Dark Magic

had manifested during our seance, and taken over your mother’s body. I asked your father if the demon had ever taken over his body. Your father said that it had, but only when he lost his temper. This was why your parents tried to avoid having arguments, for fear of bringing the demon on.”

“And that’s why you didn’t want me fighting,” Peter said.

“That is correct. I’m afraid the demon is in you as well.”

“What is the demon’s name?”

Max hesitated. “I told your father I would take this to my grave.”

“I have a right to know who I am.”

Max glanced at Milly in the bed. She nodded imperceptibly.

“The demon is one of Lucifer’s sons,” his teacher said.

Peter opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Max grabbed the room’s only chair, and made him sit in it. Peter did. Leaning forward, he ran the fingers of his hands through his hair. Since the beginning of time, Lucifer’s presence in the world had been a dark one. To do his bidding, he’d created seven demonic sons, whom he’d sprinkled around the planet. For thousands of years, these sons had vied to see who could cause more grief and destruction, and were responsible for many of mankind’s atrocities. Their names were known to all in the spirit world, and they were the epitome of evil. Peter had never encountered one of these sons, and now shuddered to realize that he in effect was one.

“What’s his name?” Peter asked.

“Your father never said,” Max replied.

“He must have described him.”

“In a manner of speaking. He called him the wicked one.”

“How charming.”

Peter rose and went to the room’s solitary window. Cold air blew through the cracks, and slapped him in the face. “I don’t understand. My parents helped the Americans and the British defeat the Nazis, and win the war. How was that possible, considering what you just told me?”

“They were children,” Milly explained.

“So?”

“All children are born good. The corruption comes later, as they grow up.”

“Are you saying that even this demon couldn’t poison a child?”

“Children are pure,” Milly said. “Your parents, and their three little friends, could not be corrupted by this demon until later on in life.”

“But my parents weren’t corrupted.” He turned from the window to look at them. “They were wonderful people. Weren’t they?”

“He doesn’t understand,” Milly said to Max.

“We’re not doing a very good job explaining it to him,” Max replied.

“Explaining what? What are you leaving out?” Peter said, exasperated.

“Come to me,” Milly said.

Peter returned to her bedside. Milly took his hands, and held them tightly. “Yes, they were wonderful people. And so are you. Do you know why?”

“No,” he said.

“It’s simple, my dear child. It’s called free will. The fact that you are possessed by a demon does not mean you must become evil. Being evil is a choice, just as being good is a choice. If you let the demon take over, it’s because you choose to.”

“You’re telling me that if I control my emotions, the demon won’t come out.”

“That’s right.”

What Milly was asking was absurd. How could he not grow angry every once in a while? There were times when a person had to get angry.

“My temper isn’t that bad,” he said.

“Yes, it is,” she corrected him. “Come closer.”

He leaned over the bed. Without warning, Milly slapped him in the face. He shot her a murderous stare. The monitors she was attached to started to beep, and her vital signs began moving in the wrong direction.

“Milly!” he said.

Her eyelids fluttered, and she sunk into her pillow. Max came to her side, and put his hand on her forehead.

“Stop this right now,” his teacher said.

Peter forced himself to calm down. Within moments Milly snapped to, and the monitors stopped their frantic beeping.

“Oh, my God, I’m so sorry,” he said.

“Believe me now?” she asked.

“Yes, I believe you.”

She again took his hand. This time when she spoke, he listened. “You must be stronger than the demon inside of you. Succumb to temptation, and you will lose your soul.”

“I feel like I’m losing it already,” he said.

“How so?”

“I killed a man who worked for me today. He was evil, and I suppose he deserved it, but I felt no regrets afterward. That’s not normal, is it?”

“You are still one of us,” Milly replied. “Isn’t he, Maximilian?”

“Indeed he is,” his teacher said.

“And you will stay one of us. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must rest. It’s been a long day.”

Milly’s eyelids grew heavy, and just like that she was sound asleep. Peter glanced at the machines that she was attached to. The numbers had returned to normal.

“I’ll stay with her,” Max said. “Go home, and get some rest.”

“What about Holly?”

“I sent her home earlier.”

At least Holly listened to someone, Peter thought. He went to the door, turning to glance at Milly one more time. She looked so tiny and frail lying in that awful bed, and he could not help but feel that he was responsible for everything that had happened to her. He had accepted long ago that life wasn’t fair, a sentiment that became more profound the older he became.

“Goodnight,” he said.

“Be safe, Peter,” his teacher said.

“And you as well.”

44

Most New Yorkers were light sleepers. It came from living around so many people, and all the traffic. Peter was no exception. Any strange sound would lift him out of the deepest of sleeps, his radar on full alert. At three A.M., his eyes snapped open, and he stared into the familiar darkness of his bedroom. Liza stirred beside him.

“What’s wrong?” his girlfriend mumbled.

“I heard a strange noise. It sounded like little kids playing. There it is again.”

Falling silent, they listened to rain pelt the window.

“It’s just the wind,” she said.

“That’s not what I heard. The noise was inside.”

“Go back to sleep. You’ve had a hard couple of days.”

Liza kissed him in the dark. Coming home to find her waiting for him had been the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. It had restored his faith in the world, and given him hope that things might be returning to normal.

He drifted off. He heard the sound again. He slipped out of bed without awakening his girlfriend, found his