“Are…are you still there?” I called out, my voice sounding feeble and betraying each and every emotion I was trying to hide. Although he probably already knew exactly how I was feeling. He probably got off on it too.Sicko.
I made out more muttering on the other side of the door and one heavy sigh. “Obviously.”
“Why? Why won’t you leave me alone?” I whimpered, stalking over to the door in a flurry of stupidity and anger and maybe courage (but also probably not courage). I could see the way his shadow danced beneath the door, flickering slightly in the dim light of my apartment. He seemed impatient. Desperate.
“Because someone, I am going to assumeyou,has been messing with things they do not understand,” he gritted out.What?
Once again, I wasn’t sure if I was scared of the guy or just worried about his mental state. “What are you talking about?”
“My name is Thallor Malphas. I was summoned.”
Malphas.Malphas.Where had I heard that before? I knew for a fact I didn’t know this man. He was nine parts crazy and ten parts breathtaking. If I’d met him before, I definitely would have remembered him. But nothing. I couldn’t come up with asingle reason why I may have come across that name or him before. It was an odd one. Not one you’d hear in a small town like this. It sounded foreign. Or made up. Or something that you’d pull straight out of a?—
Malphas. The Malphas Treaty.
“There is no fucking way…” I muttered to myself, side-stepping the ring of salt and the massive appendage lying askew on my hardwood floor as I whipped open the Malediction Codex. A manic laugh escaped my mouth as I tried to make sense of my current predicament. This wasn’t real.This wasn’t real.Demons didn’t exist…did they? I mean, I knew I wanted it to be real, but I’d also wanted Santa Claus to be real when I was six years old and look how that had turned out for me.
Maybe this was just a dream.I wasn’t 100% sure it wasn’t.
I slowly approached the door, moving purposefully slow as if not wanting to startle a frightened animal or anger whatever predator was on the other side.
“What are you?” I asked this time, trying to ignore the pounding of my heart, which was so aggressive, I thought it might spring from my chest.
“Given the change in question, I am going to assume you already know the answer to that.”
I was around ninety percent on the way to throwing caution to the wind, but I knew a thing about stranger danger and wanted to ensure it was safe before letting him in. (The irony was not lost on me but beggars can’t really be choosers). “Can you recite step four of the incantation?”
“‘Can I recite step four of the incantation?’I don’t know what you think this is, human, but you don’t get to make requests until our treaty is in place,” he growled through the door.
“Fine,” I said matter-of-factly. “You can fuck off then.”Please don’t call my bluff. Please don’t call my bluff.
A long, silent pause stretched between us.
And then another exasperated sigh. This time, it washim,not me.
“In the very fibres of my being, exists both want and greed. It’s three wishes I seek, and three wishes I need. In pact, we’ll be tethered, all wishes made whole. In return, I offer everything, everything and my soul.” I wasn’t sure if I was reading into it, but whilst his voice sounded cold and restrained, it also sounded unbelievably tired. Like he didn’t have the energy to be annoyed at me.
“Okay, cool, so what now? Is this like a vampire situation where I need to invite you inside?” I asked through the door. If I thought I was bad or awkward in social interactions with other humans, I was at a fucking loss when it came to talking to…Well, I’m not sure who or what I’m talking to exactly.Demon? The Devil? A Jinn?A leprechaun on steroids?
And from the other side, all I heard was a deep laugh. It seeped through the crack on the underside of my door and into my ears. Again, it sounded weathered, tired, and possibly a little surprised? As if he wasn’t used to laughing. Again, I was probably reading a little too much into it.
“I don’t make a habit of barging into people’s homes.”
“You did it yesterday.”
“The door was open.”
I wasn’t sure what finally convinced me to unlock the door, but something did. My hands trembled violently as I picked up my key, pushed it into the first lock, and twisted it.
I repeated the action with the second.Push. Twist.
And the third.Push. Twist.
Until there was nothing but the dead bolt shielding me from my stupidity and whatever it was on the other side. Although I enjoyed old things, I was also a fan of more modern inventions like doctors, vibrators, and rainbow-coloured cereal. But the singular chain, latched to my door, was as old as the building,which was old but relatively new by today’s standards. The paint was chipped and the metal rattled slightly in my hand, but I hoped, for my sake, that the chain would do what chains did best as I pressed my hand to the door handle.
But before I did, something insane came over me. Something ridiculous and unhinged that had me pawing at my clothing. I rolled my moon-covered shorts up one degree so they sat higher up on my ass, and I pulled at my vest so it accentuated my chest a little more. Taking one deep breath, I pulled open the door. Dead bolt still secure, of course.
CHAPTER SIX
