David Policar, 1993
It was shortly after his 13th birthday that Daniel met his first demon.
By that age, of course, most children have met scores of demons, and are beginning to explore intimacies with a select few; however, Daniel had always been an unusual child. He was both victim of and contributor to a web of neurosis that ensnared his family and friends, and touched practically everyone in his small town to some degree; an unspoken conspiracy to ignore an uncomfortable truth.
After the first quickly-forgotten shock, his mother learned never to interrupt his nightime reading, and thus never again noticed that her son performed that childhood ritual without benefit of flashlight. His schoolteachers called him a bright underachiever, a comfortable compartment that accounted for his disdain for texts, study or homework without needing to account for his clearly superior mastery of their chosen fields. His father, a uniquely perceptive man, was forced to avoid him altogether.
Daniel was a helpful and cooperative child, and as soon as he understood it was expected of him, he mastered the art of lying quickly and elegantly. In this, he had the assistance of his peers - at that age, all children are engaged in the important business of being normal, and learn to cover up for each other's slips whenever they occur. They often became impatient with Daniel, as his slips were often major and threatened to ruin the entire endeavor, but with time he learned. With the frequent aid of parents and teachers, he managed to achieve the status of "gifted and talented" -- still lagging behind his peers, who had mostly achieved "normal," but nevertheless managing to fit within acceptable boundaries. Despite all this, however, Daniel had retained an exceptional purity of soul, and had thus been unpopular with the demon community as a child. Those few who approached him, seeking a challenge, never attracted his notice, and so by and large he and they remained separate.
(It is a common misconception that demons are attracted to the pure at heart. In fact, they generally concentrate on the easily tempted, leaving the unrewarding task of corrupting the innocent to other mortals.)
He almost didn't notice this one, either, engrossed as he was in rescuing the morning paper from the rain. But Azifel, who had been thrown off-course by an exceptionally devout local Mass, began crying pitifully at the sight of a human, and Daniel took note.
Azifel was a newly-spawned demon, barely blooded, and unimpressive as demons go -- particularly so that morning, lying huddled against the downpour. It was no larger than a foot from tailtip to snout, and its darkness had in places decayed to a mere gloom. With its membranes shrivelled and wrapped around it, it was not in the least imposing. Naturally, though, Daniel was taken aback by the sight.