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

pressed his foot down on Alex’s chest. The bones began to crack. The calm that surrounded Alex’s body, the feeling of being heavily drugged, it was fading. Alex was beginning to feel the pain of his injuries. And he had many. There was a bump on his head, he was sure his leg was broken, now his chest was cracking.

Alex opened his mouth and screamed out in pain. Satan roared in laughter.

“...go fuck yourself!” Alex managed to say.

Satan stopped laughing. His foot even eased the pressure on Alex’s chest. “You’re not Lucifer, are you?”

Alex coughed. “He left a long time ago,” he managed to say in between deep breaths. “I bet he’s glad too. He missed that dreadful speech,” he began to laugh, though it hurt his chest so much. Alex coughed horribly. Blood spluttered out. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. Death was painful.

“You think because you have no soul that you’ll never taste hell?”

Alex opened his eyes. Satan was angry. The devil opened his mouth wide. His perfect white teeth dazzled against his now red skin. He began to inhale. It was like a vacuum had opened up inside his mouth. It sucked in not just air but bits of debris. Alex felt his body begin to rise off the wall.

But then he realised something wasn’t right. His body hadn’t actually risen off the floor. It was his skin. It was being torn off his flesh but in hundreds of thousands of small little pieces. It was pain like Alex had never felt before. He screamed in agony. His fingers clawed at the wall as he tried to pull away from Satan. It was hopeless. Little drops of blood were now exiting his body along with his skin.

Just when Alex was about to pass out from the pain, it stopped. Satan stopped inhaling. Alex wanted to crawl away and hide somewhere dark. But he didn’t have the energy to do that. He wanted to look at his skin, but he was afraid. What if all the skin had peeled off and he had nothing but red bleeding flesh attached to his bones?

Satan’s mouth was still open. It was like a pit of darkness. A blackhole surrounded by white teeth. In that black hole was a small sun. Alex squinted, confused. Why would there be a sun in Satan’s mouth? A sun that was growing in size.

Except, it wasn’t the sun. It was fire forming in the devil’s mouth. Satan was going to burn him to death. A taste of hell. Stupidly, Alex raised his arms defensively as the dark red flames shot out of Satan’s mouth and engulfed him.

Chapter 44

Karen lay on her side on the hard rubble, a hand pressed against her stomach. Demon Hunters usually recovered quickly from injuries. Karen’s body had taken much worse. Knives, poisonous claws, actual poison. Satan’s kick in the stomach should have been nothing. But it really hurt. She just about managed to turn to face in the general direction of Alex and Satan.

Alex was on the run. She didn’t blame him. Satan had rendered her useless when he was human-sized. Now Satan had changed into this enormous red-skinned demon with black horns. Running was all Alex could do. Karen watched him move with a speed and agility that would have easily defeated any Demon Hunter, nay any demon too.

But this was Satan he was up against. Satan who had grown to an enormous size. The devil was fast and angry. Somehow, Alex managed to stay ahead. And then it happened. Alex turned and stabbed Satan in the stomach. She smiled as the sword was buried in the devil’s belly.

Satan dropped to his knees.

Alex had done it. He’d defeated the devil. Maybe she would live to see another day. Or at least, live without being raped by Satan, without being his bitch. She shuddered at the thought. Satan had stared at her much like a hungry animal stares at helplessly trapped prey. He would have devoured her body, possibly changing it forever.

Karen forced herself to sit up. She gently probed her stomach with her fingers. There was bruising, but her Demon Hunter healing genes were kicking in. Grimacing, she climbed to her feet. Karen limped towards Alex and Satan, not recalling when she had hurt her leg. On her way, she spotted one of her blades wedged between a wooden beam and a fallen pillar.

Out of instinct, she paused to reach for the sword. The pain of bending down to grab the handle made her think twice. The battle was over. Satan had been defeated. There was no need for her to collect the sword.

Karen was twenty feet away when Satan grabbed Alex and flung him against a leaning wall. She feared the worst. A throw like that would have killed any Demon Hunter. Thoughts of going back for her own sword entered her mind. But what damage could she do with it? Satan had just survived being impaled by a flaming sword.

There was nothing she could do but watch in horror as Satan marched towards Alex’s limp body. The devil wrapped his hand around Alex’s neck and lifted him off the ground. Karen forgot her own pain and clasped her hands over her mouth in horror as Alex opened his eyes.

He was still alive.

She couldn’t bear to think of the pain he must have been in. Why wasn’t he screaming? Was his body so broken that he was incapable of projecting sounds? It was a horrifying thought. Poor Alex trapped in a broken body.

Satan wasn’t done. The devil began to talk. Karen was within distance to hear part of the conversation. It was strange. Satan seemed to think Alex was Lucifer… did she hear that right? Wasn’t Lucifer one of Satan’s names?

What followed happened far too quickly.