A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

A Wolf in Sheep’s clothing



With each footfall a shock of blistering pain shot through her body, and every breath felt like it would be her last. Her over-stressed heart was threatening to give out on her, but she knew that she could not stop. The eerily light footsteps, that had always been a few yards behind her, now sounded so close that she was surprised to not feel his breath on her neck. All of her survival instincts were telling her not to look back at him, but she could not stop herself. She threw a single glance over her shoulder, her pace slowed just a step, and he was upon her within a second. She was lying flat on her back, her whole body throbbing in agony. Sweat had soaked through her clothes, matted her hair to her neck, back and forehead, and was now stinging her eyes as she panted and gasped for air.

The man, now standing at her side, was beautiful; he was the kind of guy that could stop traffic with a simple smile. His golden blonde hair was blowing softly in the night breeze. There was not a drop of sweat on his solid, tan, muscular body, as though the last several hours of running had been completely effortless. “You knew you couldn’t actually out run me,” he said casually. His voice was like a song, captivating and perfect.

The girl looked up at him and for a moment she remembered why she loved him. He was the most incredible looking person she had ever seen in her whole life. Even now, as she lay at his feet about to die, she couldn’t help being enchanted by him. Everything from his skin, which always gave a gentle internal glow of health and energy, to his icy blue eyes, was perfect. He looked just the way she had always imagined her boyfriend would look, but there was something wrong.

She started noticing things that she couldn’t explain a few weeks after she met him.  Sometimes while watching the news together; when something particularly horrible was being reported on, he would get a silvery gleam in his eyes. Several times, she had also seen, nestled down in his wavy blonde locks, what appeared to be two, small, black horns. Of course she quickly dismissed these things as her mind playing tricks on her, but she wasn’t so sure anymore. She was the track star of the high school she attended, and had never been out run before. She was in peak physical condition, and yet he still caught her, and he did it without even breaking a sweat during the whole twenty mile chase.

“Who are you?” she asked breathlessly.

“Lucifer,” he said with a smile that would have seemed genuine, if not for the silvery haze in his eyes.

Of course she knew it sounded crazy, but she also knew he was telling the truth. He had arrived at her house earlier that day, reached out his hand, and said come with me. However the girl had seen something in his face, something wicked, and she knew that it was time to run. She pushed passed the man that she thought had loved her and began the chase.



They had only known each other three and a half weeks. They met at a high school football game. She was there with her friends, and he was a new student looking for someone to talk to. Everywhere he went he left a trail of gawking girls in his wake, but he passed all of them by to sit next to her. She thought she was the luckiest girl in the world. He asked her out on their first date almost immediately. He told her that good things were too hard to find and that he wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass him by. Now that she thought about it though, she realized that their whole relationship was one big cliché, as though the devil learned his love skills reading cheesy romance novels. Then again, he would have to learn it somewhere, it’s not like love comes natural to the master of all things corrupt and evil.

“I thought you were supposed to be ugly.”

“I was God’s most beautiful angel. He made me to the sound of music. If I were really so hideous, then sin wouldn’t be so seductive.” Satan said this in a bored tone that gave the impression he had said it many times before.

“Why do you want me?” a tear leaked from her eye and rolled down her sweaty cheek.

“I’m sure you remember the book of Job in the Bible. God bet me that I couldn’t get Job to betray him. Let’s just say, Job is the only one who’s ever resisted my persuasions to come to the other side.” He shrugged his shoulders and reached to down to help her up. “You were such a good little Christian girl, I really thought you’d hold out longer.” Lucifer’s voice was still sweet and song-like and the girl found herself reaching to take his helping hand as though in a trance.

“You’ve done this more than once?” The possibility that God would put another person through what Job had to endure was incomprehensible to her.

“The rules are a little different now, but yes, God has been abandoned by nearly everyone, and he’s desperately looking for people who will stick by his side. Nobody in your time could ever hold up to the tortures of Job without abandoning God. He thought it would be too easy for me to just get people to sin, so now I have to get people to break all seven deadly sins in one month. If I succeed then I instantly get to take the soul of the betrayer, and if God wins, I never get to tempt the person again.” The devil was now leading the girl back the way they had just come. They were walking toward a big black door. Flames licked all around it, and ear piercing screams, chilled the girl to her bones.

“I. . . I didn’t break the seven deadly sins.” the girl said nervously.

“Do you really think, God would be letting me take you to hell now if you didn’t?” The devil gave a deep sigh, and wispy cloud of smoke emitted from his beautiful mouth. I saw how you thought you were so much better than everyone else once you started going out with me; that’s pride. You broke envy and greed every time I told you I was going to hang out with my friends, and you thought that I was seeing other girls; you wanted me all to yourself. Sloth was when you quit your job to be with me more after school. Gluttony was easy, you wanted to be with me so badly that I offered to take you out to eat seven times in one day and you happily obliged. Six, wrath, was when you punched your best friend in the face when you heard her admit that she thought I was attractive. Lust obviously happened yesterday, which is why I came to claim you today. Look at it this way, not everyone gets to have sex with Satan.” Lucifer gave a roguish wink, and together they passed through the flaming door.