#ep002

He glared over his shoulder at the girl, her face frozen and red. Lucifer couldn’t ever wish to show it, but the embarrassment was definitely mutual. As soon as the front door softly clicked shut, he left the bathroom closing the door not-so-gently behind him.

Natalie gave a sigh of relief. Glad it was over, if it even really happened. She grabbed the box of maxi pads and checked it over in case she’d missed some kind of “warning: this product summons the devil”. She blinked a few times and it occurred to her that what had just transpired must have, in fact, been a product of imagination. Perhaps she was dehydrated. That was probably it. She finished off the business that she had been in the midst of and paused before she left the bathroom. The house was quiet.

What a strange thing to imagine indeed, the devil? Weird. Why would she imagine that? He was kind of tall, dark and… well, you know. Perhaps she was getting a little lonely. Maybe her reproductive organs were trying to remind her that she wasn’t in a position to make babies so why did it even bother? She thought about that guy Thomas she dated for a little while and swiftly remembered why she hasn’t bothered with dating since.

Natalie strode out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed (though a little shaken). She marched across the hallway and set her foot on the top step as she was about to descend the stairs.

“In here,” came a deep, strange voice from her bedroom. Damn it.

She took another step down the stairs, hoping still that it might be her imagination (though by this point, she could be pretty certain that it wasn’t).

“Girl, get in here now!” the sharpness of his voice got Natalie moving and she went into her room, shaking. He was stood; arms crossed looking out of her window. The floor squeaked announcing Natalie’s arrival. Shit shit shit shit. There really isn’t a way of quantifying exactly all the thoughts going through Natalie’s mind, but her primary thoughts were for her safety. After-all, a very large, seemingly-strong looking man (devil or not) was in her room, beckoning her. Goodness knows for what reason he didn’t just leave when he had the chance. So what did he want with her? Was he going to kill her? She always kind of hoped she’d die peacefully in her sleep, but, with the devil around, was it ever very likely that would be the way she’d go?

She stood next to him, awaiting any indication of what he wanted, of what would happen next.

“Y…Yes?”

She was never a fan of horror movies, she couldn’t bare the silence. Her brother, two years ago, had gone through a phase of forcing her to watch them (the ‘mild’ ones, mind you, since she was only fifteen at the time), and she was always left thinking that if she were ever in a haunted house or hiding from a murderer she’d probably jump out shouting and screaming “here I am, come and get me!” purely because the tension seemed more terrifying than death itself.

(Not to mention, Natalie isn’t really someone who found it easy to be quiet)

The beast swiftly stepped to the door, taking one single stride where Natalie would have allowed three. He shut the door. Shit fuck, wank, bollucks. Shitting fuck-crap. This was it. Time to die now. Fuck.

Although…

Natalie took a second to actually pay attention to him, instead of herself, and it became apparent to her that his actions weren’t so much an expression of anger. Natalie’s dad always said that she inherited a remarkable gift from her mother; that she always saw the best in people and she was able to see through their outward expressions and perceive what they were truly feeling. No, he wasn’t really angry (though it was obvious he was wishing for Natalie to think it), but was feeling something akin to despair, exasperation maybe. What could the devil be so bothered by? She found it harder to be scared by him, knowing somewhere he could be hurting. Perhaps he needed a friend? (What a strange thing to think about Satan).

“Are you oka-“ she began

“Explain yourself,” he turned and loomed over her, squinting. She found herself looking up, for the first time, at his yellow eyes. They glowed and pulsed as she looked. Two curved horns sprouted from his head. They looked so real. Well, they must be real. But, wow, it was kind of creepy. He had long, pointed, pierced ears and as she was viewing the left one, it twitched and she realised she’d been staring.

Unbeknownst to her, Lucifer didn’t take particular issue with her staring. He took pride in his appearance, he’d taken this form to intimidate others and ensure that from one look they might realise who he was. Her staring confirmed to him that it had achieved its purpose. After she’d finished staring, she blushed and tried to answer his question. He knew she didn’t have a clue what happened, but asking her covered all bases. He wasn’t particularly worried about how to break the contract, more concerned as to why it had happened in the first place.

“I-I’m not even sure what’s going on… are-are you really-“ she bumbled,

“Yes,”

“Oh my god!”

“No,”

Natalie caught herself before laughing at her accidental pun. She wasn’t really sure but it didn’t feel like it was appropriate to laugh in front of Satan.

“What do you… what do you want from me?” she drew the courage to ask.

“From you? You’ve got nothing I want or need,”

He scanned the room and took a seat in the corner on her oversized bean bag (though it didn’t look so oversized with him sat in it).

“What happens now? What do we- what happens now?”

Satan took a deep sigh (which was purely for effect, as he had no requirement to breathe).

“Look, kid. You may not have intended to, but you’ve opened a contract with me and now you’re stuck with me until you decide to let the contract go or use it,”

“Use it? Like, make a deal with the devil?”

“You got it,”

“Wha- happens if I don’t do either of those?”

“Then you’re stuck with me. I just said that, fucking hell. I don’t like repeating myself,” Satan looked tired, bored. He looked like he couldn’t be bothered, “Look, you don’t want to be stuck with me, and I don’t want to be stuck with you. So just choose what you want or break the contract, I don’t care which.”

“I… can’t decide,” Natalie had an overwhelming feeling of strength and responsibility.

“It would benefit us both if you could not take too long, I’ve got places to be,” and he looked over at her for the first time since he sat down, making it clear to her that he would not tolerate hesitance for very long.

“Could I sleep on it? I can’t just decide on a whim, it’s a big decision,”

“Urgh, fine!” Satan got up and walked to Natalie’s bookshelf. It was filled with romance and mystery novels. He could feel her eyes watching him, forcing him to choose more carefully. He picked up ‘The Ring’ by Koji Suzuki, having read it before and knowing perfectly well that she could not derive an un-devilish opinion of him based on it. He sat back on the beanbag and opened the book at the beginning. “Your dad ever come in here?”

“No, he respects my space,” Natalie said, unintentionally trying to tell him about her family life (for whatever reason).

“Good, then I’ll be right here,”

“Right, okay…” the front door clicked open, “so can I- can I go now?”

“Whatever. Just think about breaking the contract. We’ll talk about it tomorrow,”