Body Surfing

Lawrence wasn’t going to stop him.
    He remembered that his father had once kept a gun in his bedside table. He had no idea if it was still there, let alone loaded, but it was better than nothing. He ran for the terrace, which connected the two rooms, burst blindly through the French doors and slammed into something hard.
    Leo.
    No other name would do. This wasn’t the paramedic. Wasn’t Larry. This was the thing that had been inside him. That had driven him to kill his friends.
    The demon had taken off Ramon’s jacket and shirt. The night man’s blood painted the demon’s abdomen like a cummerbund.
    He held up a gun.
    “Looking for this?” Leo tapped his forehead with the gun’s barrel. “I know what you know, remember? Every memory of yours right up until—” he looked at the Patek “—fifty hours and forty-six minutes ago.” He turned the watch face toward Q., and the boy could see that the crystal was cracked. “Can you believe it? Twenty-nine large and it broke in an itty bitty car accident. Talk about a rip-off. Still, ol’ Larry here thought it might be worth something. He snatched it while you were wandering around with your dick hanging out of your BVDs.”
    Leo turned and threw the gun out over the FDR toward the East River. His arm moved so fast that it literally whistled through the air.
    “My kind don’t like guns. We like the body.” He ran his fingertips over Larry Bishop’s flesh in a gesture that was half lewd, half contemptuous. “We like your bodies. Your bodies and your minds.”
    Q. continued to inch backward. He was on a terrace nine floorsup: there was really nowhere to go. But he couldn’t stand to be close to this creature.
    Suddenly he remembered: the fire escape! It was connected to the far end of the terrace. If he could get there, he could make a run for it.
    The demon squinted. “What was that, Q.? You just had a thought.”
    Q. didn’t say anything, just continued inching backwards.
    “Don’t try to hide it, Q. You blinked. Your pupils dilated. Your masseter twitched. That’s the muscle that closes that big dumb mouth of yours, and also makes your ears wiggle just the itsy bitsiest bit.” The demon paused. “I’m guessing it was the fire escape, right? You’re thinking maybe you can run for it?”
    Q. continued to crawl away from him. He was a good ten feet away by then. Almost halfway there.
    “I’m disappointed in you, Q. Didn’t you learn anything from our week together?”
    The demon bent his knees, then shot upward. His jump took him up and over and behind Q.—a good fifteen feet from a standing start. Q. rolled over on his stomach to see what he already knew: the demon now stood between him and his only exit.
    “There’s no getting away, Q. But before you die, I want you to answer a few questions for me.”
    In his hopelessness, Q. felt brave enough to sneer. “I thought you knew everything already.”
    Leo tapped the face of the broken Patek. “Everything except for the past two days. God, you humans can’t remember anything . Now. Give me straight answers and I’ll make it easy on you. Quick and painless as they say. Jerk me around and I’ll teach you to hurt in nerves you didn’t even know existed. Question one: did you visit J.D. Thomas?”
    Q. didn’t say anything, but his face must have answered for him because the demon laughed.
    “Very good. Question two: what did he tell you?”
    Q. remained silent.
    “You’re gonna have to talk this time, Q. There’s only so much I can get from reading the muscle twitches in that pretty face of yours.” He took a step toward Q. “Such a pretty, pretty face. You wouldn’t want me to rip it off, would you? Have poor old Moms or Dad come over for a fuck-fest and find their one and only’s skinless skull giving them the Jolly Roger grin?”
    “I—” Q. broke off. “He didn’t tell me anything.”
    Leo shook his head. “Not good enough, Q.” He took another step toward the boy. “Think of dear old Mom and Dad, Q. Think of the unbelievable pain I can cause you. The pain I can cause them. What did he say?”
    “I—I fell asleep. I swear to God. I fell asleep as soon as I got there. I slept the whole time.”
    The demon stopped walking. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he laughed. “You didn’t fall asleep, Q. He put you under. Hypnosis ,” he added in a condescending voice. “Do I have to spell everything out? The good doctor put you in a trance.” He laughed again.