Fluffy Kittens and Nightmares

You could be a lot of things. Worse yet, you could be hybrid.

“Ready?”

“Kid, I was born ready.”

“Are demons really born though?”

“Humans are born, which can turn into demons.”

“Wait, what?”

“Sh! She’s coming.”

Ted shifted the furry wad of Pride in his arms as he heard the front door open. Before Alice could call for him, he came sprinting down the stairs to meet her. “Alice! You’ve got to see this.”

Alice put down a couple grocery bags by the front door. “Ted, how are you feeling? Still panicky?”

Ted shook his head. “No. Anyway, I was on my way home, still kind of freaking out, when I saw this little guy. Holding him made me feel a lot better. It’s a pupp-” He opened his arms to reveal a small white kitten. “Kitten. It’s a kitten.”

Alice frowned, taking the baby cat into her arms when her brother forced the creature upon her. “I don’t know, Ted. We both have pretty busy lives. Is this really the best thing for us right now?”

Ted sighed, his act faltering. “Alice, it’s been a long time since we lost mom and dad. We need to stop feeling like we’re still grieving and that life can’t change. Besides, he helped me with my anxiety. Please?” The teen looked up pleadingly. The last part wasn’t quite a lie, at least.

For a moment, Alice’s decision seemed to be set in stone. But her posture relaxed when she spoke. “Okay. We can keep him. Did you have a name in mind?”

Ted took the offered kitten back, stroking him. He was surprised to feel Pride purring against his chest. “I was thinking ‘Pride’. He cleans himself a lot like he’s trying to impress someone.”

The demon kitten looked up at Ted indignantly. Ted let the kitten down on to the ground, deciding he’d speak to the demon later about changing shape on him last minute.

“Ted, we need to talk about that panic attack today,” Alice said. She picked her groceries back up and took them to the kitchen to unpack the food items. “If it’s bad enough to run you out of school, maybe we need to get you some help. See a psychiatrist.”

Ted looked to his sister in shock. “What? No! I’m fine! I don’t need a shrink. Being a teenager is bad enough without the subconscious implications of needing help!” He followed her into the kitchen.

Alice shook her head. “This will only be harder for you if you wait until college. And you’re hardly a teenager. It’s your senior year.”

“Yeah, and I don’t want to spend it with a doctor.”

“Ted, what do you want me to do? I have to do what’s best for you. It’s what Mom and Dad would have wanted.”

“And if I was having this conversation with them, I’d still argue.”

Alice sighed, leaning heavily against the kitchen counter, her back turned to her brother.  Ted felt his body tensing, and this time the anxiety really was bubbling in his chest. Then, to his surprise, the anxiety was suddenly cooled and put to rest. He looked down to see Pride circling around his feet like an actual cat. He was giving the teen some kind of look, but it didn’t translate well as a cat. Ted only looked at him in confusion.

Alice turned around then. She opened her mouth to speak, then looked between Ted and the cat. She stepped forward and picked him up. Pride nudged up against her face affectionately. “Alright, Ted, how about we compromise. I may not be a psychologist, but I know the best way to solve any problem is to understand its cause. So if you spend three one-hour sessions with me a week discussing this anxiety problem we won’t involve a psychiatrist. Okay? And you spend plenty of time with Pride… here…” Alice trailed off, looking the demon in the eye as if she saw something strange.

Pride growled under his breath, swatting at Ted’s sister. “Hey!” he called out, grabbing the cat. Alice reeled back, grabbing her nose where the cat had scratched her. “Alice, I’m so sorry.”

Alice pulled her hand from her face, frowning when she saw a drop of blood. “Keep an eye on that cat, Ted. I’ve got a bad feeling about him.”

“Um,” Ted muttered, looking down at the feline ge was squishing against his chest. “Yeah. Alice that whole talking deal sounds good. You want to start that tomorrow?”

Alice only nodded as she grabbed a paper towel to dab at her face. With that, Ted hiked it upstairs and into his room.

The second the door closed behind Ted, Pride tumbled out of his arms and shifted shape. He looked human again, but now his suit was bright purple instead of orange. Purple bow tie, purple top hat, purple pants.

“I thought we agreed on a puppy?” The teen asked, crossing his arms.

Pride floated around lazily. He went on a round of basically touching things. Running his hand across everything: Ted’s computer, the curtain to his closet, his bed sheet. “I changed my mind.”

Ted sighed. “Pride, we need to be on the same page about these things. I could have given it all away.”

The demon only shrugged, as if this didn’t worry him. “That wouldn’t be a problem if you put that barrier around your head down. I could have warned you mentally.”

Ted opened his mouth to argue when something occurred to him. He turned to the floating demon, expression stern. The words he’d planned to speak escaped him when he saw how close the demon was to him. Pride reached out and ran a hand a cross his face - not in a suave way. It was more like he was trying to rub something off the human’s face. Then he pinched Ted’s nose and stretched his cheek.

The teen stumbled backwards and landed on his bed. “But you’ve spoken to me before- mentally, I mean.”

The Demon stopped all motion, an expression of surprise crossing his face. “When was this?”

“When you were a jackalope. You don’t remember? It was when we were in Rhiannon's car.”

Pride continued floating around, face thoughtful. “I was unconscious then. Are you sure that was me?”

Ted rested his hands in his face. “Pretty sure,” he replied. The teen looked up when there was no response for a long time. Pride was still floating around, his expression confused. The teen had never seen the demon so unknowledgeable about a topic. “Pride?”

“I need you to bind yourself to me.”

Ted grimaced. “I’m not sure what all that entails, but I don’t think I want to do that.”

Pride shook his head. “You know that part of a human teenage relationship where neither of you want to separate? But after awhile, you get over the honeymoon stage and you’re more relaxed.”

Ted chewed his lip nervously. “I’ve never actually… I’ve never dated a girl.”

Pride cocked his head at the teen. “How have you…? How old are you?” Ted’s face flustered with indignation. Pride waved his arms about to stop whatever the human was about to say. “Anyway, I hear that’s how they work. So right now, I am physically bound to be around you, so we’re in that honeymoon stage.”

“I don’t want to be in a relationship with a demon.” Ted put his head in his hands again.

“Well if we were bound, it would be in the next stage. I can leave you, but in a way we’d be closer.”

“I really don’t want to be in a relationship with a demon.”

“We could reach each other mentally all the other time, and our mental faculties will mix. I’ll feel what you feel and-”

“And I’ll feel what you feel?” Ted asked.

Pride hesitated. “Well I’m a demon, so-”

“But you said you feel emotions too. When you were a jackalope-”

“Yeah, I know what I said,” Pride countered, waving his arms at the boy to shut him up. “Yes, you’ll feel my emotions too. There will be plenty of emotion muddling. Anyway, I need to pop on over to the other side of the world and read up on something. I think there’s something funny about you - like you're not human. But I’ve been away from Earth for a very long time. So what do you say?”

Pride grinned his maniacal grin at the teen. Ted, on the other hand, frowned. “Not human? What else could I be?” He felt something blossom in his chest, pressure sinking down on him in the form of anxiety.

“You could be a lot of things. Worse yet, you could be a hybrid. Calm down, Teddy.” Pride swooped forward, placing a hand against Ted’s chest.

The teen relaxed as he felt his fear dissipate, like dirt being washed away. “How do you do that?”

“When you’re scared, your barrier weakens. I can’t communicate with you like a binding will, but it lets me… influence you, for lack of better words. You know if we bind, I could do that from any distance.” Pride stuck his hand out, and Ted couldn’t help but feel like this was a little too similar to striking a deal with the devil.

“What if I said no?”

Pride’s face turned to one of annoyance. “Look, kid, Teddy-Bear. I’m giving up a lot here to look for answers for you. I’ve got plans, and you’re kind of slowing them down. But I’m willing to give that up to help-”

“You’re not helping me! I’m not asking you to go look up what’s wrong with me. I didn’t ask to take care of a demon. I just wanted a normal senior year.” Ted threw his arms up in frustration. He passed around Pride to a laundry basket full of folded clothes. He went about putting the clothes away into his dresser.

Pride’s response was not immediate. He seemed to be thinking hard about his response. “I think you’re image of a demon is misconstrued. Yeah, they can be bad. But that doesn’t mean I am. We’re like people. You should consider yourself lucky for such a powerful entity to want to grace you with its presence.”

“If you’re so good, why don’t you tell me what you want? You don’t want to leave because you want to do something here. What is it?”

Ted turned around when there was no response. Pride no longer looked interested in the subject on hand, floating around idly.

“Fine,” Ted said, scoffing. “You tell me what you want here, and then we can talk about binding.”

The teen watched as Pride’s expression twitched in anger, but he knew the demon wouldn’t raise a hand against him.

*

Ted was sleeping soundly, having one of those wonderful dreams about flying. The wind whipped across his face and ruffled his clothing. He flitted around looming mountains, through fluffy clouds, and over pastures that rippled like a sea of emerald. As the flew low down close to the surface of a body of water, he peered down at his reflection, grinning. He wasn’t sure when the last time was that he’d dreamed so vividly.

His train of thought was thrown off when he noticed something ripple beneath the surface of the shimmering water. Ted inched closer, nose almost grazing the water. He reeled back as something broke the surface, a pair of arms each as long as Ted was tall. He attempted to backpedal away from the clawed arms, realizing what little flesh was left on the skeletal appendages was rotting.

Just as he was sure he was out of reach, the arms reached higher, and Ted blanched as a horned skull broke the surface of the water. The two hands caught the teen, crushing him in their grasp. Ted gasped out for breath, idly wondering why it was so painful if he was just dreaming - and why he couldn’t wake up.

A groan filled the air, like an alarm for a storm. The groan turned gradually into a low laugh, and Ted realized it was coming from the giant skull responsible for grabbing him. The beast continued to rise from the seawater, sending waves in all directions.

Ted watched in horror as the creature’s size became apparent when the remainder of its body rose to the surface, coming to rest on the water like it was land. Squatting and hunched over, the skeletal figure was the size of a single-story house.The teen writhed in the monster’s grip, fighting for freedom.

“Hold still, mortal, or I shall squash you in my grasp,” the beast spoke, shaking the world about them.

Ted held his one free hand up against his air at the deafening noise. He shook his head free of the ringing sound, like the audial aftertaste to the monster’s voice. The human dared to look up at the being before him, noticing fires blazing in its eye sockets. “Pride?” he asked in a mere whisper.

The creature’s groaning laugh filled the air again. Ted attempted to curl in on himself at the unpleasant sound. In the back of his head, he felt something pushing in on him. Not physically. Like someone was banging on an aquarium tank to get out - or in?

“You think little of me,” the skeleton replied. In a way, he spoke softly, but it was still loud to Ted, shaking him and sending off another bout of ringing in his ears. “My brother has long since lacked the power to measure up to me. For Hell’s sake, he has to rely on a human to reach this realm!” There was another bout of laughter, and Ted felt his insides overtake with queasiness.

“You’re one of the other seven deadly sins?” Ted asked, struggling to take deep breaths through the pervading smell of rotting flesh.

“I see why he likes you! Fearless, you are.” That wasn’t quite true, but Ted didn’t correct him/ The demon swooped his head closer, apparently extending his neck to hold his skeletal face barely a foot from Ted. The banging on the imaginary fish tank grew, and Ted held a hand to his head. It was like someone was knocking on his head. “Human…” The creature whispered, and the teen almost wretched at the noxious smell of his breath. “Tell me of your location, and of Pride’s, and I will spare you.”

“You can’t hurt me here! This is a dream,” Ted spat. But even as he said the words, he doubted them.

Again, the demon laughed, and Ted leaned over the fingers squeezing him to vomit. Nothing came out. “This isn’t a dream, mortal. You’re in my territory now. And I can kill you right now, if I very well please. As much as it would hamper my ability to locate Pride, you are starting to bore me. Where’s the fun without fear?”

The demon squeezed Ted tight, and the teen cried out in pain. Again, the banging on the glass increased in ferocity. It was something Ted had never felt, but he was sure someone was trying to get in. He felt something crack in his torso, and he cried out again.

“Okay!” Ted caterwauled, more to himself. The demon assumed it was aimed at him, however, and lessened his grip.

“Speak, mortal.” The pressure in Ted’s head disappeared altogether. He waited, wondering what exactly had happened. He was sure help was on its way, but as the seconds ticked by, his hope flickered away. He was going to die in the hands of a demon. A growl rose in the throat of the demon. “I grow impatient, human! Give me your-”

A wad of muddy brown fur fell from the sky, like a fuzzy little comet, and landed on the skeleton’s face with a small thwap.

There was a beat of silence as the fires that were the demon's eyes crossed to try and see the creature that had landed between his eye sockets.

The demon’s eyes turned to Ted. “What is this?” he asked, truly confused.

The wad slowly slid off the skull and plopped into the water unimpressively.

Ted and the skeleton stared down at the small circle of ripples created by the wad of fur that sank out of their sight. Seconds passed and the ripples calmed.

The two met gazes. “Is that it? Is that your attempt to fight?” The beast managed to squint without eyelids. He didn’t even muster up a laugh, instead simply scoffing.

Ted opened his mouth to sputter a retort, but the breath was squeezed out of him as the monster renewed his crushing grasp on Ted’s torso. The grip suddenly loosened, and Ted gasped for air. He looked up at the demon’s it’s head extended to look over Ted’s shoulder. The teen struggled in the clawed grasp to glance at the water behind him.

Gradually enlarging waves disrupted the surface moments before a wa;; of fur shot up from the waves. A towering beast climbed out like it was climbing out of a whole. The beast was long and lanky like a weasel, with large clawed hands and a whip-like tail thrashing about. The beast’s head was covered by a jawless skull with a pronounced snout. Once it was standing on the surface, slumped over so its claws nearly touched the water, it released a heavy sigh.

Ted looked into the flaming eyes, refusing to let either hope or dismay flood him. As of yet, this beast was as much a threat as the giant skeleton. After an elongated pause of silence, Ted looked to the first demon when he felt it move. No longer squatting, it stood up straight, holding the teen ever higher form the water below.

The furry beast straightened as well, coming to an equal height. At that moment, Ted understood the meaning of insignificance. He felt much like an ant among Titans. Before he could begin his existential crisis, the first demon spoke.

“Brother-”

Without warning, the furred beast surged forward, shoving the skeleton much like an angry child. The demon’s grasp on Ted disappeared entirely, and he fell to the shifting waters below.

He hit the surface of the water, hard. Ted attempted to cry out, but his wails were swallowed up by the water. In his panic, he failed in the simplest task of survival by inhaling a nice mouthful of water into his lungs. As he continued sinking, the teen’s vision blurred and eventually faded.

Author's Note

Um. Buh. The next chapter is ready, but im tired.