Eldritch Exorcist

Jess slowly made her way toward the bed. If the deep dark circles underneath her eyes were anything to go by, then anyone would think she’d go to bed gladly, but her movements suggested otherwise. They were slow and jittery. She approached it more like a prisoner might approach a guillotine, rather than a tired person going to get some rest.

She looked around, still thinking about what to do, trying to find a solution. Her eyes went a bit softer when she saw a set of photos on the wall. All of them were of her with a happy border collie dog. There were almost no other pictures, none with family, and only one with a friend.

Her eyes finally stopped on a dreamcatcher she had gotten from the strange lady at the antique shop. The moment she saw it, her fingers curled into fists.

Maybe it was bluffing.

Maybe she should try to destroy the thing.

Maybe.

Her thoughts were stopped by the sound of paws hitting the floor. It was a sound that easily brought a smile to her face each time she heard it. In came a dog. It was a black-and-white border collie from the photos. Even though the breed was usually energetic, this one looked rather tired as well, with its tail only half raised.

“Hello, Plum,” Jess greeted, which earned her a lick on the hand. “How are you? Not sleeping well either, huh?”

The dog simply came closer for the ritual scratching. Jess bent down and hugged the creature instead.

“But don’t worry. No more nightmares after today,” she whispered into the dog’s ear.

There were tears in her eyes, but her resolve was only strengthened by the presence of the pet. She then sat back down and looked it in the eyes. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novelFirｅ.net

“Tomorrow, Ali will come and take you, okay?” she tried to explain. “You will live with her, okay? Don’t make any trouble, or I will know.”

She barely finished the sentence before the tears spilled from her eyes. The dog sensed her mood and came onto the bed to lick her face.

She turned her face, letting Plum lick it. As she did, she caught sight of a man outside her window. He stood there on the street, looking directly at her apartment. The man felt strange… but she didn’t freak out or call the police. She was no stranger to unnerving visions for some time now. Although it was the first time she had seen an apparition on the street, she assumed it was the creature hurrying her.

After spending some time playing before bed, she finally closed her eyes and tried to sleep. It took her quite a while to drift off despite the tiredness.

As usual, she woke up in her own bed. Or rather a rendition of it. She didn’t bother with the lights. She knew they wouldn't work.

“Is this really necessary?” she shouted toward the darkness.

No answer.

She sighed and got up, determined to get it over with. Her room was half-covered in darkness, with the doors to the rest of the apartment resembling pitch-black portals to the abyss. She knew it was a dream, but the atmosphere was getting to her anyway. As with anyone else, she was afraid of pain, after all.

She made her way to the door slowly and opened it. The hinges squeaked as she saw the rest: the kitchen connected to the living room.

The big living room window was black. Not starless-night black where you can see some outlines of the world outside, but completely black as if someone had stolen all the light beyond the glass.

She jumped as she heard a sound. The wardrobe behind her opened into yawning darkness, and from the open door she could hear heavy, raspy breathing.

“Run,” said the voice on the inhale.

She did. On instinct, she bolted forward. She knew she wouldn’t escape. She never did. But everything inside her told her to run. She tried to reach the apartment door when she heard something spill onto the floor and chase after her, with a sickening crunch accompanying every movement of the creature.

Finally, she made it to the door and pulled the handle. The lock clicked, and the door opened, right into a gray brick wall. She turned to look for escape, but it was too late. She saw the creature. It looked like a tall, lanky humanoid, on all fours, its back arched, rushing at her. The beast was pitch black with small horns and white, sharp teeth.

Jess broke down, screaming, waiting for the strike. But it didn’t come. She opened her eyes again just to see an empty room.

“Hehehe,” she heard a raspy voice from behind.

She jumped forward, turning toward the door. In the open doorway stood the demon. It was tall and thin, human-looking, and it was smiling at her. To make it worse, there was the outside world beyond the door, which had previously been just a brick wall.

“Why?” she asked, angered and tired.

“Your fear’s delicious,” the thing rasped.

“Let—” she gulped. “Let’s just get it over with.”

“Fine. You’re no fun,” it said and led her to the table.

They both sat down.

“So I give myself, and you leave the dog alone. Right?” she finally said after the demon failed to start the conversation, just staring at her.

“That’s the deal. Although I have to say you are the first human I know to give your soul for an animal,” it said, amusement in its voice.

“It saved me, now it’s my turn,” she said softly, more to herself than the creature.

“Whatever gets you going, I guess. Hehehe, makes it easier. You agree and let go, and we are square.”

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“You won’t touch the dog?”

“Nope.”

Silence descended on the room.

“...Will it hurt?” she finally asked weakly, to which the demon gave a wide smile.

“Weeeell, I don’t know. I never got my soul pulled out of my body, ehehe.”

Jess raised her head with tears streaming down her face. She was ready to make the decision, even if it hurt. But she noticed something strange. A third person entered the dream. It looked like the odd man who had looked into her window that night.

Why would an apparition created by the demon stand here now? Was it to scare her into agreement? Something was unnerving about it, but what was—

Before she could ponder any further, the demon turned around, also looking confused as it followed her line of sight. She then saw the creature’s expression morph from surprise to fear as the man grabbed the demon’s head and started slamming it into the table.

Jess jumped at the loud impact.

After ramming the demon’s face down repeatedly, the man bent down.

“Where are my fuckin’ souls, huh?” he barked at the demon.

“M-m-Mr. Alhazred. I-I-I didn’t know any of your clan was left. I didn’t manifest for such a long time, and my idol given to you was locked, so I–” the creature started explaining before the man cut it off.

“Oh, so you think you can steal from me because you didn’t bother to check well enough?”

“I–I didn’t steal.”

Jess almost fell from her chair as the demon’s face suddenly impacted the table once again.

“And now you’re lying to me?”

“I would never.”

Another loud impact rang out, accompanied by a crack, leaving the demon’s nose looking broken.

“Another lie. I don't like it when family employees lie to me.” He brought his face closer to the creature’s. “Are some disciplinary actions needed?”

“N-No!” exclaimed the monster.

The man looked at it for a few seconds before straightening back up. “How many souls do you owe me?”

“Every second soul.”

“Did you get any since you served my father?”

“Well, yes, but for hundreds of years—” the demon tried to explain itself, but the man cut it off.

“And some of those should have belonged to my family. Which means you have my belongings. Which is stealing. Yes?”

“B-but—” the creature tried to protest, but shut up when the man placed his hand on the back of its head.

Jess could see it was trying to raise its shoulder uncomfortably as it sat there, completely stiff.

“When you have something of mine that I didn't give to you, it is stealing,” he hissed at the demon. “It’s actually the definition of stealing. Am I right? Would you call that stealing?” He raised his eyes and looked at Jess.

She sat there confused before finally registering that the question was for her. She mechanically nodded her head.

“You see, she thinks it’s stealing. I think it’s stealing. Two to one, so it’s stealing. Or are you calling me stupid?”

“I would never.” The demon’s eyes widened.

“You think I’m stupid?”

“No.”

He bent down slightly, looking it in the eyes. “You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then you stole from me, and now I’m here to collect.”

Jess watched as the creature grew increasingly panicked. It then met her eyes, as if an idea had come to it.

“I-I was actually about to collect a soul for Master Alhazred. Yes,” it said with a slight slimy smile.

“Oh?” the man asked, curious.

Jess felt fear once again as the man seemed to be there for souls, perhaps even hers. But maybe she could argue or beg the new person. But before she could, he looked at the demon once again.

“So what is her sin?”

The slight smile dropped immediately.

“Ummm.”

“You wouldn’t forget about following my family’s code, would you?”

“N-no. Never. She, ummm… She did… She committed—” the creature was struggling for an answer, but none came to it. “She’s not supposed to have pets in her apartment?” it finally finished, unsure, trying to make a joke.

Awkward silence hung in the air for a few seconds before the man’s chuckle broke it.

“Heh, pets at the apartment. Good one. Hehe.”

“Hehe,” the demon laughed slightly.

“Pets in the apartment. Hahahah,” the man started to laugh as the demon followed, now a bit more sure of himself. Jess smiled awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

“Oh, you got jokes. The family documents didn't mention your humor. Wanna hear one of mine?”

“N-not neces–”

“StabbedDemonsSayWhat.”

“Wha— Wait, no!”

The demon tried to get up, but then the man stabbed a knife through its hand, pinning it to the table.

“Aaaggghhhh,” screamed the creature, stopping itself from the instinct to pull on the pinned hand.

“See, I have jokes too. Wanna hear another one?” he barked into its ear.

The demon shook its head. Jess noticed it seemed to have something like red tears in its eyes.

“I also have a dog now. Am I not allowed in the apartment, too?”

“I-I misspoke.”

“Are you gonna throw me out?”

It shook its head energetically.

The man brought his mouth even closer to the creature’s ear, now whispering right into it. “You owe me every second soul from now on and double whatever you stole ever since my father stopped paying you any attention. Or we can go to a Spirit judge and see if it was a breach of contract. Got it?”

The demon nodded its head energetically.

“And no more bullshit.”

“O-of course.”

The man looked at it for a few seconds before relaxing.

“Good, glad we understood each other. That was intense, huh?” he said, looking at Jess while smiling.

“Ummm. Yeah?”

“Yeah. Good talk,” he said as he started patting the demon on its back.

It nodded as well, also relaxing a bit.

Jess started to look around.

“Got you scared, eh?”

“Yes, Master Alhazred.”

“Hehe. Yeah. Oh, and one last thing.”

Before Jess could relax, he grabbed the demon’s head, slamming it back into the table with a lot of force, this time holding it there.

He then brought his face to its ear and, lowering his voice to a growl, said, “And if I even suspect you went behind my back or broke my family rules again, I will drag out your worthless soul and feed it into the most twisted thing I can find in the deepest part of the Abyss. Do. You. Understand?”

It just nodded energetically with tears now falling freely from its eyes.

“Good,” said the man, and dematerialized.

What followed was the most awkward moment in Jess’s life. She just sat there, not knowing what to do as the demon was lightly sobbing in the chair in front of her.

It finally raised its head and looked at her. “Sooo. Umm, you remember that violent ex you had nightmares about?”

“Yes?”

“Umm, this is awkward to ask, but would you mind dropping the dreamcatcher by his house?”

“O-okay?”

“T-thanks.”

Jess then woke up. She was in her own bed with Plum sleeping soundly on her legs.

She was whole and fine, even feeling rested for the first time in a while. But there was one question on her mind.

What the fuck just happened?