Chapter 3
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We were sitting in my living room. Eva was there too - she'd come with Kate, to hang out. For a while, neither of us said anything. Kate was still holding the book on her lap, and I felt an irrational surge of jealousy and anger - it was my book, after all, I told myself.
Finally, Kate spoke. "When the car crashed. I died. I felt myself die."
For a moment, I didn't speak. I didn't want to lie, but somehow I couldn't face up to what I'd done either.
"I don't know why we survived, Kate." I lied.
Eva nodded. "It wasn't this book that saved us, Kate. A stupid book can't do that! Okay? You're being crazy."
Kate paused, then nodded. "Okay. Fine. Then explain."
"I found it when we were packing up Mrs Rosewell's books. I didn't think it was real, but then after the crash I tried to use it to heal the cut on my forehead and it worked. I don't know why I thought it would work, I just... I just tried it, okay? And it worked. That's all. I was going to tell you guys about it, but I hadn't seen you and my phone was ruined in the crash."
Kate raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Your phone was in your pocket. You were fine. How was your phone ruined?"
I wasn't sure what to tell her, and in my moment of indecision, I found myself lying again. I shrugged. "I don't know, something must have hit it or something. Or I sat on it. Look, just trust me." It terrified me how easily the lies came.
"Fine. Fine. Whatever, Cassie. Lie to us. But I know something's up. There's something that you're not telling us. What happened in the crash, anyway? What's happening with you, Cassie? You're not a good liar. I can tell. So don't even try with me."
I considered telling them about the boy. Somehow, I couldn't. I couldn't tell my friends this. This was my secret.
"I don't know. The road was slippery, and I was tired, and I just lost control. There's nothing happening that I haven't told you about." I said.
"Hey, what about me?"
I jumped. It was him, again, black eyes, small horns, the outline of wings barely visible through his hoodie. The water clearly hadn't hurt him, since I couldn't see any burns. He looked slightly apprehensious.
"Forgotten me already, I suppose? Hey, could you maybe not tip boiling water on my next time?" he said, throwing himself down on an armchair as if he'd lived here all his life.
I screamed, and so did Kate. Eva looked fascinated.
"You again! You did this! This is your fault! Why do you keep following me? Go AWAY!" I shouted, reaching to my throat for my cross, but when I tried to banish him again, it did nothing.
"Can you not do that? Also, it won't work anymore. You've gone too far already."
"Who are you?" Eva breathed. 590Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxSIN4um1Ym
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"Sebastian. Sebastian Black." he said.
"Cool name." she said with a smile, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers in a disturbingly girly way.
I watched them, feeling a little sickened. "Eva, it's a demon. A demon. Stop flirting."
"A totally hot demon, though." she said dreamily.
"I... I want to vomit." I said, and for once I wasn't lying. "Who are you really? I don't mean your name. I don't care about that. Why are you following me?"
"Simple. It's my job to corrupt you, bring you over to Hell's side," he said with a shrug, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
My eyes widened. "You made me crash!"
"Well, I didn't actually mean to do that, you did that all by yourself really. I was just trying to talk to you. You went and crashed, and then you used the Book to... heal yourself."
I was surprised - I had been sure he was about to expose me. Which left the question - why did he lie? Why not just tell them? How did he even know what I'd said? More importantly, was he telling me the truth?
I shook my head. "You are a fallen angel, a minion of the devil. Leave my house."
Eva shrugged. "Or, you know, he could stay. I vote we hear him out."
I gaped at her, unable to believe what I was hearing. "Eva, this... thing is pure evil!"
Kate spoke up at last, her eyes darting between me and the demon.
"I agree. You're outvoted, Cassie. I know, I know, you're a Christian, but you also just used black magic. Are you really any better than him?"
I spluttered into silence. In my heart, I knew she was right - I had no right to act so, well, righteously. I had even less of a right than she knew.
"Well, what is there to say? You've found a cursed Book, Cassie. One of a fairly small number, in fact. You're either very lucky or incredibly unlucky, depending on how you look at it. My - that is, Satan, has given me the job of... guiding you through it all, getting you to Hell safe and sound before the Angels and the Warlock try to steal it." it said, gesturing with its hands as it explained.
"Well maybe I'll just give it to the angels," I said furiously.
Sebastian sat up straight, looking rather alarmed. "Nooo, no no no, that would be very bad."
I raised an eyebrow. "For whom? You? Hell?"
The demon sighed in exasperation. "For everybody! The Book doesn't belong in Heaven. They were made in Hell. They're the... original source of all witchcraft. Satan made them himself. They were stolen by interfering angels who lost them in the world, and created witches and warlocks, and thousands of lesser replica books. If the angels had those books, they would have too much power. They would try to use them to crush Hell. They have no wisdom, no individuality! They would not see the consequences of their actions!" It's eyes seemed to burn with intensity and conviction, but I didn't believe it for a second.
"The angels gave witchcraft to the world. Sure. Then why are they trying to stop it? What do you mean by cursed, anyway?" Kate asked, her voice hard. Ever the interrogator, the arguer. She would make a great lawyer one day.
"It was an accident. They didn't mean to lose the books. They're just bloody incompetent. They want to stop it because witchcraft brings human souls over to the devil - making a spell is essentially selling a part of your soul to the devil. The cursed Books themselves do more than that - they have power over human minds, and with every spell their minds slowly change and their souls slowly, piece by piece, go over to the worst part of Hell, where the books were stored to prevent the angels getting them. Eventually, when their souls are completely gone, they become demons. Lesser books merely destine you for Hell and disallow God's forgiveness, but these are powerful. The will not just manipulate the user, but also reality, causing more and more bad things to happen that they need spells to fix. You have already met the local chief warlock - he is the man you took the cats and books to, and that you stole the cursed Book from. Your neighbour was the previous chief."
I blinked, the information taking time to get through. The words 'they become demons' echoed inside my head. I didn't understand at first, and somehow, stupidly, the only thought that I could muster was, "Mrs Rosewell became a demon?"
Sebastian laughed, but the sound seemed distorted, muffled. "Oh, no, she never used the book, she was too clever for that. She just kept it safe."
I barely heard the words. They seemed to come from a long distance. Demon, I realised. That was what I was becoming. A demon of Hell. For a moment, I couldn't say anything. Then I screamed, and started running.
***
I barreled into the door, leaving it open behind me, and fled down the hall, running so fast I didn't have time to think. Footstep after footstep pounded down on the pavement, becoming the only sound I could hear apart from my heartbeat. I took random twists and turns, barely looking where I was going, barely caring. I nearly got run over once or twice, cars screeching to a halt in front of me, but I didn't care. It wasn't my life I was worried about.
My breath started came in gasps after a couple of blocks, and my legs burned. I wasn't particularly fit - in fact, most of my voluntary exercise up until now had consisted of walking to the fridge to eat and occasionally climbing out windows in the middle of the night - but I was particularly scared, so I kept running much further than I'd ever ran before without our slightly deranged PE teacher shouting at me.
I ran and ran and ran, as if somehow I could just run away from all of my problems. There is a glory in running, a certain feeling of being in between places and therefore having no obligations until you got to the place you're running to, and right then I wanted to be in between forever and ever so I never had to face up to what I'd done and the horrific consequences that awaited me.
An hour ago, I thought gloomily, all I thought I had to worry about was a strangely friendly, unintimidating, and incompetent (yet nevertheless definitely evil) demon on my tail and the fact that I was most probably doomed to an eternity of punishment. Now, I had a high probability of an eternity of being totally evil ahead of me, as well as a strangely friendly and unintimidating (yet nevertheless definitely evil) demon on my tail and a high probability of an eternity of being totally evil and on top of that two suspicious friends and a curse. Oh, and did I mention the high probability of an eternity of being totally evil? Because that part was pretty important.
I ran faster, as if that alone could block out the frantic thoughts inside of my head - and even worse, the devil on my shoulder whispering that maybe, just maybe, Sebastian was right, and being a demon couldn't be that bad if he was one.
I almost didn't notice him, no, it, before I collided with it, but I stopped just short. Sebastian.
"Look, stop. I know you're upset, but this really isn't - OW what was that for!" he yelped as I gave him the hardest slap I could manage.
His skin was softer than I expected. Not that I had expected leathery demonic skin or anything since it didn't look like that, but still. I shook my head to clear it.
"Fine, you know what? Screw you. You want to run away from your problems? Fine! But don't go praying to me when you're in trouble and your precious God and his angels don't lift a finger to help you!" he shouted, his wings bursting from his jacket.
"I won't miss you!" I shouted back, but he was already gone.
Seconds later, a pair of strong hands clamped around my shoulders, and a cloth dipped in something that tasted strangely salty and bitter was stuffed in my mouth. My vision started to go black, and my last thought as I was thrown into the boot of a car and lost consciousness was that I'd lied once again. 590Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWT0mkyQsQ2
After I left you with that cliffhanger, you might not be feeling too happy with me, but once again, I'd be ever so grateful for your reviews/comments etc.
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