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

with narrow alleyways in-between. Black bins overflowed and dirt piled up against the walls. The stench of rotting flesh filled the air.

They entered one of the darkened alleyways nestled amongst two four storey tower blocks. Coming to the end, the view changed. Rather than more terraced houses or tower blocks, the space opened up. It was filled with stalls. There were close to a hundred, maybe more. Opposite the stalls were lines of shops, some two floors, some rising to three.

There were hundreds of demons moving about. Demons of all sizes and shapes. Some were tall and looked more like massively overgrown walking lizards. Others were smaller and comparable to dwarfs. They moved about with baskets in hand, some even pushed trolleys. Vendors shouted out prices though Alex was not familiar with the products on sale.

“I do a round here about once a week. There’s usually someone selling something they shouldn’t,” Karen said.

“Like what?” Alex asked as they stepped out of the alleyway and joined the crowds.

“Illegal drugs. There was one a few months back called “Red Smash”. Made the demons really violent. A spate of human deaths followed. Really pissed off most of the Demon Hunters.”

“Bloody hell… Yeah I can imagine they would be,” Alex muttered.

“Nah,” Karen shook her head. “The Demon Hunters are mostly a lazy bunch of fuckers. They were annoyed because they actually had to do something for a change. And we really had to get it under control before the angels pointed fingers at Satani and accused her of breaking the pact and interfering in human life.”

Alex thought he was getting more of an idea of his role. He would be policing the demons. He’d never really wanted to be a police officer. But he supposed this one did have perks. He’d be tall and handsome, apparently. Strong too. He already had the big cock so that didn’t count. There was the immortality, unless someone killed him…

Karen stopped in front of a stall. The demon behind it wore a red jacket. His skin was purple, his head bald save for the line of spikes that crossed the middle of his skull like a mohawk. His eyes were balls of black. He had no iris or pupil. Karen picked up one of the many jars he had displayed.

“And what’s in this, Marvin?”

“It’s legal,” the demon said, his voice gruff, defensive. He folded his arms across his chest. “You can’t just come here and accuse me of shit. I’ve gone straight, Karen. You know it. But you still pick on me. So many stalls here, but you come straight to me. That’s harassment, that is.”

Alex was a little taken aback, but Karen seemed to have ignored the man’s rant completely. She was staring at the contents of the jar she held. Alex couldn’t tell what it was that had caught her interest. The jar was filled with a purple-coloured liquid with bits of… flesh. There was flesh in the jar.

“What’s in this?” Karen repeated, this time looking directly at Marvin.

Marvin’s crossed arms fell to his side. His eyes shifted to the left, then the right. He was nervous. “It’s beetroot juice mixed with deer meat,” his words hurried out, as if pre-rehearsed.

“Why do I think it’s human flesh, Marvin?” Karen asked.

“Because you’re a judgemental bitch?” Marvin let out a nervous laugh. “You think all demons are crooks. I’m a law-abiding citizen, Karen. There’s nothing you can do to me. I haven’t broken any rules here.”

Karen’s hand moved to her hip and rested on the small ineffectual pocket on her blue denims. Her fingers curled, as if holding something. Marvin’s eyes darted to her hip. He licked his lips nervously as little beads of sweat formed below his nose.

“She was dead, Karen. I swear it. The bitch was dead!”

Karen’s hand gripped an invisible item by her hip. “Still illegal, Marvin.”

She pulled her hand forward. From out of thin air, a whip appeared. The handle was black, the thong silver and the lash purple. Marvin picked up a jar and threw it at Karen. It was a good throw with speed and accuracy behind it. Any normal human, and they would have been on the ground now with a face bloody and unconscious or dead.

But Karen was not normal. Standing at over six-feet-tall with the physique of a curvy Victoria’s Secret model mixed with the stature of an Olympic Athlete, she was a Demon Hunter. Karen turned her body sideways. The jar of black liquid containing possibly more human flesh flew past her and struck another demon on the head. The jar smashed, the liquid spilled onto the red demon. A sizzling sound was followed by the demon’s scream as his skin burned.

“Brave trying to kill a Demon Hunter,” Karen commented. “Stupid, but brave.”

Marvin bared his teeth and hissed, revealing sharpened yellow teeth. He jumped over the table and spread his hands apart as if he wanted a hug. The long black claws suggested something much more sinister.

Karen lashed with her whip. She struck him across the chest. Marvin howled as he was thrown back. He crashed into the stacked jars behind, smashing them. Harmless liquids of all colours with solid bits covered him.

Karen lashed her whip once more. The silver fall of the whip wrapped around his neck. She tugged at the handle, pulling Marvin off his bottom and over the front of the stall. He landed at her feet, his hands on the thong, he stared up at Karen, pure murderous rage in her eyes.

A hostile crowd of demons had gathered around them, joined by the one who now sported nasty burnt skin on half of his face. He stared at Karen and Marvin with equal hate. In return, Karen blew him a kiss, then turned to Alex.

“Let’s go,” she said.

* * *

They left