Convergence

We caught up to Azazel just in time to see him duck into a cave. I knew he wanted us to follow him even if he didn’t act like we were right behind him. I entered with squirrel Squeak vigilant on my shoulder.

“Did you come to finish me off?” Azazel’s voice echoed around the space and was hard to pinpoint.

“I came to reason with you.”

“Reasoning with a demon? What would your mother say?”

“She’d probably say that it was possible. I think she loved you.”

“Yes, that she did.” He appeared in front of me. “It made her easy to manipulate.”

“Were you manipulating her or was it the other way around?”

“There’s an interesting question. Would you like to hear the story? You always want to know about things.”

“She told me the same thing, that she wanted power over Bill. Why would you appear to me as my mother?”

He tilted his head to the side. “Now how did you know that wasn’t her?”

“Well, if I was trying to make someone come out of hiding, I’d hit a very sensitive nerve too. You spout lies, I run out, and you take your chance at catching me.”

“Clever girl.” He started to circle but I followed keeping the distance. “Do you still wonder why I want you?”

“Not really. You’ve led a very lonely existence up until you met my mom. I imagine you liked the entertainment.”

“Yes, life was so boring and nothing ever changes. There’s nothing quite like seducing a Howe. Just a taste of that power is exquisite.” He stopped walking and his eyes became distant. “It’s like the way you feel about those little chocolate mints.”

I smiled. “Please come home.”

“Are you still trying to convince me that I belong with you?”

“You can get over your evil nature.”

“It’s not evil to me, Kari, not in the way that you see it. I can see you for who you are, why can’t you do the same with me?”

I took in a slow breath. “Your way involves the enslavement of these creatures.”

“You said it yourself, they need order. Either I will be the one to give it to them, or you will. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, the end result is the same. They will be enslaved by someone’s power, and it may as well be mine.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Then we shall finish it here and now.”

He shot an energy blast from his palm. I didn’t even see it coming until I thought back to how I got on my back, but by then he had already launched another and I was planted into the cave wall. Rick took off after me, but Azazel locked him inside a force field bubble and sent him to the other side.

“I’m too fast for your human eyes.” He approached slowly. “Don’t you see the benefits of being a demon?”

“I don’t think we’ll ever be able to see eye to eye, at least not the way you want.”

Squeak jumped forward with a speed to match his and bit into his throat. The wound spewed out a mist for a few seconds before closing, but by then he had grabbed her and ripped her in half tossing her pieces away like so much garbage. I reached out for her. She vanished from her pieces and reformed on my shoulder. That’s when I felt it. I put my hand to my chest and felt the necklace Great Aunt Augustina tried to give me. I remembered what she said to me. It would reappear when I needed it, for what I had no clue.

Azazel dropped to the ground for a moment. “That’s a neat trick. That Augustina has always been full of neat tricks, like that little rainstorm she started so you would visit her little store. Shame she wouldn’t stay with me longer than she did.” He stood. “Family was more important to her.”

I felt the power shift. It was Squeak. She pulled back the demon magic in her bite. She made a few chirps and I understood. The pendant held all the power of my family that I couldn’t carry myself. I no longer needed to physically touch him.

“Get him, Squeak.”

She darted after him and caught one of his ankles followed by the other. Each bite she took more and more of his magic, but each bite also brought a transformation. My sweet little squirrel had started to turn demonic. Her color shifted from white to gray and her eyes changed from blue to red before she stopped her attacks. I felt the change inside of me as well, right before Azazel started his maniacal laughter.

“And so it ends.” He fell. His blood oozed out and spread across the ground. “But is this your ending, or mine.”

I walked over to him and held his face in my hands. “This is your ending.”

With a simple kiss on his cheek, I started absorbing him into me.

“I loved you too, Karissa.” He used the last of his power to blast the necklace across the cave and then he was gone.