The Demon Chronicles

PART 1: Phoenix Rising

Year: 2005

  Every time I am Called to Earth it hurts. One minute, I am being eaten over and over again by other demons. Then the next minute, I am whisked away to be in the human realm. The sudden change to the human realm intensifies the pain I am already in. So, here I am a floating mass of pain and nothingness…at least for the moment. I slither swiftly sensing a host close by.

I sense the human approaching me and I know it’s a human female. I can tell by the pheromones being released into the air from every pore of her body. I sense she is close enough for the task I am about to perform. I focus all my demonic energy for what I’m about to do. Then, as she steps through me, I began the process of human possession.

For all humans who are curious how this works, I will tell you that possession is not easy. First, the mind and body are protected according to the Agreement. A weak mind is easy to manipulate and to control with promises of power, greed, and sex. Thus, I can do whatever I like to such a human because they can be persuaded by my evil nature. However, a strong mind is harder to overcome because they are not easy to influence. These humans have independent thoughts and ideas. It is more of a challenge for someone, like me, to possess a strong mind. This female has the kind of mind to challenge me and I like when a human fights against me.

I fight without mercy in this female’s mind. I ignore her screams, her pleading, and her overall hatred towards me as I destroy all the walls in her mind. I fight a few more moments and then…glorious victory! I stretch the boundaries of her 10% brain making it easier for me to use my own dark gifts in this world. I push her deep into her own mind, locking her in a cage so small she will have no control whatsoever. Only if I let her out of her small, confined cage will she be free again. But, I will not need her for my upcoming mission and I’m ecstatic to leave her screaming in her own head.

I look around with her eyes. How I love being able to see again! It has been far too long since I have been Called. I look down at her delicate human hands. Pale, with some kind of black paint on the nails. Humanity has changed the past one hundred years. I tap into the other senses bit by bit. I hear lots of noise. The air tastes like smoke and grit. The air is cold to my new found skin because it is dark outside. I will never be Called during the day. All I know, all I love, is the darkness.

I walk with her legs. The legs shake at first as I learn to walk again, but I learn to do it. I then notice something peculiar and stop to observe these monsters. They are big and metallic with four wheels. There is also some kind of blinding light that must be used to stun prey. Another oddity is the road. It’s not mud, but paved with a rock so black it blends into the night. I might just like this century.

“Mmmm,sugar! You smell nice,” a gruff voice says into my ear as strong arms wrap around my torso.

I almost sigh out loud. I am evil. I can sense evil and its intentions. I can see all the vile things this person wants to do to my new body. I will not have some insignificant human Child defile this body, at least not while I’m around.

I knock the human’s arms off me. I turn around to look at the average looking human. He has sunglasses on, which is wise. If he were to violate this body, I could not describe his face. His mouth is curved into a menacing leer. I notice he has high cheekbones and a straight nose. I smile wide, making my mouth stretch into an impossible “v” shape as row upon row of my demonic teeth curve out of my mouth. The insolent Child stares at my grin and my “attacker” backs away from me, in retreat.

“You are very wise, human. You should walk away and leave me be so that I may serve my purpose on this blissful plane. One day soon, though, I may get the pleasure of seeing you again. It is far too late for you. Sad, really, you should end up like this,” I said revealing my true demonic face.

The man screams and runs away. I draw back inside the human girl, turn in the opposite direction, and I keep walking. Near the end of a street, I come to a tall, brick building; the human’s dwelling place. I reach into a pocket and retrieve a key as I ascend a few steps. I unlock the door and enter a hallway. It is not lit very well as I look around at my new home. I see tiny metal squares lining one side of a wall with a dim light bulb that works every two seconds.

I pause for a second and look through this human’s memories to see what all of this new technology is. The squares along the wall are mailboxes. The four wheel monsters are called vehicles or “cars”. Humanity does impress a demon from time to time. I rummage through the human’s mind to see what apartment she resides in.

I walk up a flight stairs to the second floor and find her room. I pick out another key, unlock the door, and enter into darkness. I look around at the room; sofa, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and TV. All the simple necessities a demon must use for humanity sake.

I do not turn on the lights as I continue to explore. My vision is more apt for darkness. Darkness is daylight to me and my own kind. As I explore, I find an oval made of glass—mirror. It is much more fashionable then what I remember.

I look at my host’s reflection. She has black, short, and spiky hair. She also has dark eyes, a thin straight nose, and red lips. All the dark features that contrast beautifully with the pale white of her skin. She is around 5’7, with a light muscular build that looks fast and nimble. I’m glad. I need a body such as this to perform my upcoming missions. I turn away from the mirror and look down at her clothes.

“Tsk,” I say aloud. “We need to work on your wardrobe, Lillian.”

Even though my human host, Lillian, is pushed into a small cage of her own mind, she is aware of everything. Everything I see, touch, taste, feel and hear she experiences, too. All of this is also a part of the Agreement.

I walk to her dresser and find similar apparel to what she is wearing now; black t-shirt and big, black baggy jeans. She does not have my taste in clothing. I search through Lillian’s memories again and find a machine that can make me a new wardrobe. It is a sewing machine.

Hours later, I finish my new outfit. Unfortunately, daylight has arrived and I must retire. I stand up to gather thick, heavy blankets to cover the windows. By the time I finish, all the rooms are darkened to my liking. I walk to her bedroom, lie down, and fall asleep.

Do you know demons dream on the human plane? We do dream but they are not pleasant dreams or what some humans would call nightmares. They are Orders from Hell. I dream about a new demon that has possessed a human body named Chloe. He has escaped Hell and must be sent back. I open my eyes, knowing it’s sunset. I get up, change, grab keys and begin the hunt.

I always start looking for my own demonic kind near loud and rowdy places with lots of humans. Once upon a time, these places were called taverns. Now they are called bars or “clubs”. Before I looked through Lillian’s memories revealing that a “club” is a place with music, dancing, and drinking I thought it was a place you could hit people over the head with an oblong piece of wood. Humph, no fun this century.

I go to a bar called Joe’s. It looks like a normal bar. Some kind of jukebox song playing inside, millions of cars outside and loud robustious laughter fill the night air. I can sense some darkness underneath it all. My kind leaves a particular scent of sulfur and brimstone wherever they go. I know the demon I seek is in that bar.

I approach the bar in a steady gait, keeping my senses open, as I probe through the bodies in the bar. I find the demon I want as easy as I can find the full moon above me. He is at the bar with some kind of brown liquor, talking to a man. I roll my eyes. Every new demon loves to corrupt humans. The Agreement says we can because, after all, it is a human’s choice. I should know. I’ve made that same choice myself a long time ago.

As I walk into the bar everything stops; the laughter, the music, and the talking. All that greets me is staring eyes. The only two beings who continue to talk are the demon and the human he seems to be corrupting. I walk over to the disguised demon, pretending to be a normal patron of the bar wanting a drink. I sit down in a stool next to the demon and across from the human. Then I look over at the possessed human.

“Hey,” the demon says using Chloe’s voice and Chloe’s mouth to smile at me. “I’m Chloe.”

I smile in return. You see, I’m in the Demon Hierarchy (not very high up), but I’m a lower class demon in Hell. If this demon where above me in the Hierarchy, he or she, would know that I’m a demon, know what rank I hold, and my job title just by looking at me. However, this demon is worthless, weak, and pathetic. He is not in the Hierarchy and does not know I’m here to drag him, screaming, back to Hell to be tortured again for all eternity. I love my job.



“Hey,” I reply. “I’m a Bounty Hunter. You’re wanted back in Hell and you’re in my jurisdiction.”

I reveal true face to the demon. He flinches and moves around behind the mask. I retreat back into Lillian.

“Let’s go,” I said in an even voice. “I hate when it gets messy.”

The demon stands up with me and we almost walk away when the human grabs the demon’s arm.

“I thought we had a deal,” the man said.

I grit my teeth trying not to growl at this insignificant intruder. Honestly, I’m saving this human from being damned. Yet, he still wants to make a Deal with this demon. I become impatient.

“Listen,” I said anger rising in my voice. “We have business. I have a deal to settle with him myself so back off!”

The human stands up and as he rises I notice something. There is still no movement or sound inside the bar. I glance at a human close to me. I notice that he has a mixture of surprise and lust plastered on his drunken face. But, he is still staring towards the door at the invisible figure-- me--in the doorway.

“You have no deal, Demon.” the Angel says in a calm, pleasant voice. “You are in my jurisdiction now.”

I feel my irritation turn into cold horror. You must understand two things; one I am in a War that has lasted in more digits than I care to mention. And two; Angels hunt down Demons until the death of one or the other. You can imagine how well I plan this encounter to go as I curse at myself. I stare hard at the Angel. Unlike demons, Angel’s retain their eye color. They have grey or silver eyes. That’s why I scold myself for not seeing the silver eyes of my adversary.

“Are you going to kill me, Angel?” I ask skeptically.

The Angel stares hard into my eyes.

“If need be. I was just telling your friend to exit this woman and if he does so peacefully, then maybe I will be generous and let him live. The same Deal will apply to you, too,” the Angel said.

“Or maybe you will plunge a firesword in my back,” I hiss through my teeth.

“That could work out, too.” he said, smirking at me.

“Can’t…can’t we all just forget all this?” my prey asks in a hopeful voice.

“NO!” the Angel and I shout together.

We examine one another. A fight to the death is how we would settle this dispute.

“Let us leave this place. After all, who would like demon guts splattered into their drinks?” the Angel asks.

Before I can reply with a smart comeback, Time begins again, but we are not in the bar. We are in an isolated field surrounded by trees on the outskirts of town.  There is only the Angel, my Prey, and then me. The Angel takes off a long, black, overcoat and then stares at me. I am estimating my chances as I inspect him even further, weighing my odds of survival.

The Angel is well over 6 feet in height. The human he has “borrowed” is muscular, but not bulky. The face is…good looking. I mean, in human standards he is good looking. The Angel stares at me, too, and grins.

“I would ask you to take off your jacket, but I see you are barely dressed anyway,” he said amused.

I peel off Lily’s black jacket and reveal the rest of my outfit. I transformed a t-shirt into a tank top with the mid-riff cut out into a diamond. Lillian’s big black pants are now made skin tight with little odd symbols cut throughout the pants revealing more than enough skin. The symbols state my rank in the Demon Hierarchy and no human will ever understand the hidden warning I’m sending out.

“Humans may not understand the beauty of skin, but I do. Why not show it?” I ask annoyed by his amusement.

“That’s right,” he replies his smile growing wider. “Demon’s get eaten over and over and over again. Don’t you?”

“Yes. We do,” I answer, suppressing my snarl.

“You probably don’t get eaten too much though, since you’re in the Hierarchy,” the Angel states leaving no trace of amusement as he continues. “Tell me, how many Innocents did you slaughter?  Did you slaughter thousands of men, women, or children or only a couple of million?”

This time I do snarl, showing this impertinent Angel my demonic face and teeth.

“That is none of your business!” I snap.

The Angel seems disturbed as he frowns and asks, “You slaughtered more than a couple of million, then?”

My demonic teeth grind together for a moment then I withdraw into Lillian growing sick. I clench my jaw hard enough that I hear a tooth chip.

“One,” I said as my stomach clenches in a painful knot. “Just one…and it was my own Innocence, Angel. Then I fought other demons, tortured most, and I obeyed my Master in Hell.”

“Oh,” he said in a mocking tone. “No blood spilt and there is no foul, huh? You know it was your own Choice that led you straight to Hell.”

“Let’s do this okay?” I said growing irritated at him and myself.

“Alright,” he said. “After all, I have all the Time I want on this plane while you only have a couple of hours.”

He just has to rub in the fact that I will return to Hell again, no matter what I do. Bastard. I stand feet planted, ready for an attack. I wait as he stands watching me. A minute passes. Then two minutes.

“Anytime now,” I yell.

The Angel smiles wide, exposing bright even teeth. My heart skips a beat at his smile and before I even blink the Angel disappears. He disappears taking my Prey along with him. I curse at the sky and stalk into the darkness.

I don’t know why I’m pissed as I walk towards Lillian’s apartment, but I am. Maybe I’m angry because that meddling Angel took my Prey right from under my nose. Maybe because I know deep down inside if we did fight one-on-one he would have beaten me back to Hell. It could also be that I’ve never seen or fought an Angel. Therefore, I feel cheated because I did not prove myself a worthy adversary. Maybe because when he smiled at me this heart had skipped a beat.

To be honest, I don’t like how this body reacted. I’m pissed and…confused? I sigh out of my nose trying to evaluate where these emotions are coming from. Did some part of Lillian’s consciousness pass through at that beautiful and magnificent smile? No, she’s still screaming in her tiny little cage. Could I possibly have retained some of my former humanity? I come to a complete stop. That could not be it. I have been in Hell for 600 years. Maybe more, you can never really tell in the Pit.

The Pit is used for new arrivals. Once you arrive in Hell, you get thrown into the Pit. A human is tortured continuously until all of your humanity is gone. My tormentor was called Kahn. He was merciless, ruthless, and he never ceased torturing me. He tore into me with tooth and nail. However, he is one of the highest demons in the Hierarchy. He has never made a demon that disappointed him.

No. I could not have any humanity left in me. Not after what Kahn put me through. What was it then? What skipped a demonic heart?

I shake my head and continue walking until I reach the apartment complex. I smell a demon inside the building as I enter the hallway with the mailboxes. I climb the stairs, walk to my apartment, and unlock the door. I walk into the room and come face to face with my tormentor, Kahn.