1

A Deal with a Devil

Again, we awoke. The same room, the same position, but bound by stronger chains. My

guess was that Joshua had made a call to Organization Headquarters.

Don’t try to escape this time.

Rage snarled in annoyance.

“Who are you?” a voice asked in the dark corner of the room. He sounded curious.

“Show yourself!” Rage commanded with a yell.

“Answer my question first,” the voice countered.

I know that voice. It’s Joshua.

“Joshua, huh?” Rage smiled mischievously. “I was wondering when you’d come visit

me.”

He walked into the faint light within the room. “How did you know it was me?” he asked.

“As your kind says, ‘a little birdie spoke to me’, but also, your voice sounded familiar.”

Rage stared at him. “I’ve been listening for far too long. It’s about time I started acting. Do you

know how torturous it is to be restricted to only watch and listen? That’s why I recognized your

voice, but for me to place a face on it is unneeded. All of you look the same to me: names mean

nothing, and in the end, you’ll all die. The only ones worth knowing are this one I posses and the

‘Rose Bud’.” He grinned.

“I’m disappointed you feel that way. I thought you’d make sure to pay attention to

details, so that way, you could focus on who you’d like to kill first.” Joshua eyed Rage.

He’s playing you! Don’t listen to him!

“Silence!” he snarled under his breath. Rage began to think about what Joshua had said.

He liked it, and was beginning to like him.

 2

“What are your plans?” Joshua asked.

“Why do you want to know? My plans cannot be fathomed by your kind. Within the first

minute of my explanation, you’ll be scratching your head, confused, looking like an ape,” Rage

stated.

“I’m just curious as to what your goal is. I won’t do anything to stop you.” Joshua was

planning something. “You may think I’m unintelligent, but I know much about you and your

kind, so maybe within three minutes I’ll be confused, as opposed to one.”

Rage wasn’t fooled by Joshua. “What are your plans?” he asked.

Joshua smiled. “My plan is to help you. Well, not just me. The Organization has been

waiting for the day your kind returned. Now that you have returned, we feel that it is in your best

interest to join with us and convince the nonintelectuals as well.”

What?!

“What do you need us for? We are no one’s pets!” Rage was getting angry.

“That is not what my employer wishes of you. He likes to think of you as ‘the one is

charge’.”

Rage and I were confused.

“Allow me to explain. The Organization is a following for the return of the ones who are

the rightful rulers, which is your kind. We worship you and do not wish to harm you, but when

threatened, we must fight back. After one of us has killed a Holy Creature, we pay our debts in

blood. We only wish to help you with your goal,” Joshua assured.

No! They lied to me! Those sons of bitches!

Rage smiled at my anger. He thought about what Joshua said and had one question.

“How do you pay your debts?”

 3

“We feel it necessary to fulfill the saying ‘an eye for an eye’. One Plague killed by us

results in the massacre of one town. It’s fair to us. One Holy Creature gone means one less to

help with the goal. Are you pleased with our ways?” Joshua couldn’t help but smile. He believed

that Rage would be satisfied with everything he heard.

“It is satisfactory. I must say that I am astonished.”

Joshua’s smile got bigger.

“Your employer and his cult must be the most pleasingly obtuse humans I’ve ever seen.

You honestly think that what you do matters to us! You are just another corpse beneath our feet.

You only quicken your death. I will make sure your kind dies before the others! Being traitor to

your own species is lower than maggots!” Rage laughed as he ridiculed Joshua.

Joshua’s smile disappeared, and his anger grew. He reached behind him for his pistol. He

always had his pistol with him, in a back pocket of his jacket.

“You misguided, tainted creature!”

Rage’s face hardened.

“You turn us down! You do not believe us to be worthy! We’ve given everything for

you! We brought you back! You owe us!” Joshua screamed as he pointed the gun at us

frantically.

“You did nothing of the sort!” Rage roared.

Joshua backed off.

“We have been biding our time. Our return was inevitable. We’ve always known it would

be this day, this time, this moment when we’d be back into the world, which was always meant

to be ours. From the moment you took your first breath, you were ours to kill and to bathe in

your blood. You call me misguided. Look at yourself! Tainted? How foolish are you? I have
 4

always been this way! This Corpse has no affect over me. Every word you speak is thicker than

the last, so silence yourself before I crush your skull in my hands!”

Rage frightened Joshua causing him to drop the gun. As soon as the gun hit the ground, it

bounced as it fired a shot. The bullet ricocheted off the chains and into the corner, where he

stood in the darkness. The door flung open, revealing the mass amount of light, which overtook

our serenity of darkness.

“The light!” Rage screamed in agony. “Shut the door!”

I could not tell what had happened, but the door closed, and Rage and I were once again

alone. I began to feel faint after the light flooded the room.

Why does it hurt? I don’t feel right.

“What do you speak of?” Rage asked, annoyed.

The light. Why does it hurt so much? I don’t understand.

“You feel pain?” Rage became intrigued.

Of course I feel pain. My head hurts, my arms ache, and my legs burn. What’s going on?

“I do not know. You still feel the pain of your body, which is no longer yours. This is not

supposed to happen!” he angrily said under his breath.

What does that mean?

“It means... we’re connected.” Rage was astonished by this.

I didn’t understand what was going on. What do you mean connected? Tell me what

happened!

“We are connected! We are forever entangled in a perilous feud of good and evil: an

angel and a demon, sharing the same vessels. It has never happened before, at least, not that I
 5

recall.” Rage began to think, and his thoughts flowed by me, and I was able to watch them like a

movie.

What do you need the book for? How can it help?

“How do you know of my planning?” Rage interrogated.

I can see them. Isn’t that how you knew what I was thinking?

“Yes, but you are not my kind. It cannot happen for you.”

I never would have believed Rage could ever be surprised.

Tell me about the book?

“The book is written in a language forgotten by the world. It holds all the keys of my

kind. All of our secrets are within that book. I need to return it to them,” Rage said in a

monotone voice.

The Firsts, you mean?

“Yes. They are the rulers. I have no will to be anything but their sword, as I’ve always

been. Now, tell me where the book is.”

I will, but I have a condition. I want to talk to Rose, from when she enters the room, until

she leaves. No interruptions and no side comments.

Rage snarled and whipped our body in anger. “Fine! Just get me the book!”