“Come forth. Come forth, Elder One, and accept our offering to thee,” the flock members chanted, the words thick with the ancient cadence of the Old Tongue.
When the creature stopped just within the firelight’s kiss, they fell hush.
The unsettling silence gnawed at my nerves as I took in our deity’s now-illuminated features.
The Elder One—known as the Jersey Devil to the outside world—looked different from what the old drawings depicted. His knobby horns were large, like an antelope, and his leather wings were like a bat’s. The fleshless skull of his head resembled a horse’s, but was unlike anything alive on earth, with pale-white eyes that glowed from his sockets.
My father bent at the waist in a deep bow that engulfed my mother in an ominous, flickering shadow.
“You brought me what I have asked for?”the devil rumbled in Old Tongue.
“Yes, Elder. You are kind to have allowed her to raise my son.”
The devil omitted a guttural humming noise.“I have slaughtered flock members for breeding my offerings in the past, Keeper. But you have faithfully attended my flock for…hmmm…two hundred and sixty-four moons. Consider my magnanimity a reward for your devotion.”
“T-thank you, Elder!”The way my father beamed with pride while the mother of his child sobbed at his feet had my blood roaring in my ears.
The devil stepped into the bonfire, and the flames raced over his flesh like writhing veins.
“I wonder,”the Elder One drawled as the fire crackled from his eye sockets.“Will her soul be as sweet as I imagined?”
He made a swipe for my mother, but I was already flinging myself in front of her.
His blazing claws sliced into my cheek, and the fire was like a brand. I clenched my teeth, hissing from the white-hot pain. It felt like my bone was splitting apart, but I refused to remove the shield my body created for my human mother.
“Titus!” my father screamed. He raised his hand to backhand the unburnt side of my face, but the Elder One’s hand moved to grip my throat, hoisting me into the air.
“Why interfere with my offering, Kinsman?”
“She’s my mother,” I wheezed. “Take me instead.”
He inspected me carefully, and I felt his fire-filled gaze taking in my violet devil’s eye and my gray human eye. “Yes. You are the half-blood. The Keeper’s son.It is the mark of your eighteenth year.”
I narrowed my eyes, meeting the hellfire gaze of the Jersey Devil without so much as a flicker of fear in my chest. As far as I was concerned, my dad was the worst monster. And I’d been dealing with his abuse for eighteen years.
“Y-y-yeah,” I wheezed, struggling for air. “H-happy fucking birthday to m-me. After you rip out my mom’s soul, will there be c-c-cake?”
I felt my father’s hate-filled glare cutting into the side of my face like a sacrificial knife that hurt even more than the literal hand of fire crushing my throat.
“Forgive his outburst, Elder One. He has a soft spot for his human mother.”
“Your soul, in trade for your mother’s?”the Jersey Devil said with another thoughtful hum. “Why do you offer yourself in her place? Do you think a half-blood’s soul would satisfy me?”
“I-I have a soul, don’t I?” I snarled.
The devil’s guttural laugh rattled down my spine and made the fire engulfing his frame flare higher, burning my clothes and singeing my skin.
“You’ve made a mistake thinking you’re like your mother. You may be half-human, but you still have Leeds blood running through your veins. My blood, Kinsman. You are a devil, just like the rest of us.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m nothing like you.”
“Oh…But you are.”He pulled me away from the fire and carried me to the small pond that wasn’t far off from the clearing where the Ritual took place. The creature forced me to my knees, the mud soaking into my singed cult robes.“Look into the lake, Kinsman, and tell me what you see.”
The pond was like a mirror, reflecting the silvery light from the full moon that peeked through the pine trees’ bare branches. I peered down, taking in my reflection, and had to fight the urge to cringe when I saw the face of my devil form staring back at me. My horns were small but sharp, emerging from my mess of black hair. My one white eye simmered with an eerie luminescence, and my sharp canines glinted in the moonlight. Half of my face was red and angry from the blow of my ancestor’s still-flaming hand.
If I survived this night, I’d be marred forever. Not that I cared. At least I’d have scars to match the ones on the inside.
“What do you see?”the devil bellowed, making the reflection ripple in the pond.
