Azazel

“Come on boy, let’s stretch our legs!” David called to his dog Milo.

The white staffie responded by bounding into the hallway, his tail wagging wildly. He was already panting with excitement and pawing at his owner’s legs raring to go. David was used to Milo’s enthusiastic behaviour but still chuckled to himself as he clipped the lead to Milo’s collar. As soon as he did Milo started pulling on it eager to get past the front door, even though it was still closed.

“Hold on you silly mutt!”

David zipped up his thick warm coat and finally unlocked the door, it had barely opened a few inches before Milo was nudging it further with his nose. Once it was fully open the dog almost pulled David’s arm out of the socket to get outside.

“Calm down Milo!” he chided him, “what’s gotten into you today?”

Milo’s breed meant he was naturally quite strong and boisterous but he was usually much better behaved than this, today he seemed a little too eager to go on his walk and David had no idea why. It was just a normal Sunday afternoon in November, nothing out of the ordinary. David’s brow furrowed momentarily but he quickly dismissed any irrational thoughts.

“He probably just needs to pee” he said to himself.

The local park was just a short walk from David’s house but he had to retract Milo’s lead several times to stop him from bolting away and taking David with him. When they reached their destination he was a little reluctant to let him off the lead in case he didn’t come back.

“Now behave yourself Milo or we’re going home” he warned the dog, kneeling down to meet his eye level.

Milo whined and tilted his head, looking at David curiously like he couldn’t understand the concern. They walked together for a while longer and Milo eventually calmed down.

“So he does listen” David thought.

Once the pair found an area of the park that was fairly empty, they stopped and David praised Milo with a head pat and a treat. He then carefully detached the clip from the collar and, to David’s surprise, Milo happily trotted around the space. David kept an eye on the dog from a nearby bench, watching him sniff the ground and bark at a few birds. Thankfully there was nothing unusual about his behaviour now so he breathed a sigh of relief.

After around twenty minutes David shouted over to Milo, “come here boy!”

The dog returned and sat down obediently with his tail thudding on the ground and his tongue hanging out making him look like he was smiling. David stood and took Milo’s favourite tennis ball out from his pocket and noticed Milo’s tail start to wag even faster. He threw the ball as far as he could and Milo galloped after it, he managed to catch it before it hit the floor and strolled back to David looking very proud of himself.

“Good job buddy!”

Milo dropped the ball at David’s feet and looked up at him expectantly, he threw it once again for him to fetch. Milo darted after the ball but halfway there he stopped dead in his tracks as something else caught his attention. He pressed his nose to the ground and started sniffing, he followed the scent to the right and disappeared into some bushes.

“Milo?” David called after him.

He jogged over and picked up the abandoned ball but there was no sign of Milo.

“Milo? Here boy!” he called again then whistled.

No response.

He crept through the bushes and eventually came to a small gloomy clearing, it was a little overgrown and shrouded in shadows from the tall looming trees. The air here seemed chillier and it was deathly silent apart from the sound of dry leaves crunching beneath David’s feet. Something about this neglected area filled his stomach with dread, he did not like this place at all.

Suddenly Milo burst out of the shadows with a bark, startling David.

“ARGH! Milo! Good god! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” he exclaimed, “don’t go running off like that boy!”

He knelt down again to stroke him, relieved his canine companion was safe. The motion calmed his rapidly beating heart.

It was then that he noticed Milo was holding a peculiar shaped bone in his mouth. Like most dogs he loved bones so it made sense that he’d managed to sniff this one out.

“What’s this?” David asked.

Milo dropped the bone on the floor and David picked it up to examine it. It certainly wasn’t a human bone but it was unlike any animal bone he’d ever seen, it was curved with a few jagged spikes along the side. He turned it over in his hands and spotted some strange markings carved in along the curvature. They didn’t look like any letters or symbols that he knew of.

“What the hell is this thing?” David thought, “how did he find it?”

Something about this bone unnerved and repulsed him.

“You don’t want this one boy, it’s nasty” he said to Milo and tossed it away. It landed underneath another bush with a soft thud.

As David reattached the clip to Milo’s collar he heard a faint rustling noise. He looked over to his right and watched the nearby foliage wither and die before his very eyes.

“What the-” he said out loud, Milo let out a fearful whine.

Among the black decaying leaves he spotted the protruding pale spikes of the discarded bone and he could have sworn they seemed…sharper?

David’s curiosity got the better of him and he approached what was left of the bush. Milo’s chest rumbled with a deep growl. He gingerly picked up the bone and it now felt warm in his hand, he inspected it again but nothing had changed. He placed it back on the ground and took out his phone to take a photograph of it. But when he pointed the lens at it the screen distorted with pixels flickering on and off with odd buzzing sounds, the screen then went dark and the glass cracked.

“Shit! I don’t like this” David thought as his heart rate picked up again.

He went to kick the bone away but when his foot made contact with it the bone didn’t budge, like it was fixed to the ground or weighed incredibly heavy. David yelped as the pain as the impact reverberated through every bone in his foot.

He was growing angry at this thing, whatever it was, so he limped over and picked it up again with surprising ease. But just as he was about to throw it as far as he possibly could the bone started vibrating.

He stared at it in his palm then, for some unknown reason, his fingers clasped around it like they were magnets drawn to metal. The markings glowed a vibrant orange and started rearranging themselves. David’s gaze was fixed on whatever was happening and he couldn’t look away even if he tried, he was glued to the spot and unable to move or speak. He was hardly even aware of Milo barking loudly beside him, any noise had faded into the distant background.

What seemed like thousands of voices started whispering to him in languages he didn’t understand but he could sense their desperation and fear. His surroundings had faded away now, his vision was still laser focused on the bone as the markings moved faster and blazed brighter.

Eventually they came to a stop and revealed themselves in a language clear to David, ‘Azazel’. The word fell from David’s mouth in a low murmur then a searing white-hot pain pierced through his mind. His vision blurred then…darkness.

“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?” spoke a muffled voice.

David’s eyes began to open as he slowly came to. He saw a young blonde woman standing over him with concern etched on her angelic face, Milo was right beside him licking his hand. He suddenly realised he was lying on the ground and sat up clutching his head as his eyes refocused.

“Are you alright? Do you know what happened?” the woman asked.

“I…I don’t know. I must have blacked out” David slurred.

He quickly remembered what had caused said blackout and looked around him for that foul bone. But it was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s OK, your dog is fine” the woman told him, assuming he was looking for Milo.

“I was walking my Luci when he came running over to me” she explained, “he’s a very smart boy”.

David then noticed a stern-looking black labrador sitting next to the woman, its dark marble eyes staring into his soul.

“Th-thank you” he said gratefully, “sorry…I didn’t catch your name?”

“Oh I’m Rachel and this is Luci, spelt with an i” Rachel replied.

“I see. I’m David and this is Milo” David said and Milo smiled with his tongue out.

“Good job Milo!” Rachel praised the dog and David hugged him.

Milo nuzzled into David’s shoulder, relieved his owner was safe and alive thanks to him.

“Do you need me to take you to the hospital to get checked over?” Rachel asked kindly.

“No. I think I’ll be fine now” David said, still a little wobbly as he got to his feet.

“Are you sure?” she said as she steadied him.

“Yeah I’m OK, but thank you again for helping me Rachel”.

“No problem, just take care on the way home”.

They said their goodbyes and Rachel walked away with Luci following close behind.

“Come on boy, I think that’s enough excitement for one day” David said to Milo and attached his lead.

He did a final quick scan of the area, thinking the bone or whatever it belonged to was lurking in the bushes like a stalking predator. But his thoughts were interrupted by a single bark from Milo.

“Alright alright let’s go”.

Later that night, David struggled to sleep. He kept reliving the moment he saw those markings change and it filled him with a kind of fear he’d never experienced before. He ventured downstairs for a glass of water and spotted his laptop on the kitchen table.

“Who or what is this Azazel anyway?” he wondered.

After glugging his water he opened the laptop and typed ‘Azazel’ into a search engine. All of the results were ominous and led him to the same answer…Azazel was a very dangerous and powerful demon.

“Azazel in 1 Enoch has been compared to Greek Titan Prometheus. He might be a demonized counterpart of a heavenly creature, who provided knowledge for people to make weapons, thus causing bloodshed and injustice.”

Every word David read sent a shiver down his spine and he slammed his laptop shut.

“Oh dear god, what have I done?”