Intro to Azzy, aka the demon Azazel

Note to Reader: Content Warning: This fictional story contains references to kidnapping, violent acts of physical and sexual assault including strangulation, involuntary incapacitation, bondage, alcohol and tobacco consumption, foul language, supernatural influences, and the handling and disposal of human remains. The story also explores themes around generational trauma and addiction.  

Eddy & Azzy 

By J.S. Roebuck 

Chapter 3: Coyote 

When Edgar came to, he found himself sitting in the front seat of his Cadillac, with an early autumn sunset dropping off to his left. The sun was just starting to hit his eye level from descending below the hood and front visor of his blue Caddy’s windshield. The Caddy wasn’t running, and he was sitting behind the wheel. He tried to collect his thoughts for a minute about how he’d got there in the first place.  

Was I daydreaming behind the wheel or something? 

When driving as long and as much as a salesman like Edgar did, the mind sometimes drifts between stops.  

Wait, I don’t even remember getting in my car!  

Edgar popped his door and stepped out of the car onto the country road edge. He was on a dirt pull off next to a long stretch, lined by corn fields that had already been picked down to the stalk for the year. He had a view for what felt like miles in each direction. All Edgar could see was more fields and a square grid of roads before the next hill pulled the horizon up, keeping the furthest reaches out of sight. It was familiar, but like too many different stretches of highway he frequented. Edgar really could’ve been anywhere in his own territory and the same scene would surround him. He peered through his glasses as he lifted his hand to shade his eyes from the sun. Edgar was finally able to make out a road sign just up ahead.  

Edgar ran back to his Caddy and jumped into the front seat. He turned the key and spun the car's tires as he kicked dirt and rolled back onto the road. He pulled up to the sign and screeched to a stop. Edgar recognized the crossroad. He was outside a small town just over the state line into Illinois, called Sheldon, off route 52. Edgar was at first relieved to have gotten his bearings, but then it hit him, “Illinois!? How the hell did I get here!?” He said flabbergasted. He looked around in the car a little bit, nothing was new. There wasn’t anything that seemed out of place, his briefcase was sitting as it always did in the front seat next to him. He clicked the briefcase open and flipped through, making sure the forms from the days sales were all in there still, nothing was missing. He flipped it shut, hopped out of the Caddy, and popped the trunk to check further. The encyclopedias were all in their bags in the back as they were supposed to be. Tommy had done a nice job putting things away, and Edgar’s shovel was tucked in the back, wrapped in the same blanket, untouched.  

Edgar circled the car looking around at the vast cornfields again as the sun continued dropping in the distance towards the rolling farmland horizon. “I have an appointment in Kokomo, Indiana in the afternoon tomorrow. I drove in the complete opposite direction for nearly a hundred miles!” He confusingly declared into the cool dusk air. Edgar was more than a little freaked out. He still felt terribly foggy in his head. Edgar tried to recall his last memories from leaving the old folks home.  

The old man. That was freaky. What did he say? I thought he couldn’t speak! 

Edgar was baffled as he adjusted his suit jacket and opened the car door to slide back in. He put the Caddy in drive and pulled a U-turn to head back the way he’d just driven in a stupor. He began the calculations in his head for what extra gas he had expended on this little sidetrack when Edgar started to feel himself blacking out again.  

What’s happening to me? Was I poisoned? Edgar passed out into darkness.  

When he came too this time, Edgar snapped back more quickly. He was still sitting in the Caddy like before, and it was still running this time. He was pulled off slightly to the side of the road, but the sun was on the wrong side of him again. Somehow Edgar had turned around while blacked out and headed the other direction. He’d gone, what looked like, a little less than a mile. Edgar glared in the rear-view mirror at his face, checked his pupils, smacked his cheeks back and forth some, and put the Caddy back in gear. He whipped the car around to head back in the other direction and began speeding down the road.  

What the hell is this? Did I drink something sour? What was in that coffee this morning Gladys? 

Quickly, Edgar felt himself fading again, and he slowed the car to a stop in the middle of the road just before losing consciousness.  

This time, Edgar woke up on the road, in the same spot, but facing the opposite direction in the opposite lane. The sun was once again on his left shoulder. This quick flip of the car during blackouts happened two more times. Edgar started to hyperventilate whenever he was awake and smack his face and scream to stay awake, but every time he wheeled around, he blacked right back out and found himself facing northwest. Finally, in blind frustration, Edgar pulled the car off the road, took the keys out, and tossed them into the back seat. He chucked his glasses on top of his briefcase and slapped his sweaty palms on his already dewy face. Edgar took a few deep breaths through his nose while his fingers slid down his cheeks, gliding on perspiration.  

“I actually need to get to Chicago my man. If you don’t mind going this way.” A voice suddenly called out from right behind Edgar in the back seat. Edgar freaked, looked in the rear-view mirror, and then whipped around to see a man in a red hat sitting in the back of his Cadillac. The man was slouched back with his arm casually on the inside door arm rest, with one leg up across the bench backseat to his side like he owned it. His suit was black, his tie was red like his hat and shoes. The young, slender man was wearing the exact opposite color scheme as Edgar, minus the glasses. He was smoking a cigarette, which was the second thing that pissed Edgar off.  

Edgar quickly came to the conclusion that this stranger, who’d been hiding in the back seat, was playing some kind of prank on him the entire time. “What the Hell! Get the hell out of my car pal!” Edgar put his glasses back on and wiped his sweaty hair to the side.  

“Look, this’ll go a lot easier if you just take us to Chicago.” The man said casually waiving his smoke in the air toward the highway ahead.  

Edgar was yelling now, “I don’t care where you need to go pal! Get out of my car now!”  

The man took another drag of his cigarette like Edgar’s words meant nothing. He didn’t budge from his pose in the back seat, other than to take drags in his smoke between statements. He kept his non-smoking arm stretched across the backrest lounging without a care in the world. Edgar finally had enough. The Caddy was his lair, his fortress of solitude if you will. He jumped out the front door swinging it hard against its hinges. He whipped open the door closest to the young man in the back like an animal ready to pounce. Edgar jumped forward to grab him but found the Caddy’s back seat was empty. There was no man, and no smoke wafting in the back seat anymore.  

“Getting violent isn’t going to help matters with me, Eddy man.” The average height, slender figured man was now sitting cross legged on the top of Edgar’s Cadillac roof. He leaned back with one arm against the metal, still with cigarette in the other hand, taking occasional drags.  

“Buddy, you picked the wrong guy to mess around with. Get off my car now!” Edgar was about to have his first unplanned male victim out on the roadside. He reached to grab the man atop his Caddy, and he vanished the second Edgar was about to hit paydirt. He didn’t even touch the man’s suit, and Edgar sprawled his arms over the hood. Edgar swiveled his head in every direction. “Where the hell are you!? What do you want?” He screamed. 

He must have gassed me on something in the car, this is crazy! Edgar thought to himself as he whirled around shuffling gravel on the roadside, scuffing up his dress shoes. 

“You’re not crazy Eddy my boy. Well, at least, the part of you that sees me isn’t.” The man appeared leaning on the front of the Cadillac between the headlights, which were on and starting to cut lines into the dim evening. The man pushed up off the car, but it didn’t shift, and he walked towards Edgar. He flicked the cigarette bud to the side as he blew the last puff he’d taken from the crook of his lips.  

“Who are you?” Edgar asked, trying to collect himself, all while preparing to rip this man’s head off as soon as he had an opportunity.  

The two men drew closer together, and as the stranger pulled up his hand to shake Edgars he said smoothly, “Azazel is my name, but my friends call me Azzy. I’m sorry to meet you this way Eddy my man, but I’ve been waiting a long time to get out of Shady Maples, and I really didn’t want to waste any time getting to Chicago. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve had control for a long stretch like that and I couldn’t keep driving, had to pass things over to you, but I should have expected you’d need some...explaining. I thought I’d be able to keep control most of the way there and explain things after. Say you got any smokes chief?” 

Edgar didn’t know what to make of this, "No! I don’t smoke! And yeah, explain yourself! You’re knocking me out and trying to kidnap me in my car or something aren’t you? How are you—wait how do you know my name?” Edgar wasn’t sure now if he should kill this stranger or if he needed to get some more information first.  

“A more formal introduction then? Nice to meet you Eddy man.” Azazel stretched out his right arm toward Edgar. “The names Azzy.” 

Edgar looked down at Azzy’s outstretched hand and went to swat it away in anger, and his hand passed right through Azzy’s like vapor. Edgar stumbled to the side off balance from not making any contact when passing through Azzy’s hand. Edgar looked up to see Azzy grinning. Now Edgar had blown his last fuse and was ninety percent sure he was losing his mind. He lost all regard for his composure and dove headlong into Azzy like a rugby star. He didn’t hit anything solid except the ground underneath Azzy’s feet. 

“I’m not really here Eddy. I mean I’m here-ish, I’m just not here physically. I’m in your head man.” Azazel said as he stepped gracefully over Edgar, who was rolling to a seated position and dusting his red jacket off.  

Edgar looked at his hands. Flexing to make sure he could feel his fingertips and nerves, “Have I been drugged? What is this?” 

“No, you haven’t been drugged. I guess there's no good short answer, and I'm not going anywhere so, here goes. Eddy, I’m what you humans call a demon, and you’ve been possessed my man.” 

“Possessed? Like the demons in the Bible? Are you nuts pal!?” Edgar was still waiting for logic to come in and save the day.  

“Yes....ish.” Azzy said sheepishly.  

“What does that mean?” 

Azzy crossed his arms, “I don’t know man. I guess that would be the best example you could understand, it’s just not particularly simple. Fuck, umm. I’m a demon, but it’s not like the angels and demons in your bible, and demon is just a human made up word I use to describe my kind to you all. My kind had another name long ago that means nothing to people now. My last host was in that old man in the nursing home you just did you sales pitch at. I used you as a coyote to smuggle me out of there.” 

“A coyote?” Edgar asked. 

“Hah! Yeah, Eddy man. You smuggled me across the border, past security. I was using your body to drive to Chicago, and apparently, I’m a little out of practice. I haven’t taken the reigns for much in Jesse’s body in a while. I wasn’t able to stay in control and had to give you back your body. It takes a lot of energy, and is like flexing a muscle, you can only do it so long, and it needs to build up endurance.” 

“Who’s Jesse?”  

“My last host, that old vegetable back at Shady Maples.” Azazel uncrossed his arms and pocketed his hands. 

“You’ve been controlling my body while I was blacked out? That’s how I got here, and what was happening switching the car around? Get out of my head!” Edgar grabbed his hair and ears on the side of his head and spun around trying to evacuate his mind of all thoughts to clear his mental space. 

Azzy’s words flashed him back into the moment. “Doesn’t work like that chief. See, I can take over whenever I want. I'm sorry my friend. We're in this together now. One happy fucking symbiotic relationship.” Azzy pulled a skinny metal cigarette holder from his inside jacket pocket, along with a Zippo lighter.  

“Ugh, you’re so foul mouthed. Who talks like that? And what do you mean ‘symbiotic’?” 

Azzy lit a smoke and flicked his lighter lid shut before he tucked it back into his pocket. “It just means, we have to work together Eddy. And everyone talks like this eventually, but I’ll church it up for you, sheesh.” 

“Eventually? Can you see the future!?” Edgar said as his eyes stretched wide. 

“No! I can’t see the future, but I know people, and I know their minds better than most.” 

“So... can you read my mind?” Edgar began to consider the possibility the demon already knew what kind of person he really was.  

Azazel blew a couple of smoke rings and leaned back on the Caddy. “Let’s picture something that will resonate with you Eddy, ummm...picture a library if you will. That’s right up your alley, right Eddy man? I can peak inside, pull a book down, flip through the pages, but I don’t know what’s in everything closed on the shelves. You gotta pull a book down to see what’s inside.” 

Does he know I’m a killer? Does he know what I’ve done? 

 “I know you’re a killer Edgar Allen Little. That’s why I picked you.” 

“What do you know about me!? Tell me or I’ll kill you!” 

“Haven't you been listening Eddy man? I can’t be killed. You can still die though just so you don’t get confused about that. I had a host make that mistake once. Saw me get run through by a train, thought he could do the same thing. Shortest possession ever.” 

Edgar wasn’t getting the answers he wanted. “What do you know about my past?” He pressed Azazel for more information. 

“Well let’s see. What have you already opened that I can take a peek at? I know that you’ve killed some innocent people. All women, now that I see you reflecting on it... interesting. You’ve thought about that enough the last few minutes alone for me to get a read on. I already had a feeling you’d be useful to me when I saw you at Shady Maples doing your presentation last time. I was gonna switch hosts then, but just couldn’t get Jesse’s old bag of bones out of that chair or say much. My last host had a stroke in ‘41. I’ve been stuck in that home for almost ten years, unable to do much more than wave and nudge things.” 

“I don’t understand. Why did you wait for me!? There are people coming and going all the time from that place!” Edgar shouted in confusion.  

Azazel tossed another finished cigarette off to the side of the road. “No one... damaged enough for me to latch onto the entire time I was there came within arm's length, not until you.” 

“What so you were just picky, and I fit the bill? Why me?” Edgar pressed. 

“Because I can’t possess just anybody Eddy my boy. The only people that can be a host to my kind are those that have a... cracked soul. Like a murderer such as yourself.” 

Edgar was starting to level out. He still didn’t really understand what was happening to him, but he had to deal. “What do you want?” He asked. 

“I want to partner with you Eddy. I want to use your skills and my skills together to complete my mission.” 

“You have a ‘mission’? Like... from the devil or something?” Edgar was perplexed. 

“No, there’s no... look I can tell we’re both starving man. Can we find someplace to eat around here, and we can talk this through more calmly and quietly chief?” Azzy said patting his stomach. 

Edgar’s head was spinning, but he was feeling hungry. “Ok just.... will you get in the car, and I’ll drive us there, ok?” 

“Couldn't have it any other way Eddy man.” Azzy said as he appeared in the backseat head of Edgar coming up to his car door.  

Edgar glared at Azzy in the back seat, lighting up another cigarette as he put the Caddy in gear. He winced, “You mind not smoking that in here?” He protested. 

“Eddy man, there’s no real smoke, my presence you see here, it’s just a figment of your imagination. I’m a projection, a phantom, you get it? No one can see me but you, no one can touch me, I’m like a ghost that only you hear and see in your head.” 

Like this, Azzy said in Edgar’s head without moving his projections lips.  

“Well, I don’t care, just put it out for now pal. You may be in my body, but this is still my Caddy.” 

“Fine.” Azzy scoffed as he tossed his mythical smoke out the window to bounce down along the road into the ditch and vanish like a vapor. “Hey Eddy man, speaking of cigarettes and bodies, can we take this body into a corner store or service station for a pack of smokes soon? I haven’t had a real smoke in a host body in a decade and I’m jonesing.” He said as he stretched his arms and leaned forward into the front seat area.   

“You’re not going to use my body to smoke! I won’t allow it!” Edgar demanded as he glared at Azzy in the rear-view mirror.  

“That won’t be the first thing that changes Eddy my boy. We’re gonna have great times together. I’m gonna make you all kinds of more fun soon enough. You’ll see, there’s some good in this deal for you too chief.”