by Robin Roseau
Beth flashed a look to me. "Teigan, what did-" she broke off suddenly and snapped her head back to the demon. "Oh, tricky, Demon. You ordered her to answer my questions. If she answers that, she'll be in violation. And then you can claim her."
"Hmm. You know, I actually hadn't considered that. I'm getting sloppy. Our agreement is she may tell you whatever I authorize her to tell you." She looked at me. "I authorize you to answer any of her questions, asked in the next five minutes, unless I tell you to stop." She looked back at Beth. "Well?"
"Teigan, what did Rachel try to do?"
"She tried to kill Evaline."
"Why would she do that?"
"She somehow figured out Evaline was a demon. I don't know more than that."
"It seems," Evaline said, "that Rachel must have told you about me. Dear, dear, dear. And she swore to me she hadn't."
"She didn't tell me," Beth said. "I took one look. It was obvious. Maybe you can hide your horns and tail from everyone else, but I can see them plain as day."
"You can, can you?" Evaline said. "I wouldn't have thought the blood was thick enough for that." Evaline tapped her toe a few times. "Well then, I will accept your explanation. But you still attacked me, and so I may demand a price." She smiled. "Teigan, would you trade your soul to save Beth's?"
"Yes, Evaline."
"You have no claim on my soul!" Beth said. "I signed no agreement with you."
"Perhaps not, although I think I could eventually convince you to give it to me." She turned back to me. "Teigan, would you trade your soul for Beth's life? If you do not trade your soul to me, then Beth will join her cousin, and I will spend the rest of their lives making them do the most hedonistic things to each other. I, of course, will also do insanely hedonistic things to them. I already own Rachel's soul, but I am quite certain I can eventually convince Beth to trade hers to me. Will you trade your soul if I agree to let Beth go, subject to certain stipulations? If you agree, then I will treat you as a cherished pet. You will want for nothing and spend your days worshipping me. I will feed from you often, and you will share my bed at night. Will you make this trade, Teigan?"
I looked at Beth, and I felt tears crawling into my eyes, not at the loss of myself, but thinking about Evaline taking Beth. I couldn't let Evaline have her.
"Yes, Evaline. You may keep me if you release Beth unharmed."
"No!" Beth said. "Teigan, she has no claim on me. I can fight her."
"You cannot," Evaline said. "But perhaps we can negotiate."
The two stared at each other for a while. "Negotiate," Beth said eventually. "Fine. But you will release her first." She pointed to me. "This is between you and me now."
"She stays. If we do not come to an agreement, then she and I have just reached one."
"Fine, but return her will to her. You currently have no claim on her soul."
"In a moment," Evaline replied. "You and I are going to come to a binding agreement regarding your behavior during these negotiations. Do I need to tell you what happens if we cannot negotiate in good faith?"
"I think I can figure that out on my own," Beth replied.
"Good. Teigan, lift your gun, point it at Beth, and if she moves from the sofa, shoot her."
"Yes, Evaline." I aimed carefully.
Evaline turned away, stepped behind her desk, and pulled her keyboard to her. She spent five minutes working on a document, glancing at me from time to time. I held my aim steady. Finally she was satisfied, and the printer began to disgorge paper. She took the sheets and gave them to Beth.
Beth read them carefully. "I need a pen." Evaline had one ready. Beth moved forward on the sofa, and I began to pull back on the trigger of my gun.
"Teigan," Evaline said, "Stop."
I froze, the trigger half released. Beth glanced over at me and then moved back into place on the sofa. I carefully relaxed my grip on the trigger.
"I wasn't getting up," Beth said.
"I believe Teigan is currently interpreting her orders quite literally," the demon replied. "Teigan, you will allow Beth to use the coffee table to sign the agreement."
"Yes, Evaline."
Beth didn't sign the agreement. Instead, she shifted forward, watching me carefully, then set the papers down and began crossing out portions. She wrote for a while before sliding them towards the demon.
After that, they went back and forth several times before finally Beth read them and said, "Agreed. Print a fresh copy."
In another minute, they were both signing. Once Evaline had put her copy of the agreement away, she turned to me. "Teigan, lower your gun. Carefully and safely unload it. Then set the gun, any ammunition you have, and any other weapons you have on my desk."
It only took me a half-minute to comply. When I was done, I stood facing the demon.
"Teigan," she said. "We still have our original agreement. If you act against me, you are in violation. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Evaline."
"If you leave this room, you will interfere with my negotiations with Ms. Brewer. I will consider that an act against me, and you would be in default. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Bring that chair over," she said. She pointed to the chair I'd sat in before. I collected it and set it in place at the corner of the coffee table. "Sit down." And so I sat. Then Evaline collected her own chair and brought it to the other corner of the table. She sat as well. "Teigan, you may be a little upset, but I want you to try to remain calm and to remain in that seat. I return your soul to you. You are free again."
I felt it enter me. It was a weird, filling sensation, and I stiffened with it. Then I began to shake, pulling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. I looked down, not saying a word, but I felt tears pooling in my eyes. The two of them watched me silently.
I was the one to break the silence. I looked up at Beth, my expression cold. "Do you know what you almost did to me?"
"I'm sorry. I should have trusted you."
"Damned right you should have trusted me. Fuck you, Beth."
"I'm sorry." She lowered her eyes.
"Teigan, I'm sorry as well," Evaline said.
I turned my gaze to her, studying her carefully. "Are you sufficiently sorry you feel you owe me?"
"It depends upon what you want."
"Mercy. For her and for Rachel."
"If you are not satisfied at the end of these negotiations, we'll discuss it. I am not making promises at this point. I am not pleased, Teigan."
I nodded. I guessed I didn't really blame her.
"I need to ask you something, though. If Ms. Brewer and I are unable to reach agreement, I am within my rights to take her. She thinks she can stop me from doing so, but I assure you, she cannot."
"Then I offer myself in her place."
"No! Teigan, shut up."
I looked over at Beth. "I'm mad at you, but I never stopped loving you. And I never stopped protecting you. So you shut up. This is all your fault. You should have trusted me." I looked back at Evaline. "You will negotiate in good faith, but if you cannot come to an agreement, then you'll make her agree to drop this and walk away. I'll stay."
"You're making it damned hard for me to negotiate anything," Beth yelled. "Shut up."
"You don't have a foot to stand on, Ms. Brewer," Evaline said.
"I want something else, too," I said. "I want to know what the hell is going on."
Angels and Demons
"She's a demon," Beth said. "What else do you need to know?"
"I know she's a demon," I said. "What I don't understand is how you knew."
"It's obvious."
"It wasn't obvious to me," I said. "How did you know?"
"Ask her," Beth said. "She seems quite ready to tell you."
I glanced at Evaline. She was actually smiling. "She's an angel," Evaline said.
"What?"
"Well, a quarter angel," Evaline clarified. "And a quarter fae. What is interesting is that she got the angel from
her mother and the fae from her father. And she calls Ms. Spencer her cousin, but she is one hundred percent human. How does that happen, Ms. Brewer?"
"We only have one common grandparent," Beth said. "My mother's father divorced my mother's mother. Aunt Meg is from grandpa's second marriage."
"Ah," said the demon. "That explains that."
"Angel?" I was trying to catch up to the program. "She's a quarter angel? Seriously? Wings. Harps. Messenger of God and all that? Her grandmother was an actual angel."
"Apparently so," Evaline said. "You didn't notice anything odd about her?"
"I just thought she had more fae in her than whatever I have in me."
"Well, as long as we're in a telling mood, Demon," said Beth. "I should have smelled you long before I stepped inside." She took a deep breath. "I don't smell hell on you. Why not?"
"I haven't been to the underworld in 400 years."
"That shouldn't matter," Beth countered. "You should still have the stench of evil."
"Ah. That presupposes something that may not be true."
"And what is that?" Beth asked archly.
"That I am evil."
"You're a demon. Ergo."
"That's a false premise," Evaline replied. "Demons bound to the lords of the underworld are, by your definition, evil. I am not so bound. I am a free agent."
"I should be able to smell the souls you consume," Beth said, taking another deep breath. "I smell death, but it's faint."
"Long ago," Evaline said. "And I don't consume souls."
"You were ready to consume Teigan's."
"No, I was ready to claim her soul. I don't consume them. I would have freed her soul on her death."
I looked back and forth between them, still trying to catch up to the conversation.
"Angels can have children?" I asked.
"Apparently so," Evaline said. She turned to me. "Did you have more questions?"
"Why did she throw water at you?"
"Holy water," Evaline said. "She blessed it first, and she has enough angel blood to convert it to holy water." She looked at Beth. "That would have hurt a great deal, four hundred years ago. It would not, however, have banished me. It would only have made me very, very angry." She looked down at her clothing. "As is, you may have ruined the shirt."
"Excuse me if I'm not sorry. I want to know what you're doing to my cousin."
"And maybe I'll tell you," Evaline said. She turned to me. "You, however, will answer no more of her questions on the topic. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Evaline."
"Good."
She looked back at Beth and folded her arms. "You. Attacked. Me. Do you admit doing so."
"I'll pay for the shirt," Beth countered. "And a trip to the hair stylists, if you insist."
"Funny."
"Oh, please," Beth said. "You are completely undamaged. What do you really think you're going to get? And don't tell me you're keeping Teigan. You don't have a real leg to stand on."
"You will sign an agreement similar to Teigan's," Evaline demanded. "And there will be a clause requiring you to put the Rachel issue to bed. I do not want more of her relatives, or anyone else, showing up on my doorstep looking for her. Her attempt to kill me was a whole lot more well thought out than yours. If you hadn't bumbled it so badly, it would have been a lot harder to believe you identified me on first sight."
"No," Beth replied. "You are going to free my cousin, and you aren't keeping Teigan or me, either."
"No," Evaline replied. "She attempted cold blooded murder, and I am not releasing her until she has been properly punished."
"And so the uninjured victim," Beth said with a gesture to Evaline, "is also judge, jury, and jailor?"
"Yes," Evaline said. "I am." She smiled coldly. "Perhaps I should let you have her body, but I will keep her soul. Is that what you want?"
"No," Beth said. She glanced at me. "You promised Teigan you would show mercy."
"I made no promises. And your cousin is alive. I'd say that's a form of mercy already. You are also alive, and you are likely to remain so. You are even likely to walk away from this none the worse for wear."
The two, each of them implacable, went back and forth for a while. Finally I spoke up. "Evaline, you'll release Beth and me if she signs your agreement?"
"Yes."
"I'm not signing-"
"Shut up," I told her. "Evaline, will it be egregious?"
"She'll be just as bound to silence as you are. I'm sure if she would stop insisting I free her cousin we could readily come to agreement."
"And if you hadn't promised yourself to her," Beth said, "I might have room to negotiate."
"Oh, please," Evaline said. "From the moment you threw holy water on me, you weren't leaving my property without the agreement I want. And you know it. Rachel's freedom was never on the table. You should be negotiating for your own."
"Beth, she's a demon. She has eternal life. She has all the time in the world to stick to her guns. Do you really think you're going to sway her?"
"Shut up, Teigan."
"Even Rachel admits she deserves to be punished. Don't you?"
"She's a demon," Beth said, pointing.
"So? Have you seen her do anything demony?"
"Demony?" Evaline asked. "Is that a word?"
"Have you, Beth?"
"She claimed your soul."
"She was perhaps justified in believing I had betrayed her. Just like Rachel betrayed her."
"Now you're arguing her side! Did she even really give your soul back to you?"
"Neither of you are getting anywhere. I'd rather we resolve this issue before she reclaims my soul."
Beth stared at me. "What do you think I should do? Just give her what she wants?"
"Negotiate Rachel's release."
"I've been trying!"
"Stop being black and white about it." And when I looked at Evaline, she was smiling. "Negotiate Rachel's sentence."
Beth paused, her gaze slowly moving to the demon. "Were you intending to keep her forever?"
"No."
"How long?"
"I hadn't decided."
"Perhaps now would be a good time to decide."
"If we come to an agreement regarding Ms. Spencer's sentence, will you sign an agreement of your silence and ensure your family stays off my back?"
"I'll negotiate for fair terms on that, yes," Beth replied. "In fact, I'll draft it."
"I have far more experience drafting these than you do."
"I'm a lawyer."
The demon crossed her arms. "Amateur."
I snorted.
"Fine, but this is a tentative agreement assuming good faith negotiations of both parties."
"Agreed," Evaline replied. "Teigan, if this had been a mundane attempted murder, and Ms. Spencer pled guilty, what prison sentence could she expect?"
"The D.A. would go for ten years, longer if the offense were egregious or against a public figure."
"She'd get off with a medal if anyone knew she tried to kill a demon, and could prove it." Beth smiled. "I'm pretty sure demons have no rights against being hunted."
"Which is perhaps why this isn't a human court," the demon replied.
"You admit there are extenuating circumstances. She thought she was doing the right thing."
"She betrayed me!" Evaline roared. "I befriended her, and she betrayed me."
"Nevertheless," Beth said. "Time served."
"You're insane," Evaline declared.
"Five years," I said.
They both turned to me and spoke at the same time. "Too short," and "That's far too long."
"Five years," I said again. I turned to the demon. "And you tell her -- and make her believe -- her soul isn't damned. You do what you must to restore her sanity. If you cannot, then you will release her immediately."
"She's gone insane?" Beth squeaked.
"She enjoys what a demon is doing to her," Evaline said with a smirk. "She believes she has condemned her so
ul to hell."
"That's cruel and unusual punishment!"
"I'm a demon. Get used to it."
I glanced at the demon. She was pushing Beth's buttons. "Evaline," I said gently.
"Fine. Five years, and I'll convince her she's not going to hell. But no early release."
"You won't intentionally drive her insane," I said. "Agree to it."
"Fine. But she's going to know she's being punished. She remains mine, and I will do to her anything I want."
"That's not good enough," Beth said.
"That's my offer," Evaline said. She leaned back in her chair. "If you want to offer something in trade, I will consider loosening some of my terms."
"That's still too long," Beth complained. "And she should be allowed visitors."
"It's not too long," Evaline replied. "Especially as I am largely forgiving your attempt. But I'll let you visit her, two hours per visit, four times per year, but I control the setting. And if you ever attempt to wrest her from me, I will keep her forever, and our agreement will also allow me to claim you for it."
"One year," Beth offered. "Credit for time served."
"Five." The demon folded her arms. "Agree now or it's twenty, and I'll be presenting you with our agreement without any further negotiation, either. Turn me down on that, and you will join your cousin for the same duration."
Beth looked at me, her gaze imploring. I had nothing to offer her. Finally she said, "Let me see your first draft."
Revisit
It took them an hour to work out the final agreement. I sat back quietly, saying nothing. But eventually they both signed the papers and collected their individual copies. Evaline told Beth, "I presume you wish to see Rachel immediately." Beth nodded. "It will take a few minutes for me to make arrangements. Go wait in the main room. Have a drink on me, if you like. Teigan, I wish to speak further with you."
"She's coming with me."
"She'll be out in a few minutes," Evaline countered. "We already have an agreement."
"It's fine, Beth. If she intended me ill, she's had ample opportunity."
"Fine," Beth said. "Five minutes."
