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The Damsel and the Devil (part 1)
By Jjay
Rain poured from the black heavens clothing the world in dreary grey that seemed to swallow all light from the street light under which Rebecca stood. She was waiting for someone who would never arrive. Rebecca’s mom had a boyfriend that encouraged her to forget her daughter as they jet around the world.
Days or sometimes months would pass without Rebecca seeing or even talking to her mother. Not that her mom cared. Here was a way to live as she had before a child ruined everything. Rebecca bit her lip trying to fight back the tears that threatened when she realized she was quite alone in the world.
No cars drove by the now empty dark school. No people strode by on the sidewalks. Not even a stray dog or cat. Then again who would be out in this kind of downpour. Lightning streaked across the sky just before thunder rumbled through the air causing her pull the coat she wore tighter around her as she clutched the book bag to her chest fighting off shivers.
Deciding it was best to get moving before she caught her death, Rebecca started the long walk to her house on the other side of town. Just as she took the first step she heard a sound so soft she believed it imagined.
Turning a glance at the street a black luxury car pull up alongside of her and rolled down the window just enough for her to see a well manicured hand that rested on the gearshift.
“Need a ride?” A deep soft voice asked. Leaning down intending to say yes she paused.
He was beyond humanly handsome. With deep piercing golden eyes that were half hidden beneath the fall of jet black hair, he was comparably beautiful. Her mouth was suddenly dry. Pressing her lips together and licking them she nodded giving a short thanks in reply.
A small twitch at the corner of his mouth could have been mistaken as a slight smile. Climbing in she sat her bag in the floorboard and pulled her soaked jacket off as to not get water on his soft black leather seat.
“I need to go to Madison and Sunset on the other side of town, if you don’t mind,” she explained as she chanced another glance over at him through the fall of her damp blonde bangs. Without another word he nodded and began driving before clicking the heater on.
“I hope I’m not too late,” he said in that voice that made her heart kick up a notch or two in rhythm. “It would be disheartening for you to catch your death.”
“Um… no.” She stuttered slightly. “I’m fine. Thank you again for giving me a ride.”
“No one’s home, you know,” he said in a matter of fact kind of way that made a shiver run down her spine.
“I’m sure..,” she started to say that someone should be but she had no real way of knowing, “Why would you say that? You don’t know that.”
He glanced at her as the car eased to a stop at an angry red glowing traffic light. “You’re not sure of that. You don’t have the first idea what I might know or not. You’re in a car with a complete stranger. But you are certain that no one is at home. As so am I.”
Biting her lip she leaned back further into the comfortable seat and thought about the fact that her mother hadn’t been home for a week now. What made Rebecca think she was there now?
“No,” she replied weakly. Tears threatened at the backs of her eyes again, as she realized she was returning to a dark eerily quiet house where only she lived now. Feeling anger building up inside of her Rebecca lashed out, “what do you want?”
As soon as the light flashed green, a grin—only a madman could produce—spread over his lush lips as he urged the car down the road to her place. “Do you believe in souls, Rebecca?”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know lots of things about you,” he laughed. “If you haven’t noticed. I know you live on Madison and Fourth, not Sunset, which is just a block away. Great ruse if you are afraid of a human being seeking to harm you, but not me,” he seemed to take great pleasure in making Rebecca know just how stupid she was for getting into a car with a stranger. “I’ve answered your question, dear child, now answer mine.”
“Yes,” The word came out of her as if pulled on by a string. “Why does it matter?”
“I want to make you a deal.”
“A deal?” She stared at him in disbelief. “Like a deal for my soul kind of deal?”
He arched a knowing eyebrow at her as he pulled up in front of her darkened home. The rain pattered on the car to a tune all its own. Large blue eyes stared at him with disbelief in their depths before tearing away to stare at her hands clasped tightly in her lap. “What would it entail?”
There was a tilt of his head and a shrug of a shoulder before he smiled once more at her. Those odd eyes of his trailed over every inch of her as if she weren’t still fully clothed and sitting in the front seat of his car. “Whatever your heart desires,” he purred. “I will make every dream a reality, every desire happen. All for the low price of your young immortal soul.”
Hundreds of questions raced through her mind as she considered what he was saying. It took her a moment to gather what she wanted to ask. “Would it be a one time thing?” Rebecca pondered out loud to him. “Then I’m dead?”
“Not unless that is what you want,” he stated leaning over the gearshift to sniff at her hair.
A soft scent of cedar, clove and something else she couldn’t quite place waft around her, growing stronger the closer he got. “And if I want to live for years and years?”
“You do,” he stated sounding almost bored with all of her questions.
“Would it hurt?”
He pulled back and pondered the thought for a second or two, “No. It would not. In fact it would be the most pleasurable thing you could experience in this plane of existence and the next.”
“Can I have multitudes of things for my soul?” She asked starting to like the idea.
“Yes.” His eyes showed only a glimpse of how hungry thinking about it was making him. Her soul was making him hungry and it was turning Rebecca on beyond belief. She could feel the heat pulling at the juncture of her crossed legs.
“So how does it work?” She asked this trying her hardest to think straight. “Assuming that I believe that this is all possible in the first place.”
“You and I will make a pact,” he stated. “A kiss if you will. Then you can start asking for whatever your little heart could possibly want. When everything that you desire is complete, I will take you in my arms one last time and drink your soul from the chalice of your lips.”
“Can you prove to me that this pact,” she asked making quotes in the air as she said the word pact, “is real and possible? I mean wouldn’t that mean that you are some other kind of creature besides human?”
Smirking slightly he replied, “yes and yes.”
“Okay,” Rebecca sounded a little skeptical, “so what are you supposed to be?”
“I believe that your generation refers to my kind as demons,” he said. “But I prefer to be called a devil, if you will.”
His words sent a chill down her spine. Rebecca was in a car with a true nutcase that was sitting in front of her house. Demons and Devils didn’t exist. Everyone knew that. It was only for bible-thumpers, strange gothic people, or overly superstitious morons that believed that they existed.
“Right. Well, thanks for the ride,” she said in a disbelieving tone, “I’ll be going now, mister?”
“Seyton Methuselah,” he filled in for her.
Smiling forcefully she scooped up her coat and bag then opened the car door. “Right, Mr. Methuselah.”
“Rebecca,” he called as she stepped out.
Not sure what to do except turn to him, Rebecca kept that fake smile plastered on her face as she did.
“Yes?”
“Here is my card,” he stated holding out a black matte card that had his name scrawled in beautifully pressed gold letters along with what she assumed was his number. “In case you change your mind.”
Swallowing slightly and nodding she clutched the card tightly in her hand and ran into the darkened house. As soon as she was inside Rebecca twisted the deadbolt home and tossed the card into the kitchen waste basket under the sink. Then walked into her bedroom to get ready for a hot shower.