The Devil's Apprentice by Patrick Stewart (polar express read aloud TXT) 📕

insides felt like they’d been trampled on by an elephant. He didn’t get a moment's respite. The devil woman grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up. She dangled him a foot off the ground and sniffed him once more.

“Is he in there?”

Alex didn’t know what she was talking about, but he didn’t care either. Being dangled by his hair, his head felt like it was going to explode. He slashed wildly with his hands and feet, kicking, punching and even scratching at her. It was all to no effect. She was like a brick wall.

“Let go, you crazy bitch!” Alex yelled. “There’s nothing inside me!”

The devil woman stared at him for a long moment. Finally, she let go off his hair. Although it was only a foot drop, Alex hit the ground like he’d fallen off the roof. The devil woman turned and walked back into the kitchen. She was in the corridor when, without turning back, she spoke.

“Follow me, Alex.”

This time, Alex didn’t feel his body compiling without his will. No, despite how much he wanted to run away, he knew it would be unwise. His best chance of getting hurt the least was to follow this violent devil woman.

Chapter 5

There was a white limousine with black tinted windows parked outside his dad’s house. A tall man wearing a smart black suit, black gloves and a black cap stepped out to open the side door. The devil woman slid in, and as Alex followed, he caught a glance of the man’s face. It was red and his eyes were balls of black.

Inside the limousine the seats were of red leather and took up most of the space in an L shape. There was a drinks cabinet, the wood a rich mahogany. The tinted window at the other end slid down.

“Where too, mistress?” the driver asked, his voice husky.

“Rubrus Domus Satanas. It’s time for Alex to meet the devil.”

The limousine set off. Alex stared at the woman, the one he’d previously thought to be the devil. “You’re not the devil?”

“No,” came the one-word answer.

“So… who or what are you?”

“I’m Scarlett. I’m a demon in servitude of the devil. You’ll meet her soon enough.”

“The devil’s a woman?”

It was the first time he’d seen Scarlett smile. She had beautiful white teeth. Nothing at all like the monstrous set Jamie had. In fact, Scarlett looked very human. Just an exceptionally tall one with light red skin and black eyes. She was still wearing her chainmail bra and panties when she raised her legs and rested her feet on his lap.

“Massage them,” Scarlett said.

She leant back and closed her eyes.

Alex got the impression that even if she weren’t the devil herself, Scarlett was not a demon to be disobeyed. He started to massage her feet. After awkwardly poking and prodding them at first, his hands settled into a steady rhythm as his mind began to wonder.

This was real, wasn’t it?

He was trapped inside a limousine massaging the feet of a demon who was taking him to meet the devil. The devil who apparently was a woman.

His dad was dead…

Alex didn’t know how he felt about that. He wasn’t sad. At least not yet. He wondered if he would ever be sad. The image of his dad sitting on the carpet on the living room floor, his back slumped against the sofa, his eyes and mouth both wide open, Andrew had been terrified in death. Possibly terrified to death.

Alex didn’t know what his dad experienced, what he felt in those final moments as he struggled to breath, as his skin turned blue. What he did know though was that his dad had lived a pretty sad life. Drugs, drink, prostitutes… it never seemed to bring him any joy. He was either angry, depressed or drunk. Now he was gone and there wasn’t a single person left behind to mourn him.

The bright lights of the city dazzled through the tinted windows of the limousine. Alex only realised nigh had fallen. He looked out through the window as London city passed by. Towers of glass stood next to much older grandeur buildings of Portland stone. The lights in the shop windows blinked as pedestrians, filling the wide pavements, milled about. The atmosphere seemed relaxed. It probably was, too. Alex supposed that was life, completely ordinary for most while for him…

His hands continued to work on Scarlett’s feet. She still rested; her eyes closed. This woman wasn’t the devil. She was going to take him to meet her. If one of the devil’s demons was this scary, what would it be like coming face to face with the actual devil?

The limousine turned off the main street. It ambled down a narrow alley, the bright lights and crowds gone. There was no footpath here, only brickwork and stone masonry. To the left, there was an indent in the brickwork. The vacated space was taken by four large green metal bins. A small service door opened. A man in uniform stepped out, a large black bin bag in hand, he dumped it into one of the bins before disappearing.

The limousine pulled over on the right. The glass window slid down; the driver looked back. “We’re here, mistress,” he said, his voice deep and husky, animalistic.

Scarlett stepped out, and Alex followed. His legs wobbled and his body ached. He had small cuts on his back and arms. His chest bore the marks of Scarlett’s claws. Not for the first time today, he seemed to have gotten off lightly. That angel or Scarlett, both could have left him severely crippled or dead.

The alleyway he stood in was ordinary for the most part. It was large enough for a single vehicle to pass. The buildings on both sides were five or six floors tall. Large glass windows