Where the Devil Says Goodnight (Folk Lore 1)

The fat morsel whetted Chort’s appetite, making Emil’s scent so potent hunger became like spikes drilled into his innards. He couldn’t have him though. Not yet, at least, but the flesh and blood of the wastrels who’d for years benefitted from all their misfortune falling on Adam’s beloved was his to take.

“Please, no! I just did what my father told me to!” Koterski yelled, but Chort knew that this man’s heart had no conscience or morals. He’d been the one to set Emil’s house on fire, and so Chort wouldn’t have mercy for him either.

He blocked Koterski’s way in a single leap and drove a horn through his midsection, digging claws into the soft, delicious insides. The maggot who’d deceived Adam just to drive him away from his lover and cause strife did not deserve to prosper.

Koterski’s scream was cut short when Chort ripped him off the horn and crushed his head between his jaws before digging into the torso. The young meat was a treat on his tongue, and he threw the lower part of Koterski’s body into the air before swallowing it in one gulp when it fell into his wide open mouth.

He went for Nowak next, tearing into the plump flesh before sinking his teeth into meat marbled with fat. And his soul? Delightfully corrupt with bribery and blackmail as it sizzled into nothingness in the pit of Adam’s fiery belly.

He wouldn’t let the women go either, but was struck by Mrs. Golonko’s vile nature when he saw her pushing Mrs. Janina over to get ahead. The older lady fell, but even in the mud, Mrs. Janina still screamed with fury and grabbed Mrs. Golonko’s ankle to bring her down as well.

Adam used to see Mrs. Janina as a bitter but decent enough woman, but no amount of cake or occasional support could make up for the fact that she’d been ready to make a human sacrifice out of Emil. Chort tore her in two pieces, and as the fragrant blood splashed Emil’s chest and the altar, Adam sucked more out of her juicy flesh before satisfying his hunger with the meat too.

Mrs. Golonko had already made it out of the sanctuary, but he took his time chewing through ligaments and bones before leaping above the thuyas, out of the sacred grove. The withered leaves cushioned his landing, and once he caught the fugitive’s scent—nauseatingly sweet with perfume—no amount of offerings and prayer could save her.

She was just past a nearby hill, cowering under a fallen tree in the hope that he might miss her presence. The pathetic wretch had no idea that Chort could hear her every breath. Every heartbeat.

The expensive things she used to elevate her station in the eyes of other people meant nothing to him, and they wouldn’t help her once he’d decided on her fate. He couldn’t help himself though and intended to play with his food. Pretending he’d been duped, he looked the other way at first but spun around when she tried to crawl away, and dragged her through the mud as soon as he reached the pathetic hideout.

“No! Please! I never wanted to participate in any of this! Janina pulled me into it!”

And yet she’d benefitted. She gloated about her wealth and rubbed it in Emil’s face while he bore the brunt of all the misfortune that would have otherwise fallen on her and her family. She’d known for years but had shown Emil no compassion, only throwing him enough scraps off her abundant table so that he didn’t leave Dybukowo.

“Is that so?” he asked, holding her up by the one leg. The fox mask had long fallen off her face, leaving it exposed, with traces of tears blackened by mascara. “Please, I will give you anything you want. You can have my daughter, if you want. You can have everything. Let me g—”

Adam’s jaws opened so wide it should have been physically impossible. Terror twisted her features just before her imminent death. Like the others, she didn’t deserve a grave, but she would be the last of the four-meat feast he’d been destined to celebrate tonight.

Emil had foretold this. Whisperer blood had been strong in him, and he’d been able to see into the future when even Chort hadn’t known what awaited them tonight. The meat of a pig, a wolf, a fox, and a deer—a four course meal of sinful souls.

Smaller than the others, Mrs. Golonko fit into his mouth whole, but despite the bitterness of all the bile in her body, her meat left him sated by the time he glanced into the sky, where a crescent moon cast a spotlight down at him.

The rush of bloodlust was gone, but there were other desires he longed to satisfy.

Adam blinked, looking far into the distance, taking in all his subjects, and roared into the sky. A choir of howls, hoots, and bawling answered his call, celebrating him with a different prayer.