Years of patience learned from martial arts training flew out of Reiner’s mind at the sight of a certain auburn-haired man disappearing into the darkness under the bridge, hands tucked into his pockets as he hummed a cheerful tune.
A ringing seared through him. Then he heard a tinny apology that his sister Elena died, and she had last been seen with a scrawny kid famous for pick-pocketing. For weeks, his mind replayed that call endlessly. He had done something desperate and silly to help him get rid of it: cursing him.
Reiner did not believe in magic. It was all nonsense that his grandmother had taught him when he was young, but it had all meant nothing. Still, he had gone to the store to find all the proper ingredients, and he had called for Alastor to avenge his sister.
Jack walking around was proof enough how silly it was.
Reiner ran after him. His heart pounded in his ears, drowning out the humming. Jack did not pause even as he shouted for him. He spun the man by his shoulder, and he gave the man the hardest punch he could, screaming at him.
Jack stumbled back a step, and just as Renier was about to punch again, he could see a strange grin stretching the man’s face impossibly far. The eyes were not slate gray but a solid black, and he cackled as he contorted further into something…
Inhuman. Demonic.
Reiner had no time to consider his mistakes, as the demon he summoned tore him limb from limb and ended his life.
Stephanie Clark is an aspiring author from a small town in the Midwest of the U.S.A. She loves anime and video games, and she spends a little too much time on YouTube. Receive a free dark fantasy short story by signing up to her newsletter (below, and you can also stay up to date on all of her works (including upcoming urban fantasy, dark fantasy, and the occasional horror).
This was simultaneously posted on my Medium blog.