Unbroken Promise

Unbroken Promise
By: Adam Mueller

“Just take my hand.” The thing smiled. Its subtle fangs were impossible to miss once seen, but it did its best to hide them.

The ritual had worked better than I’d ever imagined. The demon (I’d decided that was what it was) had asked for a nonspecific exchange, but I assumed it meant I’d have to slaughter an infant or some other meaningless creature to get the power I craved. It might even ask me for as little as a goat or a chicken.

I never thought that by simply taking it’s hand, I’d be accepting the deal without ever hearing the terms. We humans get accustomed to our rights and laws. Not so with the denizens of the darkness.
         
I reached out with my palm, feeling as if I were in a daze. It snatched my hand and immediately I felt different, light. We floated into the air and suddenly I was aware of many things. As if they were there in front of me, I could see my neighbors inside their house, who had so often called the police when my shouting in strange tongues got loud. I knew instantly where all of my former coworkers were, laughing in bars or rutting with their floozies. Soon, I’d be more powerful than any of them could ever dream of being.
         
“Where’s your family?” it asked me, bringing me back to the present moment. I realized that we were in fact floating several yards above the ground. I could see the scorched pentagram in the grass below, the candles that I’d used were out, tipped over somehow.
         
“Your family.” It repeated, commanding me to pay attention. “Reach out with your mind; find them as you were just doing to your coworkers.”
         
It was hard to focus, to stay in the present. I could feel the past and the future tugging at me, threatening to rip me apart. I felt as if I were part of the cosmos, not just the Earth and every living thing on it, but part of every planet in existence and every form of life on them. I shuddered as I became aware of things I could never have seen in my nightmares, things that –
         
“Your family! Where are they?” The thing growled. I flinched, then found them. I felt the demon instantly relax.
         
I saw my mother, asleep in her bed, snoring softly. My father was in the kitchen, searching in the refrigerator for a late night snack. My little sister was in her dorm room, studying for next week’s finals. I smiled as I saw them, letting the three of them fill my awareness.

The thing started to chortle, then laugh, then scream its happiness as I saw the price I had to pay. The faces of all three twisted horridly, then their bodies melted into puddles of blood. The liquid gore splashed across the sheets and the wall in a horrid wave. The refrigerator door hung open, illuminating the pool of the slimy remains. There was a sickening slosh as my sister liquefied and coated her books, her computer and the floor, dripping into a sludgy puddle.

Horror stricken and speechless, I turned to the thing that had done the gruesome deed. It smiled, no longer trying to hide his fangs. “Now what was it that you wanted in return?”