Demons and Magic

CHAPTER 10: Do Me A Favor

“Our topic is gonna be focused on mythology and less on religion, got it?”

“Aren’t they all religion?” Alastair asked out of nowhere, her eyes on the screen of Warren’s laptop, and Chuck crossed his arms.

“A myth is defined as a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events,” Chuck explained, and Alastair finally looked up at him.

“Did you just recite that from Google?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” he replied, and smiled.

Alastair just chuckled. “Isn’t that true for your Bible, too?”

“What is?”

“You humans really love making up different kinds of words with similar definitions.” It was her turn to smile at him. “The things you call ‘myth’ are just the forgotten religions” — she held up one hand, c*****g her head to the side— “actually no, not forgotten. Let’s just use the term ‘rejected’, then, shall we?”

Chuck just sighed and shook his head, leaning back against the glass table behind him. “Fine. Whatever turns you on, Alastair.”

After finishing their project and practicing the flow of discussion, Chuck finally agreed to end the session there and let everyone go home by 5:30. Of course, Alastair was the first one to walk out of the door, followed by Nathan.

“s**t,” he cursed under his breath as he gazed down at his watch.

If he doesn’t arrive on time, he’s gonna be leaving a bad impression to his employer on the first week of his job. As soon as he got out of the huge multi-million dollar manor, he was directly greeted by Alastair who was leaning against the hood of her car like she was some kind of Hollywood artist playing out the cool girl in an action film.

“Get in,” she said and hoisted herself up. “You’re gonna be late.”

Nathan’s face immediately scrunched up in confusion. “How did you know my schedule?”

“You think I don’t know the concept of time?Just get in the car, you dolt.”

“For the last time, my name is Nathan!” he protested, but nonetheless got inside the car. “If you can’t get my name right, then I would rather you don’t call me anything at all.”

Alastair just scoffed and started the engine. “So, sue me.”

Nathan held onto the roof handle of the car when Alastair drove outside the manor’s huge driveway in the kind of speed that would’ve also outran the light. The first time he rode shotgun while Alastair was driving (which was just earlier today), she looked like a pretty decent driver. But looking at her now, she seems to be best friends with death with the way she drove recklessly, easily outrunning the cars that she sees.

“Alastair, what the hell?!”

She just laughed like a demented witch on c***k when she heard someone shout at her from the car next to them and turned to Nathan who was still hanging onto the handle for dear life. She was pretty sure he was mumbling some incoherent prayers too while he’s at it, but she just ignored him and pressed the gas harder.

“Alastair!” Nathan finally blurted out when he saw that they were approaching a crossroad and the traffic light was red. “Alastair, I’m not that desperate to get to my work on time. So please, just stop the damn car!”

Alastair laughed again. “No, can do, Nosferatu. It’s been a full century since I last drove one of these over-hyped washing mahines. I’m in my zone.”

He gazed at the side of her face with absolute horror as she stared ahead with the devilish glint in her eyes. He was growing more and more frightened as they were nearing the crossroad, his breath hitching and the loud ringing in his ears taking over his senses.

Alastair had always been reckless and someone that you should never entrust your safety and, much less, your life on. He had always known about this, but what the hell? It was probably because of the fact that she’s the only one who could help him out that exact moment that he even thought of getting into a car where she’s the driver.

“I’m gonna die,” he muttered and drew out a shaky breath as he tightly closed his eyes, bracing for impact.

One second passed, and then two, but there was still nothing.

He opened his eyes and saw that they had already passed the intersection with their bodies and brain matters still most likely intact. Alastair was just gazing ahead like nothing happened while Nathan was squirming silently in his seat, trying to comprehend what just happened.

He gazed at the rearview mirror of the car and saw that the lights were now fully green. The traffic light had turned to go just in time when they passed the crossroad — something that Nathan was still trying to see if it was just luck, a big coincidence, or if Alastair had planned it all out inside her head and used her voodoo power to save themselves.

Sometimes she can be really scary, you know— NO! Not just sometimes. Every single time, actually. She’s the embodiment of all that is evil and demented.

Alastair heaved out a disappointed sigh and opened the window from her side of the car, resting her arm on top of it. “I was actually kind of hoping you’d s**t your pants, you know? But maybe you’re tougher than I thought.” And with that she beamed at him, eliciting a derisive laugh from the latter.

“Oh, you’re here!” Bryce Rancher called over him when he arrived and placed the box of chocolates he was holding down on the floor. “You’re ten minutes early.” He gazed up at his dishevelled-looking hair and ashen face. “What happened to you? You don’t look fine.”

Nathan just gave him a smile and gazed outside the glass wall to where Alastair was, leaning on the hood of her car once more and smiling at him like a maniac.

When Nathan caught sight of his boss once more, Bryce was not looking at him anymore and instead had his mouth slightly hanging open while he pointed outside to where Alastair’s black Ferrari was.

“Woah, that car is slick. Is that your friend out there? I thought you said she goes to the same school as you?”

Nathan just gave him a questioning look and nodded. “Yes, sir— er, I mean, Bryce. Why? Is there something wrong?”

Bryce just shook his head enthusiastically and gave Nathan a look that says he has an idea. “Wasn’t she the one who got the idea to place a TV in here? You know, I always thought it was brilliant. That was the biggest sell we had so far this month,” he said and ran his hands all over the uniform he had on to straighten the wrinkles. “You should invite her in after I go, okay? Tell her everything’s on the house, understood?”

Nathan had his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth in a frown but he didn’t say anything to his boss and just nodded, glancing back out at Alastair who was now in a deep staring contest with someone else’s blushing girlfriend.

The moment his boss left, he wasted no time in relaying the message to Alastair who only gave him a once-over and walked past him towards the convenience store like she owned the damn place.

‘The audacity,’ Nathan thought but decided to brush it off when he saw the girl that’s been staring at Alastair for the last couple minutes. Beside her was her boyfriend who looks clueless as to what was going on.

Poor guy. His girlfriend was already falling for the undeniable charisma of his otherworldly familiar, and he’s still out there busy trying to hail a cab.

“Why do you work here anyway? Don’t you have parents?” Alastair asked when he had finally followed her inside and ran her fingers through the newly-dusted shelf, her expression eerily blank.

Nathan just glared at her, offended with every single thing that seems to come out of her mouth. “Well, unlike you, not everyone can just make gold appear out of thin air, you know?”

“Well, then, why don’t you find yourself one of those Sugar Daddies or something? They must be sweet, I mean … the name should explain for itself.”

“No, I’m not getting any—” He just sighed, not sure why he’s even bothering himself to answer any of Alastair’s stupid questions and walked towards the counter. “—you know what, I’m done talking to you. Jesus.”

“You were talking to Jesus? I thought you were talking to me?”

Nathan whirled around so fast that she thought her eyes would spin. He was just looking at her with the look of resignation that she mostly sees on humans these days. People really has gone soft. You can’t even duck fast enough these days before a boomerang hits you straight in the face.

What a shame.

“No, seriously though. Why don’t you use the gold bars I gave you? That could help, given your situation.”

“I don’t need your help,” he instantly dismissed her and started putting on the blue vest with the logo of the convenience store on it. “And besides, why should I trust you? You’re a demon for Pete’s sake. God knows what could happen to me if I accepted your help. Those gold bars might’ve been cursed or something. It usually is in the movies.”

Alastair didn’t say anything. She just stood there staring at him looking wounded.

“Just do me a favor, Alastair.” He sighed heavily and started arranging the packs of cigarettes behind him according to brand and color. “You wanted to grant me a wish, right? Take your gold bars and go. This has been the most tiring week of my life. At least that way, we could both be actually happy.”

Alastair still kept her silence, her eyes trailed on Nathan’s back that was still turned against her.

When Nathan finally turned around to look at Alastair, he heard the bells on top of the door ring and saw that she was already long gone, her car still on the same spot from when she left it.

And just then, he felt something strange lurking inside his chest as he dropped the boxes he was holding in his hands and rushed outside.

He didn’t see her.

And that rising feeling inside of him soon grew strong when he realized that he might never again be able to.