Saving Elijah

rusted and rank.
    "You should have watched the film when you had the chance." It stroked my cheek with its cold white claw-hand, stained with something dark and clotted. Yes. I never watched it. I'd thrown every roll of film Seth had into a dumpster and never told a living soul, I was too ashamed. And I had successfully put it out of my mind all these years.
    I shrank back against the headboard, glanced over at Sam, who was sleeping comfortably.
    I turned back. "Why did you film it?" I couldn't help myself. I wanted to know.
    The white mass that seemed to be its head moved downward, as if it were taking a bow. "Not me, dimwit. The filmmaker was Seth."
    "You made me the unwitting participant in a pornographic film."
    Now it laughed, a chorus of cackling crows. "I'm afraid so. But not me, him. Can you get that through your head?" Why was this distinction so important to the demon? I had felt it inside me, and I still didn't know.
    "All right. Him."
    "That's better. And what do you mean, unwitting? You knew what was going on."
    "Liar. I knew nothing. I was a naive young girl."
    "No point in arguing. I'll leave you your little self-deceptions. It's quite a piece of work, you know. If Seth hadn't been stupid, he would have made a mint with it." It leaned toward me. A movement suggesting a swagger. "Want to see the rest?"
    "No thank you. It's beyond rape."
    "Oh, psssh. Do you have to be so dramatic about everything? Could have been a lot worse. You could have been Jay."
    Sam made a little sound in his sleep, and I got out of bed, moved away from it, over by my dresser. "Seth killed him. Didn't he?"
    "Well, duh." It was beside me in an instant, a winking of air. "Everyone tripped. Just a little extra in Jay's glass. The piece de resistance."
    "But why?"
    "Let's see, now. He was consumed with jealousy?"
    "Seth didn't love me, he wouldn't have cared if I were with Jay."
    "Ah, but you're wrong. Seth did love you."
    The demon didn't know the difference between love and hate. And neither had Seth.
    "Even if he did love me, that's not why he killed Jay. Tell me why."
    The demon gazed at me. Its eyes turned as white as the rest of it, and seemed to disappear. "I don't remember."
    "Was it because Jay told me what happened with that girl you picked up?" Seth had called that girl a whore, right to my face, and I had ignored it.
    "Can't remember," it purred, eyes blackening again.
    How sad. It couldn't remember why it had committed murder. Unless Seth hadn't committed murder and it was lying. Why would it want to take credit for that?
    "Are you sorry for killing Jay now?"
    "Why should I be sorry for him? He isn't sorry for me."
    "Maybe he is."
    "He's dead. How can he be sorry for me? Would you have refused to make our bargain if you'd known Seth had killed Jay?"
    No, I would have made the deal no matter what. "You told me being dead changes you."
    "I lied."
    "My God." I moved away, toward the door. The thing drifted with me.
    "Surely you don't think I offered you my help because I took pity on you and your boy. Surely not."
    I was cornered against the door, my back against the cold knob. "Why, then?"
    "I came to you because I knew you would be willing to do what I asked."
    "But you said anyone in my position would do what I did."
    It began to laugh, and I could hear others laughing, tittering in the background. Then it stroked my face. " 'He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath.'"
    Shakespeare again, perhaps Lear. I closed my eyes to it, but even with my eyes closed I could still see it, and still smell the odor of wet metal, corroded and corrupt.
    "Now you want to weasel out of the deal," it said. "Not a chance."
    "What is it you want me to do?"
    "At last a good question. Now we're getting down to it."
    "What do you want?" I tried to duck around it.
    "You know what I want. You've already given it. You will take me inside you."
    I tried again to get away, but it was blocking me there by the door. "I've done that, I've done it. I fulfilled my end of the bargain."
    The thing's eyes blackened and bore into me. "You fought against it."
    "I didn't," I said. Yet I wasn't sure what had happened. Through demon-dimmed eyes I'd seen Elijah struggling. And I now realized why it had vacated me. At least I thought I did.
    "You can't stand that I love Elijah," I said.
    The demon moved forward, crushing me closer to the door, the knob jammed against the small of my back.
    I gathered myself.