The demon couldn’t believe its good fortune. The boy had come straight to him, like a lamb to the slaughter. It was so perfect it couldn’t have been planned better. Now it had a choice. It could kill the newborn and take over the mother, which had been his original plan. Or it could take over the boy, which might be even better. It’d thought about taking over the newborn itself, but that would leave it too helpless, unable to fend for itself for too long. But the boy offered different, more interesting opportunities. It’d have to destroy the mother, too, of course. But that wouldn’t bother it a bit. Now that it had them all here, it could do whatever it wanted.
“You, boy, sit down over there and mind your business,” it said.
The boy looked at it in defiance. “Why should I? You don’t look so scary now.”
The demon laughed. Then in a quick leap it was next to the boy, catching him entirely by surprise and grabbing him hard by the arm. It squeezed until the bone threatened to break, and the boy screamed.
“I can look any way I want!” the demon said. “And no matter what I look like, I can hurt you. And I will hurt you. So you do as I say or I can break both of your legs and you’ll have to stay put! Understand?”
The boy was in too much pain to say anything.
“Do as he says, Todd,” the mother said. “Please!”
The boy continued to scream until it eased up on the pressure. It didn’t want to actually damage the boy’s body, not if it planned on taking it over. But it would if it had too. It had suffered far worse pain than just a broken bone or two.
“Do you understand?” it said again.
The boy nodded.
“Good. Then you sit quietly and don’t make any trouble or I’ll have to hurt you again. Only this time it will be worse. I promise you.”
Todd sat back on his haunches and rubbed his arm. The demon watched him until it was satisfied, then it looked at the woman.
“I trust you won’t be trying anything stupid,” it said.
“Please just don’t hurt my boy. Or my baby,” she said.
The demon didn’t say anything. It backed away and sat down. Then it closed its eyes and began to chant, very softly, calling upon the name of Satan and cursing the name of God. The ritual wasn’t very complicated. But it had to be exact. There were rules that governed even the supernatural. The creator himself was the only one that didn’t operate by rules-he merely set them for others, and even the beings of the underworld had to follow them.
Someday, it hoped that Satan would overthrow this other one, and then things would be different. Then the tables would be turned and there would be no rules. But for now, things had to be done a certain way if they were to work.
It would have been better if there had been a dozen followers to help out. But the fact that it was taking place here, in its domain, more than made up for the lack of human followers. Its power was supreme here. Even in a human form it was more powerful than anything that could oppose it. The Creator Himself wouldn’t even come into this domain, so rampant with sin and distress. Spending the night here would be worse than diving into an infested sewer.
No, it knew it was perfectly safe here. These mortals weren’t going anywhere-after all, where could they go in this place? And no one could stop what was about to happen. Not even the Creator Himself.