The Devil's Incarnate

40 - The Angel - 2016

Sobrina never forgot the messages she had listened to, the words of the preacher kept resounding in her mind. But she remained a Devil Worshipper. She had not been required to do anything to show she had believed the gospel, so in her mind she thought it was business as usual.

By now, she had sacrificed a lot. Sacrifices were not supposed to be blood, but there impact hurt as much.

She had sacrificially fought in Hell's army in return for rewards, until her Demon - Asmodeus - began to demand for more. He wanted her to sacrifice her family by abandoning them. He said they were toxic - which was actually true - and also Christians, and how it would be to her benefit.

In truth, she had done so, cutting all ties with them, with the excuse of how they had betrayed her. By now, she had been away from home for many months. It was never their custom to call and check on her, she used to be the one closing the gap. She used to call regularly to check in on them as she does for everything.

Her father began to busy his number everytime she called him, to the extent that he blocked her number from calling. She had done absolutely nothing to deserve that. It hurt her feelings deeply, but it was her sacrifice among many others. She cared solely for herself.

As soon as Sobrina believed the Gospel, things began to change. She lost the protection of the occult without understanding why. She began to feel an excruciating pain in her right boob and n****e, she could feel lumps forming within. There was no history of cancer in her lineage, then what could it be?

Again, she was returning from the club where she had performed one early morning around 12am, when she was obstructed by some young men. She had heard the story of how gang-r**e was a common problem in the vicinity. To prevent this, she had made friends with one of the locals - a young man who sold m*******a by the Blue Ocean hotel. They'd agreed he would come regularly to pick her from the club every morning after work, since the clubhouse was just a few miles away. She always returned with a good amount of money - her pay, plus tips. She voluntarily gave him some of it every night when they returned to the hotel.

That morning, she had called him but he was unreachable. She decided to walk back to the hotel on her own, after all, she had the protection of the occult, plus the club had closed for the night and the hotel was just a few streets away.

"Stop there, where you dey go", one of the hoodlums said to Sobrina in Pidgin.

She could make out over twenty of them, scattered around in the darkness.

"Abeg commot make I pass!" she commanded in Pidgin.

Normally, they would have dispersed as soon as she was heard.

"I say where you dey go", the hoodlum countered.

Sobrina finally understood she was in trouble, he shouldn't have countered her. It was unbelievable, the stories she had heard was about to happen to her. She began calculating on how to respond, while preparing her mind for what may follow, when a woman appeared beside her.

Sobrina didn't take a proper look at the woman, but from the corner of her eyes, she saw that she was tying wrapper around her waist, and a blouse as top, like an indigenous woman. She also spoke in the local dialect to the hoodlums, and they shifted, making a gap without responding.

The woman led fear-stricken, dumbfounded Sobrina through the gap. And when they got to the end of the dark street, she told her to continue on to the hotel.

Sobrina ran without turning back, covered the remaining short distance, and entered the Blue Ocean hotel. She would later understand she had met an Angel. God hadn't deserted her because she was a stripper, who was living in a hotel.

The boy - her local friend - had set Sobrina up. He was unsatisfied with the little amount Sobrina always gave to him from the huge amount of money she always counted happily in front of him, and never told her. He had also tried to move the friendship to the next level - an intimate relationship - but Sobrina had refused, because he wasn't her type. She had insisted that they made better friends without getting involved.

Sobrina never told anyone, including Basila, about what had happened, and the boy kept his distance from then on.