The demon rubbed his hands in satisfaction “Excellent! Now before we shake hands there is just one other thing I need.” Prompting Jake to mutter “I knew it. I freaking knew it.”
“If feasible, I would like to collect Jakes remains when the Grim Reaper comes knocking.” He chuckled “No need to look so shocked, I have no interest to hasten his demise. The older the demon the more potent his remains. Or where did you think the wishing-bone came from?” when nobody said anything he continued “And besides. With anything but the most pathetic demon the possessed end up with a few peculiar features.” he rapped his knuckles slightly against the hat concealing his horns “ Nowadays coroners would probably ask some very pointed questions. Which is probably better than the angry mobs of old. ” he finished with a wink.
“Well, can’t say I like it, but fine.” Jake finally said, after exchanging an uneasy glance with Dave. “You can circle me like a vulture if you must. So are there any other surprises, or can we get this over with?”
“No more surprises.” Ezekiel said with a reassuring smile, and held out his hand to Dave. “We have a deal?”
Dave hesitate a moment before taking the hand “We have.” After giving it a firm shake, he asked “What happens now?”
“Now, my dear boy, now the two of you sit down on that couch while I make some preparations.” Ezekiel declared, as he walked towards the front door “It will just be minute.”
Jake and Dave looked at each other, before shrugging and making their way towards the couch. A moment later the demon returned carrying a deer-skin suitcase, “I took the liberty of preparing a few things in advance.” he explained with a wink, as he set the suitcase down on the small table in front of the couch and let the locks snap open. “Now I have gotten quite good at estimating the needs and desires of my customers over the past two-hundred years or so. ” he continued as he retrieved two cloth bundles from the case and put them down on the table “ So I narrowed it down to a few choices, but the final decision will be up to Jake. ” as he finished the demon put a third, bigger bundle on the table with a <clunck> of metal on wood.
Dave was sure he saw Ezekiel hesitate, his eye flickering towards Dave before reaching inside the case again “Normally I try to aim for three, because it is such a traditional number. But going by the last week Jake is quite the decisive fellow, so one more choice won’t hurt.” He sat a rather flat bundle on the table, bringing the number up to four.
“I saw you glancing at Dave before you took that one.” Jake said “Is something the matter with it?” “You could say that.” Ezekiel admitted “That one is a bit problematic unless you have a good friend at your side.” “Why?” Jake asked suspiciously.
“I will come to that in a minute.” Ezekiel said “But I need you to understand a few other things first. First of all, these cloths have a warding circle inside trapping the demon I bound to the objects. You stick your hand inside and whatever is trapped inside can try to enter your mind.” As he spoke the man loosened the knot at the top of the flat bundle revealing a bowl with sigils covering the inside, on the cloth itself other symbols were arranged in two concentric circles. As he got to work on the next knot Ezekiel continued “A lot of the lesser demons trapped in the circle I caught while following Jake. Every use of the bone draws demons that resonate with the users mindset, like honey. So that is usually a good place to start from, since they are already aligned with their hosts personality. ” while he spoke the demon uncovered a small marble-figurine whose features had been washed away by wind and weather, a pair of iron manacles with broken locks and no chains attached to them and a filigree of thin golden rods linked together. “Now I will add just a few choice others, and give them a way to plead their case. Do not ” he stopped rummaging in his suitcase for a moment to look Jake in the eye “I repeat, do not try to touch anything unless you are sure that is what you want. I know it will be tempting but once you take up one of these items the decision will be final. I can handle them like this only because the place where my soul used to reside is already far too crowded.”
Jake nodded slowly ” No touching allowed. Got it.”
“Good.” Turning to Dave the demon said ” I think it would be best if you were to wait out the next part over there.” Pointing to an armchair at the far end of the room. “The next part is a bit personal.”
Dave nodded and got up. He heard the faint sound of Ezekiel rummaging in his suitcase followed by small objects being placed on the cloth. Dave sat down just in time to watch Ezekiel place a coin beside the small figurine and an azure flame sprang up above the figures head. As the flame roared to a height of several inches, streamers of pale mist began to emanate from it. Wafting downward they settled around the figurine like a faintly glowing shroud. As he watched in fascination, Dave grew sure that the statue beneath the obscuring mist had changed. He couldn’t tell how at this distance, but seeing how intently Jake was staring at the statue he must have noticed it too. There was something about the way the mist hid the blemishes of the statue and the faint colors swirling within the mist that hinted at a paint-job that had peeled away centuries before, that hinted at the marvel the figurine had been in it’s prime. Something that ought to be the center-piece in a great museum. Somewhere where it was taken good care off and got the recognition it deserved.
It took Dave considerable effort to pry his eyes from figure, as Ezekiel continued to speak “Just like with the bone these flames are just some sleight of hand. ” the demon snapped his hand in front of Jakes eyes to get his attention “As you see gazing deep into the flames allows one to get a feel for the things the demon represents. I can venture an educated guess what changes are in store for you if you pick up any of these items. But that might be a self-fulfilling prophecy, because your expectations play a big role in this. So I will just tell you that each demon will try to change you in ways that make it easier for you to fulfill your new desires once you become one. As you probably surmised at the center of this one is: no longer having to toil away and still achieve the recognition you crave. It is rather complacent and as such the least troublesome of the four. Also one of the weakest.”
“This one,” Ezekiel continued as he placed a few items beside the gold-filigree “you will find is quite a bit stronger” the greenish flames that sprang up inside the circle reached nearly a foot in height, motes of other colors could be seen swirling inside it before leaping away as sparks that rebounded from the invisible boundary of the circle to rejoin the emerald flames. “and very keen on never taking second place.” Ezekiel finished, but Dave was only half listening. The flames inside the circle were swirling, dancing and in their midst he could see Mei-Ling. Not as she had been but as she wanted to be, a bit taller, a bit fuller in the chest and exuding grace and a casual allure as she danced amidst the flame. A vision of beauty that could melt the heart of any man and would have Jake forget all other women in a heartbeat. The image blurred as tears began to steam down Daves face and he turned away silently cursing Jakes name. he didn’t think of his friend that way any longer, not as far as he could tell, but the memories of it were still raw.
When Dave retuned his attention to the artifacts, he caught the tail end of Ezekiels next explanation “…… answers only to it’s own boundless vigor.”. A orange bonfire was roaring around the manacles, it didn’t stretch to the same height as the green flames, but burned just as strong. It’s flames licking hungrily at the boundaries of the circle as it tried to conquer as much space as possible in it’s search for fuel. Unlike the other two Dave could actually feel the faint warmth radiating from it from where he sat. Up close it was probably like stepping in front of a roaring fireplace, after spending the day playing in the freezing snow. He could just bask in it’s glorious warmth, getting a bit closer each time he got used to the heat, to recapture the soothing warmth until he became one with the heat and flame in a furious blaze . Yes, that sounded wonderful! Like a hot shower after a long day, the warm embrace of a loved one and freshly baked bread rolled all into one.
Ezekiels hand on his shoulder brought Dave out of his reverie. He blinked, looking first at the hand then back to the armchair he had left at some point while dreaming about an eternal moment of blissful warmth. “It seems we found out what fate you would choose.” The demon said with a faint smile.
“Y-yeah.” Dave mumbled. “If you hadn’t stopped me…” he trailed off for a moment. Would he really have burned? “What would have happened?”
“You would have gotten what you wanted.” Ezekiel said “This one….” he looked thoughtful for a moment then put a hand on Daves back to lead him further away from Jake and the three flames. “Let us give your friend a moment alone.”
“I did not want to mention it in front of Jake because it might give him the wrong idea.” The demon with the top hat said in a low voice once he deemed them out of earshot “But as I mentioned, the flames are more of a parlor trick. Each corresponds to a cardinal sin, as a shorthand for the kind of magic involved. ”
“Of course they do.” Dave said with a small sigh . What he had seen hadn’t felt …well sinful, but Ezekiel seemed pretty determined to stick to his Mephisto imagery. “So which one is which?” he asked risking a furtive glance back- His eyes coming to rest on the bowl. The one a man freely handing out soul-destroying bones called ‘a bit problematic’. “And what is so special about the last one?” he asked uncomfortably.
The demon gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder “Why not figure it out for yourself? I wouldn’t want to weigh down your first impression with my preconceptions, after all.” Before making his way back to the table.
Dave stared after him, leaning in the doorframe to the kitchen. Wanting to avoid the heartache of the green flames and the sway the orange warmth held over him, Dave fixed his eyes on Ezekiel as the demon set to work preparing the last circle. Dave had been too distracted by the visions inside the flames to spare much attention for the demon, but he was sure Ezekiel hadn’t spent half as much time arranging and rearranging objects with the other circles. Then the demon took a flask from the suitcase and poured it’s clear contents into the bowl. A metal coin was next, and even before the demon set it down, inky black ….things erupted from around the bowl in a roiling mass that nearly reached the ceiling . The sight conjured up images of hopelessly tangled thorny vines, lashing vipers, sprays of corrosive sludge and swarms of poised stingers and snapping mandibles but shifted too quickly to truly seem like any one of these. And then Dave caught a glimpse of someone inside the mass. The mist around the figurine had teased Dave with hints of what lay beneath, the inky blackness seemed intent of shielding whoever was inside from Daves view. Any opening caused by its’ chaotic movements closed as soon as Dave noticed it, denying him a closer look.
“Have you figured it out yet?” Dave flinched in surprise at the question, he hadn’t even noticed Ezekiel had returned to his side.
“Errrrr.” Dave tried to collect his thoughts, his family had never been big on religion. But the sins had featured prominently in a fantastic anime-series about alchemy he had watched some time ago. He certainly hoped this vile darkness wasn’t supposed to be Lust. How did the other ones go? Hunger, pride, laziness, greed and….. Then it hit him.
“Wrath.” He said a bit louder than intended “It’s wrath.”
“Very good. ” Ezekiel seemed pleased “I knew you would figure it out. ” walking past Dave towards the kitchen counter, the demon continued “I took the liberty to put on a kettle. Would you like some tea? ”
“Err what?” Dave hadn’t even noticed the kettle sitting on the stove “Sure?”
“Is Earl Grey to your liking? I brought some from my shop.“ the demon held up a small wooden box.
“Sure.” Dave just nodded. He didn’t really care about tea right now. “So going by the size of that black stuff, wrath is the most powerful of the four.” He asked
“Very likely.” The demon agreed, seemingly unconcerned” As always size is not everything, but your friend certainly had a lot of anger to work with.”
Dave had feared as much, it had certainly felt a lot stronger than the others. And it would change Jake to better express his anger….. This could get very ugly very fast. ”Shit!”
Ezekiel looked up at Daves murmured curse. “Is something the matter?”
Dave didn’t answer, instead he turned to steer Jake away from a choice they’d both regret. He stepped into the living room, just in time to see Jakes hand close around one of the artifacts and the spectral flames racing up his arm.
