Burning You Down

My alarm clock woke me up in the next morning. I sighed and turned to the side, fighting for another minute of sleep, but the stupid thing wouldn’t stop bleeping, so I had to reach and hit it so it would shut the fuck up. Here. That was better. I lied in my bed in a few more minutes, blissfully forgotten about the last night’s events. They seemed like a nightmare now. Maybe they really were a nightmare. Yup. They had to be. I yawned and now completely relaxed, convinced that this demon thing was just a dream, I got up and headed to the bathroom, stumbling on the way and quietly humming some song.

I stood in front of the sink and put some toothpaste on my toothbrush with my eyes half-closed. I had gone to bed really late last night, so I was still tired, but nope, I had to go to school. Fuck school. I would skip the first few classes, but being the good boy I was I simply couldn’t. I had to be there on time.

I started brushing my teeth and finally looked up at the mirror. I had the feeling that something in my reflection was off but at first I didn’t notice what it was… and then I realized. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, but nope, there it was – a sign on my forehead. Someone had written something on my face with a sharpie while I was sleeping. I narrowed my eyes at it – since I was looking at it in the mirror the letters were reversed, but I managed to read it. The sign was saying: “Victor’s bitch”.

“What the…”, I murmured and left the toothbrush, rubbing my forehead thoughtfully.

So it wasn’t a nightmare. Just great. That demon son of a bitch…

I turned the water on and tried to wash the sign off, but it wouldn’t come off. Oh, great, it was written with a permanent marker. Awesome.

“Rise and shine…”, someone hummed in my ear. I jumped, startled, and turned around so quickly that I almost bumped into Victor himself, in all his demonic glory.

“Damn, you scared me!”, I hissed, my heart still pounding in my chest.

He grinned, content with himself. “I know, that was the point, darling.”

I ignored him.

“What the fuck is that?!”, I yelled at him and pointed at the sign on my forehead. “I know you did it!”

Victor just shrugged his shoulders and spread his arms theatrically, his face saying ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’… and he vanished.

“Hey, get back here!”, I shouted after him, even though I knew he was gone. “Ah, goddammit!”

“Kellin, who are you talking to?”, a voice sounded outside the bathroom door.

Shit! That was my sister. Shit, shit, shit… I bit my lower lip.

“Umm, no one!”, I called out.

She, of course, didn’t believe me. “Bullshit, Kells. Is someone in there with you?”, she paused, and then added suspiciously: “Are you with a girl?!”

“No!”, I replied sharply. “I was talking to… myself. Yeah. I just dropped my toothbrush.”

There was silence for a minute, until she finally sighed. “…Okay. Hurry up if you don’t want to be late for school, besides, you’re not the only one who wants to use the bathroom.”

“Sure, okay, I’ll hurry up.”

I waited until I heard her walk away, then finished my morning procedures and opened the door just a bit, to peek out. There was no one in the corridor, thank god. I didn’t want anyone to see the sign on my forehead; that would be awkward. I almost ran back to my room and closed the door firmly behind me, letting out a deep, heavy sigh. I had to find a way to cover this thing.

Still quite anxious, I got dressed and fixed my hair, then put a cap on, to hide the stupid sign. “Victor’s bitch.” Yeah, right. I took my bag and headed downstairs for breakfast. My mom was already there, just heading to the kitchen too.

“Hey, mom!”, I said as cheerfully as I could.

“Good morning, Kellin.”, she glanced at me. “I made sandwiches. Walt is already here, by the way.”

I froze. “…Walt?”

“Yeah, he said he came to pick you up for school.”, she shrugged and we both entered the kitchen, where at the table was already sitting Victor with the most innocent look he was capable of.

“Hey, Kell!”, he smiled in a very… Walt-ish way. Damn, don’t you dare stealing my best friend’s personality, you fucking prick. I opened my mouth to snap at him, but then I remembered the rules and decided to stick to them. I didn’t want to provoke him.

“…Hey, Walt.”, I forced myself to smile and then leaned in, lifted my hat just a bit to show him the sign and hissed almost soundlessly: “What the fuck was that for?!”

“For fun.”, he whispered back for shrug. “Just thought I’d let you know who you are from now on, so I made sure you’d see it every time you look in the mirror.”, he giggled. I felt the urge to hit him, but my mom’s presence stopped me.

“Do you guys want some coffee with your sandwiches before you go?”, she asked, casting Vic a friendly look.

“No, th-”, I started, but Victor interrupted me.

“Yes, thank you, Mrs. Bostwick.”, he smiled at her.

“No, you really don’t need to make coffee, mom.”, I refused stubbornly. “We’re going to eat the sandwiches on our way to school, or we’re gonna be late. Come on, Walt, let’s go.”

“But I want some coffee, Kellin.”, he blinked against me innocently.

“I don’t care, we’re gonna be late. C’mon, move.”, I quickly stuffed the sandwiches in my bag.

For a second I caught a glimpse of anger in Victor’s eyes, and I knew why – I was breaking one of his stupid rules: “Don’t argue.” Well fuck this, I was still too pissed at him for the fucking sign that was still on my forehead. It would take days before it’s gone.

“…Okay.”, he finally said, taking his backpack from the other chair. “Well, thanks for the offer anyway, Mrs. Bostwick!”

“No problem, Walter.”, she smiled at him, making coffee for herself.

“Bye, mom!”, I quickly ended the conversation and almost dragged Vic out of the kitchen, and then out of the house too.

“Hey, what was that for?”, he whined.

“I just wanted you out of my house as quickly as possible.”, I cast him a look. “I don’t want you around my family.”

“Ooh, I see. Someone has quite a temper, hm?”, he smirked, amused.

I didn’t bother to reply. I was too unamused.

“I still want my coffee, though.”, Vic added.

“Well, you’re not going to get it.”, I snapped. “I don’t want to be late for school because of you.”

What came next got me unprepared. He slapped me. The son of a bitch slapped me. Unbelievable.

I gasped and put my hand to my burning cheek. He didn’t hit me very hard, but it was enough to hurt me a bit.

“Watch your fucking mouth.”, he hissed, narrowing his eyes at me, his amusement gone. “I thought we agreed on something. I don’t think you understand who the boss is here – you’re not in a position to tell me what to do, darling. So, on our way to school, we’re dropping by to get a coffee for me. I haven’t drunk this shit for seven hundred and thirty-four years, I think I deserve a cup, mm?”

I squeezed my lips in a frown, but nodded. I knew that he could do things to me much worse than just slapping me.

“Good boy.”, he smiled approvingly and his anger disappeared as quickly as it came. “And if you really hurry so much, I can teleport us there if you want. This way you wouldn’t be late, for sure.”

Wow, that was the nicest thing he had said to me so far. Knowing what kind of creature he was, though, I decided to be cautious.

“…What’s the catch?”, I asked suspiciously.

“Does there have to be a catch?”, he raised an eyebrow.

“No, but I know what you are.”, I pointed out. “And I don’t exactly trust you.”

“I get that, yeah, I don’t trust myself either.”, he waved his hand with a small frown. “Anyways, don’t worry, there is no catch. Teleporting is absolutely harmless. It won’t, like, kill you or something. You have my word.”

I watched him for a few seconds, trying to decide if he’s telling the truth. He seemed honest. But then again, for such an evil creature he had the amazing gift to look innocent whenever he wants to. So I couldn’t be sure… Don’t argue, I reminded myself. I had to remember this damn rule.

“Okay.”, I finally agreed.

“Awesome!”, Victor grinned and this made me doubt; there had to be something off.

He grabbed my hand and started dragging me to our neighbors’ backyard. I let him lead me. There was no need to struggle, it seemed that he knew where he was going.

“We’ll hide here so no one would see us do it. I don’t want the whole neighborhood to find out about me.”, Vic quickly explained.

“Alright.”, I nodded. “So do I need to do anything, or…?”

“Nope, you just stand still and let me do the rest. I’m an expert at this.”, he winked. I didn’t like this wink of his. Somehow, Victor managed to make Walt’s usually naïve and calm face look sly and… devilish with this playful smirk of his. “So are you ready, sweetheart?”

“I think so…?”, I furrowed an eyebrow.

“Wonderful.”, his grin widened and he put his hand on my shoulder without any other warning.

What followed was the most painful agonizing two seconds of my life. It felt like my body was burning from the inside and millions of needles were being stuck in my face, as if all my molecules gathered firmly together. It was like my body was being squeezed and trying to fit in something much smaller. As if I was trying to slip through a straw like it was a waterslide. Shortly said, it was terrible.

Thankfully, it didn’t last long and after a moment I was back to normal, sitting on a chair and breathing heavily. I looked around. I was sitting at a table in a café. None of the waitresses and other clients had noticed that I had just somehow magically appeared in the middle of the room. I guess they hadn’t even realized I was there yet, they just ignored me for now.

“Exciting, huh?”

I almost fell off the chair as the familiar voice sounded in my ear. Vic was sitting next to me, in a really small distance, grinning again. I quickly got out of the shock and returned to being pissed.

“That hurt like a bitch!”, I growled at him accusingly. “You said I wouldn’t feel a thing!”

“No, I never said that. I said it would be harmless, and here you are, as good as new. It didn’t cause you any traumas or anything.”, he shrugged calmly.

“I thought it wouldn’t hurt.”, I frowned.

“Again, I never said that. I said, I quote: “It won’t kill you or something”. You’re not dead. So practically I didn’t even lie to you… which is a great accomplishment.” He leaned back on his chair, visibly content with himself. “See, teleporting is like sex. The first time it hurts the most, then, slowly, you get used to it and eventually it feels good, even amazing. At some point I came to really enjoy it.”

“Enjoy what, teleporting or sex?”, I raised an eyebrow, testing him.

“Both.”, he giggled.

I was about to make a sarcastic remark, when a waitress stopped by us and I kept my mouth shut.

“Hello, boys.”, she smiled.

“Hey, doll, two coffees for us, one espresso and one cappuccino.”, Vic ordered.

“Standard or long?”, the waitress asked.

“Very long.”, he smirked, pronouncing the words in a really… meaningful way, but basically he could manage to make everything sound slightly dirty. Even if he had to say ‘kittens and unicorns’, he’d still find a way to say it in such tone that you’d think of something far not as pure and innocent.

His look slipped across the girl’s body. Noticed his sudden attention, she blushed slightly, but she seemed to like it, so she purposely took her time while writing our orders down and then slowly walked away, casting one last look at Vic. His eyes remained fixed on her butt until he got bored of watching her and looked at me again.

“I thought you said you liked boys.”, I remembered.

“I do, yeah, but I never said I don’t like girls too.”, he winked. “Why, are you jealous?”

“Jealous?!”, I let out a short laughter. “Why would I be jealous?!”

“Because I don’t look at you the way I looked at her.”, he poked me with an elbow. I frowned, disgusted. Ew.

“I don’t want you to look at me this way!”, I said with a grimace.

“Yeah, right. But you wish your dear Waltie looked at you like this, hm? Even though you know he never liked you back?”, he kept teasing me.

“Shut up.”, I whispered under my breath, clenching my fists.

“What was that, come again?”, Victor put his hand behind his ear, pretending he wanted to hear me better. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you, would you repeat that, please?”

I looked up at him. He was grinning, as always. Don’t argue. Remember who the boss is.

“…I didn’t say anything.”, I lied. This seemed to please him.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”, he put his hands behind his neck and tilted his head back, stretching on the chair lazily. “Mm. I love your world, it’s wonderful.”, he changed the subject surprisingly.

“Why, what’s so good about it?”, I asked curiously. “Don’t you like it in Hell or wherever you live?”

Vic laughed.

“Like it? Down there? Are you fucking kidding me?!”, he leaned forward again putting his hands on the table in front of him. “Look, kid, Hell is… well, hell. It’s not exactly a nice place.”, he chuckled. “It’s hot, sticky, dark, noisy and boring. You have no idea what it’s like.”

“Well, I haven’t been there.”, I laughed a bit.

“Hah! I’m aware. Okay, so, imagine the darkest, nastiest classroom you’ve ever been to. Imagine all your schoolmates you hate locked in this classroom, and your duty is to torture them 24/7. Not so bad so far, right?”, he giggled. “The schoolmates scream, cry and beg like the little bitches they are, but you can never make them shut up. You just have to torture them. That’s it. You don’t sleep, you don’t get out, you don’t do anything else but pulling their fingernails out and sticking sharp objects in their skin. The noise is unbelievable, you talk to them, you curse, you mock, anything just to distract yourself from the endless screams. But whatever you do, you’d always hear them. Now, imagine having to do this for the rest of eternity. Never rest. Never have fun. Just torture. That’s life down there.”

“I thought demons like torturing people.”, I pointed out.

“Oh, did you now?”, Victor cast me an ironic look. “No. That’s why we and you, humans, are so alike. We like to have fun. We need to be amused and we can’t stand to be bored. We like to sin, not to punish the ones, who sinned. I believe this is the biggest misunderstanding of all, you think that we enjoy seeing the others suffer. Truth is, I couldn’t care less. I don’t give a shit if they suffer or not. I just prefer not to be a part of their torment.”

I watched him while he talked, intrigued. Well that was interesting. A demon telling me about what it’s like to be a demon. This isn’t something that happens often.

The waitress returned with our coffees and put them in front of us. “Here you go.”, she smiled and threw a look at Vic again, clearly checking him out. He slipped his hand across his own thigh and the girl traced his movement hungrily. I decided to interrupt their silent conversation with a cough.

“Um, thank you.”, I spoke up. This seemed to get the waitress out of her fantasy world and she nodded quickly, her cheeks turning bright pink.

“Sure.”, she murmured and quickly walked away.

Once she was far enough, I lightly nudged Victor.

“Stop checking her out, please, that’s really fucking annoying.”, I sighed.

He rolled his eyes at me. “Seven hundred years locked in a torture room with some poor bastards who only know how to scream.”, he reminded me. “Which means, seven hundred years no sex. Have you any idea how sexually frustrated I am right now?”

“I don’t care, you’re not using Walt’s body to do stuff like that.”, I said sharply.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to tell me what to use your friend’s body for.”, Vic smirked. “Remember what the sign on your forehead says.”

“Oh, I had almost forgotten about it, thanks for reminding me.”, I groaned bitterly.

“You’re welcome.”, the demon smiled sweetly.

I stayed silent and took a drink from my coffee. It was good. But I had to drink it quickly because, again, we would be late for school. Noticed I’m hurrying, Victor tilted his head.

“Don’t rush it, sweetie, we’d be right on time if we teleport.”

“I’m not doing that teleportation thing again!”, I protested.

“Yes, you are, because I have the intention to enjoy my coffee and the nice view.”, he glanced at the waitress meaningfully.

“Then I’m leaving.”, I announced, pushed my chair back and stood up.

“Nuh-uh, you’re not going anywhere.”, he cut me off, waved his hand and the chair moved forward all by itself, hitting me lightly and bending my knees, making me sit back down. “You’ll stay here to keep me company. I get bored when I’m alone.”

I sighed heavily but did what he told me to. Did I have a choice anyway? We finished our drinks in silence, both studying each other thoughtfully. When his cup was empty, Vic left it on the table.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”, he said with a content smile.

“But we haven’t paid yet…”, I looked around for the waitress, but Victor poked me to get my attention.

“Doesn’t matter, let’s go.”

“But…”

“Do you wanna keep your money or what? No one’s gonna notice we left. Come oooon.”, he almost whined.

“We can’t simply go, Victor, we have to pay for our drinks-”, I started, but my words turned into a soundless scream as he grabbed me by the arm and I felt the familiar agony again. Vic was wrong. It hurt just as much as it did the first time, even more, because now I was unprepared. Thankfully it lasted just a second and in the next moment we were standing in front of the classroom. Still breathing heavily, I cast a look around, but no one seemed to have seen us appear. We were safe. I looked down at my wristwatch to see that we had arrived on time, even a bit early. Woah, thank God.

“Fun, mm?”, Vic patted my back and entered the room without waiting for me to reply.

That damn demon.

* * *

I was sitting in biology class and absdent-mindedly listening to our teacher. He was explaining something about human anatomy, but I had too many things on my mind right now to actually pay attention. Next to me Vic seemed to be carefully writing things down, but he was actually drawing something on his notebook. I leaned closer to see what he was sketching. He cast me a look and pulled the notebook closer to himself so I wouldn’t be able to take a look.

“After we finish school we’ll go shopping.”, he announced in a half-whisper.

“Shopping?”, I repeated.

“Yeah. As I already pointed out, Waltie has a horrible taste in clothing, I need something more… provocative. Something sexy.”, he grinned. “Having this gorgeous body of his, I need something that could show its full potential.”

I just shrugged. I hadn’t thought about it before, but he was right. Walter had a pretty nice body, but he always dressed in these really loose baggy clothes. However, I found him attractive either way.

Next to me Vic shifted, looking around, observing my classmates. After a minute he suddenly grinned, up to something, and quickly scribbled something oh a page of his notebook, tore it off, folded it and tossed it at Sarah, a pretty, popular girl who sat in the front. When the note landed on her desk, she turned around to see who threw it. Victor waved at her with a wink and motioned at her to read it. She gave him a confused look, and I wasn’t surprised – Walt usually wouldn’t do something like that, he was always really quiet at class and he wasn’t exactly ladies’ man.

Whatever was written on that note, made Sarah blush really hard. Oh, God, I surely didn’t want to know what it said. It wasn’t easy to make a (cough, slutty, cough-cough) girl like her blush this way. Surprisingly, after a minute she turned around and nodded at Vic quickly. I threw him a questioning look.

“What was that for?”, I whispered.

“Seems tomorrow night I’m gonna be busy.”, he simply replied, seemingly amused.

I made a face. I really didn’t want him to use my best friend’s body for sleeping with girls, but I didn’t say anything, afraid I might anger him.

“You picked an easy victim.”, I quietly noticed instead. “She’s basically slept with all the boys in that school.”

“I know.”, Vic smirked. “She’s pretty experienced. I like that. But trust me, no matter how experienced she is, she’s never had anything like what I’m gonna give her tomorrow-”

“Stop.”, I interrupted him, listening to him talk about this making me feel uncomfortable, and I caught myself blush almost as hard as Sarah. “Just. Stop it. I don’t wanna know.”

“Aw, Kellin, you’re no fun.”, he pouted. “Poor shy baby…”

“Stop it!”, I repeated, a bit louder, getting a few curious looks from the boys and girls around me.

“Do you have something to say, Mr. Bostwick?”, my teacher’s voice broke the silence.

I bit my lip. Shit.

“Someone is in trouble…”, Vic hummed in my ear.

I ignored him.

“No, sir, I don’t.”, I shook head.

But the teacher had already picked me for a victim and continued: “May I ask why you’re wearing a hat in class? I thought you are aware you’re not allowed to do that.”

My face went pale. No, please, don’t make me take it off… I didn’t want the whole class to see “Victor’s bitch” written on my forehead. That would be the most embarrassing moment of my life.

“Take it off.”, the teacher ordered.

Fuck!

I looked at Vic, who was watching the whole situation with a smirk. Obviously he found it really entertaining.

“Make it disappear!”, I hissed at him, referring to the sign.

“Why?”, he raised an eyebrow.

“Because otherwise I’d be in trouble!”, I whispered desperately. Now the whole class was watching me.

“Why should I care?”, Victor shrugged.

I hesitated. I didn’t know how to reply to this.

“…Please.”, I only said.

He smiled mockingly, preparing to tease me again, but then suddenly his features softened. He let out a deep sigh.

“…Okay.”, he waved his hand. “Here. It’s gone.”

“Really?”, I couldn’t believe it. Did he really do something nice for me?

He just mumbled a quiet ‘Whatever’.

“Mr. Bostwick, I don’t think you heard me.”, my teacher insisted. “Take the hat off.”

“…Alright.”, I finally said and stopped with my hand on the visor. What if Victor lied? What if the sign was still there? I cast him a glance, but he wasn’t even looking at me anymore. I decided to risk and trust him.

I took the cap off and by the looks on my classmates’ faces I could tell that they didn’t notice anything unusual. My teacher gave me a long, searching look, but then looked away from me and without saying anything else continued the lesson. I let out a relieved sigh. Damn, that was close.

“Thanks.”, I murmured to Vic. He pretended he didn’t hear me, but I was sure he did.

So we were going shopping after school. God. This was going to be a really fucking tiring day.

END OF CHAPTER 3.