The Devil

The Devil May Care

She smelled the sinners before she heard them and heard them before she saw them down at the end of a dank and dark alley.

They had corned someone behind a dumpster and were jeering at them. Their intent was obviously malicious.

She spun on her heel and trod down the alley, hands in pockets, whistling a merry tune.

One of the sinners, a man with straight black hair, turned towards her. He didn't say anything, but his eyes warned her to mind her own.

She kept trodding and whistling until she was mere feet from the group. She peered between the group of men and saw a small, beautiful girl, her clothes dirtied and ripped, crouched against the side of the dumpster. The girl didn't look up from the ground.

She turned to the black-haired man, "And what are we up to here?"

The man sneered, "You want to join her?" The other men laughed. "Get out of here!" one yelled.

The girl was peering up at her between blonde bangs, begging with blue eyes.

"Oh, I don't think so." She said, smiling pleasantly, "I'll have to ask you to leave off, actually, and I'll only ask nicely once."

The group looked stunned, then confused. The black-haired man, obviously the leader of the band, recovered and scowled fiercely. "We said get out of here," he produced a gleaming knife from somewhere in his pants and held it in front of him.

She sighed, "Always with the knives." Her hand shot out and there was a squelching sound. The black-haired man gurgled and fell over, a fist-shaped hole in his chest.

There was silence. Then some screaming. The shrillest from the ragged girl who was no longer crouched but pressed against the dumpster, trying to avoid the pooling blood.

The men saw her horns, curling out and around her pointed ears, they saw her hands tipped in black talons, her sharp-toothed smile and long, whipped, arrow-headed tail and knew who she was. They moaned and knelt on the ground, covering their heads.

"Hmm." She shook her hand, scattering blood on the pavement.

The girl was frozen, wide-eyed by the dumpster, but she managed to control herself long enough to whisper a thank you to the vision of horns and claws, bowing her head to avoid her searing eyes.

"Of course," black boots appeared in the girl's vision "are you ok?"

The girl looked up at the other, now normal-looking girl with green eyes and short curly black hair. "I'm--I'm ok."

"Not injured? Do you need a doctor?"

"No--no, I'm fine." The ragged girl peered around the other girl's shoulder, "Are they gone?"

The other girl grinned a wicked grin, "Oh, yes. Gone far far away." She giggled rather delicately, "It's alright if you're afraid, it's only natural."

But the ragged girl found she wasn't all that afraid. Shaken, yes. Worried the men would come back? Oh yes. But of the girl in front of her? Not especially.

The black-haired girl stuck her hands in her pockets and waited for the other girl to scream, to run, to babble. But she just stood quietly near the dumpster, still shaking slightly but steadying more every second. She brushed the blonde bangs out of her eyes and cleared her throat, "I--I need to get home. But....I'm afraid they'll come back."

The black-haired girl laughed, "Oh, they won't come back." Seeing the smaller girls drawn face and quivering lip she amended, "but if you would like, I can escort you home."

The smaller girl sniffed, "Yes, please."

They walked to the mouth of the alley. The sounds of the city flowed over them as they hit the sidewalk.

"Really not afraid, eh?"

"Of you? No. The men..." the ragged girl shivered, "Much worse."

"Hmm."

"I'm Tamiel, by the way. You can call me Tam, though, if you want."

The black-haired girl looked at her sideways and flashed those too sharp teeth. And for a second, Tamiel thought she saw those curled horns over the tips of sharp ears.

"A pleasure to meet you, Tam. My name is Lucy."