Where the Devil Says Goodnight (Folk Lore 1)

“Just last night, you sleepwalked to the Devil’s Rock. Should I interpret that as you summoning the devil? No. Because I trust you.”

Adam shook his head, and his next words bordered on a sob. “Stop lying! Koterski told me everything!”

Emil gritted his teeth. That bastard, always meddling, always sticking his fingers where they didn’t belong. Selfish asshole. “What did he tell you?” Emil asked with the last shreds of patience.

Adam swallowed, shifting his weight, as if he were still thinking through what he was about to say. “He told me you put a spell on him. That he couldn’t stop himself. And that’s… that’s exactly how I felt.”

Emil’s blood went cold and he looked straight into Adam’s eyes. “Mother. Fucker. Adam, I don’t know what this is about or what game he’s playing, but you got it wrong. I didn’t force anyone to do anyth—”

“I don’t know that!” Adam snapped, stabbing Emil with his icy gaze. “Why would he lie? He has no reason to confess sins he didn’t commit. Both he and I were possessed and led to you. How could this be a coincidence? You tell me!”

Emil spread his arms with growing frustration. “Nothing like that happened! Filip Koterski had been more than happy to hook up even when he was already engaged, and I’m the evil one here?”

Adam laughed and rubbed his forehead. “Then you’re no better than him. Did you two have quickies when I was performing mass? When was it?”

The cogs in Emil’s mind moved with a rusty squeak, but eventually Emil scowled at Adam as understanding sank in. “I dumped his ass when I found out he was getting married. I never cheated on you. What the fuck? Maybe he saw us somewhere and got jealous!” He had to take a deep breath and count to ten to not punch something. “But that’s not the point, is it? You want to believe him. You want to believe I’m a cheater, a Satanist, and fuck knows what else. Maybe the devil himself! My fucking house burned down, you finally saw what a burden I’ll be, and you realized your charity case boyfriend might cause real problems in the peaceful fucking life that’s waiting for you in Warsaw. I’m inconvenient.”

“Are you calling me crazy? Because you’re the one who thinks all those clues—the dolls, that damn knife, Koterski—pointing to you are accidental. I compromised everything I believe in for you, and you just lie to my face,” Adam said, raising his voice halfway. His breath came out in ragged gasps, as if he were too agitated to keep his tone even.

Emil pointed to the rubble behind him. “Did I also burn down my own house? Do you believe I sent my crows to murder Zofia?”

Adam’s jaw muscles worked, and his handsome face no longer brought Emil joy. “What about Piotr?”

Emil frowned, thrown off guard. “Piotr who?”

Adam stepped back. “Piotr the skinhead! Piotr the family man who threatened to find where you live! That Piotr.”

“I don’t follow.”

Adam’s face was red as if all the blood in his body rushed there at the same moment. “He’s dead. Pecked to pieces by crows like Zofia! And you have crows tattooed on you. And those damn birds follow you, as if they’d imprinted on you!”

The ground shook under Emil’s feet, but he remained standing despite nausea crawling through his stomach like a cockroach. “Are you suggesting I had something to do with that? Seriously?” he asked, and for a moment, his voice actually broke.

Adam stared toward the horizon. “I don’t know why you’d set your crows on Piotr now. Maybe you didn’t, but that doesn’t make you innocent when it comes to everything else. In seducing me, in the sinful life we lead I was perfectly fine before we met, and so were you! Maybe we just aren’t right for one another,” he muttered, shaking his head.

Adam might as well have picked up the dagger and stabbed him. Emil let out a bitter laugh. “So this is what it’s about. You just want to dump me. I guess that makes me the stupid one. I should have known better than to get involved with a priest. Was this what you always intended? A summer fling with a country bumpkin?”

Adam’s teeth dug into his bottom lip, and a flash of pain passed over his features. “How can you say that after everything that happened? I wanted to believe in you, and now I feel like a complete idiot. I should have ran right away, immediately after he possessed me the first time!”

Emil balled his hands into fists. “So all that talk of going to Warsaw together was just to string me along until you made up your mind?” The betrayal stung more than he could have imagined. He’d always considered himself a cynical man, didn’t expect much of people, and this was where his willingness to trust Adam had gotten him. Then again, with all the attention Adam showered him with, the endless making out sessions, the promise of more, maybe Emil shouldn’t blame himself. He’d been helpless in the face of Adam’s seemingly innocent affection and bound to fall for his act.