The dog I just split open stood up as his guts flung around beneath him, unhinging his jaw and wheezing at me.
The knife had already fallen out of my hand and rolled out of the salt circle before I even realized I dropped it. I tried to retrieve it, but within a flash it flung over to the dog, screeching over the wooden floor as it flew.
“You went through all this trouble…All of this. Obtaining supplies. Drawing on the floor. That fucking salt circle that you, in your mortal foolishness, think will protect you. Yet… Yet… You never even stopped to think. In your fucking arrogance, you useless piece of flesh, you didn’t even think about what you had to offer for my services.” These words shuffled out of his engorged jaw through eerily comprehensible howls, barks, roars, and an occasional moan.
As he spoke, the blood kept dripping down his exposed stomach, droplets of crimson liquid sliding down the hanging guts and ending their freefall on the floor.
I regained my thoughts, still holding some miniscule level of faith in the salt circle that surrounded me. Steadying my breath, I replied.
“The book. The book clearly said… A soul for…”
“Why the fuck would I want your soul? Why? If a mere bag of flesh like Diana didn’t want it for herself, why would someone…Something like me want it?” It interrupted with a barrage of questions.
“Don’t bring her into this. This is not about her.” I said. No, I begged.
“This…”, he replied, “Is precisely about her.” He said, slowly walking toward me. He sat just in front of me, extended a paw and slid it across the circle, breaking it apart.
“You want her, money, success.” He scoffed. “In that order, correct?”
“Yes. I do. Please.”
“You don’t have money because you’re a failure. You haven’t found success because you’re a failure. You do not have her because you are a failure.”
“That’s enough!” I screamed, slamming my fist on the floor. Unflinchingly, the dog merely scoffed.
“You should have slammed your fist a long time ago, human. It’s too late now.”
“I didn’t go through all this trouble to be insulted. I didn’t call you for this. You are right, it isn’t worth much to you, perhaps, but to me, it’s all I have. Would you not call that fair exchange? I gave you an offer. Take it or leave it.” I concluded, resting my head in my hands.
“I’ll leave it.” He answered. “You have guts, though. As a parting gift, I shall clean up this mess you made. I don’t think you are capable of cleaning right now, am I not correct?”
“So it is. Nothing can be done, as usual.”
“That depends on how far you are ready to go, mammal.” The canine hissed, even without looking, I could feel its gaze piercing me.
“I don’t understand.” I replied.
“Whilst your immortal soul may not have value, not everyone is a waste of the incredibly rare gift of consciousness bestowed upon them, like you.” The dog elaborated.
“I understand.” I truly did. “How many?”, I asked, looking it directly in its coal black eyes.
The canine scoffed. “You had trouble taking this pathetic shuck.” The knife slid across the floor and in front of it. The dog placed its paw onto the blade and muttered something before retracting its paw back. The knife slowly drifted towards me.
“Let’s see if you can take any, before we speak of how many.”
Just like that, the dog was gone, the lights were on, all of the items I used were neatly organized on the nightstand and not a speck of blood was to be seen on the floor.