Devil's Kettle

A Pleasant Surprise.

Ryan stands on the angel white hallway of Brian's B&B, infront of Zachary's door. Warm sunlight bleeds in through the two windows on each end, coating the hall in a deep orange haze. Dust motes dance in the air around her. This midday is hot and smoldering. Walking into the building the sun behind her opened its crimson mouth like an angry god and poured waves of heat down her back in his divine wrath.
The gold rectangle placard on the center of the white door reads 'room 44'. She feels nervous. This is the first time she's meeting the stranger who she chatted online with for a couple of months. She rolls her right palm to a tight fist and knocks three times, hard and firm. Her tender knuckles braise against the hardwood, she pulls her fist to her chest and rubs on its pink blots with her left thumb. Is there anyone inside? She crouches at the door, pressing her right ear on the cool wood and softly knocks again. She hears her knocks echo inside followed by the confused groan of a sleeping man, then the soft shuffling of footsteps which grow louder as they approach her. She gently pulls back and adjusts her back erect. The golden doorknob twists and the door softly creaks open. Zach towers before Ryan, a giant in slumber, his white bathrobe tied firmly around his waist, his hairy chest glistening with a thin coat of odourless sweat. His black hair falls down his eyebrows and covers his eyes in a curtain of secrecy. He looks at her first like he can't recognize her, then his eyes widen in rememberance and his cheeks flush red. Ryan smiles at his forgetfulness, her nervousness melting within her into comfort. She wasn't expecting him to be this attractive, she tries not to flush and keeps her cool. She can tell he didn't expect her to be this attractive either, by the way his eyes gently gaze down her heart shaped face, how they swim in her amber eyes, stream down her ample breasts, her silver pentagram pendant rises and falls with her breath, glowing against her beige colored skin. The awkward magnetic pull between them lets her know they're both pleasantly surprised. She looks up at him in hopes that he breaks the silence, her eyes pleading for him to speak so she can hear if he sounds just as good as he looks. His black pools of eyes pull at hers, gesturing her off the timid shores of strangerhood to come into his vast dark waters and swim with him against the glow of his blackened sun.

"Ryan yes, come in," his voice to her sounds like crushed gravel. Its dark acoustic rasp tingles inside his throat and resonates a deep sexual drawl. Ryan thinks of the men of old, growling within their empty caves at the beginning of time. He gently leaves the door open and turns his back to walk inside the orange sunlit room, the curtains are drawn apart and open windows blow a warm breeze within. She follows him inside and closes the door which shuts with a click of the doorknob. The air inside is warm and dead. Her eyes scan the motel room, twin beds, only one of which looks slept in, the other closest to the door, looks perfectly made and empty. Her eyes flutter in confusion. "Where's Needy?" she asks. Zach thinks of whipped cream when he hears the sound of her voice, its smooth thick fluff coats the sweetness of her feminine cadence. Zach turns and stares at Needy's bed, noticing it for the first time. "Probably went out for a--a feed. " Ryan knows what that means, so there is an awkward silence between them. Outside she hears the motor rig of a large truck driving past the highway. Zach sits on his bed and his head falls into his hands.
"I take it its not been easy being around her." Ryan sits across him on the edge of Needy's bed facing him, her light weight sinks against the soft mattress. She stares at the ceiling above her, trying to decode the strangeness of the atmosphere.
This room echoes with the screams of an ancient madness. A voice inside her speaks
An abomination, Ryan answers back.
Zach looks up at her, her eyes catch onto his.
"No, it hasn't. You can feel her in here, can't you? Its like she's-"
"Sucking the air out of the room." Their eyes lock together. "Yes I can feel it. "
Zach sighs in relief, so its not just him. He's not the one going mad. "I didn't even notice she was gone."
"Do you think she'll be back soon?"
Zach considers this silently and comes up with nothing, whatever backlog a person has of another's potential behaviour sinks into a deep emptiness.
"No," he sighs. The smell of lavender incense wafts off of Ryan and dances inside Zach's nostrils. He feels a soft comfort lull him into relaxation. He sits up, looking directly at her. "I'm sorry I wasn't expecting you, I've had a long night, it was really cold, and now its really hot, how far is your store from here?"
"Twenty minutes" Ryan says lightly.
"Lets talk there. I'll drive."
"You're gonna leave with your bath robe?" She smiles
Zach looks down at himself, as if he's noticing his nakedness for the first time as well. He chuckles, slightly embarrassed. "I'll get ready in five minutes."

Zachary meets Ryan downstairs at the empty parking lot, the sun above them swells red, the crimson air is warm and humid. Taking a quick shower and getting dressed in a fresh set of clean clothes took only three minutes, he must've been eager to see Ryan again. Needy must've sensed he had forgotten his duffel and put it beside his bed as she left, as well as opening the windows this morning.
Who knew demons could be considerate? He thinks.
-Shut up. He brushes the thought away.
As he approaches Ryan beside his Mercury he can now fully gaze upon the beauty that she is, she stands short but full figured, dressed in all black down to her Doc Martens, a large mass of black and red dreadlocks atop her head in a messy bun. Her lips are cherry red, her nose is pierced with a small silver star stud.
Keep it together Zachy boy, you're here on serious business.
And to serious business he should attend, Ryan knows all about the supernatural world and being native to Devil's Kettle, she could help him navigate why this place is an epicenter for demonic attack. Ryan leans on the back of the Mercury and pulls out a joint out of her back pocket, sticks it in her mouth and fingers for a lighter in the front pocket of her black jeans, the lighter is black with red flames embossed at the bottom. She flicks the lighter, it lights with a loud chk as she holds the end of her joint on the blue flame, sucks in the smoke and lets it drone out her nostrils as she stares right into Zach's eyes. He grins.
"Aren't you worried about the law?" Zach teases as he unlocks the passenger side so she can sit inside.
"Who cares?" She shrugs, then saunters into the car and lets him close it for her. The smell of fresh weed shoots into the air above him and he smiles, that's another thing he likes about her. He doesn't care either. He gets in the driver's seat and they pull out the lot, driving off into silent damnation.