Page 37 of Prayer of the Damned

Libretto thinks I’m special. If he means unusual, he’s probably right. Other than that, I have no idea what the Devil wants from me, or what Libretto sees in me.

I reach my room and glance at the clock. I have enough time to prepare for our first history lesson. We’ll be spending the next few weeks on an introduction to all the subjects we’re going to learn. That way we won’t be too lost – or too frightened – when the older students join us at the start of the semester.

Valentina still isn’t back. I don’t know what’s going on with her, she’s the one who suggested the lesbian experience. Maybeshe didn’t think I’d respond, and panicked. Maybe it was the smell of my blood that drove her crazy.

I decide to take a shower before class, and doll myself up. I’m not trying to impress Dr. Abano or anything, and if I am, go ahead and shoot me. You’ll find I’m bulletproof.

As I wash my hair, I hear the door slam.

“Valentina?” I call out, but there’s no answer.

I quickly rinse the shampoo off and dry myself. When I open the bathroom door, I see the room is empty. I look around and a chill goes through me, the window is wide open. I look out to see if there’s anyone there, but there’s no one around. I’m sure I didn’t imagine it; I heard the door slam. So either someone came in through the window and left through the door, or someone came in through the door and left through the window. But if it had been a burglar, he probably would’ve kept quiet and not give away his presence in my room. The thought of the invader purposely announcing his presence in my room gives me the chills again, and I slam the window shut.

I sit in front of the mirror to do my makeup, and I gasp at what I see. One of my irises has gone almost completely white. The other eye is still lightly stained. There’s no doubt the pills I took are being purged from my body, and the change is accelerating – I wonder if it’s because of time passing or another reason, like feeding on Liam’s blood, or Libretto’s for that matter. If that’s the case, I’ll have no choice but to feed on Libretto in order to complete the transformation… so I’m screwed. Hard.

Satisfied with my makeup, I put on the school uniform and immediately feel my body filling out the clothes a bit more. You might say it’s tighter on me. My breasts are the same, but my hips have taken on a more feminine form.

I look myself over in the mirror and I’m stunned. The change isn’t drastic, but it’s pronounced. Look at that. I excitedly grabmy bag and run to the Humanities Faculty building before I’m late to class. I enter the classroom at the last second and notice Valentina, who motions for me to join her. She seems fresh and clean, and I wonder when and where she got ready for class.

The trio are sitting a few desks behind her, close together, watching me as I sit down. I ignore them and their inquisitive eyes.

“Hey,” I turn to her. “Were you at the party all night?”

“Yeah, we followed up with an after-party in Tyra’s dorm room. Too bad you didn’t stick around.” She’s speaking normally to me, like there’s no tension between us, and I decide not to bring up what happened between us in the middle of a class full of students.

“It’s okay, you deserve some fun too. We don’t have to stay glued to each other.”

“But I’m supposed to stick to you. I needed some time to myself, but from now on I promise to do my job properly.”

I want to reply that the friendship that started growing between us is more important to me than her job, but Dr. Abano walks into class and we all straighten up and fall silent at once.

“Good morning, everyone,” Dr. Abano announces, placing his leather briefcase on the table. “My name is Bartimaeus Abano, and you can call me Dr. Abano. I’ll be spending this summer teaching you Intro to Demonic History. I hope to shed some light on the many questions you must be asking yourselves. What am I? Why am I here? Why was I chosen? And most importantly, what’s expected of me? I promise that at the end of the course everything will be clear.”

Dr. Abano looks across the room at everyone sitting there, and his eyes linger on me for a moment. Both his eyes are green. Was I hallucinating that day in his office? His different eyes had hypnotized me so, and maybe it had all been nothing more thana daydream. I shift uncomfortably in my chair and pray no one besides me has picked up on him staring at me.

When he turns to his briefcase and removes some documents, Valentina presses against me and whispers: “The Devil’s decided to give us some proper abuse. Can you imagine sitting here all summer and drooling over that hunk?”

Dr. Abano clears his throat, and Valentina immediately straightens up in her chair. “I won’t repeat this again, no small talk in my classroom. Next time I hear talking or whispering, someone will have to answer to the Dean. Am I understood?” his voice drones.

Silence settles over the class. No one dares so much as blink. Rumors of the punishment I’d gotten from the Dean have spread like wildfire. No one wants to get on the Dean’s radar.

Dr. Abano seems pleased at his class’s obedience as he opens his book and starts reading: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness1.”

A student raised his hand.

“Yes?” Dr. Abano gave him permission to speak.

“Dr. Abano, why are we reading the Old Testament? Don’t we have books of our own?”

“A good question, Mr. …”

“Derek, sir,” the student answered, seemingly quite proud of Dr. Abano’s compliment. Suck-up.

“Good question, Derek. Well, this is the oldest book in the human world, and I believe there’s much we can learn from it.”

“But who says it contains the truth? There are many religions in the world, and each has its own god.” I can’t help agreeing with Derek.

Dr. Abano nods. “And the Devil has many names. How do you know you’re worshipping the right Devil?”

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