Story 1 - Initium
Content Warnings: Swearing, Mentioned Death & Violence, Body Horror
Jordin burst out her front door and rushed over to her car, getting in as fast as she could. Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot SHOOT, her mind repeated over and over as she put the car into drive and slammed on the acceleration. This was the first time she had been invited over to someone’s house and she was NOT about to be late. Blatantly ignoring 90% of road safety laws, she made her way through traffic as fast as she could. She focused as best as she could, even with the instantaneous adrenaline rush. Stopping at a red light, she pulled down the sun visor and opened the sliding mirror to look at herself for a moment. She didn’t look great but it wasn’t too different from her normal look. If not for her innate tiredness and inexplicable habit of napping, she would’ve made herself look fabulous, but what can you do? It was the weekend after all, and her body really hated any change in her sleep schedule. I mean, three in the afternoon is optimum sleep time, you know?
As the light turned green, Jordin bundled up all her loose thoughts clinking around in her brain and slam dunked them into the “SHUT THE HELL UP MY STRESS LEVELS ARE HIGHER THAN CARL FREDRICKSEN RIGHT NOW” pile as both her car and brain shifted into maximum overdrive. 25 minutes and a warning from the police later, she arrived at the house of her dear friend Carmen. Jordin took out her phone and pulled up the Messages app to let him know she was there. As she began to type, she only just then noticed that his invitation text said 6 pm in the afternoon. Her fingers stopped dead in their shaking tracks as she very audibly facepalmed and let out a groan. Well, she was here now and she had no idea what to do—what was that sound? It was like…a guttural growl coming from inside Carmen’s house. She went up to one of the side windows and looked in.
Was that…Carmen? It looked like him…but it was all wrong. He seemed a lot taller and sharper somehow? He had large horns protruding from his head and a spiny tail that was…cleaning the countertop beside him. His eyes did not look normal; they were almost lizard-like and were wide open. He did have his traditional makeup on, though, and his nails were still the same black as always. The man himself was cleaning dishes very delicately, looking into the reflection occasionally and doing a little snarl, revealing a very concerning maw filled with razor sharp teeth that she had never seen before. Jordin was so confused as to what was happening that she could not stop watching. Just then, the lights in the house began to flicker. Very subtly at first, then flashing rapidly as a shadow formed in the room.
Carmen stood in his kitchen, hand-washing a pile of dishes beside him. Realistically, he could place them all in the dishwasher and get a load done before Jordin came over. Actually? He forgot the dishwasher was there in the first place and would only realize it was installed in his kitchen after he hand-washed all the plates. He didn’t hate doing it either, I mean, it was going to be a more enjoyable experience than cooking the food he had in the fridge. He always ate his steak raw, but he knew humans needed it cooked in order to consume it. The boxed macaroni and cheese also required cooking, but at least the box had instructions. Normally he’d eat the noodles as a crunchy treat and throw away the strange packet that was included. He assumes it’s that weird ‘silica gel’ thing that comes in most of his clothing orders. You know, the box is actually mislabeled. The noodles look nothing like what’s on the front of it, and it tastes nothing like cheese. In fact, it tastes like nothing, but that won’t stop him from—ooh, would you look at that. Nice, shiny reflection. He snarled at the large plate, as if he was in front of a mirror. It was…no, it wasn’t even a little stupid. It was 100% stupid. All stupid. He ceased the stupid activities and put the plate on the pile of clean ones.
As Carmen picked up another plate and began scrubbing, he became aware of the lights flickering. As chuckled and a small grin grew on his face. Oh, boy, here we go, he thought as the immense shadow behind him began to collect itself and a distant roaring filled his ears.
Jordin could do nothing but stare in horror as the vast shadow solidified into a hunched, monstrous being behind her friend. It slowly rose, extending its frame to its full height. The thing must’ve been at least 7 feet tall, not counting those massive antlers that reached high with no pattern and the antennae that protruded from its…forehead? Despite it clearly facing toward Carmen, it had endless eyes that encompassed its entire head. Feathery wings protruded out its back; massive despite being folded up. Jordin had to duck down and try not to gag at the sight of its body. Dark red flesh peeling off all over its body, revealing bone and muscle inside. The thing looked like it was decomposing. Jordin looked up again. Its arms were long and dangled by its side, with both hands being completely bone. Even still, the fingers still looked extremely sharp, like five long scythes reaching down. One of its digitigrade legs began to move, taking a step toward Carmen. It reached one of its razor sharp hands up in the sky, like it was about to slash down. Jordin snapped back to reality at the sight of this. She wanted to, no, NEEDED to warn Carmen. Even if he looked like a John Carpenter creation, he was still her friend. She tried to find some way to open up the window she was in front of, but when she looked up, she saw the scythe slice down.
The demon, freshly self-summoned into the kitchen of his fellow demon pal, slowly and dramatically stood up and made his way over to his friend. Reaching one razor sharp hand to the sky, he let it fall down over his friend’s shoulder and onto the handle of the cabinet next to the sink. Opening it, he pulled out a large glass and shut the door.
“Don’t you even bother to say hello anymore?” Cozbi, the deceiver queried.
“Come on, Coz, you know me. It’s all about the entrance,” Arioch, the beholder replied.
“Yeah, well I know that good as anything. How you been, Ari?”
“Good, good. Terrorized some people last night. I think that was one of the most successful so far, I mean, the sheer terror in a human’s eyes when they know their life is at its end,” said the demon as he walked over to the fridge.
“They still alive?”
“Huh? Oh, hell no. They tried shooting me after a while, so…” Arioch slid his finger across his neck and filled the cup with ice.
“Yeah…fun…I don’t really need to hear the rest of the details, if that’s alright with you.”
“Sure, whatever, man. So, what’s the occasion?” he asked as he poured the water.
“Huh?”
“Your house. It’s never been this clean, nor would you ever have a reason for it to be this clean. So obviously, something’s going on. Spill.”
“Alright, fine. Well, you see—oh my god WOULD YOU STOP DOING THAT.”
The watcher had morphed one of his eyes into a mouth and was drinking from it.
“Why, I have not an inkling as to what you are referring to, my friend.”
“The water…thing. You and I both know we don’t need water so you’re obviously doing that just to freak me out, you dickhead!”
“Ha. Sorry, man, I couldn’t resist. So, you were saying?”
“Right. So I invited a friend from work over for dinner tonight. She should be here around eighteen hundred…what’s that look for?”
“You…invited a human. Over here. For dinner.”
“Yeah! Ok, I know that sounds bad, but trust me on this. She’s actually a really nice person! We’ve gotten along very well and actually share a lot of interests. Plus, she’s given me a lot of insight into the human race. I’ve learned more from her in the past month than I have in the past 50 years. Like, I discovered humans have this thing called romance that we don’t have. It’s a whole weird thing and it’s gross, but it exists, I guess. But besides that, she’s just a really lovely person.”
Unbeknownst to him, the friend in question was looking in, watching, beyond confused at the fact that her friend, apparently a demon, was complimenting her to his demon friend. She smiled a little?
“Hmmph. That’d be a first,” Arioch commented.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that humans are parasitic creatures whose only purpose on this planet is to spread and take and lie and kill and burn and hunt and bleed and die and—”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” Cozbi interrupted, repressing his frustration, “I know you have problems with humans, I don’t blame you. But what I need from you right now is to put that aside so I can enjoy a night with my friend. Hell, maybe you could even watch our night and see for yourself. C’mon, man, you should give humans a chance to prove themselves worthy of your almighty standards.”
Arioch stared at his friend.
Jordin watched and listened to the entire discussion with awe. She was drawn in now, like it was some sort of reality TV show.
“Hmmph. Alright. Fine,” said the tall monster, “I’ll TRY to give ’em a chance. But still, you have to admit that there are bad humans in the world, like that one.”
Jordin’s heart stopped.
“She’s been watching us through the window the entire time like a stalker.”
No chemistry or physics equation could comprehend how fast the butterflies in her stomach started fluttering as the tall thing raised its bony hand and pointed at her. She ducked down and started panicking. Stupid stupid STUPID IT HAS EYES WATCHING EVERYWHERE WHY WOULD YOU THINK IT COULDN’T SEE YOU?? She could hear Carmen…Cozbi…? Whatever, her friend from inside.
“WHAT?”
“Yeah.”
“SOMEONE WAS WATCHING US? FOR HOW LONG?”
“Since I got here. I was GOING to kill her afterwards so I didn’t really say anything. My bad.”
Jordin knew she was in deep shit and booked it down the street.
“Aaaaand now she’s gone,” Arioch casually mentioned.
“Ughhhh, I cannot believe you. Would you go get her please? And bring her ALIVE.”
“Nah, I’m okay.”
Cozbi let out a long sigh.
“Well, could you at least tell me what she looked like, then?”
“Uhh…short hair shaved on the side, tank shirt, white jacket, heavy makeup.”
The deceiver was still for a moment.
“Uhhh, you okay?” asked the wing’d beast.
The other demon’s metaphorical blood began to boil with rage.
“Oh YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME—” the plate he was no longer holding shattered on the ground.
“What? Oh, is that her? Your friend? That’s fuckin’ hilarious man.”
“Okay, okay…Alright, here’s what’s going to happen, Ari. You are going to bring her back here and we are going to sort this out with talking and diplomacy. Right now.”
“Mmm, yeah I’m good. Sorry. Your friend, your problem.”
“Listen, I don’t want to impair our friendship by literally chasing her down the street and dragging her back here, alright?”
“I’d be impressed if you’re able to impair your friendship more than you already have. She just watched you in your current form talk with me for like 10 minutes and overheard everything we said.”
Cozbi growled in frustration.
“Alright, fine!”
“Hah, good luck,” the beholder teased.
“You think this is a game?” Cozbi grabbed Ari’s exposed ribs and pulled him close, “Well, then, I know a game we can play. It’s called hide and seek. You hide. I seek. I’ll even give you a headstart. And you better pray I’m in a good mood when I’m done, because otherwise there won’t be a single place on both this god-forsaken space rock or the entire kingdom of Hell where I cannot find you.”
He let go and kicked open the door as he shapeshifted into his normal human form, starting down the street. Arioch was left on the floor, speechless. Cozbi had never acted like this before. He was in a mix of concern and pride. He got up and started to follow his friend.
