Copyright © 2019 James Russell Stoakes. All rights reserved.
http://JamesStoakes.com
The nightly news was Jarred’s favorite part of the day, that and his evening massage. It seemed there was always some chaos going on someplace, and he enjoyed watching the newscasters pretend to be concerned about events as they described them to their viewers.
“An unusual travel warning is being issued by The State Department for Mexico City,” the female anchor said with a smile. She took pleasure in reading about the pain of others: her aura gave her away to Jarred. “An outbreak of violence between several cartels has turned the streets into a war zone. American Citizens are urged to leave Mexico as soon as possible.”
Jarred smiled. “It looks like Linda and her team have been successful,” he said to Jenny rhetorically.
Jenny lifted her head from his lap and answered, “I had no doubts that they would get it done.”
Slightly irritated, Jarred pushed her head back down. He had not intended to start a conversation. “Back to work,” he said and continued watching the television.
“In other news, Thailand is experiencing unprecedented violence,” the anchor said. “More when we return.” Jarred grinned ear to ear. With one hand, he turned the volume down on the TV and picked up his phone with the other and pressed the speed dial.
“Hello,” Lina’s sultry voice answered.
Jarred’s smile got even bigger. “Is this a bad time to talk?” he asked knowingly.
“It’s fine,” she said with a soft grunt. “Is it time to come home?” she asked.
“No hurry,” Jarred said. “Finish who you’re doing and catch a flight home.”
“No problem,” she said. “This one is almost spent. Another day and he’ll be dead, and we don’t want that. He will count against the quota.” Jarred could hear the smile in her voice, and he wondered what they had been doing.
“We don’t want that,” he agreed and hung up.
“Let the poor boy take a breath,” Linda said to Alex as she hung up the phone. Alex was grinding herself onto Pedro’s face. “That was Jarred. We’re heading home,” she said as she continued to ride Pedro. “Poor Pedro,” she said. “He’ll never be right after this experience.” Alex lifted off of him and began to dress.
They had been lacing his food and water with Viagra for the last three days. She had to admit, the boy had a strong heart. A lot stronger than she had estimated. She ground on him a few seconds longer. In an unusual gesture of kindness, or maybe it was selfishness, Linda commanded him, “Finish!” Pedro knew better than to not do as Linda said and began moving quickly and hunting for the now elusive feeling that used to be so easy to find. Three days of non-stop sex had numbed him some, but like a determined little squirrel, he managed to find a nut before passing out.
Dismounting the now comatose Pedro, Linda said, “We have to cut him loose and get moving.” She began dressing with the others. They were all business again and headed to the airport.
There was a knock at the door, and Wendy went to answer it while Jarred continued to watch the news. The newscast was ending just as Wendy returned with a middle-aged man and a tall, buxom young lady. Immediately Jarred was on guard; neither of them had the aura of a soul.
“An emissary from Hell?” he asked as he casually strode around the sofa to the visitors.
“An emissary?” the man laughed. Wendy was going to say something, but the man waved her off. Jarred thought it was odd that Wendy would take direction from anyone but him, but the man’s next words gave him away. “You are excused, Xizzunoch,” he said.
Jarred looked him over again. “Which demon are you? Did Satan send you to help me? Or maybe to tell me to go back to Boston?”
“No,” the man said. “I just thought I’d drop in and talk, man to man, with my son and tell him how proud I am of the work he has been doing.”
Jarred’s jaw slackened with surprise, and his mouth hung open a little bit before he regained his composure. “This way,” Jarred said, leading Satan to the study. Jarred poured a glass of scotch for each of them and handed them out. “If you’re Satan, who is this demon?” Jarred asked.
“If?” Satan said with a laugh. “I assure you I am. This is Sorrel, my assistant. She takes care of my every need.”
“Just one?” Jarred sneered.
“There are others,” Satan said, finding a comfortable chair to sit in, “but she is my both my favorite and my most reliable.” He took a deep sip of the scotch in his hand and smacked his lips. “Good stuff!” he proclaimed.
Sorrell said nothing but smiled after she took a sip of hers. Jarred could not help but admire the swell of her chest. “I see,” he said with a grin.
“I bet you do,” Satan said knowingly. “We both have interesting tastes when it concerns human flesh, and we both enjoy the pleasure the flesh enables us to have.” Satan laughed loudly. “When I saw you surrounded by naked women recently, my first thought was, that’s my boy!”
Jarred was surprised by this revelation. “You have been watching us?” he asked calmly. He was curious now, not embarrassed or upset, just curious. “Did you see me when I was stuck in an orphanage?”
Satan knew instinctively where this was going. “Once,” he said. “No, twice. Once when you were first put there, and again when you burned it down. You created some serious chaos and pain that night. Of course, the dead in that incident counted against your quota, but you’ve made quite a comeback!”
“They might not have been evil, but every one of them deserved to be punished,” Jarred said with a smile. Their screams rang in his ears again as he relived the moment. Jarred shook off his reverie and asked, “So what matter brings you to me?”
“I’m calling off the contest,” Satan said.
Jarred could feel his temperature rise with his anger. “What do you mean, call it off?” Jarred asked menacingly. “I have made promises based on the competition.”
“Oh, that,” Satan said without concern. “I am aware of your promises to the demons serving you. I made similar promises once. That’s how Sorrel and a few others came to be in my service.” He paused for a few moments as Jarred’s temper cooled and he thought it over. “Two of your brothers are closer to the finish than you are. The will be very upset. Especially so, once I declare you the winner,” he said with a smirk.
Jarred was confused. “Why would you declare me to be the winner?” he asked and finished his scotch.
“Simple enough,” Satan said. “You sow chaos everywhere you go. Boston was a little over the top, but entertaining. You chose to lead others and use their abilities to your advantage. You were closing the gap quickly, but you came of age too late in the competition to be the first to the quota. To top it all off, you still have not regained all the powers you were supposed to have at your disposal. Once we fix that, you will be perfect for the position of Hell’s Ambassador on earth.”
Jarred poured another glass of scotch for himself and moved the bottle to Satan’s glass. Sorrell quickly downed hers when she saw he was going to pour more and held her glass up. “You’re supposed to savor the flavor, Sorrel,” Jarred said gently.
“I enjoy the feeling more than the flavor,” she responded.
“Typical demon response,” Jarred laughed. “What about my promises?” he asked.
“All will be honored,” Satan said.
“You said Hell’s Ambassador?” Jarred asked. “Does that mean we will be staying on the Earth plane?”
“Yes,” was all Satan said before several demon-possessed women excitedly burst into the room.
“You did it, Jarred!” Jenny screamed as she jumped up and down.
“Out!” Satan said firmly. “Close the door behind you.”
“Yes, sir,” Jenny said, snapping back to reality, though she could not stop grinning.
Once they had the room to themselves, Satan continued. “Such enthusiasm. You really are a natural leader, Jarred,” he said. “So before you can take over here, we need to get you back to Hell and figure out what’s wrong with your power.”
“What kind of power am I missing?” Jarred asked.
“Several things. For instance, you know how possession only works on those with a soul? There are other ways to control that work more subtlely and even on those without a soul,” he said.
“Yeah, I tried possession on Jenny once. She was unaffected by it,” Jarred agreed.
“Suggestion is different and can be used on more than one target,” Satan said. “I’ll demonstrate.”
Satan looked to Sorrel, “Jarred looks tense,” he said to her in an odd tone. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea to help relieve his stress?”
Sorrel’s eyes softened as Satan spoke to her. She stood and began moving towards Jarred. “You look stressed,” she said. “Let me help you relax.” Sorrel knelt in front of Jarred and began undoing his pants.
“It’s all suggestion,” Satan said to Jarred. “It was vague, so she is falling back on her knowledge of how to relieve my stress. Enjoy it, she’s quite good,” he said and watched Sorrel perform.
“You didn’t have to compel me like that,” Sorrel said. “If you had commanded me normally, I would not have refused.”
“It was a demonstration,” Satan said with a belly laugh. The doorbell rang and Satan looked to Jarred. “I hope you don’t mind, I invited/suggested a few of my Hollywood worshipers over since we were in the neighborhood.” Satan leaned in conspiratorially, “I tell you what, though, if some of them were not so high profile, I’d call a demon to them tonight and take their bodies home with us,” he confided with ease. “Let’s get laid by some fancy Hollywood actresses, or actors if you prefer, tonight.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jarred said. So far, spending time with “dad” had been fairly enjoyable. Maybe Jarred would understand him more as time passed.
“Tomorrow, we can get you fixed up,” Satan said, opening up the doors of the study.
About fifty faces Jarred knew but had never met, cheered when Satan stepped out of the room. “This is my son, Jarred,” he said and urged Jarred forward. “Treat him as you would me.”
A new cheer rose from the crowd and the party began to swing. Hands were pawing at him, and his clothing rapidly disappeared.