Lorelei looked at Alex like he had grown another head and started speaking Chinese. Rachel chuckled. “‘Abashed, the Devil stood, and felt-’”
“Oh, shut up,” Lorelei interrupted bitterly.
“Isn’t that from ‘The Crow?’” Alex asked.
Rachel sighed. “No. Milton. Paradise Lost. Keep going to college, Alex, you’ll get it.”
“Is this permanent? What happens when I wash this off my face?”
“Nothing,” Lorelei answered. “The blood is a symbol and a conveyance, nothing more. The deed is done. We are both diminished. I cannot mislead or harm you, and… I will not be claiming any more lives as I once did. Master,” she added, as if admitting defeat.
Alex was floored. “There’s gotta be some way to free you, though, right? I mean, slavery’s just… wrong!”
“This is not slavery as you understand it. That is an oversimplification. Virtually every demon in Hell is servant or slave to another,” said Lorelei. “The priest had already severed my connection to my previous master. Another master would inevitably take that place. His ritual served to fill that void, yet it fell to you. That seems far preferable to his original intentions. Regardless, to return to Hell diminished like this would be… unimaginable. Given the conditions, this is the least of bad alternatives.”
“Magnanimous for a demon. That pull on your essence must have gone deep,” Rachel quipped.
“I would still bite off your wagging tongue, hag,” Lorelei snarled.
“Wait, so what am I supposed to do?” Alex asked. “Won’t some other big bad demon come looking for her?”
“Possibly, but unlikely,” Lorelei said, more to the ground than to Alex.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Rachel added. “Lorelei’s damaged goods, and greater demons generally can’t act overtly against mortals. You haven’t done anything to lose the protection of Heaven.” The thought gave her pause. She frowned, looking around a moment, and then shrugged. “In any event, you have an angel in your debt. You’d be a complicated target.”
“You don’t have to feel like you owe me anything,” he said. “I just did what someone had to do. But, I mean… no offense, Lorelei, but,” he turned back to Rachel, “is it seriously okay for a normal guy like me to have a demon, um, working for him? I don’t wanna wind up in Hell.”
“Bound to you would be a better term,” Rachel offered. “And that’s something only time will tell. Still, it’s not like she can fuck off back where she came from now, and I can’t take her with me. You’ll have to keep her close so she doesn’t run around being… well, evil.” She smirked at Lorelei’s glare. “Hell, you might be a good influence on her.”
Again, Rachel looked around as if watching for someone. “I’ll be watching over you, Alex,” she said as if deciding something profound. “Remember, she can’t lie to you or try to bring you harm, including to your soul. Trust yourself. See ya.” She turned and started walking away, gradually fade from sight.
“Wait, you’re just leaving? What am I supposed to do now?”
Rachel looked back and shrugged. “What else would you do? Go home.”
“Home!?” Alex blurted out. “I still live with my mom!”
Silence followed. With the angel gone, Alex turned to face the naked, battered yet beautiful demoness. A million thoughts came at once, and he had no idea where to begin. “So you can stay invisible?”
“I have great ability at illusion, master, yes,” she responded evenly. “I haven’t the strength just now for much else, but I can manage this. No one but you will know I am present.”
“Guess you’ll have to be invisible on the back of my motorcycle, then, ‘cause I only brought one helmet and I don’t wanna get a ticket. You sure you don’t want my sweatshirt?”
* * *
The underground garage of his townhouse complex sat unoccupied when they arrived. Lorelei gracefully dismounted and stood behind Alex once he parked. Alex got off the bike somewhat more nervously. He’d never brought a girl home, let alone a woman like this.
Standing next to the bike, Alex pulled off his helmet and found the breath knocked right out of him. Her bruises and lesions had vanished. Her hair still hung alluringly over her otherwise bare, full breasts. She wore his sweatshirt tied around her waist with its sleeves hanging between her legs at the front, yet all that did was make her shapely hips all the more enticing. The blood, soot and other marks remained, but her beauty still left him speechless.
“I seem able to heal, at least,” Lorelei said, noting his very obvious reaction. “It is…good that you are pleased, master.” She noted his wary looks at their surroundings and said, “We are alone. Were we not, we would still be undetected unless you wished it, master.”
“Does it bother you at all,” Alex asked hesitantly, “calling me that?”
“Not especially. I have always had a master. Now it is you. Does the word trouble you?”
“A little. A lot. Yeah. Maybe you should just call me by my name?”
“Very well, Alex. Shall I remain unnoticed when we go inside? You said you live with your mother. I imagine you would rather not reveal me to her?”
“Yeah, it’s just me and Mom. I wanna move out soon, but I can’t quite afford my own place just yet while I’m in school and… I’m babbling, aren’t I?”
“Yes, Alex,” she smiled. “You need not apologize. I can be quite accommodating. Your material circumstances are irrelevant to me unless you wish to make them my business.”
“Okay, well, Mom’s probably sleeping by now, so we should just be quiet and head for my room. Can you make sure neither of us wakes her?”
“Done.”
“Okay. I mean don’t wake her tonight,” he blurted suddenly. “Just tonight. Like, let her sleep normally. Don’t, like, put her to sleep for a hundred years or something!”
“Alex,” she said with a quiet smile, “You can relax. I am not a genie seeking to forge your doom from a carelessly worded wish. I will not seek to betray you simply because I am a demon. My first role is-was-to ruin and punish the wicked. I was not born to lead the virtuous astray. That task falls to other demons. And no angel, no matter how crass, would leave you with me if it endangered you.”
“I’m sorry,” he frowned, “I’m not exactly at my best here.”
“Little about you suggests a lack of social skill. This unique situation is surely outside your experience,” Lorelei conceded. “Yet you handle a crisis well. You think of others before yourself. I am intrigued.”
“You’re being a lot nicer all of a sudden,” Alex said warily.
“We’re not in the presence of one of the snots of the heavenly hosts.” Her flirtatious tone sent his heart into overdrive. “I have had time to recover. You have been entirely kind and considerate, and I am deeply in your debt. You are also my master. As I said, I have always served one master or another. You are already far more pleasant than your predecessors. I have no reason to be disagreeable.”
Alex didn’t know what to say. He just stared. Her eyes danced with amusement. Her voice alone was entrancing, and just standing there talking with her gave him the stiffest hard-on of his life-and he wasn’t even looking below her smudged-up face.
“How may I serve, master? I’m sorry,” she corrected, “Alex?”
“Let’s just… uh… go inside.” Alex tried to be subtle in adjusting his pants as he walked.
He failed. Lorelei saw, and was pleased.
Inside, they found the living room light had been left on. The townhouse lay quiet. His mother had to be asleep. Alex led Lorelei up the stairs, which she ascended with mild curiosity as she looked around. His mother had done relatively well in the corporate world, but the realities of single-parenting had made them a more or less middle class family. Alex led her into his bedroom and shut the door.