Prophet

Video Games

Sadie’s vision doesn’t start with screams this time. She can hear someone mumbling, and a clicking noise. She focuses on a boy who’s sitting on a couch in a dark, dingy room. He looks to be around fifteen, with unkempt blonde hair down to his shoulders. His face is thin and clever, narrow black eyes looking intently ahead.

The clicking noise is coming from him. She looks down and recognizes a video game remote in his hands, then turns to see a TV screen. There are monsters on it. Monsters she’s seen before. Sadie’s glad he can’t see her as she starts laughing with relief. She’s been watching someone play video games. These monsters aren’t real. The boy curses when the lights flick off, making the game disappear. He snaps his fingers and flames jump to his fingertips.
“Shit, I hate when the electricity gets shut off,” he mutters to himself, standing up.
Sadie can see that he’s too thin, of average height, in ratty clothes that are too big for him. He looks malnourished and afraid. Sadie frowns sadly at him as he kneels over a box, carefully lifting something from it. It’s a snake, the biggest one Sadie’s ever seen, but the boy just smiles.

“Such a good girl, Rosie, such a lovely,” he says softly, draping the snake over his shoulders. “Let’s go get Mark, okay? He misses you.” Sadie notices the certainty in his voice and wonders if he can read the snake’s mind. He can summon fire by snapping, there’s obviously something unusual going on.
She jumps when someone bangs on the door, yelling, “Get your ass out here, Balor! Rent’s due.”
The boy’s shoulders tense as he looks back at the door, eyes flashing red for a moment. He sighs and places the snake back in her box, lifting a finger to his lips.

“Be quiet, guys. Don’t want him knowing you’re here.”
Money appears in his hand as he unlocks the impressive number of deadbolts on his door and cracks it open. Using his hair to shield his face, he peeks out. Sadie can just barely see the man outside, short and skinny with gray hair.
“Here. I’ve got the money. Take it.”
He thrusts the wad of bills into the man’s hand and shuts the door, ignoring the man’s muttered, “Paranoid fucker.”
Sadie can see from the set of the boy’s shoulders and the way his hands are shaking that he’s nervous. This kid is scared, hiding from something that terrifies him. He visibly calms himself and smiles, reaching for the snake again. The vision begins to fade as the boy glances down at his snakes, then groans. “Jeez, guys, what the fuck? Don’t mate right in front of me. Fuckin’ exhibitionist reptiles.” Sadie’s still laughing as the room disappears.

She comes back and Death’s got his arm around her, strong and solid, but there’s someone by her feet.
“Death? Who’s here?”
“It’s just Gabriel,” he says flatly. “Why were you laughing?”
She gives a smile in Gabriel’s vicinity before speaking.
“It was just video games all along. I was watching some kid play video games. The monsters aren’t real.”
“A kid? What kid? What did he look like?” Gabriel snaps, hand tightening around Sadie’s ankle.
She frowns at him and pulls away. “He was skinny and afraid. He summoned money and fire, and I’m pretty sure he talks to snakes. He had a lot of them. His eyes flashed red when he was surprised.”
“I need to know more about him, Sadie.”
She tilts her head. “Why?”
“He’s half demon. An anti-Christ. They’re more powerful than you can imagine,” Gabriel tells her.
“He didn’t look very powerful.”
“He is. Dangerous. Now that you can see him, we’ll find and kill him.”
“What?”
“He’s a threat, especially if the demons get to him. I’m not usually into following the rules of Heaven, but I don’t much want to die.” There’s a pause as he does something. “No matter how much it would please Grimmy over here to reap me.”
Sadie thinks of the boy’s thin face, the terror that filled him like a disease, the kindness he showed to his snakes. Her lips flatten into a line.
“I see.” She won’t betray the boy to Heaven’s wrath, she knows that already.
“Pray for me if you see anything else,” he orders before disappearing with a rustle of wings.
“I won’t betray him,” she says immediately, expecting Death to be angry, but if she can’t trust him she has no one.
“Alright. Why?”
“He hasn’t done anything yet! He’s a scared teenager running from monsters, and he can’t be using much of that power because he lives in this awful apartment, he’s thin as a rake,” she blurts out with relief.
Death is silent, but he puts an arm around her. She sighs and puts her head on his shoulder.