seem to get rid of Amy, can we? She is such a meanie oh my god o-o
Well nothing really important to update all my (like 5) readers about... except for that this book, my dear friends, is about to take a turn for the weird O_O Get ready, because this is developing into a fantasy story. (I'm sorry I have no control over the plot... my brain just barfs in on out onto my computer and TADA it's a story. ._.)
Anyway THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! IF YOU WANT UPDATES THEN COMMENT, VOTE, FAN WHATEVER! 9_9 it helps motivate me lol
Well, :l ANDREA OUT! PEACE! *throws cookies*
Oh Yeah and here is Le DICTIONARY!
“Je dois rêver…” = I must be dreaming
“Cad é atá tú anseo ...?”= What are you doing here?
“le luci continuano a muoversi!"= The lights keep moving!
“chúng ta đi đâu?”= Where are we going?
“gökyüzünde hareket eder! Dur olun!”= The sky is moving! Make it stop!
“Nǐ zhǐ huó yīcì, suǒyǐ zhǐshì qù tā mā de jiānguǒ!... Xìngrén..."= You only live once so just go fucking nuts!... almonds....
"Risovat' menya kak odin iz vashikh frantsuzskikh devochek , Dzhek."= Draw me like one of your french girls, Jack.
"normal ist wie ein Schmetterling, explodiert er in Grad über fünfhundert Fahrenheit."= Normal is like a butterfly, it explodes at about five hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
"vetëm për ju, shoku im flutur!" = just for you, my butterfly friend!
"ita inepte..."= so silly...