Walking along like this, alone, down these backalley store crowded streets, makes me feel - not really empty but missing something. Some sort of purpose. And the rain just makes it worse. There’s this store I always go into. One of these throwbacks to mysticism and voodoo and black magic. All sorts of weird shit. Cards, stones, boxes, sand. All of it part of that underground sub-culture of mystics and believers. I don’t really believe in much but fortune and destiny. Not that your life was mapped out by some all-powerful being, but that it’s got a course set, just like all the other times you’ve lived your life. No one MADE it, but it’s there, and no matter what you do, you end up going from point A to point B through course C and there’s nothing you can do but live it. And some people have fortunate lives and some people have shitty lives. . . Mine’s been pretty fortunate.
So I go into this store. It doesn’t really have a name, it’s just sort of THERE. The woman who owns it knows me by name now. Her name’s Dorothy, really sweet. Always helpful. She’s given me some great deals on stuff and taught me a lot about the cultures whose merchandise she sells. Well today, I walk in and she’s got this odd smile on her face. Something’s up. I mean, she’s never cheated me or done anything illegal, but she’s creeping me out today. “Hey Dorothy. How are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m fine dear. I’ve just bought something incredible. I think you’ll like it. See if you can find it.” She liked to do this a lot; tell me that I’d like something and make me look for it. All of it has been incredibly cool. So I wander around the tables and shelves along the walls. I see something moving out of the corner or my eye. Some sort of fluid, quick movement. Like the way a cat’s tail swishes in the sunlight. I turn my head and see this brass canary cage. There’s no swing in it, but instead, some rocks and a small box. Sitting on the box is a tiny devil, not more than 4 inches tall. He has a thin, pointed tail and delicate ebony horns. They remind me of the pincers on an earwig. Threatening like that. Sharp. He’s rather handsome, muscular. Sinuous tendons, body like a dancer. I wondered what it would be like if I were 4 inches tall and kissed him. Would his tongue feel like fire? Would it be passionate? Would he fuck me like a purely evil beast? . . . God, what am I THINKING?! Jesus, I think he’s getting to me. . . No, this can’t be real. There’s not such things as devils or gods or pushing your will on others. It’s all mind fucking. Smoke and mirrors.
“He’s beautiful Dorothy. Is he, I mean, is he real? He doesn’t seem mechanical or anything.”
“Oh, he’s real. Very real. I picked him out myself. I knew you’d like him.”
“Well how much? He must be awfully expensive. I couldn’t imagine putting a price on a living BEING.”
“Why not, we do it with animals.” She had a point.
“Yes, but, well, he’s so human.” He had been sitting on a rock but now he stood up. He had a twisted black staff, almost like a toothpick. He climbed up onto the box in the middle of the cage and banged the staff down. It made a small tapping sound, but the way he stood and the way he held it made it seem like a loud echoing boom.
“I’m NOT a fuckin’ pet. You tell that bitch to let me out of here before I rip her balls off with my teeth.” His voice was raspy and deep. Not what you’d expect from such a tiny creature. It was almost erotic in a way. And yet smooth, as of from wine. His skin was that color. Like sweet red wine. . . Snap out of it. Jesus. “Jesus has nothing to do with it honey.”
“I’m sorry?”
He looked up at me. Eyes like black holes, eerie. “I said Jesus has nothing to do with it.”
“Don’t mind him, he likes to play with people.” Dorothy yelled from over by the counter. “I hear him in my mind too.” She paused for a second, then her tone changed. “You like him, don’t you? He’s yours, you know. 20 dollars.”
“20 dollars, are you serious?”
“I’m worth WELL over that, bitch. Man, cheap ass whore.” The devil mumbled.
“Well, do you WANT to pay more dear?” How could I pass this up? A whole devil. All mine. I wondered if he had any powers and if he did, could he pass them on to me?
“Alright then. I’ll take him.” I picked the cage up in both hands so it wouldn’t move around much.
“Damn straight you’ll take me. You’d have to be a fuckin’ moron to pass this up baby.” And he thumped his fist against his naked chest. He wasn’t wearing much. Just a black, velvety robe.
* * *
When I got home, I set the cage on my kitchen table. I felt giddy and excited. This was the buy of the century. “Let me out of here bitch. I hate this fuckin’ cage. And these damn rocks. I need luxury. I need leather and silk and velvet and cashmere.” “Are you always so rude?” I opened the cage door and he sauntered out tapping his staff along as he went. “Why couldn’t you open the cage on your own? I mean, you have some sort of POWERS, right?”
“Yes, I’m always so rude, and yes, I do have powers. . . when I’m FREE. In captivity, well, I’m mortal. . . Now watch this.” I stood back. He stretched his arms out and tilted his head back and soon began to levitate as if pulled from a string attached to his chest. He floated off the table so he was hovering above the floor in front of me. It was hard to tell, but it looked like he was becoming translucent. Like smoke. And then he WAS smoke. It began to dance and grow, until it was a thin stream coming from the floor to 6 feet above it. Then the smoke spread out and solidified and there the devil stood. All his 4 inch glory there towering above me. God, he was even more beautiful this size. His skin tight and glistening, his horns perfect and reflective. His eyes had lava and sin in them.
He grabbed me by the back of my neck and kissed me as I had never been kissed before. His tongue tasted like wine and sex and sent a flame of passion down my spine. I wanted him. I knew that now. I wanted him to ravish me and devour me. Whole. Alive. “Fuck me.” I murmured, and he did. I screamed and moaned and begged for salvation. A steady stream of curses passed my lips and then he pierced me, past all barriers, past the edge, past the hard ground and down into the fiery depths of hell. It was pure untainted madness. I clenched my teeth until my gums bled and then I screamed at decibel levels off every scale.
I was left in a sweating pile of spent flesh and pleasure. Panting and broken. His serpentine tongue flicked out to paint my neck in glistening white wine and I slept for decades it seemed.
* * *
It went on like this for days. We fucked in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. I finally quit my job. I began to drink heavily and often. And my skin tone darkened with every thrust of his evil cock. My days were spent in hate and contempt. When I went out, I glared at every passerby and muttered foul curses of disgust. I was angry at the world. I even hated God. I vomited when I stepped into church and great flashes of pain coursed through me with the mention of the Lord, God, angels, or heaven. Holy my ass. It was all bullshit. God was a hypocritical, egotistical son of a bitch. I spit on cathedral steps and took the Lord’s name in vain every chance I had.
* * *
Soon I had my own tail and horns began to spout from my head. My hair darkened to a satanic black. I didn’t need to eat anymore. I only craved carnal pleasure. I laughed at hatred and grew with every evil deed I witnessed. And the sex got better. I didn’t bother with clothing anymore since I spent most of the day naked and pressed against my love.
“Juliet,” my love grumbled in his endlessly deep voice, “I want to test your powers. Come with me.” I followed him to where his old brass cage sat on the bookshelf. It still contained the rocks and the small box. “Do as I do. Spread your arms like a great eagle and think of nothing.” I did so. His finger tips touched mine and soon I felt nothing at all. . . I heard his voice in my mind. “Collapse and open your eyes.” When I did, I felt small and insignificant. Inferior to my surroundings only to find out that I WAS. My love flew into the cage and I followed him until we stood hand in hand inside the small brass cage.
“You did it darling, I’m so proud of you.” He kissed me and stroked my face. “Now I must leave you.” He disappeared then and the door on the cage slammed shut. My love reappeared outside the cage in his 6 foot splendor. He was pale now. Almost white. His hair brown. he looked. . . ordinary. Plain.
“My love, what’s happened to you?” He laughed and told me to shut up. That I was the pet now.
* * *
Satan paid my love with a higher rank and sent him out to the streets to work. Then he put me on the shelf where I had originally found my love. I cursed at him as he morphed into Dorothy. His aura was slick with superiority and torture. “Keep your mouth shut bitch. You’ll get yours soon enough.”