Evsper

“I know you?”  Her eyes narrowed, chin lifting as she surveyed him.  Her senses prickling at the man before her, no not a man.  Who was he, and why was he here?

“Oh now, darling, you’ve made enough curses and sent me on enough missions to do your bidding, you might not know my face, but you do know my real name.  Don’t invoke it now though, that would not be seemingly, just call me Jasper for the moment.”  Seeing her eyes widen was delightful for him.  Oh, it was sinking in for the witch as he drew closer to her, the tap of his silver tipped cane making a nice thud each time it hit the dirt of the road between them.  “Don’t worry, I’m not here to threaten, I just thought we should meet.  You see, a dear friend of mine is a dear friend of your husband’s.  So, there will never be a threat on my part.  She is far too important to me, in addition to our business arrangement.”  He winked with a cocky grin as he strutted, yes strutted over towards Eva.  She was beautiful, he could well see why Shelby had married her.  

“The blonde? Anna?” Eva’s eyes narrowed as she took measure of the fair haired, tall male sauntering towards her.  She knew she’d sensed something different about the woman he’d mentioned, not threatening, just…different.  Now with the male before her, he was giving off seriously dark energy and she had a feeling she knew somewhat what it might be.  

“Ah, so you do know her, darling.”  Jasper grinned smugly.  “She’s no threat either.  Quite fond of your Thomas, she is, but if you think you are territorial, you cannot even imagine what an angel who finally found his mate after waiting since the dawn of creation can be like.”  His lips twitched up even more.  “He has stopped pulling the wings off of the one angel who kept being an asshole and flirting with her though, such a mess,” he chuckled and gave a false shudder, “feathers and angel blood everywhere and having to be around so much Light to have them put back on.”  His eyes rolled with a slightly disgusted look on his face.  “And she’s just as disgustingly besotted with him.” 

“And now you want?” Did this male ever shut up?  No?  Eva cantered her head still with narrowed eyes as she regarded him.

“Ah, yes, darling.  I was getting to that, you see.”  Once more with the self assured grin.  “It is All Hallows Eve, as you well know, and the veil is oh so deliciously thin, and your curses have all run their course.” His eyes narrowed at her as his grin turned wicked in nature.  “I need you to make a few more, invoke my name for some bidding, damn a few people, the usual….  I’d just like to add a bit more wickedness to my repertoire, garner a few more souls to my stash, assist one of my favorite witches in her endeavors to set her husband up at the top of everything.  I’m only on this side of the pond for a short time more before I mosey back over to New Orleans and I’d like to collect some extra gravitas before I do.  And you, little witch, shall get whatever it is your little black heart desires in return, as always.”  He grinned and winked.  Jasper might be a demon but he did believe in even exchange of services after all.  Normally he did not deal directly with the witches who summoned him to do their bidding, but there were special cases.  As Eva was attached to someone near and dear to Annabella, that made her one of those special cases. 

“Can I watch?” Now it was her smirk that turned devious.  There were a few of her husband’s enemies who had thrown slurs in her direction in languages they did not think she knew, who underestimated her, or think she did not deserve to be considered in their social class.  She would love to see them get their just rewards a the had of her friendly neighborhood demon.  “Ah, now there is a catch darling, I can’t make you….” he paused for a second and thought.  No, he could not make Eva’s physical body invisible, however there was something he COULD do, and that would allow her to watch.  “It is going to take a little navigation on your part, but I believe we can come to an arrangement.  See, due to agreements that keeps certain organizations from obliterating me, I cannot make your corporeal body invisible.  However, once you are asleep, if you were to summon me from within your dream and bid me to carry out these murders from within your dream but have them take place in the corporeal realm, well, I’m afraid Lady Shelby, I would be bound as a demon to do that.  At which time if you so instructed me to take your incorporeal spirit along keeping it too safe, well, I have been summoned after all.”  Jasper’s grin was devious and mischievous.  There were ways around all rules if you were creative enough.  He hadn’t found a rule in Heaven, Earth, or anywhere else he hadn’t been able to circumnavigate. 

“Then we have a date, Jasper.”  Eva’s grin matched his as her voice became smooth as velvet.  For some reason she knew that she could trust this demon, if for no other reason than he would be getting what he wanted out of the arrangement either way.  Killing her would only bring him trouble from her husband’s friend.  “Till then.”  She inclined her head to him before heading on her way.

*****

It was just after midnight when Jasper got the tingle of a summons.  Being a powerful demon, he did have the choice to respond, but he knew from whom this summons came and with a smirk he mysted into her dreams.  Finding himself in a clearing within the woods just outside of London he found it “quaint”.  

“I do like the atmosphere you set, Eva.”  He chuckled as he looked over at the witch and extended his hand that had his signet ring with his demonic sigil on it.  “Shall we.  Make sure you do not let go of my hand or you shall be pulled back into your dream.  You are somewhere safe aren’t you?”

“I am asleep in my husband’s arms, nowhere safer.”  Eva gave him a smug smirk of her own as her hand slid into his larger one. 

In a flash, they were outside of the home of a politician who had made it his mission to undermine Tommy.  Of course that was never a smart move on a good day, but on this night, it was even a worse one.  As the duo walked up the stairs, Jasper’s head tilted as he looked over at Eva with a devious and quite pleased smirk.  “Ready for some mischief and mirth, dear witch?”  He gave her a wink before they walked straight through the closed front door.

Then it was up the stairs to his bedroom.  While Jasper always did appreciate a good snack of a plump human, tonight he would not be indulging in such delicacies.  At least he would be refraining while Eva was with him, once her soul was returned to her body…well, what happened, happened.

The master bedroom was easy to find from the prolific and voluminous snoring.  If for no other reason than to bring peace to the house, Jasper was going to enjoy this death.  Thank the Source, and possibly the Divine, that none of the residents of the Palace made such a cacophony whilst he tried to slumber or no doubt the lovely Abriella would have slit his throat by now.  

“Now, darling, put your little hand right over his heart.  Yes, just like that.”  Jasper was grinning downright devilishly. “Push down through his chest and squeeze.  You can go as slow or as fast as you like.”  He couldn’t help by chuckle at the look of relishment that was upon her beautiful face as she ended his life.  At the last moment, the man’s eyes flew open and Jasper was sure he could see them.  He’d have to ask when he was next in Caligo.  He did so like visiting victims, after all.

“Now, on to the next one.  Isn’t this so much fun?”  He grinned, his teeth winking in the moonlight filtering in through the windows.

By the time that Jasper returned Eva to her dream, there were eight dead men and two dead women, NEVER flirt with Eva’s husband, in London.  Eva had learned object manipulation, and there was a fire still burning.  Oops?  However, none of what happened could be tied back to anyone in the Shelby family at all.  Of course not. “Now, remember, darling,” Jasper started as he prepared to depart, “you owe me some delicious curses soon too.”  With a wink he was gone, and definitely glad that the name she thought she had for him was NOT it.

“Jasper!!”  Brie’s voice echoed off the stone walls and vaulted walls of the palace; her high heels sounding like gunshots as they resounded off the tile floors as she searched for him.  When she found him slinking out of the door to his quarters, she pinned him with a murderous glare. “You bellowed, my Queen.”  He bowed before her, trying to subdue the smirk on his face.  The tone of her voice said that she was not amused and pressing her might not be pleasant.

“Excuse me?  I what?”  One perfectly shaped brow rose as Abriella resisted the urge to dust him for the second time in a week.  Resurrecting him was a pain and he whined.

Jasper coughed, one day sarcasm was going to get him handed over to Cruz, who might not bring him back from the dead.   “Goddess, I take it you are displeased.”  His smile was tight now and he wondered what he had done, this time, to garner her ire.

“Would you care to tell me why there is a female, human, Earthly witch in my Palace in Imperium, in your chamber specifically.  You have been advised that snacks need to be consumed elsewhere.”  Both brows rose as she pinned him with a very direct glare from her hazel eyes that made it clear he had better start explaining or pain would follow.

“Now, Abriella, she is not a snack.  She is a…friend.”  He watched her lips and eyes thin simultaneously.  “And she’s not from Earth, well not this Earth, well not this current one, or at least not this timeline for this current one.”  She was going to let Cruz hit him, or maybe Adriel.  It was going to hurt and mess up his perfect face.

 “You brought a date..to Hell?” Abriella closed her eyes, she did not have the words, not for Jasper, not today.  Not after having just passed Seamus with a corpse he said killed in Constantinople, and when she corrected him it was now Istanbul, he said that - no…she had been in cold storage a while.  She needed fewer human eating people in her Palace.  “You know what…just skip that question…here, enjoy…”  Abriella handed him two bottles of red wine and turned around before Jasper could elaborate on anything.  She had to be losing her mind…

For a minute Jasper stood a little befuddled, then shrugged and turned back and entered his quarters where Eva was waiting, and looking a little nervous.  “I think Abriella is softening on me, love.  She gave gifts and no injuries, this time.”  He grinned as he strutted over towards the curvaceous and devastatingly gorgeous dark haired beauty who now looked amused.

Eva’s brow rose as an amused look formed on her face. “She normally leaves you with wounds?”  Jasper had normally spoken fondly of the other woman, but now Eva was having her doubts.

“Only when I’m acting the most like me and Anna isn’t around to soften the blow.   I must have been extra charming this evening.”  Setting one bottle down on the table next to him, he wrapped his arm around her waist and used his now free hand to pull her tighter against his side.  “Or…” He spoke very low and close to her ear, “she wanted us to have a very, very good time when we go topside, my darling witch.”

Eva gave a throaty chuckle, the candlelight in his main foyer dancing in her dark eyes as she gazed up at him with a mischievous smirk forming on her crimson painted lips, “maybe it is both?” She proffered.  They were, after all, going to keep all the human deaths limited to taking place outside of Imperium.  A rule is a rule after all.

“You know, love, you may be onto something there.  I think we should enjoy then.  Wouldn’t want to disappoint the Queen by not partaking of her gift.  I’ll have to introduce you sometime when she’s a little less worried about snacking on humans.” With a wink, a cheeky grin, and a kiss to her cheek, he let her go so he could open the first bottle of wine.

“That might be advised, the little blonde friend of yours is so delightful.  We should go monster hunting with her sometime.” Eva wasn’t quite sure what that entailed, but if it was as fun as the debauchery they were about to embark on, then it had to be just utterly delightful. 

“Now, darling, for that one, your body has to stay in my bed.”  He saw her brows go up and laughed outright.  “They are literal monsters and you are still a bit too fragile for my liking to allow you around those yet.”  He shook his head as he handed her his glass. “So, spirit gets bound to me, body gets to take a nap.  We all win.”  He winked and raised his glass towards her.  “To a night of death and debauchery with my absolutely favorite witch in creation.”

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