The Deal (5 page)

Although I wasn’t looking for it, I did note
that the body of the guard had been cleared out of the way,
probably by the hospital technicians no doubt. There was no police
or other signs of authority trying to figure out what had happened
to the poor hulk, but I suspected that my employer had something to
do with that.

What hadn’t been cleared out was
the pool of blood left behind by the corpse and I could see the
stark red prints of bare feet leading through it and round the
corner. The wanted demon was making his way
to
the outside
world.

Mustering all the energy I had
left, I ran in the same direction, secretly hoping that the magic
bullet in my hand would be able to give me that extra boost.
Unfortunately,
it did not give me super-human speed, but I was
able to make good enough time that when I rounded the corner I
could see the old dragon just a few feet away from the receptionist
area.

Another few feet beyond that lay the entrance
to the hospital and freedom into the world that would make a
mockery of me if I even dared to recant what had happened to me
that night.

Desperation began to creep in
again as I continued to give chase. There was simply no way I was
going to catch Argatol unless some
god-like
creature was able to
magic up a pair of rockets strapped to my shoes, which by the
way
were
not designed to be chasing demons
with.

Then an idea popped into my head and I glanced
down at the hand holding the bullet. It was literally a long shot,
but since I was now officially out of options it seemed perfectly
viable considering everything else that had happened.

Argotal was just a foot or less away from the
corridor entrance which would give way to the waiting area and the
doors leading to the ambulance bay and his freedom.

Now was the only chance I had.

As small rivulets of sweat
cascaded down my forehead and dripped from my chin, I raised my
right arm, as if I was going to pitch a baseball. With every ounce
of
strength,
I could find, I threw the bullet at the running
demon.

To my
surprise,
the bullet
raced through the air at lightning speed, just as fast as if it had
been fired from any gun. I prayed my aim was good enough to at
least slow the harbinger of death from reaching the ambulance bay.
How I was going to stop him if I couldn’t regain the bullet was
something I would have to deal with as it happened.

Argatol let out and enraged scream as the
bullet thumped into the back of his head. Even though the beads of
sweat dripping into my eyes made my vision blurred, I could see
blood and bone fragments splatter in all directions.

The sheer velocity of the bullet had merged
with the running velocity of the demon which meant Argatol was
still moving forward even though I suspected it was not out of his
own free will.

I heard the homeless guy sitting
three rows back in the waiting area cry out in alarm as Argatol
crashed
headlong
into him and before they both
went sprawling to the floor.

Breathless I slowed my pace to a quick walk. I
glanced over at the reception desk expecting to see the old nurse
cowering in fear, but to my surprise she was still sitting there,
small specks of bright red blood dashed across her brilliant white
uniform.

There was no time to wonder why
she hadn’t reacted to the whole incident, my
one,
and only
thought was making sure that I had finally got my
target.

When I cautiously reached the fallen man and
demon, I noticed that the old homeless guy had been knocked out
cold, a brand new bruise beginning to show on top of his
head.

Mancini, or Argatol as he was really known,
showed no signs of breathing at all. But if he was a creature of
the undead then that didn’t really count for much. I was going to
have to double check.

Remaining cautious I reached down, grabbed the
shoulder of the wrinkled and abused body the demon had been using
as a host, and slowly pulled him over so he was laying on his
back.

The bullet had really done a number on him.
Where his pompous and arrogant face had once been was nothing more
than a gaping black hole from which the inner matter of his skull
continued to ooze out into the waiting area.

Next to him lay the small piece of
shaped gold which had caused all the damage. After realizing just
how powerful it was, I quickly scooped it up and stuck it
into
my pocket.Somewhere in the back of
mind,
there was a
small voice of reason which suggested that I should maintain
ownership of it until a later date when it could become useful
again.

As I was starting to straighten myself up
again, my attention was still on the gaping wound where old
Mancini’s face had been when I felt an ice cold blast sweep through
the waiting area.

Following the wind, there
was
a very unsettling sensation of time slowing down to a full
stop. It was as if the universe had decided to play dead and
everything around me was suddenly no more real than a dream a child
may have.

‘
You’re ten seconds late,
Samuel.’

I turned towards the direction of the voice
and saw Satan sitting in the exact same spot where the old nurse
had been only a few moments ago. He was still draped in his fine
white suit with black shirt and crimson red tie.

‘
Well, it is my first time hunting
a demon.’ I said, pointing down at the fallen Argatol.

As my gaze followed the path of my own finger
I was rather stunned to watch as the dead demons body began to turn
to ash and blow away in an unseen and unfelt wind.

Then just to compound my
astonishment I turned to watch the dark one walk through the
solid,
Formica-topped
reception
desk
like it was made of nothing but the same air which I
breathed.

‘
If you had been ten minutes late
then that would be a problem we would have to resolve, ten seconds,
on the other hand, is not something I would get upset about.’ His
voice was calm, but there was something there, woven between the
words he spoke like an unseen thread holding them
together.

Was it anger? Rage? Disappointment? I wasn’t
sure, but there was definitely something his horny dark one was not
happy about. Maybe it was the fact that I had just killed his
one-time best friend.

‘
Does the deal still stand?’ I was
hesitant to
ask
but figured there was no point in beating around
the bush.

‘
Only if you accept the amendments
I have chosen to make to it.’ The tone of his voice suggested that
there would be no bartering but I found myself very curious as to
what his changes to the deal would be.

‘
Well, you’ve got me by the balls.
What amendments do you have in mind?’

‘
You managed to kill a demon whose
only competitor to the throne of hell is me. Do you realize the
gravity of that Samuel?’

I must say that after all the chaos of the
night I was finding it hard to believe in anything other than
self-preservation. And all things being said and done, I knew fine
well that the devil was not the kind of guy you took to be one
hundred percent honest. For every truth he told there was probably
ninety percent lie to it, and so I decided to humour
him.

‘
I’d like to stay out of hell for
as long as possible, so if you think I’d try and take your throne
you can forget it. I’m not that dumb.’

‘
Oh,
I know just how smart you are Samuel. And that is
why I am still willing to grant you eternal life, but only on the
condition that you remain loyal to me. If I require you to perform
a certain task for me then I expected you to do it without
hesitation or I will strip you of everything and feed your soul to
the bottom feeders of hell.’

It sounded very much like Satan wanted me to
be his bitch, and on the thought of facing countless years in
untold agony, I decided it was best that I played the part. At
least until there was a way to get away from him.

‘
Okay, and what about Lisa?’ This
was the most important aspect of the deal to me. By anyone’s
standards,
I was scum. I took life in exchange for money,
but Lisa had been pure, at least in the way that a brutally
hedonistic world could breed such a woman. ‘You said as part of the
original deal you would grant her passage to heaven.’

‘
I know exactly what I said
Samuel, but you
were
ten seconds late. Any other soul
who dared to waste that much of my time would be in the slaughter
rooms right now…However, to maintain some semblance of respect I
will grant her asylum from the torture she endures, but she will
not go to
heaven,
Samuel. Not until I’m certain
of your loyalty to me.’

It actually came as no surprise
that he would backtrack on his deal.
In fact
, to be honest, I
was pretty sure the whole deal thing had been nothing but a clever
rouse to get me to do what he wanted in the first place. My only
consolation in the whole thing was that he was at least going to
grant her asylum away from the pain and anguish she was suffering
which raised another question

‘
Why is Lisa in Hell?’

During the
conversations,
I
had with my new employer, I had not once seen any real sign of
emotion until I asked that question. The look he shot me was one of
puzzlement, and maybe even a little surprise.

‘
You know as well as I do Samuel
that taking a life is a sin, but taking the lives of innocent’s,
well that’s a whole new ball game where no redemption is offered at
all by either me or that absentee landlord you call
God.’

‘
Are you sure this is my Lisa you
are talking about?’ It was a stupid question, but I was just too
dumbfounded to say anything else.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow,
silently questioning my stupidity.

‘
I know every single soul who
enters my kingdom, either by choice or by force.
Either way,
they are there to pay for their sins, so don’t
dare question me.’

‘
I’m not trying to provoke you.
I’m just trying to understand how my wife, a kindergarten teacher,
should end up languishing in hell.’

‘
Well if you stay loyal to me I’ll
show you the truth. Until I’m satisfied that you’re on my side, I
wold advise you to leave the subject well alone.’

That last statement was like a kick in the
throat. How on this earth was I supposed to forget about the fact
that the woman I had devoted five years of my life to was probably
screaming in agony in some dark corner of hell while I was up here
making a deal to save my own skin.

It was all wrong on so many levels
but I was trapped. If I told him what I really thought of him then
I was going to my own little private torture chamber, where I would
most likely never be seen again. At least if I sealed the deal now
I bought something more valuable than the horned
one's
word, time.

It would soon be on my side, and I
would then be able to search for the truth. I needed to know why
Lisa, a
kind,
and
softly
spoken teacher was sent to hell
when that sixteen wheeler crushed the life out of her.

I needed to know for the sake of my own
sanity.

‘
One last thing.’ He said, turning
from the small pile of ashes where Argatol had fallen, to look
straight at me. ‘Where is the bullet?’

This was my chance to play with fire, in a
very literal sense. I had started to form the idea that he had
handed me one of his own secret weapons when I used it on the guard
earlier, and even though I’ll probably always wear a scar on my
cheek it saved me from being slaughtered by an ancient
demon.

So, I had decided that it was something that
wouldn’t just be useful; it was an object that was absolutely
essential to my survival in the years to come.

‘
Looks like it went the same way
as your friend.’ I said, praying to every God I could remember the
name of that he didn’t call my bluff.

I watched as he looked at the last
few ashes of
Argatol’s
body being blown away. There
was no emotion on his face, not even a pretend mask of sadness or
sorrow at his loss. And those icy blue eyes gave away
nothing
if he was feeling anything at all.

‘
Well,
it’s with its one true owner then.’ He said
finally, as the last wisps of ash
were
blown away by the
ethereal wind. ‘Do we have a
deal,
Samuel?’

‘
I do what you ask in return you
give me eternal life? It’s a tough sell, but I accept.’ I felt
bitter at being on the receiving end of a rough deal but it wasn’t
the first time I had experienced such tactics in my life and I was
sure it wouldn’t be my last.