An Eye For An Eye

An Eye For An Eye(A.Pa) HER HEART STOPPED BEATING IN MY HAND.

Such a fragile instrument it was. I placed it on my lips and with my tongue I collected the remaining blood. I swallowed, filled with satisfaction. It was her fault! She left me no choice but to kill her. That cruel woman took all of my money, took my house, my life, but above all else, she took my child. She took the only thing I cherished; My purpose in life.

I’m Jack Piers, and I was born ugly. Being ugly doesn’t mean I’m hollow too, you know. I was born like all the other kids. I had a mother for a great part of my life, I got educated, and I got married. Oh god, why did I ever get married?

The problem was not marriage as an idea. It was marrying her; marrying a demon. I mean a real demon.

I’m so ugly I never thought a kind girl would ever lay her gentle gaze upon me. No mortal hands would ever sooth my tortured soul. I didn’t experience the so called “High school crush”. Nobody asked me to the prom, so I didn’t go. It had a small advantage, though, and that was that I had no distractions as a student. Even when I fell in love with a classmate, I’d never tell her. Thus, the love ended in two, sometimes three weeks. I got into Harvard, and studied to become a lawyer. Someone who would be chosen to defend individuals by his skills, not by his appearance.

As I had no friends, no one stopped me from doing the Sin: I walked the path of black magic and Satanism.

After getting my master in lawyer school, I immediately began working. Late at nights, when my boss would be gone to his mansion and his popular wife, I’d stay there and search for books that talked about black magic and religions. The internet was a great troubleshooter, but sometimes I preferred the old traditional search: Libraries.

Many times the disgusted of my face librarian would wake me up, telling me that it would be better to go home and rest, then come back to the library the next day. She’d try smiling each time.

What a hypocrite!

I could see it in her eyes; she’d party for three weeks, if she were to hear I left the planet, gone to Marsh with the hope that alien princesses would find me attractive.

And then I’d have to face the worst suffering of them all. I had to stay for hours mentally imprisoned in my house. I couldn’t bare it. The whole idea made my spirit wither. I didn’t want to stay between those lifeless four walls. I wanted to gather and earn experiences, smell fragrant flowers, talk to gleeful personalities, stare at the stars full of wonder, swim, and drink the juices of life.

My greatest craving was to give parental love. Bring a girl or a little boy in the world, and teach everything I knew to my child.

#

In many years of research, I found a gateway to escape reality. It was a small black book, battered up and dusted; stuffed between two other huge ones. I took it out of the shelf and examined it. I couldn’t see any difference form the other books. Yet, something pushed me to take it and study it. Another happy day for that librarian, I left sooner than usual.

I went back home, and it was the first time in many years I enjoyed being inside.

I absently pulled out the chair of my desk, sat and opened the book. Another copy of The Demonic Bible. I’d read it many times, like a fool who searched for an answer in every question. Since I had nothing better to do, the night consumed me reading.

The inside of the book was strangely unfamiliar, another story. When I reached the ending page, I noticed a hand written note. It said: “I guess nobody wants you. I can change that for you, at the price of your . . . “

What was this? Some kind of a joke? I remember I’d thought that day it was a hot girl’s personal message for paid orgasmic satisfaction. Perhaps she, or he, wanted to get new clients. Bellow the message was a phone number.

I had nothing to lose, so I tried it out. What could be the worst case scenario? A brutal hooker? I didn’t care at all. I just dialed the number. A sweet voice answered.

“You dialed. I was correct, huh?” An endearing laughter filled her sentence.

“What’s your address?” I gave her my address and she ended the call, whispering, “Doesn’t matter.”

What didn’t matter? My ugliness, of course. If there’s money, there’s no problem.

My thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. She was already here. I headed for the door and opened. There stood a robust, hot young lady, no older than twenty eight.

“Oh, my,” she said, her crimson lips moving clearly and slowly. “You really needed the call.”

“And you are?”

“The name’s Asmodai.” She stepped inside the parlor without me asking her to. “I’m here to love you and make you children. Maybe even take away your sorrow. Make you feel beautiful.”

“You tell me you’re the demon Asmodeus and that you’ll offer me love?” I couldn’t keep my laughter hidden for too long. “Just tell me how much you charge for the sex, and let’s get over with this.” She frowned, surprised.

“I’m not a hooker, I’m Asmodai. You don’t believe me?”

“Prove it.” She giggled and walked to a place where shadows could be cast. Her shadow revealed the truth. I could see the atrocious creature she really was. A broad face with tusks and pointy chin, decorated with a goatee. A cow, a ram, and a dragon’s head were embedded on its body. The dragon’s head was its left arm, the right was human. It had sharp claws, bat wings and a tremendous tail.

“You’re not scared,” she said. “I’m impressed.”

“Knowledge fades away many of my kind’s fears.”

“So, shall we begin the sugar life?” Asmodai ripped herself off her brown leather jacket, and made a step closer. I let her kiss me, and her lips were fire infernal. Her tongue a sword wielding guardian. Her hand caressed all the parts of my body.

Why did I let a demon interfere with my life? Why did I accept Asmodai and made passionate love to her, in a fiery night? Why did I let her carry my child within her womb? I guess it was because I felt forsaken; because I had nothing to lose.

“Thy contract has been made,” she growled a little before we finished.

“What contract?”

“Shhh,” she whispered, heading downwards.

#

A year later, there was a new member in the family. Our sweet daughter, Eve. I thought it was a proper name for a child with such lineage as such. Everything seemed perfect, until. . .

One night our interaction didn’t end like the previous had. Asmodai appeared her claws, and started slicing my flesh deeply. Gouges filled with dark glistening liquid, pouring, covering all of me in a cloak of metallic taste. The price for my dream life was my soul, and it was a painful trade. She sliced my skin and drank my blood until sunrise. Then my body healed, and I went to work. The pain was real, but no wound or scars were left.

The following night happened the exact same thing. Later on, I had to endure watching her feasting on my intestines with a literary bloody smile. I couldn’t scream, for Eve would come to look why, and Asmodai knew it. She took advantage of it. The next day, I was perfectly fine.

Whenever I asked her why she did all this, she wouldn’t answer. Her eyes would shine like the pits of hell, fiery red, her crimson lips would break in a malevolent smile, but she would not answer.

The fourth night came, and that night’s meal was my heart. My eyes bulged out, as she opened my chest with her hands. Her pointy fingers, would one say, were made of iron. She pierced my thorax as the sun beams pierce the heavenly ocean. She cherished the agony on my face. She was aroused by it. My life was a single bite for her; she loved eating me alive every night; reviving me every day.

#

In the upcoming years, she’d managed to legally steal my house, to get my money, my job, and. . . Eve. That beast even took my daughter.

I’d be standing outside my house during nights, listening to my child screaming, “Mommy! Why are you doing this to me? Am I a bad girl? MOMMA! STOP! IT HURTS! I’ll be naughty no more, momma. I’ll be naughty NO MORE!” Asmodai’s laughter would broke Eve’s crying. Then a crack. Then that disgusting slurping sound she used to make to me.

“Momma’s just hungry dear,” she crooned her. “Momma’s just hungry, and you’ve got pasta in you! Your daddy had too!” Her vicious laughter echoed in my ears for weeks. Her sentence was so simple, yet full of poison. It pained me, listening to my daughter suffering. I wished a thousand times I could switch places with her. I wished I could end this misery. I clenched my fists, whipping tears with them. I will kill you. The thought came in the fashion of the darkest epiphany. I will kill you, and end this suffering.

At last came today. I followed Asmodai as she was heading with Eve to my work office’s garage. It was close enough to my ex house, and someone had to take little Eve to school. I saw my kid’s round face bitter and sad. That gave me more boost to perform what I had in mind.

There was none in the garage yet, except those two. I pulled out of my bag a big rock, ran to her, and hit her with it as hard as I could. She lost her balance, shocked, and fell down.

“Daddy!” screamed Eve.

“Go wait outside daddy’s office, honey,” I told her.

Before the demon could understand what was going on, I pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the heart. She shrieked in pain.

I stabbed her again. “I’m glad to see you too, bitch!”

“What are you doing!” she growled.

“Not much,” I shrugged, “just taking back my life. That’s what you wanted in the contract, right? My life. Well, deal’s off babe.”

I opened her chest, pulled out her heart, and ate it. When you have money, you can kill a demon. And I spent all my money on planning it. No recording cameras were working; the security would unreasonably delay his arrival.

Crazy? I’m not crazy. I’m enraged! Filled with hatred.

“An eye for an eye, love” I pleasantly said as I disemboweled Asmodai.

“You dare defy me!”

“Not really. It’s just that hubby’s hungry. Just hungry, and you’ve got pasta in you!”

#

When I entered my work office, I had wiped the blood off my hands. I walked through the corridors, and went for my boss’s office. I was carrying a big, black, filled thrash bag, and an empty one.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

I was the last person Rex Wells expected to see; the last one as well. I threw the filled bag on the Persian carpet that was spread in his office. A hand protruded out of it.

“What do you want, Jack?” said my boss, raising from his chair. He saw the hand and flinched. “I-I already told you I can’t do anything about your problems. Your wife’s got the control.”

I clenched my fist and landed a hefty blow on his head. It was so hefty, Rex hit on the desk. “No, Rex, you gave her control. And now I’m taking it back. Sign this.”

He read the paper I gave him for a little while. When his eyes widened, I figured he’d finished reading. “That’s right, Rex. You’re going to die this morning. Now sign it.”

In the paper was a paragraph that said he left me his office as an Inheritance. He trembled, as I pulled out the knife that was already inaugurated in death.

“I-I’ll sign it with no restrains, If you just let me live.” I gave no answer to that, and he thought I agreed. Relieved, he signed the paper.

I retrieved it and placed a big black bag under his neck. “You know, your employee’s hungry, Rex.”

“No! Please don-“ I sliced his neck open. A river of blood flew out of that corrupted head. The bag was soon heavy with it. When there was no more left, I decapitated my boss.

#

“Are we going to school, daddy?” asked Eve while we were in the middle of the traffic. I took care she’d only witnessed the rock landing on my wife’s back of the head.

“Yes, honey. You’ll go to school and have a great day, ok? Don’t let what happened ‘till now mess your little brain. Scoop it all out.” I stopped outside the designated car stop area.

“Here’s money for lunch.” I gave her the money, kissed her on the forehead tenderly, and opened the door for her to get out. On the back of my car I had a huge bag and a woman’s corpse within it. Next was the damp.

I talked to the person who I had paid to know nothing about what was going to happen. I climbed the tallest pile of trash, and opened the bag of Rex’s juice, spraying the blood all over. I grabbed the head and poured a bottle of white spirit on it, lit a match. It took some time before there was no meat left on his face, thanks to his high on calories diet that had made his face full of fat. It was a matter of time for the bones to turn into ash. I collected the ashes with my hands and sprayed them in another pile of trash. This part of the job was over.

At the entry of the damp I changed my clothes, and burned the ones I wore before. Stainless, I turned the engine on.

There’s only one problem with demons anyone should know, for the sake of rescuing a foolish soul, other than mine. They take over bodies. Therein lies the problem. I don’t know who that poor woman was, but she had been taken over by Asmodai and I had to end her life. Asmodai would come for revenge though. I cleaned the the knife off my prints, whipping all the clues away.

#

“Good day, Mister Jack.” said the librarian as I walked in.

“I want you to come with me at my office. There’s something I want to discuss with you.”

She frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“A murder happened. Now would you be kind enough to come with me, or should I talk with the police first?” She was very much confused. She left a friend of hers in her position and followed me to the office.

“Well what’s— “ I knocked her with the rock on the head and she fell unconscious. In the office now rested the corpse of my boss, and the one of my diabolical wife. Those, and the librarian’s innocence at steak. I dialed the number of the police and asked for a police mob to come here. I said I was the witness of a murder.

The time I had before the police arrived was plenty enough to make my final move. I opened the black book on a specific page, the first one. I didn’t knew what was written in there before, but now I got the gist of it. It was the spell of summoning Asmodai. I thrust the a small portion of the knife on the innocent lady’s left thigh, wounding her lightly, and dragged her right next to the body of Rex Wells, wearing gloves. Next, I mixed a drop of blood from my wife with one from my boss and one from the librarian. A small pentacle I formed in her breast. Finally, I directed the librarian into grabbing the knife above Rex, creating a vivid posture, and then I began chanting the spell. I stopped at the last word and left the office. I headed for a coffee shop, took out my gloves, and waited for the police cars to arrive.

I guess you may call me evil, judging my actions thus far. The truth is I regret what I did to that poor woman. She was not at fault, but--

I’m human! We all make mistakes. Important and heavy or not, we all do. It’s part of our nature, isn’t it?

I don’t know why I did such a terrible thing to the poor librarian. I just did it.

“Arise!” I said as the officers entered the office. Soon, the crowd was looking at two police officers holding a deranged young blond librarian, her gaze bewildered and her mouth spouting curses and spitting saliva. That was the end of her, for a few years at least.

#

I just finished my coffee and piece of cake, now I’m walking among the others. After so long, I can blend with them and be another nobody. I missed this feeling. A smile paints my face and the hope of a bright tomorrow cheers me up.

I enter a bookstore and buy a new book, one of the high fantasy genre. I had enough with religion and horror for the rest of my life. Perhaps it will do me some good to read about epic wars and dragons for a while.

As I exit the bookstore, an accident occurs. A reckless lady falls on me, her bag’s innards spreads on the street. I quickly help her up, apologizing even though it wasn’t my fault.

“It’s ok,” she says. “Thanks a lot for the help, how could I repay you?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Well, it is for me. How about I treat you a coffee?”

I consider this for a moment. “Sounds like a plan.”

She smiles happily and we walk to a cafeteria. They say that, occasionally, a coffee is the beginning of something. Good or bad, you’ll have to ponder about it.

END