Page 1 of Demons & Damnation

Chapter 1

Azazel grinned, a true, ear to ear sadistic grin, one that painted him as the demon he was. He’d perfected it to the ideal mix of his human form and his demonic form, keeping his appearance human save for his ‘this is your end’ grin where he showed off his mouthful of needlepoint teeth, glistening and stained dark red. It filled each and every subject with nothing but fear.

His current subject, a man in his mid-fifties, damned to Hell for the worst crime possible, sat in Azazel’s leather dentist chair, strapped down by his forehead, chin, wrists, stomach, and ankles. For three days already, Azazel had tortured him to the brink of death, revived him, and repeated the process. With nothing but pleasure.

Glancing down at the man’s freshly repaired body, Azazel gave him his signature grin and asked, “Are you ready for round four, Gerald?”

Gerald’s silvery blue eyes filled with terror. He tensed his entire body and attempted to shake his head. “Please,” he said, all but spluttering, struggling to speak with the chin strap so tightly pressing against him.

Azazel loosened the strap and gestured his arms outwards. “Please, continue,” he said. “Plead your case. I’m eager to hear your justifications.”

Gerald moved his jaw up and down, loosening the muscles. He glanced down at his feet, a stainless-steel table at the end of the chair, lined with a hundred different tools that were each designed to bring maximum pain but not kill. Knives, saws, picks, scissors, scalpels—he’d had them all used on him, repeatedly.

Flicking his eyes back to Azazel, Gerald smiled at him. “Please. If you’re going to torture me again, at least give me something to watch, take my mind off it.”

Azazel narrowed his eyes. “But that only pleases you, not me. Where’s my fun in that? I need you focused on your pain, on your suffering.” Azazel let out a sigh. “But I’m feeling jovial. Humour me, what would you choose to watch if I did allow it?”

A predatory spark ignited in Gerald’s eyes. He replied, “The video I took of me and Eva.” He closed his eyes and licked his lips. “Oh, that girl. She was so sweet, so innocent, so pure, and I had her. All of her. She’s mine. Forever.”

Rage fired through Azazel’s veins. Paedophiles were his favourite to torture. He kept them all alive for weeks, sometimes months at a time, suffering the same excruciating agony over and over again. An eternity of torture would never be enough for one of these scumbags.

He looked down at Gerald, placing a hand either side of his head, looming over the old man’s weathered face. “Is Eva really the last thing you want to see?”

Hunger filled Gerald’s eyes and he squirmed against the hold of the straps. “More than you know.”

Azazel lifted his right hand and pressed his index finger to the middle of Gerald’s forehead. That single touch gave Azazel a ‘window’ into Gerald’s memories, instantly filling his mind with images of a young girl no more than eight or nine. Long curly chocolate brown hair, pastel pink lips, and beautiful big brown bambi eyes, she was an adorable little thing.

Was being the operative word.

Taking his finger back, Azazel kept the man’s eye contact as he focused his mind on the image of Eva, letting his magic take over. In a matter of seconds, Azazel’s short blonde hair grew out into long brown curls, his green eyes shading over to dark brown and his red lips lightening to pastel pink. His bulky six-foot one muscled frame shrunk to a petite three feet.

Gerald’s eyes filled with horror as he watched the demon shrinking at the side of him. “No, no!” he yelled. “You can’t taint my last memory of her, no, I won’t allow it.” He squeezed his eyes shut.

Azazel altered his voice, mimicking Eva’s honey laden sing song tone. “I’m afraid you don’t get a choice.”

Walking to the other side of the room, Azazel grabbed a small three step step-ladder and dragged it over to the side of the chair. He opened it out and climbed up it, peering down at Gerald.

“Gerald, come now, you wanted me to be the last thing you see.”

Gerald shook his head and kept his eyes firmly closed. “Not like this. You’re not capable of doing horrible things to me. You’re too good.”

“You should be careful what you wish for, Gerald. This is what you wanted.”

Gerald said nothing, concentrating only on keeping his eyes shut.

Azazel looked over at his table, spotting the exact thing that would solve this problem. Hopping down off the step ladder, he picked up the suture needle and thread and headed back to Gerald’s side.

“Last chance, Gerald. Keep your eyes open willingly or I will force them open.”

“You wouldn’t force anyone to do anything, you sweet, sweet girl.” He slid his tongue out and wet his lips. “I can still taste you, you know.”

Azazel felt his stomach churn. Placing his left hand on the man’s forehead, he kept his head still whilst pinning his eyelid back with his right hand, holding the long, curved suture needle right in Gerald’s line of sight.

“I will sew your eyelids open, Gerald. Last chance.”

Water filled Gerald’s eyes. “Eva, don’t do this, sweetheart. I carry your innocence in me. It’s ok if you’re lost, all you need to do is be with me and you’ll find it again.”

Azazel pressed his lips together whilst running through a list of expletives in his mind to describe the despicable excuse for a man in front of him. Realising he needed to reapply the chin strap, Azazel stabbed the suture needle into Gerald’s right bicep, using him as a pin cushion.

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