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.
~~~~~~
It’s been oddly quiet lately. Maybe it was because everything in my life had been running rather smoothly. Whatever the reason I wasn’t complaining. I haven’t seen Bael around in a while. I was grateful for it. You see the universe must have a fucked-up sense of humor because instead of getting a guardian angel I got a guardian demon. Don’t ask me how that works because I still don’t get it. Even though he’s a demon he still tries to help me out in his own way. Here’s the thing though, we are complete opposites. I’m a shy, timid and reserved person and I loathe confrontation. I will go through extreme measures to avoid it. Whereas he obviously does as he pleases regardless of the consequences. We don’t exactly see eye to eye on a lot of things.
I was sailing by in life by the skin of my teeth when I first met Bael. Seriously, I’ve gotten myself into some stupid situations. I tend to make bad decisions. That happens when you make choices based on avoidance. One day out of the blue, Bael started showing up randomly throughout my day. At first, I thought he was just a normal guy that I kept seeing. It wasn’t till later when he appeared in my house that he gave me a small heart attack that explained what and who he was. I was dumbfounded and he was irritated that he got someone he said, and I quote, “had absolutely no backbone and was beyond help.” That was hard to hear but I knew deep down it was somewhat true. I’ve 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.
One thing I will admit is that he has forced me to be a little bolder than I used to be, but it’s a work in progress. He’s constantly pushing me to stand up for myself and see my value. Sometimes he takes liberties on my behalf and the consequences are disastrous. He gets irritated by my lack of action especially when I’ve been wronged. Case in point, today is the first day at my new job. Bael didn’t like the way my manager was treating me in my last job. He kept urging me to stand up for myself, but I would cower away each time. She was a real piece of work too. She 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 actually know how to do what was expected of her. She unloaded her responsibilities on me. I did such a great job that she kept getting pats on the back and fat bonus’ while complaining to everyone that I, her assistant, was good for nothing and was debating on firing me. I felt completely at her mercy because I needed my job. I worked my ass off doing her job as well as my own 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 him.
“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.”
I should’ve taken the risk. I had the backup and the emails. I should’ve gone to senior management to complain but I was too scared 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 am ashamed of myself for not being bold and now I’m starting over. Bael decided that she needed to be taught a lesson in humility, and If I was being completely honest with myself it was kind of funny what he did to her. 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 managed to get some rather lurid photos of her in acts unbecoming of a young executive. The next morning when everyone got to the office and logged in, they could all see the files she saved to 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 which put me in everyone’s spotlight. 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 just 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. I got the nickname porn queen and well, yeah, I wasn’t comfortable with that either. 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 was home, I confronted him. He shrugged his shoulders when I asked him like he could care less. “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.
I still shuddered when I thought about that. I wasn’t sure what or whom he ate. I’d prefer not to know those details. I was stuck with him, so it was for my own self-preservation. When I walked through the doors at my new 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 for 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 would usually scare the shit out of people. I wasn’t scared of clowns, so it just irritated me. I’d only seen his true form once and that scared the shit out of me. I asked him to never appear like that again. Today he had his model persona on as he assessed the area around me. 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. I heard him snicker as I turned around and was faced with 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 very green looking alien creature. The typical stereotype of what one looked like, with a huge head and skinny arms, legs, and body. I snorted because he looked ridiculous. Then he snapped again and now I was faced with 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 busy body walked into my cubicle.
“Minnie, who are you talking to? You do understand that we are not here to socialize, and you are not permitted to make personal calls during working hours, only on break.” Donna was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest tapping her foot incessantly.
I blew out a frustrated breath, I was tempted to just be agreeable so that she would leave me alone, but I was done. I didn’t want to be that timid girl anymore, even if it gave me a great amount of anxiety to do so. This was a new company and a new start. I felt my pulse increase and my hands started to shake as I turned to her. “As you can see, Donna, there is no one here nor was I on my phone. You must be hearing things.” I gave her a saccharine smile and hoped she’d get the hint and go away. She didn’t.
“For fucks 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 Donna continued.
“I could hear quite well, and I know you were talking to someone.” She stood there with that tapping foot as she stared me down. What the fuck 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. I used 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.
Donna’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 not to roll my eyes. “Do what you must Donna,” 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. Served her right. She looked at me and then looked back to that spot. “Something wrong Donna?” 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 messing with me, but one never knew with Bael. “Oh my God, NO! Go find some child molester or serial killer and eat them,” I whisper shouted at him. Hoping no one was listening on the other side of the cubicle wall.
“Ohh…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 did eat 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 managed to make it through the rest of my day with no other issues until I left the building. It was then that I ran into my ex-boyfriend. The egotistical narcissist that treated me like shit for years, but I never did anything about it because I was afraid he would hit me. He used to always threaten me violence but luckily, he never followed through. 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 to 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.
I was repulsed by his presence 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 did anything that would go against what he wanted. “First of all, I’m not your baby. Secondly, 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 other direction even though it was the wrong way. I needed to get away from him and had a bad feeling that he wouldn’t take my rejection lightly. I wasn’t wrong. 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? You have the nerve to speak to me that way? Who the fuck do you think you are?” He sneered as a vicious look took over his face. If not for the people walking around us but not doing a damn thing about the situation, he probably would’ve hit me. Where the hell was Bael? He started dragging me by my hair across the street to where his car was parked. I knew I couldn’t get in that car with him. Bad things would happen to me if I did but I was out of my element. I had no idea what to do. I tried to pull away from him and started screaming 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, and as little black dots started invading my vision, I knew it wouldn’t be long now. There were tears running down my cheeks. This couldn’t be the end, could it?
Suddenly, I was released and fell to the floor in a heap gasping for air. As I took in precious breaths, 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 like he wasn’t holding a man by the throat in mid-air in the middle of the street. At this point, I had nothing left as far as feelings for Jeremy. He deserved what was coming to him. I could hardly speak after the amount of force he used on my throat, but I managed a raspy, “He’s my ex.”
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 in size. His skin changing to a scaly black with red veins running through it, horns appeared to grow out of his head and his teeth became elongated with razor-sharp tips. Talons grew out of his fingers and toes and his eyes shone the brightest red as he took in the man in his grip. His bat 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 walked home.
When I got home, 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 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 fucks what happened with Jeremy. If he would’ve left me alone, he could’ve gone about his life making others miserable, but he chose poorly today and now 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. I was so tired of the old me that I welcomed this new change in my life. 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 Donna 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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