shine of a beast craving for human blood.
“He’s coming for me!” cried the witch.
Rosa and Victoria screamed too, as if it was they who the goat intended to take, and ran to hide under the dining table. The third was more sapient. She climbed over her mother’s bed and pulled the curtains closed.
That was of little help, however, for now the goat appeared under the mother’s bed. He showed his teeth again, stuck his tongue out like a wretched child, and winked to the terrified priest.
“He’s going to take me!”
The young girl fetched one of the mother’s slippers and hit the goat repeatedly on his head until it retreated under the bed.
But now a pair of long hairy arms appeared from the other side of the bed and reached to the mother’s shoulders.
“Father—!”
One hand slowly pulled the sheets off the woman’s body, while the other caressed her face gently.
The young girl threw herself over and bit one of the hands.
The goat’s head appeared now behind the headboard. The girl pushed the bars with all her strength to squeeze the monster against the wall. But now a second head and a second pair of arms appeared by the footboard and grabbed the witch by her ankles. The girl pulled back, trying to stop these new menaces. The head behind the baseboard bit her shoulder. The mother clasped both hands to the bars. Now there were three different pairs of hairy arms pulling her from every direction.
“Father, please! Give me your absolution!”
“I—I—I…” was the only thing that the terrified priest could utter.
The young girl kept fighting the goat, but the fiend was far too strong. He grabbed the girl by her neck and flung her against the wall. Then, pushing the bed over on its side, he came from underneath, grabbed the witch by one leg and pulled her body towards the entrance.
“¡Mami!” cried the two elder daughters when they saw the beast come out of the bedroom.
The demon had only one head now, but still three pairs of arms and four hands clung to the woman’s body.
“D-d…d…do you…do y-you be-be-believe—?” asked the clergyman from within the witch’s bedroom.
“Yes!” cried the witch.
The goat had reached the main door. He turned the knob with his mouth and pushed the door open.
“I believe in God and in the Holy Trinity,” the witch yelled, her hands clenched to the doorway. The goat pulled harder. “I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the purity of Mary—I repent! Hurry up, Father, give me your absolution!”
The goat stepped out through the doorway. The city lights dimmed, turning the moonless night even darker. A black whirlpool had formed in the middle of the canal and from the bottom of it came a mixture of black fumes and sparks, revealing an entrance to a subterranean forge.
The goat gave a stronger pull, yanking the woman free of the door frame. Just then, the young girl, who still refused to surrender, caught her mother’s arm with one hand as she held to the door molding with the other.
“¡Mamá!” Victoria cried from under the table. “Please don’t leave us!”
“Pull harder!” Rosa yelled to her little sister. “Don’t let her go!”
The goat was the one that pulled harder, though. The young girl felt her fingers slip from the door, one by one. She locked her feet to the doorway and grabbed for whatever thing she could reach, which unfortunately happened to be the witch’s finest piece of drapery.
“No!” cried Victoria. “Mamá’s curtains from Paris!”
“My very expensive curtains from Paris,” the witch raised her head. “You’re going to ruin them!”
The curtains started to rip.
“Let go!” cried the mother.
But the girl held on.
Truth be told, the fabric wasn’t exactly from Paris; but it had been just as expensive as if truly imported from France, and touted as legitimately French by the clerk who had sold them to the mother.
The priest found the strength to step out of the witch’s room and pull himself to the entrance. “Do you repent of your sins?”
“Yes!” cried the witch. “I repent with all my heart, Father—Let go of my curtains, you stupid child!”
“Do you renounce Satan and accept our Lord Jesus Christ as your savior?” the priest continued.
“Yes! I do repent, I accept Jesus with all my heart!”
“God, the Father of all mercies…” started the priest.
“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” the witch hollered to her daughter.
“…through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins…”
“MY CURTAINS FROM PARIS…!”
The witch bit her daughter’s hand, but no matter how fierce she sounded, or how much her teeth hurt, the young girl refused to let her go.
“You’re running Mami’s curtains!” Rosa kicked the young girl.
Victoria joined the fight too, giving her little sister a couple of knocks on her head.
The goat kept pulling. Eventually, the pressure was too much and the curtains tore. The young girl fell to the floor and hit her jaw, chopping off the tip of her tongue in the process. The pain was too much. She let her mother’s hand go.
“MY CURTAINS!”
The cry was like the barking of the Trojan queen, threatening the Greeks for her enslavement and the death of her children.
“A CURSE ON YOU!” the witch continued as the goat dragged her across the yard towards the crack in the middle of the canal. “A CURSE ON YOU AND ALL YOUR DESCENDANTS! YOU’RE NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU’RE A BEAST! The plague on you! May you age unloved and alone, and may you rot in hell, forever! Father, don’t forget the oil!” the witch howled, remembering she hadn’t yet obtained her absolution.
The whirlpool grew to the shape of a beast’s muzzle. A few demons poked their heads up out of the hole and gestured obscenely at the priest.
“Through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace.” The priest reached for the vial of consecrated oil inside his jacket. “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
And just before the goat gave one last pull to jump inside the infernal mouth with his bounty, the priest splashed a few drops of consecrated oil on the penitent woman’s head. The moment the oil touched her skin, the demon let go. He
