Ethan woke up to the blare of his alarm clock the next morning in pain. He’d never worked out a day in his life, so the ache and soreness of his muscles were a new experience for him. A scary one, because he could barely move without a twinge of pain. He was not the kind of guy who handled pain well. Somehow he’d managed to fall asleep in bed after the workout tape, but he had no recollection of doing so.
He hobbled to the bathroom and peed, still groggy. Ethan wanted nothing more than to go back to bed and skip school today, but his parents would know if he did. Mom gave him a long leash and he preferred to keep it that way.
Instead, he went to open the bathroom mirror and pop a few pain relievers and had to do a double-take when he saw his reflection.
A stranger stared back at him. His long, bright blonde hair was now dark, almost black and close-cropped. His features were thick and masculine, a far cry from the more delicate (some might say effeminate) facial structure he’d once had. No one would call him ‘pretty’-though they might call him handsome. Ethan’s skin had also darkened to a tan.
At least his amber eyes hadn’t changed.
He took a step back and stared. Ethan had pecs now, thick and swollen. His larger hands shakily drifted up to them and caressed them. They jumped at his touch and Ethan realized he could make them bounce with a flex of muscles he never even knew existed. He didn’t do it too many times because they were very sore. His fingers floated down to his new abs, each one chiseled into his waist.
His shoulders were broader and rounded, just as defined as the rest of his muscles. He turned, seeing more muscles on his back bulge as he shifted and flexed his body. There were muscles on his body he didn’t know the name of. Ethan was…not quite body builder-level, but still very muscular and defined, like a regular gym-bunny.
His whole body looked sculpted, almost fake. But there was nothing fake about his muscles. He knew it because they hurt. Ethan opened the mirror, groaning as the movement spread his arms painfully, and gingerly took the bottle of aspirin and shook three tablets into the palm of his meatier hand and gulped them down. Closing the mirror, he gave his more muscular visage another look-over before he hobbled back to his room and tried to get dressed.
Only his more…revealing outfits fit him now, mostly because they were stretch-fit. His jacket, once loose, now fit him perfectly. He ended up stealing some clothes from his brother’s room as they were the only ones that fit him now.
The aspirin was kicking in now. He could move around easier, no hobbling. He walked to the bathroom and shook out a few more pain killers, stuffing them into his jacket. Then he went back down to the kitchen and ate a bowl of cereal. His stepbrother wasn’t up yet-he rarely woke before 8, now that he had a car.
That was good, because he had no idea how he was supposed explain his change of appearance. Hell, he wasn’t sure how he’d explain his sudden change to his own peers. The more he thought about it while eating breakfast, the more he wanted to take a week off to explain it all away. Maybe watching that Tape hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
He heard the bus outside and checked his phone. He was going to be late!
“Shit!” Ethan said, and jumped at his deeper, more masculine voice.
He wanted to examine himself more, but the bus outside beeped. Three beeps and they left. Ethan jumped form his chair, grabbed his bag, and ran outside. He barely got on the bus on time. The bus driver stared at him.
“You look…different today, Ethan.” She said.
Ethan had never bothered to learn her name. But she had. He smiled.
“Uh, thanks, trying out a new look.”
“It’s good.” She said and shut the doors. The bus rumbled to school.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ethan went about his day as normal. People would give him looks. He got some compliments from girls that had him feeling strangely happy. Women were usually a big turn off to him-he was gay, after all. But other than a few odd looks, no one actually commented about his appearance.
It wasn’t until he set down his tray at his usual table during lunch that someone actually confronted him about it.
Cody Smith, his best friend since kindergarten, set his tray down next to him and stared. Cody was a chubby, overweight nerd. He had greasy brown hair that refused to stay down and his face was covered in acne. When Ethan had come out, he was the only guy in his friend group that hadn’t cared. Ethan had the feeling that the guy had a crush on him. But, you know….no fatties.
He didn’t say a word for a good minute. Ethan shifted uncomfortably, then fished out the aspirin in his pocket and downed them. Cody watched him the whole time, completely silent.
Finally, Ethan couldn’t stand it any longer.
“What?” He snapped.
“You gonna tell me how the hell you come back to school after the weekend with a tan and a body most guys here would kill for?” Cody asked.
“What, you think I’m on steroids?” Ethan chuckled nervously.
“No. Steroids take time. And your face is thicker and blunter. Tell me what’s going on.”
Ethan sighed. “I watched a magical workout tape and now I’m ‘on the path of Ronnie Coleman.”
“The guy with the grill?” Cody asked.
“Is he?”
“The Coleman Grill?” Cody laughed. “Yeah, duh. He’s a black guy. Let me look him up.”
Cody flicked through his phone discretely. Phones weren’t allowed in the cafeteria anymore after the incident. Ethan couldn’t remember what that incident might have been.
“Turned pro in 1991. He’s retired now.” Cody read.
“Oh.”
“So you started on the life path of some dude you don’t even know?”
“I guess so.” Ethan shrugged, trying to act cool. “Wait, you actually believe me?”
“How could I not?” Cody stared at him. “You literally gained muscle-mass overnight.”
“Are you interested in knowing more?”
“Of course!” Cody smiled. “Tell me everything. Friggin’ magic, dude!”
And so Ethan did. He went over it all from the beginning. His brother suddenly growing mass, talking about the tapes. How he watched quarterback go in to the room and play the tape. Of his own experiences. Of Vertael. Cody especially wanted to know about Vertael.
“So you knew that there was a magic tape and that it was probably caused by a demon and you still watched it?”
“Yes.”
“That’s stupid.” Cody said, shoving a forkful of lasagna into his mouth. He swallowed and continued. “So this magic tape is turning you into Ronnie Coleman like, completely, or what?”
“I guess I never thought about that. Would it be so bad?”
“Ethan, Ronnie Coleman is straight.” Cody said.
“So?”
“You’re gay. What do you think will happen if you literally turn into Ronnie Coleman?”
“Oh.”
“Look, weight lifting is complex. The easiest way to gain muscle mass is to take something to knockout your Myostatin, scientifically speaking.” Cody explained.
He brought out his phone and typed in ‘Myostatin Knockout experiments’. Images of overly-muscular animals filled the screen. Dogs, cows, mice. A few humans, though most would be private citizens, so there wouldn’t be many of those.
“Wow, that pit bull is fucking stacked.” Ethan grinned.
“I know, right?” Cody blushed.
“Yeah...that shit is under strict lab experiment stuff.” Ethan said, reading about the clinical trials of artificially inducing the Myostatin blocker on his own phone. “I’m a high schooler.”
“True. The other problem is that if it’s addicting.” Cody said. “I was going to recommend you do one more ‘work out’ and then quit, using it as a platform to actually get into weight lifting. I’m googling it now, and you’re in the ideal starting age for professional body building.”
“Why don’t you try it?” Ethan asked.
“Because I’m a furry, Ethan.” Cody pushed his glasses up on his face. “And the demon said he specifically granted desires.”
“You actually believe this thing is evil?”
“Do you know why Satan was kicked out of heaven?”
“He rebelled against God?”
“For?”
“Loving humans more.”
“Wrong. He advocated that free will was wrong. That people will always make the worst choices if given the option, and that allowing them free will was allowing them to harm himself.”
“He was protective?”
“Overly protective. Since humans had sentience, allowing them to suffer or cause others around them to suffer was the true evil, in his argumentation. This video has to be a trap. It has to be a ploy to show that humans are naturally inclined to harm themselves or others.”
“Making people body builders isn’t exactly harming them.” Ethan pointed out.
“Right. The actual trap isn’t in place. You look at the video and BAM! Whisked off to La-La Land. If someone doesn’t intentionally watch the video and walks in on it playing, it doesn’t present a fair choice.” Cody frowned. “There’s also no tacit agreement on the viewer’s part.”
“Maybe you’re just being paranoid.”
“It’s a magical fucking tape Ethan.”
Ethan paused and sighed. “Okay. I give up. My place? We can riff on some terrible movies and uh…other stuff?”
“Fine.” Cody said. “But where are your parents?”
“Work found out their kids were 16 and started sending them both out to conferences in Los Vegas.”
“Free Vegas trip? Sweet!”
“Their work doesn’t let kids on the trips with them and apparently they make them attend a boring conference for 8 hours the whole time. It’s like, worse than school was, according to Mom.”
“Lame. I’ll talk to my Mom and if she okay’s it, I’ll call you?”
“Totally.” Ethan said.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Cody’s mom was totally cool with them hanging out. He’d left out that Ethan’s parents were on a business trip, of course. Ethan waved him in eagerly. They sat around and played a few video games. He knew that Ethan was itching to experiment with the magic tape, but he wasn’t sure that was a good idea.
“Hey, wanna watch a movie?”
“Not the tape.” Cody said firmly.
“Dude, you are so paranoid. No, I have the original Planet Battle anime.”
That piqued Cody’s interest. He’d wanted to watch them ever since he heard that the director had made some questionable decisions when he remade them. Nowadays, those remakes were the only thing left of the original animes.
“Yeah bro!” Cody smiled.
“Come on!” Ethan grinned and ran up the stairs to his room.
Cody got up and stretched, back popping. He followed the over-eager Ethan up the stairs. His room was at the end of the hallway next to the bathroom. He walked into the room as Ethan pressed play on his TV.
“Alright, should start soon.” Ethan stood and walked out of the room.
Cody sat on the bed and paused. “Where are you going?”
“Getting some snacks from the kitchen.” Ethan said, hurrying out the door and closing it behind him.
Cody rolled his eyes.
Typical, over-excited Ethan.
He pulled out his phone and was about to play a mobile game when soothing music filled the room. Cody looked up and saw the TV had started playing a workout video. He fumed. Fucking Ethan had gone out of his way to force Cody to watch the tape.
Cody started to get up, but paused. If he lost weight, maybe Ethan would be interested in him. He sighed, weighing his choices. The video was still playing, showing a variety of workouts and training routines.
He sat back down.
Regardless of whatever ‘path’ the demon sent him down, he was going to pummel Ethan.
"Welcome, fitness traveler, to the Dream Halls. I'm your lovely host Vertael..." The tone seemed to vacillate between somewhat feminine and just masculine enough to confuse the listener.
That made sense to Cody. Demons were fallen angels, after all. And angels were androgynous. He sighed, noticing that he was falling into a state of relaxation and suggestibility. Hypnosis, then. Cody tried to look away from the video, but the tape had him transfixed on the TV screen. Dimly, he realized the music at the beginning must have acted as an induction.
“I see all your desires, oh sacrifice.” The voice drifted around Cody, through him, tasting him.
Sacrifice?
Cody tried to jerk his head away from the screen or cover his ears, but he found he couldn’t move. His muscles were far too relaxed, too heavy. He tried to scream, but all that came out was a whoosh of air.
“You wish for strength and to remain at your friend’s side for the rest of your life, to protect him from that which would do him harm…”
Cody felt his small four-inch cock grow distressingly erect. More aware than most of the victims, he could see thousands of transparent little hands stretch out from the screen and play along his skin, tugging and pulling at his body. It manifested as little twinges of pleasure.
“Oh sacrifice, though your soul shall be surrendered, I shall fulfill your desires…”
“W-why…” Cody managed. “Others…”
“The others did not meet the requirements. The sacrifice must be unwilling. And you are virginal…”
The scenes on the screen blended together and soon Cody could perceive only a great eye made of light, surrounded by spiraling feathered wings. Smaller eyes blinked on the edges of those wings and the more he stared, the more eyes he found, and the whirling wings became a tunnel. He was flying down it towards the great central eye.
Cody was distantly aware that the room had become freezing cold, his breaths puffing little clouds of vapor. Frost began to form on the windows, spreading across the glass like wildfire. He shivered as the invisible hands peeled away his clothing, leaving the obese young man naked on the edge of the bed.
More hands unfurled from the screen and Cody felt himself being lifted off the bed and into the air, two feet off the ground. The hands kept his head pointed directly at the TV. He dangled there, completely limp, as the hands went to work.
Cody could feel the hands twitch and squeeze all over his body. A warmth began to spread, starting on his chest and stomach. Cody looked down and saw hairs pushing out from his skin, the little hands tugging them free. As the new brindle coat covered him all the fat on his body melted away, leaving Cody skinnier than he’d been for most of his life.
The hands began to massage him, fingers kneading and sculpting. Muscles clenched and squeezed pleasurably and began to swell into an absolutely enormous size. He groaned in pleasure as his muscles expanded, each pulse and throb of his heart making them expand faster. By the time they were done, he was absolutely jacked.
A few little hands started pushing and tugging his hands and feet. His hands began to feel oddly swollen. Cody tried to bend his fingers but could only manage a twitch. His knuckles bulked up and were pushed together as the hands pushed his fingers firmly backwards. Cody’s thumbs were pulled higher up his wrist until they became mere dewclaws. The hands began massaging his palm and strange rough pads welled up from his skin. Cody let out a whine as his legs shifted around and cramped into their new forms.
Soon, he was left with only paws.
Cody tried to squirm but the invisible hands held him tight, squeezing him, bones creaking as he began to shrink. His hips started to shift and pop as the hands stroked and pet along his lower back, as if to tease something out of his spine. He could felt pressure and then relief, a series of pops echoing in the empty room as something stretched out above his rear. Other hands stroked Cody’s neck down to his growing tail. There was a loud crack behind his neck and suddenly Cody felt himself locked into position, unable to properly bend himself like he could.
He yelped, terrified.
The demon was turning him into a dog!
"A very large, muscular pitbull, to be exact." Vertael purred. "O, don't worry Cody, you'll still be you! Just as a relatively smart dog..."
Cody gasped as the hands began stroking and fondling his sack, which plumped with fresh doggy seed under their tender ministrations, a thick coat of fur sprouting over it. A few hands wandered down to his erect shaft and rubbed it. Cody moaned as they stroked it. He could feel the ripples running through his body as the hands squeezed and pumped along his shaft.
Something about his length felt wrong. The hands were there, twisting it into a strange spire of flesh, stretching his flesh until it bobbed at an obscene foot in length. A bunch of fur and skin wrapped around the base of his shaft, attaching it to his stomach and becoming his new sheathe. The hands pushed the furry folds of skin back and continued teasing his twitching length. His cock changed color, becoming a deep red as a bulge began to grow at its base. Precum spilled from the tip and dribbled onto the floor below.
He opened his mouth in a moan and the hands shoved themselves inside.
Cody’s teeth grew sharper as the little hands rubbed them, jaw creaking and stretching, bones clicking and snapping softly as his face was tugged further and further forward, mouth shifting to better accommodate his growing fangs. His lips were stretched, blackening as his mouth was pulled into a grin that grew wider and wider. The hands let go and his upper lips flopped down and drooped over his lower lips. More hands grabbed at his tongue, tugging it into a flatter shape. Drool spilled from his mouth as the hands pulled it longer and longer, until it hung down well below his chin.
Other hands tugged at his ears, pulling them further back and up to the top of his head. They grew into points, the cartilage bending as his new, triangular ears were cropped. More hands began to press down on his skull. A soft whine escaped the back of his throat as the pressure increased, driving out all thoughts. The dome of his skull deflated under the crushing pressure and thickened, brain growing smaller and restructuring inside its case.
The pitbull-faced boy panted, tongue lolling from his slack mouth, thoughts suddenly cottony. He stared into the TV screen and deep into the spiral. His eyes glazed over and the irises expanded, leaving little whites to show. His blue eyes dulled and darkened into a flat brown color.
His thoughts were a mess as he shivered with each and every stroke along his shaft, eliciting more whimpers and moans that sounded less and less like Cody and more like a horny pitbull by the second. He opened his mouth and let out another dog-like whimper.
Cody’s body and enormous muscles were adjusted into their final shape. He felt so heavy, so huge and thick, so warm and good. The dog’s eyes were half-lidded as he panted in blissful pleasure, surrendering himself to the change. The hands seemed to sense Cody’s thoughts as he dangled in the air, no longer resisting and simply enjoying his transformation. They grasped his shaft just behind the knot and started to pump. The first moment of pressure along that shaft made him whine and yowl in pure, mind-melting need. His whole body shook from the sensations that exploded in his tiny doggy brain.
Every light touch sent another fit of shivering down his spine, his tongue hanging out of his maw as he panted and moaned.. the pressure kept building more and more and more. His tail flicked. His eyes closed shut. His breath caught. His leg kicked out. Cody threw his head back in a deep breath, let out an achingly desperate howl...
...and came harder than he'd ever felt in his life.
Cody’s back arched suddenly, his paws curling up to his chest, hips bucking uncontrollably as his thick red shaft shot a long jet of cum out onto the ground below his front paws. The next ropes were pumped out of him with each tug of the invisible hands along his knot. His eyes rolled up into his head and his ears flattened, thickly muscled body seizing up in a paroxysm of ecstasy.
It felt like nothing he'd ever experienced, and nothing he’d ever experience again as more of his thoughts and memories vanished from his mind with every twitching burst of his shaft onto the floorboards.
He humped and thrust and spurted into the air over and over and over. The pitbull’s muzzle hung open, tongue lolling out past his chin, flecks of saliva dripping onto the floor as Cody was lost to the climax that wracked his body and made his short, brindled fur coat stand on end. The wooden floorboards below him were soon absolutely covered in the his translucent doggy spunk, wad after wad painting the floor white, shooting from the tip of his crimson length.
The hands continued stroking. A softly glowing ethereal fluid began flowing out the tip of the pitbull's dick. The myriad of little hands pulled and tugged, drawing out Cody’s soul and carrying the fluid back into the TV screen. Cody was so totally enraptured with his incredible orgasm that he never noticed his mind and soul being ferried away.
Soon, there was no more Cody, the teenager. There was only Cody, the massively muscled pit bull, enjoying his climax and whining lewdly in the cold, empty bedroom.
Cody ejaculated for another minute until the flow of semen began to ebb. The dog stared blankly at the screen. He couldn't think of anything in that sweet afterglow. His shaft continued to twitch and leak against his belly as he moaned and whimpered. He felt so very good...so very relieved as he was held aloft, as warm and comfortable as could be despite the frost coating the windows.
The tiny hands lifted the overly-muscled pitbull up from the floor and gently laid him back onto the bed, curling him into a proper canine sleeping position.More hands appeared from the swirling screen, carrying a heavy leather collar that jangled as the tags attached to it clinked together. They fastened it around the pit bull’s wide neck. The hands rubbed the canine’s head and the dog named Cody drifted off to sleep.
The hands went to work on cleaning the bedroom. Cody’s clothing was picked up and tossed into the TV. The enormous puddle of sperm suctioned away. They extended further and farther than was metaphysically possible. Soon there was no trace that Cody the human ever existed.
There was pedigree paperwork for Cody the dog, though, placed inside Ethan’s desk drawer.
The hands withdrew into the screen, their job complete. The video ended
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--
Ethan waited impatiently. The first few minutes, he’d thought he heard muffled noises coming from the room, but it had been silent for a while now. About two hours had passed, according to the clock. Way too long for a workout video. He got up and walked upstairs to his room. The house was unnaturally, almost eerily silent, he realized.
As he ascended up the stairs, he had the oddest feeling come over him. More of a memory, really. He was back in his old house, where they had this cellar beneath the house. It was musty and the ceiling was covered in cobwebs. Mom kept the canned jars in there-she loved gardening. Pickles, salsa, spaghetti sauce-you name it, she grew it from her garden, canned it and had it on a shelf. He dreaded going down the creaky stairs to that cellar, not just because of the creepy spiders, but because he always had the feeling that something was down there, just waiting for him to drop his guard so it could eat him up.
He’d go downstairs, get the jar his Mom had asked for and then raced back up the stairs, turning off the light switch and slamming the door closed behind him. He always locked it. And he always felt that he was a breath away from being gutted by some monster. Just opening the door to turn off the light (because he’d ‘forget’ to) was filled with the strange terror that something with claws would reach out for his hand and grab him, dragging him screaming into the darkness.
That feeling-that dread, was what filled him as he stood atop the stairs and stared at the still-closed door of his room.
Floor boards creaked (had they always done that?) as he cautiously walked to his door.
He was being silly, he realized.
Ethan wasn’t a little kid anymore, he was in a house in the suburbs. His friend was probably going to be much hotter and fuckable when he opened his door. There was no monster waiting to claw his throat out in the dark.
Ethan took a deep, calming breath and raised his fist.
“Cody?” Ethan knocked.
There was loud thump, a strange jingling sound, and then a click-clacking as something large came to the door. Ethan waited, wondering if Cody was screwing with him. He knew he’d been disoriented after he viewed the tape. Maybe Cody was just real woozy.
He knocked again, louder.
“Cody?” Ethan called.
A bark answered him He heard something scratch at the door and whine. Had Cody brought a dog into his room? He couldn’t have-Cody’s parents lived in a pet-free apartment, and the dog on the other side sounded big. Cody must have been fucking with him.
“That’s it, I’m coming in.” Ethan announced (mostly to calm himself, because his heart was beating rapidly) and opened the door and stared, not quite believing his eyes.
A huge, overly muscled brindle furred pit bull sat on the other side, panting.
It looked up at him and barked, tail wagging. Its ears were docked, and the dog’s muscles were ridiculously ripped. Around his throat was a thick leather collar. The tags jangled as the pit bull cocked his head, staring at the human in bemusement, and its tongue lolled out of its mouth as it panted. And it was definitely a he, judging by his red rocket, which was fully extended, thrusting hugely between its legs.
“G-good boy.” Ethan said, slowly moving around it. “Easy, easy. Sit. Stay.”
The dog just watched him as he tip-toed around it and entered his bedroom. And did nothing. Almost like he had actually obeyed Ethan’s commands. Ethan searched his room and under his bed. Cody wasn’t anywhere. His windows were closed shut and locked, meaning he hadn’t gotten out through the window. Had he crept out of the room when Ethan wasn’t paying attention? If so, what the hell was with the dog?
“Cody?” Ethan asked.
The dog barked and Ethan jumped.
He put a hand over his heart. It was hammering against his chest. Goosebumps raised along his arms and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Ethan rubbed his arms and noticed he could see his breath as it fogged in front of him. The temperature in the room was ice cold.
Everything in the room was right where he left it when he left. Bed mostly made, cloths mostly picked up, trash mostly cleaned. His computer desk and computer in sleep mode. He checked under his bed.one more time, just to be safe, and saw only dust bunnies and his crusty yellowed ‘happy sock’. The TV was on, the video finished. Only a blue screen was on, the one with the legal stuff on it at the end of every video.
There was only one place left to look.
Ethan shivered and walked to his closet doors...and opened them!
Nothing. Just his clothes on hangers and a pile of junk at the bottom of the closet.
“Cody?”
The dog barked again.
Ethan slowly turned his head and looked at the dog. He felt a sinking feeling his chest. It couldn’t be. The video was safe-well, mostly, it was trying to turn him into a famous body builder. And then he recalled the conversation about Vertael being a demon of desires. And Cody had very specific desires.
He bent down slowly and patted his knee, remembering how obedient the dog had been. “Come.”
The dog rose up on all fours, tags on his collar jangling, and padded over to Ethan, claws click-clacking on the wooden floor. It had a wide, rolling gait, hind legs forced apart by muscle and forelegs and shoulders waaay over muscled. Just like the dogs Cody had been talking about at school. The ones with the Myostatin Knockout genes.
“Cody?” Ethan asked, looking into the dog’s dull brown eyes, searching for a glimmer of intelligence.
The dog whuffed softly in response and licked his face.
Ethan pulled the dog away and grabbed its collar. He fumbled with the tags-heart worm, rabies shots, all up to date, apparently-and found what he wanted a moment later. He looked at the tag and his jaw dropped.
Cody
Property of Ethan DiLaurentis
If found, call ***-***-****
“Hello, Ethan.” A strangely androgynous spoke from the TV.
Ethan jumped.
The TV screen was no longer showing the blue legal screen at the end of every video. Instead, a softly glowing image of a huge eye surrounded by feathery wings filled its entirety. Ethan vaguely recalled seeing this exact image when he watched the video.
“Vertael?” Ethan asked.
“One and the same.” The voice said, letting out a melodious chuckle. “Your sacrifice pleases me greatly.”
“Sacrifice?” Ethan glanced down at the dog. “You did this to Cody?”
“Indeed. His soul was delicious.”
“Why?” Ethan said, because that was all he could say.
“Why did I turn him into a dog and devoured his soul? Because you offered him to me.”
“You!” Ethan was seized with an anger so fierce he was finding it difficult to find the right words. “You come out right now! Show me your true form!”
“Oh, my dear Ethan, this is my true form. Have you mortals not had Cherubim described to you?” Vertael chuckled.
“B-but you’re a demon!”
“And what are demons but former angels? Now come, you have proffered me a soul, what is it you desire? Riches, love…perhaps you wish to change your path, make one of your own?”
“I want my friend back!” Ethan said. “I didn’t mean to..offer you sacrifice or anything!”
“Oh? Did you not trick your friend to watch my video, even after he explicitly asked you not to? After you knew his predilections?”
“That is not the same as offering you his soul and you know it!” Ethan said hotly.
“I know nothing of the sort. I offer you fair trade, do you reject my offer?”
“A fair trade!” Ethan choked. “You took away my best friend, asshole!”
“And gave you one back in return.” Vertael chuckled, voice low. “After all, are dogs not man’s best friend?”
“That’s not the same thing.” Ethan spat.
“He’s perfectly loyal and as far as the world is concerned, you have a very handsome one-year old pitbull. Save for those who have experienced me, Cody has never existed.”
Ethan felt tears roll down his face.
The demon wasn’t going to give back Cody. He clung to his new dog and buried his face in his fur. The dog whuffed and snuffled at his hair and licked his cheek, tail wagging happily at the attention.
“Perhaps we can work out a deal.” Vertael spoke softly, as though he were moved.
Ethan looked up.
“Bring me more sacrifices and I will return your friend to you.”
“H-how many?” Ethan swallowed.
“Seven.” Vertael said. “But they must know of me and they must be unwilling to experience me. I shall count those who have not engaged in sexual congress as double.”
The TV shut off by itself.
Ethan stared at the black screen, the dog’s thin tail whipping his bed, snuggling against Ethan’s side. The air in the room slowly warmed again, but the dread Ethan had felt hadn’t left. The monster in the cellar had finally caught him.