Sarah woke up with a gasp. Heaving painfully, she rolled over and waited for the taste of bile to leave her mouth. The world spun painfully, and she shut her eyes until her mind remembered which way was up and which was down.
What the hell was that!?
Sarah unsteadily rose to her feet. She was still at the garage sale, but it definitely wasn't right. For starters, there was nobody there. All the people were gone, her Mom, her neighbors, even Mrs. Applebee's little dog, they were simply gone. The clothes they'd been wearing were on the ground where they'd been standing. Feathers, all that remained of the passing birds, floated down from the sky like rain, and Sarah could see Chester's leash by Mrs. Applebee's cardigan.
And it was quiet! Perfectly, totally quiet. Sarah had never noticed the degree of background noise she was accustomed too. Only now that it was gone, the cars, the people, the music, the kids, only now did she know what true silence sounded like. Only her breathing broke this unnatural stillness.
As she looked up, she saw the sky had turned a blood red color, staining the world below it an abnormal hue. No sun stood vigil in this foreign sky. The moon, however, had company, and now three pale faces looked upon a world turned upside down. Sarah felt frightened but, to her credit, not panicky. It was a lesson her father had drilled into her and her siblings from the moment they could walk. Sarah remembered his words, repeating them as a mantra to keep her fear at bay: The worst thing you can do is panic. If you panic, you can't act. If you can't act, you lose, or worse, you die. There's nothing wrong with being afraid, so long as you keep moving forward. And always remember, even the monsters are afraid of something.
"Not this monster."
The voice was terrible. It felt like she'd dunked her head in a pail of ice water, if ice water could also somehow be on fire. The words burned into her ears like a red-hot poker, slithered across her skin like a snake, and felt as oily as a diesel bath. If someone could somehow condense absolute, perfect despair into a sound, it might (MIGHT!) approach the terribleness of that voice. Sarah turned when she thought she'd be ready to see its owner. She was not ready, though to be honest, who could be?
The figure was as indistinct as smoke. One moment, an incredibly beautiful woman. The next, an absurdly fat man. Then a diseased old crone, and then a small child, then a massive serpent, then and then and then andthen andthen andthen andthenandthenadthnadn... God, make it stop!
Abruptly, the figure's form froze. A woman stood before her. She was tall, well over six feet, and easily towered over Sarah. Her skin was the red of burnished iron, and her scarlet hair fell from her head and collected by her feet. Her almond shaped eyes glowed like molten metal, and her ears were tapered to razor points. Her face was host to a mass of piercings. Made of bronze and inscribed with unusual symbols, they were everywhere- her ears were home to a dozen such rings, her lips held a pair, her nose another, and her right eyebrow, another pair.
From the neck down, she had a body that could start and stop wars. Her form was a perfect hourglass. Her breasts were large, firm and perky; unusually so, as Sarah could tell from her light silk top that she wasn't wearing any sort of bra. Her stomach was smooth, tight and soft, and she had a naval piercing, also inscribed bronze. The swell of her hips and ass were incredible, and her long legs were perfectly tapered. She was, in a word, beautiful.
And yet that beauty was tainted. As her arms approach her hands, they grew more scaly, subtle at first, but rapidly becoming a hard shell, and her fingers ended in wicked claws as black as obsidian. It was the same story with her legs, and her black talons tore grooves in the lawn as she walked towards Sarah. She smiled at the girl, revealing a mouth of needle-like teeth and a forked tongue. Sarah found herself frozen on the spot, unable to move as this... snake-woman, or whatever it was came towards her.
Stopping a short distance away, the entity gave a mocking bow. "The first wish has been granted."
Sarah was too shocked to answer for a second. "What?"
"You wished for a form your mind could comprehend," the demon (for what else could it be?) explained, "so that is what I gave you."
Sarah was stunned in shock for a moment. Regaining her composure, she asked, "What are you?"
The woman stood up from her bow, and snapped her fingers. Sarah could see each finger had a large bronze ring, again with that unfamiliar writing. "I've been many things, and called many more. Worshiped by the Sumerians, respected by the Babylonians, ignored by the Assyrians, feared by the Canaanites, hated by the Hellenes, and reviled by the Sons of Abraham. The Serpent, Dream Eater, Original Sin, Demon of Fire, Nidhogg, Apophis, Most-Unclean, Ahriman, D'jinn, Genie, and so many more names, even I cannot remember them all. Your species always did have a knack for the creative."
The woman leaned back. Cutting a hole in the air, she made it into a mirror and admired herself in it. She grabbed her bounteous bosom with both hands, admiring the heft of her generous assets. She ran her hands down her sides, resting them lightly on her hips. "Thank you for the body, by the way. You have excellent taste."
Sarah stood in shock. A genie? She had literally found a Genie in a lamp? Does that mean... Sarah's mind began to spin with the possibilities.
The woman held out her hand, extending her middle finger along with her index. "And thus, the second wish has been granted."
Sarah felt her blood run cold. Her question counted as a wish!? "One wish left, Little Morsel," the Demon-Genie said. A rumble echoed through the sky, and heavy black clouds began to roll in. "Just one wish, and then I'm finally free of that accursed lamp."
Looking away from her mirror and back to Sarah, she smiled her needle smile as the rain began to fall. "Then we can play a little game."
Sarah didn't know what else to do. She ran.
The D'jinn laughed mirthlessly as her new toy sprinted away from her. Steam rose from her body as the raindrops vaporized against her red-hot flesh, and she spoke in a voice that carried through the void. "You cannot run, Little Morsel! I can hear your thoughts! Your wonderfully selfish thoughts! I know your Final Wish!"
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