The Deal (6 page)

I watched as he turned to face me full on and
put his hand out in front of me. I knew fine well that as soon as
my skin connected with his, the deal was sealed. I did not know how
I knew this; it was just there in the very dark recesses of my
subconscious.

I put my hand out and within the split second
that my skin connected with his I felt a sudden, searing pain,
course through my entire body. I could feel my body want to drop
and no matter how hard I tried to stop it, I slumped to my knees,
teeth gritted so tightly I was sure they were going to crack and
splinter under the pressure.

Tears streamed from my eyes as I fought to
remain conscious, but the pain was so intense I felt certain I was
already in hell. I had been tricked and the deal really was nothing
but a ploy to get me to do his bidding before he fucked me
over.

And then, as soon as it came, the pain stopped
and followed quickly after it was wave after wave of euphoria. At
one point I felt so high I could feel the excitement reach my groin
and cause the appropriate reaction.

All around me the room seemed to
be vibrating so fast and so hard that it was shaking itself into a
blur. The walls and doors melded together in a collage of
glass,
steel,
and concrete.

‘
Quod vides
fecisse
,
factum
ducas
.’ I heard the words being uttered
and then suddenly everything stopped.

There was no pain, no joy, no nothing except
the shallowness I had been feeling already for the last countless
years.

I noted that I was still down on my knees.
Still in possession of the bullet and still in the waiting area of
the hospital I had fought so damn hard to reach just to finish what
I had started.

He stood over me, there was the possibility of
a smile on his face, but I will never be sure for
certain.

‘
I see
many great things
in
your future, Samuel.’ He said as I rose to my feet, albeit a little
shakily. ‘Don’t disappoint me.’

He stared at me for a little
longer than I felt comfortable with,
in fact,
he made me squirm
under the gaze of his ice blue eyes. I should have said something
respectful like the way a chastised child would talk to their
father, but instead all I felt inclined to give him was a simple
nod of acknowledgment.

‘
I’ll be in touch.’ The words hung
in the air like an ominous
odor
that no amount of air
freshener would be able to get rid of, and then like a
mirage,
he faded away into the ether.

Slowly, all the sounds and smells you would
associate with a hospital began to flood back into my senses like I
had been blind to them during the small amount of time it had taken
for me to bring Argatol down.

I still felt stunned as I wandered towards the
entrance to the waiting room. Outside, beyond the massive panes of
glass which enclosed the area, I could see my Mercedes being slowly
buried under an unrelenting blanket of snow.

As I made my way outside, not
feeling the biting cold that the fresh snow storm had brought with
it, I felt a sudden realization
that
for me at least, it was
going to be a very long winter. One I was not sure I was going to
be able to get through on my own.

I felt a sense of desolation as I slipped
behind the wheel of the battered luxury car which was still happily
idling away just like I had left it a few minutes ago. The clock on
the dashboard stated it was two minutes past midnight.

Putting the car into gear and steering it
towards the city streets, I decided that it was a perfect time to
get myself a drink.

PART 2:

SOUL PROTECTION

I sat alone in the darkness of the bedroom,
sipping on a shot of whiskey while my mind wandered to a different
time and place. I could see my wife Lisa in all her vibrant beauty,
walking towards me. Her smile as radiant as I always remembered
it.

She was almost
at
our beat up
old car, the wind kicking up a dervish of dust from the road which
brushed against her hard enough so that she would try and protect
her eyes but not enough to make that wonderful smile
falter.

Then came the sound which signalled the end.
The sound of a flatbed truck honking its horn just before it
impacted with her body and stealing her from me for
good.

I could feel the cold glass slip from my
fingers and tumble to the floor where it landed with a soft thud,
as fresh tears welled in my eyes once again.

It had been over five years since
Lisa was taken from me. During that time I had managed to get by. I
had slipped back into my old ways as a hired gun which had left me
feeling emotionally dead as far as caring
for
or about, anyone
in this world.

Unfortunately,
this had brought me face
to face with my new and current employer. The
most evil
being
known to the human race: The devil. As I wiped away the fresh tears
I thought it strange that I had once considered being a hitman as
doing the
devil's
work, and here I was now on
call 24/7 for the dark lord himself.

The thought of him made me reach
for the small gold ring I now wore on my index finger. A
replacement wedding ring of sorts, except this
one,
used to be
a bullet. A bullet that was not for me to keep, but I had somehow
managed to hide it from my all-knowing master.

Frustration had been building inside during
the days after my fateful meeting with Satan. I now had the
pleasure of being Immortal and equipped with my now magical ring, I
had the power to go toe to toe with some of the most dangerous
humans and demons my employer can think to send my way.

My frustration grew from the fact
that despite these
so-called
gifts I wasn’t strong enough
to take on the one being that could free the love of my life from
her prison in Hell. However, what stopped me from lashing out and
doing something that would ultimately lead to my own stay in
purgatory was the fact that I felt I was getting closer to Lisa. I
may be in Hell but I could sense that things
were
changing.

Satan, despite all his power, must have
weaknesses just like everyone else. If a magical bullet, which was
now my new wedding ring, could hammer a demon into the oblivion
then there must be something either on Earth or in Hell that could
give me the upper hand if I ever have to clash heads with his royal
darkness.

I knew I would need some
serious
firepower
before I could ever consider
challenging him, but someday I was going to have to stand up to him
if I wanted to get the answers I was looking for, where Lisa was
concerned.

Glancing down at the spilled whiskey, I
realised that my tears had all but gone, leaving in their wake a
set of dry streaks down my flushed cheeks.

A voice in my head politely told me I should
make some effort to clean up my mess, but the bedroom and the
apartment did not belong to me and I had no inclination to give a
shit.

As if to re-enforce that thought,
a low groan emanated from the bed on which I was sitting. I turned
to look at the bloody mess that was once a man.
In fact,
he was
a young man who had made the mistake of trying to steal from the
local church which apparently Satan had a serious problem
with.

I tried to ask why he should care less but I
was not so politely told that I wouldn't possibly understand and
should just do as I was told.

Doing as I was told involved following the
young thief back to this bare and depressing apartment. Once I was
sure he was sleeping I let myself in and found him out cold on the
bed.

Personally,
I thought the thief’s
punishment should have been a good smacking around, and a reminder
that stealing wouldn't be good for his future health but my new
boss had more, much more
bloodthirsty
things in mind.

‘
Gut him!’ His vicious and yet
softly spoken words were like a whisper in my ear and as much as I
would have loved to ignore them I knew I simply couldn't. Not if I
wanted to remain free at least.

With my orders firmly lodged in my head I took
a detour into my victim’s kitchen. It took a surprisingly short
amount of time before I located a sharp enough knife and then I was
heading back to the bedroom.

The gun was my preferred weapon of
choice when it came to such nefarious activities such as
murder.
Knives
still felt way to cruel of a way to take anyone's
life.

But his Royal darkness wanted the man, a
thief, who I could only guess must have sold his loot on because I
could find no holy item of any value on or near him, to be
butchered and that was what I was going to have to give
him.

I took a few seconds to ready
myself as I stood over the sleeping man. Then without
thinking
any
more
about it I brought the sharp end of
the blade down hard on his gullet.

His
eyelids
flew open in both
surprise and horror as the blade pierced his skin and sank
three-quarters
of the way in.

I stared only for a brief moment at his cold
blue eyes before I started to rip him open from top to bottom using
the knife like a saw because it wasn't quite as sharp as I had
first thought.

The thief made only a few gurgling sounds as
the cold blade sliced its way through his stomach and a few seconds
later I removed the knife as I watched his rib cage flop open like
a woman's handbag. His internal organs had been damaged beyond
repair and his convulsing body was simply going through the last
motions of life.

So it was with surprise that I
turned to see his eyes
were
still open and looking at me from
the other side of the bed. I wasn't exactly a pro when it came
to
knives
but I had felt pretty certain he wouldn't survive
the sheer amount of pain I had inflicted on him only minutes
ago.

‘
You should finish him off. Our
master grows
impatient
.’ The voice was deep yet
hollow. Like there was no emotion behind it at all.

I spun around on the bed to see the tall monk
standing, or possibly floating, in the corner near the door. He
wore a long black hooded robe with an ornate gold design
embroidered around the cuffs and the rim of the hood. I had no idea
what the strange symbols meant but I was pretty sure if he worked
for the devil then they probably meant something badass like I fart
exploding bullets or something to that effect.

‘
Our master has no patience at
all.’ I said glumly, my voice a little coarse.

‘
Be careful how you speak about
our Lord. He has
the
propensity
to know when a soul is not
completely on his side.’ The monk’s voice seemed to echo from the
darkness of his hood. There was no face that I could see, only an
unending darkness which probably mirrored the colour of his
soul.

I stood up, feeling a little
pissed that my quality time with the gurgling,
blood-soaked
mess, laying on top of the bed had been so rudely
disturbed.

Although most of my anger came bubbling up
from the fact that it was just too easy for Satan and his cronies
to walk into my life at any time they so pleased.

Yet there was also a part of me that was kind
of grateful for a different face to talk to even if there didn't
seem to be one under that heavy robe.

‘
I made the deal and I have done
everything he has asked of me. But he can't expect me to like it.’
I said, standing over the gutted thief and slamming the knife
down
onto
his still beating heart.

Silence enveloped the room and although I
couldn't see his eyes I could feel the monks gaze follow me as I
moved to stand in front of him.

‘
There ya’ go. Job
done
.’ I said through gritted teeth. As angry as I may have felt
there seemed no point in even attempting to vent it out on the
monk. There was an aura around him that made me want to keep my
distance.

The monk turned to look at my fresh new victim
laying there on the bed with innards exposed to the world. He
seemed to soak in every detail of the massacre before turning his
attention back to me.

‘
Our master will be most pleased
with your work.’ There was a hesitation in the monks voice, an
–apprehensive silence like he had more to say.

‘
Well,
that's my dirty deed done for the day now if you
don't mind I would like to go and get some sleep before our good
friend Satan sets me up with another murderous task.’