Page 40 of Wicked Believer

It’s one of my better arrangements, truly.

The scent of rotting flesh hangs in the air.

I step toward him, the sound of my footsteps immediately causing his bloodshot, jaundiced eyes to land on me. “The thief comes only to kill and destroy,” he rasps.

I approach slowly, watching as a puddle of urine pours over the edges of his chair as I draw closer, the steam from it rising in the locker’s frozen, frigid air.

“John 10:10.” A devilish smile twists my lips. “Lovely. But I came to play a different game, actually. Make a bet, if you will.” I crouch down so that we are nearly eye level as he attempts to buck and strain away from me. “How many of your followers do you think will drink from your church offering cup this evening? Help me kick off this whole apocalypse charade?”

His nostrils flare.

But he doesn’t answer me.

He lifts his eyes skyward. Like my Father can still hear him. His commitment to his own zealotry is impressive, I must say. “Beware, for it is written, ‘The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.’”

“Proverbs 4:19.” I begin to circle him. “Funny, I can do that little trick too, you know. Want to see?” I cast him a devious grin, placing my hands on the sides of his chair so that he’s forced to look at me as my eyes turn serpentine. “‘For they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever.’” I make a dramatic gesture, mimicking smoke dissipating. “Revelation, chapter fourteen, lines ten through eleven.” I grip his wobbling chin. “Care for another?”

“My lord.”

I freeze, my concentration immediately broken. “Kalimor.” My voice is low and steady, spoken through gritted teeth. “YouknowI don’t like to be interrupted.”

“Apologies, my lord, but I ... thought you might want to see ...” His voice trails off.

I turn toward him, and he passes a human newspaper to me, one he clearly retrieved somewhere topside. The blue headline is written in Taiwanese.

????????:?????????

I translate it instantly. I mastered every language known to man some eons ago.

Yonghe Erupts in Mysterious Frenzy: Residents Possessed with Nonstop Revelry.

“Revelry?” I lift a brow.

Kalimor lowers his gaze. “They ... won’t stop fucking, my lord.”

I scowl. Apparently, my family’s apocalypse and the Righteous aren’t the only problems on my hands. I expected as much.

As a former lord among my legions, Astaroth’s rebellious betrayal was just the tip of a very large demonic iceberg, and I must secure my own house before I deal with my family.

I release a slow exhale through my nose, rolling the newspaper into my hand, before I turn and use it to tip up my victim’s chin.

Charlotte’s father blanches.

“I will deal with you later.”

I stalk from the meat locker, tossing the paper aside as I snap myself topside.

When I step out of the ether and reform, I’m standing in the middle of an abandoned street outside a 7-Eleven in Yonghe, the nighttime lights of New Taipei City gleaming down at me.

The sound of a motor scooter whirrs somewhere in the distance, and a stray dog barks loudly. I search the block, not finding what I’m looking for until my eyes settle upon the pink exterior of the convenience store beside me.

The hair on the back of my neck rises on end.

I prowl toward the 7-Eleven, barely clocking the obnoxious, over-the-top theme. Inside, the fluorescent lights are obscured by the shape of puffy whitekawaiiclouds over a rainbow-themed ceiling. The word “Hello” is spelled in all caps with caricature creatures beside the outline of a white cat with a little red bow overtop its head.

I approach the counter, where the clerk sits, her naked back facing me. Her head is thrown back in a silent, orgasmic throe from where her coworker, another woman, kneels behind the countertop eating her pussy.

I snap my fingers in front of the woman on the counter’s face a few times, but she doesn’t acknowledge me. A warm, fiery glow from beneath the swinging double doors that lead back to the stock room catches my eye.