Surprisingly enough, even though I knew I'd slipped up in front of Mike. It didn't worry me. The short moment of panic I was supposed to feel at being caught on a lie was nowhere to be found. Instead, my lips moved in my defense before I even knew it.
"It's like you think I'm a moron, Mike." My voice was low, irritation flowing through clear as day. "I might be human, but I do have a brain."
I turned around to face Mike. He was closer than I'd thought, less than a handspan away. Angels really had no knowledge or respect for personal space.
"Yes, Lou told me about the war. Yes, Lou told me about the losses to both the sides. But Lou is too proud to stoop as low as asking me for help." I narrowed my eyes, leaning in to prove my point. I was deep in this lie now. It was heady. "And apparently..." Mike's blue eyes didn't flinch under my glare, but I could see he knew where I was going with this. "The angels... will."
Mike's lips pressed together, anger clear in his eyes. "Pride means nothing in a war. Pride has not saved my brethren. Pride... has not stopped my comrades from dying!"
"You're right." I nodded, raising my hand and holding the apple up between us. "And my helps will increase the demon casualties on the other side. There are more demons than angels. It sounds like forces are stretched thin. If I were to get found out, you won't be able to protect me. The demons... Lou will ensure I get a painful death. And no amount of reward, or motivation on your end would encourage me to out my life on the line for immortal beings."
Mike looked away, eyes flickering to the apple I was holding up. He hesitated a bit before reaching up to grab it. "So, there's... nothing... nothing I can do."
"You can stop the war, Mike." I let go of the apple. "You can stop the war."
"On what pretext?"
"Co-operation." Where were these words coming from? "Don't fight the demons."
"What..." He looked up from the apple. "What do you mean?"
I looked over Mike's haggard face. He looked my age. He was probably a few centuries old though. I tapped the apple. "The weapon. The weapon is a common threat to angel and demon kind, right?"
"Yes."
"That's why the angels kept it hidden from the demons."
"We didn't-"
"Alright, alright. Angels, allegedly, had knowledge of its location, but kept it, allegedly, hidden from the demons to be used, allegedly, against them if the truce ever shattered. All, allegedly of course, if you didn't get it."
"I'm not a moron, as you put it."
"Could've fooled me." I replied dryly. "Anyway, common enemy of the angels and demons so..." I trailed off, waiting for him to grasp it. There was a few moments of awkward silence. "Alright, uh, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And the enemy of your enemy is..."
"Demons?"
"Yes." I nodded. "The ancient weapon is the demons and angels enemy. Maybe both you guys could unite to find the weapon again and form a temporary truce to end all the killing."
"A temporary... truce." Mike looked away again, staring down at the apple as if it had just dispensed all this wisdom. "That... might work."
"Yes." I nodded, reaching out to pat his shoulder encouragingly. "I hope so. Just don't mention it was me."
"Of course not." Mike replied, looking up from the apple and finally taking a step back. "No one would believe my words anymore if they knew they came from a human."
Ouch. "Well technically, I'm also an ang-"
"Don't even entertain the notion." He replied, turning away from me. "You're barely one of my kind. Just the existence of angel essence in you does not make you an angel in even the slightest sense."
"Now, you're just being mean."
"You just used me to wash vegetables. We're even."
"We're so not even." I scowled, turning back around to start rearranging the apple. "You're really fucking mean. I'd like my apple back please."
I raised my hand, using the other one to stack the rest, but there was no reply. There was a warm gust, a familiar warm gust and I let my hand fall back to me. "'Thanks for the advice, Ryleigh'." I growled to myself, deepening my voice to match Mike. "'You're truly a genius. You have saved all angel kind with you wise words of wisdom. All hail your utmost foresight and humanity and beauty and your ingenious mind'."
I turned around to resume washing the rest of the fruits, grumbling to myself through the job I'd assigned Mike. What an asshole. Not only do they not have a concept of personal space, they also don't seem to have a concept of finishing what they started. For all he seemed to care, maybe the apple was speaking to him. What would he even do with the fruit? What was the point of taking it? He didn't eat. Lou atleast enjoyed it from what I'd seen today.
I heard my phone ring. The ringtone was one I'd set for Trace. I felt a deep-seated exhaustion form in me. I was tired of being around people and supernatural beings. I needed a day off. I needed quiet, I needed peace, I needed silence. And I most desperately needed a break from randomly appearing angels and demons.
I ignored the phone, and I ignored the rest of his attempts to contact me the rest of the day. Took that weird meditation kind of nap that was the only kind of rest my body agreed to, did a quick home workout, some self-care in the form of masks and very long bath, cooked for myself and treated myself to a pizza. The tips from last night were more than enough to cover it.
Honestly, I earned more from one night of serving the supernatural than I did with the mess of a Halloween party last night. The tips had been split between the three of us, that was probably the reason... but I still got paid more by the demons and angels. The angels refused to count out the money they laid down, and the demons liked me.
I was awake the next day. As I had been everyday for almost a month now. I missed waking up. The alarm function on my mobile was all but useless except for reminding me to leave for work. That's the only thing in my life now.
I finally called Trace back as I was walking to work. It rang twice before Trace picked up. "Hello?" His voice was slightly muffled by the food in his mouth. "What's up, Ryleigh?"
"Hey, Trace." I smiled at the phone, waving to Onoda as I walked past him to leave my building. "Sorry I didn't pick up yesterday. I passed out the moment I got home and just woke up."
"Oh, that's alright." I heard him swallow. "I figured it would be something like that. You were on your feet for like the entire night."
"More or less." I nodded. "Since my shift began till it ended when everyone left."
"Did you guys finally get to have fun?"
"Yeah, we did." I laughed softly. "I rarely get to hang out with them. This was nice."
"You should ask them to stay back now and then. Maybe you could leave early too."
"Yeah, I've done that a few times. But..." I shrugged, stopping at a crosswalk. "We've all been kind of busy lately. Dottie's been trying to get home early because Miranda, her kid, doesn't go to sleep until she's home. Sasha has his grandmother to take care of. And I... I get customers till midnight."
"Do you get a lot of customers after twelve?"
"I stay open till 12. I don't serve after 12." A light turned red and I shuffled across the road with the rest of the people in the crowd. "The last call for drinks is fifteen minutes before that. I've explained this to you so many times."
"I know, I know." He sounded sheepish. "I'm just bad at remembering numbers and dates and times."
"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow, dodging a stroller. "Is that why you're always calling me over instead of taking me out?"
He laughed easily. I could imagine him shrugging as he spoke. "You caught me. But it's also because there's no good restaurants open whenever you get off work."
"Ouch." I replied with a soft smile on my face. "That's true."
"I have however taken you out on your day offs and we've gone out for breakfast quite a few times. You had fun. I think."
"I did have fun."
"There you go. Besides, these breakfast dates are changing my body clock. I can finally get up in the morning without hitting snooze twenty times."
"Is that why you've been working out so much?"
"Yes. It's sort of hard to sleep when I know you're awake."
Rolling my eyes, I sped up into a jog as I saw the countdown on a open crosswalk. "Shut up. I'm right there with you, you're always passed out like the dead."
He chuckled guiltily. "Got me."
"No need to pretend you can't slee-yes, made it!" I exhaled softly as the light turned green right as I made it across. "No need to pretend, Trace. I watch you sleep every night."
"That is very very creepy."
"You should actually feel privileged. I don't just watch anyone sleep."
"I'd rather hope you not. You'd have to be in someone else's bedroom to watch them sleep and I don't think I could handle that."
"Ooh, are you threatening me?"
"No, I'm threatening the guy who's room you're in."
"I'm so not coming to your hearing."
"That's mean. You'll be a witness."
"Well, if I'm a victim you can even make me evidence."
Trace burst out laughing. I could hear the snorts through the line as I smiled to myself. "That's so fucking dark, Ryleigh. I don't even want to imagine that."
"On that note, I don't think you want to come over to my place anytime soon now."
"That's not true." I could still hear him laughing. "But at this rate, it seems like the only way I'll ever get to come over is by breaking in."
My heart twisted as bad memories flooded my mind. My reply laugh was a bit tight. "Hilarious. How about Monday night?"
"Monday... Tuesday's your day off."
"Yeah. So?"
"So, what do you want to do the next day?" He quickly added.
"We could relax at my place. Maybe head out for dinner and then go to yours."
"My place?" He sounded confused. "Why not back to yours?"
"Because I have work the next day."
"So, what? I can just carry my laptop and work at your place for a bit before leaving."
"Uh, no." I reached up to scratch my head. "You'll have to leave with me."
"Ah, so you don't like having people stay over after you leave?"
"Yeah, kind of." I sighed softly. "I never told you this, but a few years ago I used to live in this set of shitty apartments. And there was this one time I wasn't feeling well, so I decided to come home early from work and... found the landlord installing cameras in my bathroom."
"What the fuck?!" He suddenly exclaimed, clear surprise in his voice. "That's fucking sick! What the hell?!"
"I know." I sighed, looking around just in case people could hear Trace's yelling. "I'm just lucky I came home early that day."
"You're telling me!" Trace exhaled loudly in anger. "What the hell! I can't believe it."
"Calm down. It's fine. It was five years ago."
"Five years isn't a lot of time."
"It is a fair amount of time. I also once had a boyfriend who was stealing from me so I'm fairly paranoid about leaving people alone in my apartment."
"Fucking hell." Trace spat. I could hear the disbelief in his voice. "You've been through some shit."
"That's... uh, one way to put it." I rubbed the back of my neck as I stopped at another crosswalk. "So... I hope you understand."
"I-I do." He groaned loudly. "I'm so fucking horrible. It probably seems like I've been trying to force myself into your apartment or something."
"Not really. Your concerns are valid." I chuckled softly, shuffling to the side as a bike stopped beside me. "For all you know, I'm homeless or something."
His replying laugh was reluctant. "I know you're not homeless."
"Oh, really. Wow."
"Shut up." He went quiet for a few moments to let his laugh subside. "So, are you sure you want me over?"
"Yeah." My gut twisted a bit, but not as harshly as when I'd just started dating Trace. "Yeah. I feel a bit better about it than before."
"I feel like I should ask again."
"No need to. You should come over on Monday night." The crowd started moving again. "Come by 12:30. I'll give you the address to my building and you can meet me outside it."
"Why don't I just pick you up from work? I'll wait till you're done."
I grimaced. "No. It's just extra distance that you'll have to travel. I'll meet you outside my apartment building. Actually, I'll inform the doorman so you can sit in the lobby till I come."
"Does your building have parking?"
"Yeah. Underground. The valet goes off-duty by about eleven and I don't really have a car so I don't use his services. You can park in my spot."
"You have a valet for your building?!" He sounded surprised. "That's very fancy."
"Yeah. It is."
"How can you even afford that place?" Jeez!"
"A friend owns it." The lie just came naturally to my tongue now. "He's lets me stay there for pretty cheap."
"Sounds like a pretty nice friend."
He isn't. He's far from a friend, or the word 'nice'. "Uh huh." I replied, feeling slightly deflated.
"I'll get wine?"
"I don't drink."
"I know. It's for me."
"Right." I was laughing softly as I shook my head. "I have alcohol at home."
"I thought sober people aren't allowed drinks at home."
"I don't drink. It's just there. I haven't touched any of those bottles in months."
"Right. Your one year will be coming to an end soon, right?"
"Yeah." I nodded, feeling some pride form in my belly. "I was thinking of finishing off this year sober. Take a drink only on the new year."
"That's... fun." It didn't seem like he meant those words. "Why don't you end it? You probably just have a few weeks left."
"You're right. I do." I pulled my phone away to glance at the time. "Twenty-one days, to be exact."
"I was thinking of taking you out to celebrate. Fancy restaurant, fancy alcohol." He lowered his voice to a seductive note. "Maybe a fancy hotel. Hot tub, chocolates on the pillow, rose petals... the works."
I giggled, looking around as I felt colour rise to my face. "That's a bit too much. It's only been a month since we started dating."
"So, what?" I could hear the smile in his voice. "I like you. I like you a lot. I don't mind going a bit overboard once in a while."
I was blushing heavily now. I placed a hand against my cheek, lowering my head a bit to avoid eye contact. "That sounds... nice."
"It just sounds nice?"
"No... it would also be nice."
"You're damn right it would." Why was I smiling so much? "Imagine this- just the two of us, a great view, champagne... In my fantasy, you have a red silk robe on an-"
"And you're shirtless?"
"More or less. I'm wearing red silk boxers."
"With dragons."
"With dra..." He trailed off. "Are you okay, Ryleigh?"
I burst out laughing, scaring the lady walking past me. Pressing a hand to my lips, I had to contain myself before continuing. "I'm sorry. The moment was too good to resist."
"You just destroyed my fantasy."
"With dragon boxers?"
"That's so tacky!"
"And red silk boxers aren't?"
"Okay, fine." He grumbled. "What do you want me to wear?"
"Matching black silk robes."
"And... matching lingerie?" He trailed off suggestively.
"I mean, you can try it sure, but I'm not really into that kind of stuff." I pressed a fist to my lips, holding back my laughter as the line went silent.
"You think you're hilarious, don't you?"
"Yeah..." My voice cracked. It was so hard to hold my laughter. "I'm fucking hilarious. You're lucky-" I burst out laughing again, taking the final turn towards the restaurant. "I'm sorry. I ju-" I snorted again, forcing a laugh down. "I couldn't help myself!"
"I can't believe it..." Trace sighed, but I could hear the humour in his voice. "I'm here trying to seduce you with this sexy, sexy talk about a sexy, sexy night and you're here not taking me seriously."
"It's really hard to take you seriously when I'm walking to work, Trace."
"Oh, you're in public?"
"Yeah. Can't you hear the people? The traffic?"
"I mean... now that you mention it..."
"You were so absorbed in your fantasy that you didn't even realise I was outside." I shook my head to myself, clicking my tongue in a mocking manner. "What a disgrace."
"Hey, in my defense, I was very distracted by the thought of you in a red, silk robe."
"Stop thinking about me in a red, silk robe. Don't you have work to do?"
"Maybe I do. Maybe I don't. But I want to talk about this right now."
"I've reached work, Trace." I slowed my pace. "I'm almost outside the door, I can't dirty talk with you in front of my customers." A man passing by threw me an interested glance. I glared at him. "I've got to go."
"Fine. Fine. You're such a buzzkill."
I gasped. "How dare you! Even after I invited you to my place."
"Now, that's truly a miracle. Maybe I should get into pharmaceuticals. I'll figure out a way to cure cancer too."
A snicker escaped me. "I asked you to give me time, didn't I? Thank you for waiting."
"Anything for you, babe. Though you should have told me earlier. I wouldn't have pushed then."
"No. It's fine. I needed to be motivated to let you in."
"But still..."
"It's okay now, Trace." I smiled softly, pushing the doors to the restaurant open. I lowered my voice, waving to Dottie as I headed to the back of the bar. "I'm fine. I'll see you Monday night."
"Right. See you then, babe."
"Bye."
I had to out my phone away after texting Trace for a while. I'd just finished talking to him, and now I was texting him. There was nothing I could say to myself to excuse the fact that I was still talking to trace after I'd said already said goodbye. He was distracting. In a good way. I could use a break from everything going on around me. Today was inventory day. I was in early to restock everything we'd run out of on Halloween. I'd also restocked before Halloween because we can't run out of drinks on one of our bigger nights, but we were still a bit low on some. Dottie still seemed a bit out of it when I finally got a chance to talk to her. Sasha was his usual bubbly grandmother-that-forces-you-to-eat self.
And Cloud, still hovering like his usual cloud self in the back of the storage closet liked I'd asked him to stay during the Halloween night. He'd been here a few weekz and spent longer here than any of us, maybe I should ask Carl to provide a meat allowance for this big guy. He really liked quality cuts of tenderloin and those weren't cheap. Maybe Cloud could become an honorary employee.
He growled at me as I walked into the storage unit. "Calm down. I'm here to look at what needs restocking." A louder growl. "Don't be mad at me! I need to give drinks to earn to buy you good meat! It's as much in your interest as it is in mine." A smaller growl, some reluctant shifting. "Good. Now go sit by the cash register. I'll try to sneak something from Sasha."
Another growl. I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "Don't sass me. Go sit by the register and I'll get you the meat!" There was another growl, one that sounded like a warning as he suddenly rose of the ground and floated out the door. It was rather unsettling to not hear the click of dog paws.
It felt nice to have a slow day. Evening came, and for the first time in weeks, a familiar walked through the door before closing time.
Lou gave me a casual salute, sitting down on his usual stool. He grinned up at me as I placed his whiskey in front of him. "So, you have a chance to rethink my offer?"
"No. I didn't rethink it." I replied dryly. "And if I did, the answer would still be no."
"That's painful."
"Yeah. You know what else is painful?" I pointed at my feet. More specifically, at Cloud. "This."
"You named him. You keep him."
I paused, feeling mild panic cross through me. "You can't be serious."
Lou snickered, looking down at his glass. "The look on your face... No, I'm here for another drink before the war council."
"Interesting." Is this from talking to Mike? "Didn't the last one fail?"
"It did." I took a very large step over the literal black cloud in my way. "Which is why I'm wondering why this one has been called." I felt a chill crawl up my back. "Did you have anything to do with this?" I almost sighed out loud in irritation.
I turned to look at Lou, almost not surprised at the fact that his eyes were black. "What?"
"Did you talk to the angels?" It got colder. "Did you agree to help their side?"
Oh, boy. Here we go again.
I threw my hands up in the air. "No. No, I did not." I gestured to the rest of the bar. "Can we do this later?"
He raised his hand. I felt my head fall forward out of the sheer frustration rising in me. It just seemed to somehow vanish as I heard the dreaded snap. There was the sound of glasses being abandoned, notes being placed on the table and mindless shuffling as they all left the bar again.
"We can do this now. Because I do not have time."
"Oh, yeah. Let's just do this whenever it is convenient for you." I turned away from him, picking up my mobile and purse to place inside my bag. "Because it seems like you don't understand the meaning of time and space. Do you even understand personal boundaries?"
"A waste of words." I could feel his voice in my chest. He was still in demon mode. "There is no reason for any to exist between us."
"There is." I turned to face him. "I am tired of you busting in on my time whenever it's convenient to you and forcing your beliefs and your-your pets on me! Can you just give me a break already?"
Lou cocked his head, dark eyes turning back normal. "You don't like Cloud?"
"He's always growling at me." I looked down at roiling black aura, who threw me a growl on cue. "What did I even do you?"
"Oh, interesting." Lou snickered as I kept staring down at the hellhound.
"He likes you."
"What gave that away?"
"He just said it."
"How the hell down that growl sound any different than the previous two hundred growls he aimed at me?"
"Well, you see..." He gestured at me with his glass as I looked up. "If you agree to join my side, the demon essence I provide you with will be very helpful in understanding Cloud."
"I'm not sure that outweighs the fact that the angels will definitely kill me." I walked past him as I left the back of the counter. "Can you do your magic-telepathy-thing trick and shove all the stools under the bar?"
"Magic-telepathy-thing trick will also be yours if you join my side."
"Still not interested."
"Fine." I heard him keep the glass down on the counter. "This is a free favour in exchange for the drink." On cue, I heard all the stools slide against the wood.
I smiled to myself. "Thanks for the help. I'm leaving early."
"See you later."
"If you show up at my apartment again, I will stab you."
"Noted, but not really." Was his dry reply as I heard the bell above the door ding.
There was a growl from Cloud as I saw Lou vanish the moment he was outside the door. I sighed to myself. "If you miss him so much, go to him yourself." The replying growl sounded kind of sad. "No, you still can't have the customers."
The good news is, I don't need to be a demon to understand a demon dog. The bad news is, Lou doesn't sound like he's done.