Steal My Soul

One Week Later

It had been one week since I made the deal with Luc. After I had agreed to relinquish my soul to him (not that I even had a choice at that point), he had gone over to his desk and lifted out a different pendant. He placed it in my hand and told me to wear it at all times saying that inside the pendant contained my “borrowed” soul. Luc had informed me that until he was able to notify his parents and work out a “wedding” date, I was to wear that necklace for it should keep me alive for at least a few months.

After that had been done, we left the club and he dropped me back off at my car that was still parked at Olive Garden. I didn’t even bother glancing back at him as I started my car and squealed out of the parking lot. If I had glanced back he would have expected me to say something. Honestly, what would there have been to say? Within the span of a night I had lost my soul, agreed to marry the Devil, and gained a borrowed soul. I mean I was seriously wondering how I even had my sanity left. Just a warning to everyone and anyone: if a sexy, British man who has the body of a God sits across from you at your table without telling you a single thing about himself? RUN. Get the fuck out of there and just fucking run. You will literally be saving your soul.

When I had arrived home around one that night, Natalie had in fact locked the door. Fortunately, we kept a spare key tucked safely under a small square of carpet we had cut out under our greeting mat just for that purpose. I had yet to tell her about my new relationship status. Oh God now I sounded like Facebook.

We were currently sitting at the dining room table eating some white southwestern chili that I had made for dinner. Natalie was eating the soup while reading up on the news and occasionally texting. I was eating my chili and glancing over some notes for a class that we had a quiz in the next day.

For the past seven days I had debated on how to tell Natalie about the news, but was unsure of how to go about it. Would she think I was crazy for agreeing to not only marry some guy I just met, but Satan at that? Would she even believe me? Or would she think I was just coming up with a new storyline for a possible book? I glanced up at her from the corner of my eye. She took a bite of her chili before releasing an irritated sigh.

“I swear to God. If you glance over at me one more time, I’m going to take this spoon and stab your eyes out with it,” she threatened. Her eyes never left the newspaper she was reading.

“What are you talking about? I’ve been studying. I’ve barely even discerned your presence,” I scoffed quickly shoving a spoonful of the hot chili into my mouth.

The loud clank of her spoon being firmly set down on the table made me cringe inside a bit. Here it comes…

“What is wrong with you? You seriously think I haven’t noticed that you’ve hardly made any conversation at all this past week? What disturbs me the most is you’ve stopped calling me hateful, insulting names whenever I try to offend you. Not only that, but you not-so-subtly glance at me every ten fucking seconds like I can’t tell. Now tell me what in the hell is going on or I’m going to go into your room and set fire to all of your Supernatural and Psych seasons.”

My eyes flew up to meet her cold stormy blue orbs. A soft chuckle escaped from between my lips as my honey brown eyes shone with skepticism.

“Said the liar,” I quoted using a line from Shawn Spencer from Psych.

She shoved her chair back from the table and jumped to her feet making her way to my bedroom.

“Ok! I get it! I’ll tell you! Just sit your ass down,” I frantically called after her. She stopped in her tracks and pivoted around to face me with her hands resting on her hips.

“Don’t try me, Leighra. Now why the fuck have you been acting more mental than usual?” she inquired plopping back down into her seat at the dining table.

I exhaled pinching the bridge of my nose as I thought of how to tell her. As she sat there tapping her fingers impatiently on the wooden tabletop, I knew there was only one way I could tell her. Very bluntly. That was how Natalie and I talked with each other. It’s what made us such good friends and roommates. We were straight with each other and didn’t put up with the zigzagging bullshit. We didn’t beat around the bush; we fucking obliterated it out of our way so we could cut straight to the chase.

“I’m getting married to the future Satan of Hell,” I quickly answered leaving no space in between the words to breathe.

Natalie blinked a few times before her lips turned down into a scowl.

“That’s it?” she scoffed in disbelief.

Now it was my turn to blink a few times.

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’? Did you not hear what I said?” I asked in complete bewilderment.

“Yeah I heard your nonsensical babbling. But you were being a creeper this entire week all because you are getting married?”

My mouth dropped open in shock. How was she taking this better than I had? Had Luc possibly picked the wrong person for this job?

“Did you not hear the part where I said I’d be marrying—”

“The future Satan of Hell? Yeah. I heard that. So what?” she rolled her eyes and took a bite of chili. Her eyes scanned along the newspaper article she was reading.

“This isn’t some joke, Natalie! This isn’t a new plot that I’ve developed in my head and decided to write into a story. This is REAL LIFE right now,” I enunciated each word to make sure she knew what I was saying.

“One: don’t speak to me like I’m stupid. I know the gravity of the situation. Two: I didn’t say it was a new plot for a story. If I thought that, I would have made fun of you. Three: I’m not laughing, nor insulting you, so clearly I don’t find it to be a joke,” she clarified counting each point on her fingers.

“Then why are you acting so calm about everything?” I nearly yelled. How did she expect me to believe what she said when she wasn’t even freaking out just the tiniest bit?

“Um, maybe because of the fact that I told you he was Satan before he did? I kind of already called that one a few chapters ago,” she dully replied.

My face contorted in confusion. “Chapters? This isn’t a book, Natalie.”

Natalie sighed and stared at me through unamused eyes.

“It’s a figure of speech,” she sighed turning back to her newspaper.

“Whatever, but seriously, Nat. Why aren’t you freaking out? I’M freaking out still and it happened a WEEK ago.”

Her nails dug into the wood of the table as she slowly lifted her gaze. Those blues eyes were full of rage and murder.

“DON’T call me Nat,” she spat. Within a split second, the rage left her eyes and she was calm once more. “And why should I be the one freaking out? It’s your problem you got yourself into this mess. Not me. Watching you panic and squirm like a trapped bug because of this entire situation? Well, it amuses me greatly,” Natalie answered slipping a spoonful of chili into her mouth with a malicious grin playing at her lips.

My eyes narrowed as my jaw dropped open in half shock. “You…you’re so…sadistic and evil. Why didn’t he pick you?!” I quietly cried out in bewilderment.

Natalie shrugged the scowl evident on her face. “Hell if I know. He’s apparently not the brightest crayon in the box.”

I shook my head and buried my face into my hands. I felt like everything, all of this, was becoming more and more real the longer I sat here and discussed it. At first, I could have almost believed it was all a dream, but then my fingers clasped the pendant tightly in my palm and I could feel the warmth coming from the glowing reaper that contained the borrowed soul. This wasn’t fantasy. We weren’t actors in a movie or show right now. And we weren’t characters in a book living in a world created in the mind of the author. This was reality. And knowing that…it was the scariest part of all.

I glanced up at Natalie from the darkness that my hands provided for my eyes. She was busy eating away and turning a page in her newspaper.

“Could you pretend to care about what is going on in my life for one minute?” I sighed wishing she could sympathize with me for once.

She shook her head; her eyes running across another article. “Nope. I’m the heartless one remember?” A smile spread across her face as she let out a little, evil laugh. “And that makes you the soulless one,” she snickered.

I slammed my hands down on the table in anger making some of her water slosh over the sides of the glass. The chili in my bowl threatened to spill over the edge as well, but remained safely inside the bowl.

“Goddamn it, Natalie. Just once?!” I snapped.

Those stormy blue eyes lifted from the newspaper to stare directly into my honey browns that were filled with anger and hurt.

“What would you even want me to say, Leighra? I’m sorry that you agreed to go on a date with a man you knew practically NOTHING about? I’m sorry that you decided to get into the car with him instead of saying your goodbyes and leaving his ass behind? And when you got in the car with him, you STILL knew nothing about him. Why should I sympathize with your own stupidity, huh? It’s not MY fault that you were too blinded by his looks and his accent to even given a damn about your own safety! I refuse to sympathize with that. I’m sorry, but no. Now maybe if you HAD thought things through and this all ended up happening anyways…I’d think about it. You always think I don’t care, but I do sometimes. Why do you think I called that night?”

“You were worried because it was growing late and I wasn’t home yet?” I questioned hopefully.

Natalie’s face contorted into a look of confusion. “What? No. I cared about when you were going to get home so I could drive to work the next morning. You kind of had my car,” she said with a glare.

“Oh…right….”

“And….I may have been worried he killed you or something,” she mumbled under her breath.

A large smile spread across my face.

“Awh, Natalie,” I cooed.

“But only because I am the only one that has rights to kill you first!” She quickly tacked on. “But don’t ask me to sympathize with you on this. YOU got yourself into this. Not me. I’ll just do my best to keep you sane since if you go insane, I’ll be the one that has to live with that.”

“Ok, fine, I suppose I can see where you are coming from,” I sighed knowing deep in the back of my mind she was right. I DID get myself into this without thinking about the consequences. So the situation I was in now was entirely my fault.

“So does he have a brother?” Natalie pretended to nonchalantly ask.

I rolled my eyes as the image of Raphael came into my mind. He was a good looking demon….just a bit of a prick.

“Yeah a younger one and, unfortunately, he’s a real prick,” I answered meeting her gaze.

“Why?” she inquired quirking a blonde brow.

“Because he sat there and flirted with me in front of his brother. And he just has this air of arrogance that surrounds him like he’s all that and a bag of chips.”

“Your point? Tony Stark epitomizes arrogance and is flooded with narcissism, yet you still love him,” Natalie pointed out.

“That’s different. Tony Stark slash Iron Man doesn’t actually exist. Plus Robert Downey, Jr., I’m sure, is nothing like the character he portrays.”

Natalie watched me through dubious eyes. “Yeah, uh-huh, sure. Anyways, why is this guy a prick?”

“He insulted me.”

“I like him already,” she smiled.

“He called me cute,” I growled. Natalie waved it off.

“That’s something that can be worked on. So he’s hotter than Luc right?”

I let out an incredulous laugh. “What makes you think he would be hotter and not uglier?”

“Um…maybe you were too blind or stupid, possibly both, to notice this, but, uh….Luc has the appearance of a God. A very hot, British accented GOD. Therefore…his younger brother automatically must be hotter than him,” she rationalized in her mind.

“Why must everything be a competition to you?” I inquired shaking my head. I dipped my spoon into my chili and popped it in my mouth. The food was now lukewarm making me grimace.

“Because I must beat you in EVERYTHING. That’s why. On that note, bring his brother here so we can meet and I can contr—I mean, date him,” she said quickly changing her choice of word.

“No, I will not. Did you not just hear your own speech about making stupid decisions without thinking the consequences through?”

She nodded. “Sure, I did. If I date him, then I will have a man hotter than yours. End result? Me being insanely happy while you are squirming in misery over choosing the wrong brother.”

“My guy is the Satan to be. His brother is just a typical demon. So, therefore, my guy would have greater power.”

“That’s irrelevant,” Natalie huffed irritably.

“I’m not bringing him here.”

“Fine.” With that, Natalie once more stood from her seat and began marching toward the hallway. I quickly flung myself out of my seat and dashed passed her in the hallway to block her way so she wouldn’t go into my room.

“Ok, fine. The next time I see his brother, I’ll be sure to invite him for dinner or something,” I quickly agreed.

Natalie smiled triumphantly. “You’re so easy,” she replied. She shoved me out of her way and continued down the hallway. I slammed against the wall slightly dazed before regaining my senses and brushing passed her to block the entrance to my door. There was no way I was going to let her touch my Supernatural and Psych seasons.

“I told you I’d bring him here!” I whined keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground in case she decided to shove me unexpectedly again.

“I know. I got up to use the bathroom in the first place. Not go into your room,” she admitted. My mouth dropped open when I realized she had just manipulated me into giving her what she wanted without really doing anything.

She laughed opening the door to the bathroom which was right across the hall from my room. She flipped on the switch and turned to look back at me.

“Idiot,” she mocked before slamming the door in my face.

I turned around and rammed my forehead into the hard wood of my bedroom door.

I really needed to start thinking things through before doing something I’d only end up regretting. Like having Raphael and Natalie meet. If they started dating, I’ll be officially doomed.

Why does the world hate me?