Everyone has a guardian angel except you. You have a guardian demon. He deals with things in a much more violent fashion but much more effective.
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It’s been strangely silent, as if the world itself held its breath while everything in my life flowed effortlessly. Whatever the reason, I was grateful. The universe had a fucked-up sense of humor, giving me a guardian demon instead of a guardian angel. I still didn’t understand how that happened. Despite his demon tendencies, Bael still tried to help me. The thing was, we were complete opposites. Being a reserved introvert, I loathe confrontation. I went through extreme measures to avoid it. Whereas he reveled in confrontation and did as he pleased, regardless of the consequences. We didn’t exactly see eye to eye on a lot of things.
When I first met Bael, I was hanging on by a thread. I’d gotten myself into some stupid situations by making poor decisions that ended in epic failure. That happens when you make choices based on avoidance. One day, out of the blue, Bael showed up. It was at random points throughout my day. At first, I thought he was just a normal guy that I kept seeing around. It wasn’t until later when he appeared in my house and scared the shit out of me; he explained what and who he was. Dumbfounded wouldn’t even begin to describe how I felt. Bael had strong feelings about the matter as well. He lamented how he got a human with absolutely no backbone and was beyond help.
That was hard to hear, but I knew deep down it was true. I’d never been strong enough or bold enough to stand up for myself, but I hoped there was still a way for me to learn. We’ve obviously had some tough times together. I’ve had to curb his bloodlust, and he’s had to kick me in the ass a few times along the way to get me to even move in the right direction.
I will admit his influence has rubbed off. I have become bolder than I used to be, but it’s a work in progress. He was constantly pushing me to stand up for myself and see my value. Sometimes he would take liberties on my behalf, and the consequences were disastrous. My lack of action, especially when I’d been wronged, annoyed him.
At my last job, I had a manager that was a real piece of work. Bael didn’t like the way she treated me. He kept urging me to stand up for myself, but I would cower away each time and use the excuse that I needed my job. My manager was in a position that she didn’t rightfully earn. The gossip around the office was that she was given the position because the CEO was her uncle. Nepotism at its best and unfortunately, I reported directly to her. What made it worse was she didn’t know how to do her job. She unloaded her responsibilities on me and, the sucker that I was, I did the work. I did such a great job that she kept getting pats on the back and fat bonuses while complaining to everyone that I, her assistant, was worthless. Being completely at her mercy, I took it because I was afraid I’d lose my job. I worked my ass off doing two jobs, raking in ten to twelve hours a day, and yet she’d deny me overtime. I was overworked and on the verge of a mental breakdown when I got the warning from Bael.
“Minnie, if you don’t stand up to her, I will. You are going to end up in the hospital over that over-privileged, entitled little cunt.”
It was a risk I should’ve taken. I had the backup and the emails. I should’ve gone to senior management to complain, but I was terrified they wouldn’t believe me, and I’d lose my job. Hindsight being 20/20, I had all the leverage I needed because she literally couldn’t do her own job. I was ashamed of myself for not being bold, and now I was starting over.
I chickened out. Bael took matters into his own hands and decided she needed to be taught a lesson in humility. If I was being completely honest with myself, I secretly enjoyed what he put her through. Somehow, he got into her computer and downloaded a rather large amount of inappropriate content and saved it on the company’s network. Bael even got some rather lurid photos of her in acts unbecoming of a junior executive. The next morning, when everyone got to the office and logged in, they could all see the files she saved on the shared drive. There were lots of gasps, and “Oh my God’s”. I’d never seen the IT guys move their asses that fast in my life. Within minutes they had that the whole thing shut down and wiped from the server. The best part, though, was when the CEO huffed his way past my cubicle and right into her office. He slammed the door but yelled loud enough for the entire office to hear. After a verbal lashing, he fired her on the spot.
Unfortunately for me, she denied everything, and they had to open an investigation. Being that I was the last one in the office the night before, I was the prime suspect. Suddenly, I was getting sneers from my fellow co-workers, and comments on how I could stoop so low. It made my head spin at how quickly people assumed I would do something like that without knowing a thing about me. Then there were the others that genuinely hated her but would snicker every time I came around. Porn Queen became my nickname, and it made me extremely uncomfortable. I stayed long enough to be cleared of the accusation, but the lasting effect with the people there would never leave me, so I quit.
I was furious with Bael. Later, when I came home, I confronted him. He shrugged his shoulders when I asked him, completely unbothered.
“Minnie, I gave you a chance to take care of it. Plus, I was thinking of you because I would’ve rather killed her frankly. She’d make a delectable snack.” He said as he licked his lips. He explained once that the more despicable, evil, or violent the person was, the more enjoyable they’d be to eat.
Whenever that little tidbit crossed my mind, I shuddered. I told him to never talk about his meals again. There were some things I just preferred to stay ignorant of. I was stuck with him, so it was self-preservation not let my mind wander there.
Today was the first day of my new job. When I walked through the doors at my job, he popped into existence right by my side. It took me a while to realize that he wasn’t always visible to others. He chose who could and could not see him. He liked to take on different forms just to cause trouble. His go to form was typical of what a male model would look like. Tall, dark hair, dark eyes, and perfectly toned body. When he wanted me to like him, he always showed up looking like the actor who played my favorite superhero. When he was feeling mischievous, he would usually take the form of a deranged clown. It scared the shit out of people, but not me. His clown persona just annoyed me. Only once had I seen his true form. It terrified me so deeply that I asked him to never appear like that again. Today, he had his model persona on as he assessed the surrounding area. I knew no one could see him at the moment, so I whispered for him to behave.
He looked at me and smirked. “Don’t I always?”
I snorted out loud and got a few strange looks from others. Great, already starting the day looking like a weirdo. Luckily, he only stuck around for a little while before he got bored and disappeared. I got through most of my day before he showed up again.
“Minnie!” He yelled from behind me. I was so lost in my work that I screeched. He snickered as I turned around and faced the deranged clown.
“Ugh, change, please.” I rolled my eyes as I took in the garish clown costume with blood splatter everywhere. He snapped his fingers and now I was facing a stereotypical alien creature with green skin, an enormous head, skinny arms, legs, and body. I snorted because he looked ridiculous. Then he snapped again and now I faced Jason Voorhees. I rolled my eyes. He was looking for trouble, for sure. I sighed, “Can you please go scare people somewhere else? I’d like to keep this job long enough to pay my rent.” He shrugged his shoulders as he looked around. It was then that the office’s busy body walked into my cubicle.
“Minnie, who are you talking to? You understand we are not here to socialize. You may not make personal calls during working hours, only on break.” Karen was staring me down with her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot incessantly.
I gritted my teeth. Good grief, it was the only thing I had said out loud all day. It was tempting to be agreeable so that she would go away, but I was done. I didn’t want to be that timid girl anymore. The thought of talking back gave me anxiety, but I had to do it. This was a new company and a new start. My hands shook as the blood roared in my ears. Before I turned to her, I put on a saccharine sweet smile.
“As you can see, Karen, there is no one here, nor was I on my phone. You must be hearing things.” I stared at her with that smile stuck on my face and hoped she’d get the hint and go away. She didn’t.
“For fuck’s sake! How do the troublemakers always find you, Minnie?” Bael threw up his hands and was shaking his head in exasperation. “Just let me eat her. Problem solved.” I ignored Bael as Karen continued.
“I could hear you quite well, and I know you were talking to someone.” She stood there with that tapping foot as her eyebrows rose to her forehead. What the hell did this woman want? It’s not like she was my boss or anything. As far as I knew, we were on an equal level.
I smiled again, using an open-handed gesture as I turned around in my chair. “Again, no one here, unless you want to get me in trouble for talking to myself. Last I checked, that wasn’t against company policy.” In my head, I told her to go fuck off, which Bael heard and started chuckling.
“You should’ve said it out loud. She’s nothing around here but a pain in the ass. At least let me mess with her a bit.”
“NO!” I whisper-shouted, but it was of no use considering I had an audience watching me closely.
Karen’s eyebrows shot up to her forehead before she shot me daggers. “I don’t like you, Minnie, there’s something off with you and I’m not letting this go.”
I struggled with rolling my eyes. “Do what you must, Karen,” I said as I turned back around to my desk. It was then I saw her look over to where Bael was standing, and the color drained from her face. She looked pale as she gasped. I looked where she was looking, and I saw Bael appear into existence as Jason Voorhees and disappear a minute later. Just long enough to fuck with the nosy woman. She looked at me and then looked back at that spot.
“Something wrong Karen?” I tried as hard as I could to keep a straight face, but my smile broke at the corners.
“No! Nothing at all. Sorry to bother you.” She was backing out of my cubicle before she turned and ran out of there.
“You see! She’s not even sure what she saw, but I’m willing to bet she won’t be bothering you anymore.” Bael looked like my favorite superhero with a smug smile.
I chuckled, “Hopefully not. Even though I don’t approve of your methods, sometimes it works out.”
“Of course it does! Now, I am rather hungry. Can I eat her later?”
I could sense he might be joking with me, but I never could tell.
“Oh my God, NO! Go find some child molester or serial killer and eat them,” I whispered at him. Hoping no one was listening on the other side of the cubicle wall.
“Ooh…that’s a good idea. Try not to get in trouble while I’m gone.”
I was a little uneasy with the fact that I just gave him an idea of whom to eat. At least if he ate one of the two options mentioned the world would be a better place. I shrugged to myself. This demon was changing me. I don’t think I would’ve thought about these kinds of things a few years ago.
I made it through the rest of my day without issues until I left the building. It was then that I ran into my ex-boyfriend. The egotistical narcissist treated me like shit for years, but I never did anything about it because he scared me. He used to always threaten me with violence, but luckily, he never followed through. It was probably because I was so agreeable and did what he wanted. One day, out of the blue, he decided he was better off without me and took off. I’d never been so happy to be dumped. Two days later, Bael showed up. He knew about my ex because he asked me point blank one day why a hot piece of ass like me was alone. It caught me off guard, but I figured if I was stuck with this demon, he might as well know why I was a little hesitant to get involved with another man. The sneer on his face told me everything I needed to know. He didn’t approve, and he told me I was an idiot for dating him in the first place. Tactful as always, I rolled my eyes and tried not to take offense at what he was saying. He was right, of course, and what made it worse was I stayed with that asshole for two years.
“Hey baby, I’ve been looking for you. Did you get a new job?” Jeremy slung his arm around my shoulder like we were still a couple and leaned into me.
His presence repulsed me, and I certainly didn’t want him touching me. I shrugged out of his hold and stepped back. This was a big deal to him because I never went against him.
“First of all, I’m not your baby. Second, what’s going on in my life is none of your business. You gave up the right to that information years ago when you left.”
I turned around and started walking in the opposite direction, even though it was the wrong way. It was more important to get away from him. In my gut, I knew he wouldn’t take my rejection lightly. The next thing I knew, he had a handful of my hair and pulled me back to him.
“What the fuck did you just say? Bitch, you have some nerve to speak to me that way? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
He sneered as he pulled my hair harder. Tears sprung at the sting in my scalp as a vicious smile took over his face. If not for the bystanders that were ignoring the situation, he probably would’ve hit me. Where the hell was Bael? He dragged me by my hair across the street towards his car. I knew I couldn’t get in that car. Bad things would happen to me if I did, but I was out of my element. Unsure what to do, I tried to pull away from him. When that didn’t work, I screamed for help. Quick as lightning, he reached out with his free hand and wrapped it around my throat. He squeezed so hard I couldn’t breathe. Little black dots invaded my vision. I knew it wouldn’t be much longer. My face heated as my heart broke. This was how I was going to die, just as I had decided to really live. I let the tears run freely down my cheeks, no point in holding them back as I stared into those hateful eyes.
Suddenly, he released me, and I fell to the floor, gasping. As I took in precious gulps of air, I looked up and Bael was there with his hand wrapped around my ex’s neck. “Minnie, why was this man treating you like a piece of trash?”
His voice was casual, as if he were inquiring about the weather. Nothing betrayed what he was feeling as he held Jeremy by the throat standing in the middle of the street. My throat burned like fire had licked a path down my esophagus. It made it difficult to speak, but I managed a raspy, “He’s my ex.” Jeremy had killed whatever feelings I may have had for him long ago. There would be no compassion or guilt for what he was experiencing. He deserved what was coming to him.
Three words. That’s all it took for Bael to lose his unearthly shit. Before my eyes, he transformed from his model persona to his true form. I could see him, but I knew no one on the street could see him except for my ex. Jeremy screamed as he watched Bael grow taller. His skin changed to a scaly black with red veins running through it, horns grew out of his head and his teeth became elongated with razor-sharp tips. Talons grew out of his fingers and toes and his eyes took on that crimson shine as he took in the man in his grip. His wings popped out next, and that’s when Jeremy pissed himself. I had no idea what was going to happen, but Bael looked at me and ordered me to go home. Before I could even stand, he shot up into the sky with Jeremy still in his grip. I got up off the floor and dusted myself off and started the trek home.
After arriving, I took a hot shower and made myself a soothing cup of tea with honey for my throat. As I sat there on my sofa thinking about everything that had happened, I couldn’t help but feel relieved. Jeremy was probably facing a horrible death at the hands of my guardian demon, but did I care? The guy was about to do God knows what to me, so no, I didn’t give two shits what happened with Jeremy. If he would’ve left me alone, he could’ve gone about his life making others miserable, but today he chose poorly. For that, he’d pay for everything and everyone he’d made miserable in one fell swoop.
That night when I crawled into bed, I slept better than I had in years. For once in my life, I didn’t feel afraid anymore. If that meant that my demon was rubbing off on me, then so be it. The old me was exhausting. This was a change that I welcomed wholeheartedly. I wasn’t going to go out and start murdering or eating people like he did, but if he could teach me to be stronger and make better choices, well, why would I deny that? I saw the reward for standing up for myself today with Karen and I knew that each day I would get stronger and stronger until finally, one day, I wouldn’t need a guardian anymore. As much as that thought saddened me, for I had become somewhat fond of Bael and his crazy antics, I knew it was right.
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