"You sent me home with Alex on the night we all met despite our obvious antipathy," Lorelei said. "Why did you do that?"
"What else should I have done?" Rachel frowned. They walked together with an uncomfortable space between them. The drizzle had stopped, but everything around them was wet. "I had to report back. You aren't a threat to him, regardless of how I might feel about you."
"And how do you feel about me?" Lorelei's voice was calm, measured and cool.
The angel snorted. "You're a succubus. Do I even need to say?"
"Rachel... is there any reason for you and I to be hostile, other than that? I am a succubus. You are an angel. Yet neither of us works toward cross purposes any longer."
"I still serve the divine. I will always serve the divine."
"Yet I do not serve Hell," Lorelei said. Rachel stopped and looked her in the eye. Lorelei met her gaze without concern. "I serve Alex. I cannot begin to tell you what an immeasurable improvement that is upon my existence."
Rachel snorted. "I know how you serve him."
"Do you? There is sex, yes. There is also affection, companionship, trust, support and protection. I like him. I adore him. The words are alien, and I hesitate to misrepresent my feelings to myself, let alone to Alex. But whatever there is between us, I cherish it and would not willingly relinquish it for anything. Not for the highest crown in Hell and my freedom along with it."
"You say that," Rachel frowned, "but only one of us in this conversation is capable of lying."
"Yes. But you know I am telling the truth." Lorelei held her gaze for a long moment. Her tone softened. "He has changed me. I resented it at first. Now I continue to change, and I embrace it. I mean you no harm. I am no longer your enemy. I may never be 'good' by Heaven's definition, but if I no longer take the sort of actions you are meant to combat, why should we be hostile?"
Rachel's innocently beautiful face was thoughtful as she watched Lorelei. "What's your idea of less than hostile?"
"In the time that we have had this conversation, how many ways have you imagined destroying me?" "One thousand two hundred eighty-one."
"We might start there."
"...eighty-seven," Rachel corrected.
************
Drew had a good chance to unload on Rob when Wade and Alex grabbed the heavyset man's arms from behind. He was a fit, muscular guy with several years of kung fu and more than a few street fights under his belt, and he understood better than most the need to keep an opponent off-balance and hurting. He pummeled Rob's face, chest and gut with rapid-fire blow after blow, committing everything he had into each punch and kick.
Battered by this assault, Rob fought through the pain to wrench himself free of Alex's grip, then twist mightily to hurl Wade bodily into Drew. Free to move, Rob swatted Alex backward over the pool table behind him with a rough arm.
Jason had been waiting for it. There hadn't been room to help, nor was he the trained combatant that Drew and Wade were. But he was smart, he was loyal, and he had found more than one barstool that had Rob's name on them. The second he had a clear shot, he smashed one across Rob's chest.
Rob staggered, but then lurched forward to grab Jason by the neck to shove him to the floor several yards away. It was enough time for Wade and Drew to recover; Drew put his foot into the side of Rob's knee while Wade tackled him.
The fight had gone on like this for several minutes. No one had any illusions that they were getting anywhere. There were plenty of broken pool sticks, stools and overturned tables, though.
Alex struggled to get to his feet. He found an eightball on the floor and grabbed it as he rose.
Rob had forced Wade to the ground, stomping on his side. "Didn't wanna do things this way with you punks," Rob growled, "but now I guess I'm gonna have to shove my money down your—!" Alex cut him off by thrusting the eightball into the side of Rob's jaw.
Rob gasped and grunted under the constant assault. It wasn't like he was unharmed; things were simply not going anywhere. His strength refused to wane. Alex had a sinking feeling that he knew what Rob was -- and that finally gave him an idea of what to do.
Drew went at Rob again, giving Wade a moment to recover. Jason was already coming back. Alex turned to Wade, looking him over until he finally found what he was looking for. Outside of school (and, sometimes, even then), Wade never went anywhere without a pocket knife. A good one.
"Jason," Alex croaked, "see if there's a meat cleaver in the kitchen."
"What?" Jason blinked.
Alex yanked the knife off of Wade's belt, then hauled his friend back to his feet with Jason's help. "I'm serious! This isn't just a brawl!" Jason nodded and limped off, quickly as he could, to the kitchen. Then he said to Wade, "Need you to pin him down for just a second. On his belly. I've gotta get at his back."
"Okay?" Wade mumbled. He'd been thrown around a bit too much to question the request. It sounded reasonable to him. He tackled Rob from behind, wrestling with him in an effort to grab onto one of his arms. Rob countered, slipping free and bashing Wade back, but by then Drew had figured out what Wade was trying to do. It seemed like as good an idea as any.
Drew grabbed Rob's arm, twisted, and then wrenched him into a pool table at the hips, causing Rob to double over. He kept the twisting hold locked in as tightly as he could, one hand clutching Rob's wrist and the other pressing him down firmly onto the table at the shoulder. Wade recovered and grabbed at Rob's other arm.
Coming up behind him without any hesitation, Alex pushed the material of Rob's sport coat up out of the way and then yanked Rob's dress shirt and undershirt free from where they were tucked in under his pants. Thankfully, Alex saw, Rob was the type to wear suspenders rather than a belt.
"What're you doin'?" Wade asked. He could feel Rob's strength returning. They wouldn't be able to hold him down but a second or two longer.
Alex roughly unclipped Rob's suspenders, then pulled them down for some slack. Finally having a clear shot at Rob's backside, he put the knife flat and sideways against the older man's skin right above the crack of his ass and shoved up and in.
The sudden roar of rage, pain and panic that burst from Rob frightened all four young men, but nobody let up. In the kitchen, Jason spotted a meat cleaver and hustled back to the others. Holding their opponent down on the table, however, Drew and Wade looked on in shock as Alex kept cutting.
Something had appeared, almost in an eyeblink, over the skin where Alex cut. Alex grabbed at the long, flailing bit of flesh, wrapped it around his wrist a couple of times, and then pulled as he continued to cut with the knife. Rob continued to scream. Desperately, Alex put everything he had into his right hand as the knife continued to slide through muscle, tendons and skin.
A moment later, Alex had cut the demon's tail free. Rob's roar of anger turned to a wail of agony and humiliation. Drew and Wade, still holding Rob down, found their job was easier now. Rob had suddenly become noticeably weaker.
Jason returned in time to see Alex throw the tail down on the table. Alex grabbed at Rob's coat and started cutting. "There'll be wings, too," Alex grunted. "Jason, gimme the meat cleaver."
"What the fuck is this, man?" Drew burst.
"Demon."
"Demon?!" all three of Alex's friends repeated.
"Yeah. He is," Alex huffed. He looked up at Jason. "He's got horns, too, and they gotta go. Think you can find a hammer? One with a claw head?" He took the meat cleaver from Jason and then glanced at Drew and Wade. "Okay, I didn't tell you everything before, but you guys would not believe the week I've been having."
*************
"He has lain with me, yes. And two other women, one of whom he has longed for deeply. I believe there is strong potential for that relationship to grow."
"And you'd step aside for that?" Rachel asked.
"I believe if things were approached correctly, there would be no need. Nor need for deception," she added after seeing Rachel's sour look. "I must ask: are you jealous?"
"I don't -- I don't know," Rachel frowned finally, looking down at the ground. "I care about him. He's such a good person. I want him to be happy. If he's happy with you, I can accept that. It's not jealousy that I feel, I don't think, because I'm not angry that he's with you. But I'm frustrated and resentful that... that I can't be with him," she admitted softly.
"Why not?" Lorelei asked. "Angels have occasionally loved mortals before. Allowances have been made. I would imagine our situation would be a perfect case."
Rachel went pale. "Are you on crack? Do you know what has happened to those angels?"
"I do. Tell me, Rachel: were your feelings for Alex strong enough, would that deter you?"
"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself."
"I know desire. You have not explored yours yet. Nor has he explored his feelings for you. Yet he has a burning desire to be with you, quite apart from his feelings for myself or Taylor or anyone else, and that feeling is terribly strong and exquisitely beautiful... much as his feelings for Taylor, and for me."
"Desire isn't love."
"No, but love often includes desire, and I've enough experience to know that what I sense in him -- in us all -- is something I have never felt before in all my time in this world. Given my activities, that tells me all that I need to know."
"You aren't afraid of being pushed out?" Rachel asked. "I'm pretty awesome after all."
"You are," Lorelei nodded, "but no. I do not fear being pushed away. I am quite confident in my relationship with Alex. If I did not know him so well, I would not be speaking to you of this now. Are we settled that we need not be enemies?"
The angel looked at the succubus thoughtfully. "Maybe. I wouldn't push past that."
"And you're not jealous?"
"No. Well. Only of time, maybe. Opportunity. But I'm not bothered by his relationship with you." "Rachel, you might well be amazed how much room there is in his heart... and in our bed."
Rachel gasped. She glanced around, blushing, and then looked at the stars, or more pointedly away from Lorelei. The succubus stepped closer, her breath hot on Rachel's ear. "Alex wants you, Rachel. The two of you have such great potential for joy. I would not interfere. I would even help."
*************
Stripped of his tail and wings, and with his horns smashed off of his head, Rob gave the guys no further trouble. He lay crumpled on the floor, gripped with agony. It gave them a breather, during which Rob was fitted with a makeshift sock-and-duct-tape gag. They put Jason's noise-canceling headphones on him, too, blasting Tool at max volume so Alex could breathlessly summarize his situation with Lorelei and Rachel.
"If she's your guardian angel, why didn't she show up?" Jason asked.
"She can't see me when I'm with Lorelei. Maybe she can't see me with this guy so close by, either."
"Well, so what do we do?" Wade asked. "Ah mean, we can't just smoke this fucker, can we?"
"Wow, man," Drew blinked. "That's harsh."
It was a reminder of how far Wade had been from home. "Yeah, but... we got another option?"
"I don't know how we can," Alex shrugged. "Lorelei says if she takes a tumble off my bike it's not that big a deal. I mean this whole thing with cutting off his tail and wings hurts him more 'cause it's symbolic than because it's an actual injury if I understand right."
"Can't you call Lorelei and ask her what to do?" Jason offered.
"I can't," Alex said, scratching his head in embarrassment. "I don't have her cell phone number. Fuck." "What about the angel chick?"
"What am I gonna do, walk away from here with a cardboard sign saying, 'Rachel, I need you,' and hope I get far enough for her to see me while you guys stay here with this douchebag?"
As he spoke, Rob groaned. He had just slipped the headphones half off. "I know what you're thinking. Go ahead and kill me, it won't matter," he said, spitting out blood. "Shoot me, run me over, drop me off a bridge. Soon as my spirit gets back to Hell, I'll tell everyone. Everyone. See how much peace and quiet you and that bitch get after that."
"Oh, well, now y'all're just goading us, asshole," Wade huffed. He looked to Alex. "Can't we take him to a priest and exorcise him or some shit?"
Rob laughed bitterly, but then stopped when Alex said, "Lorelei said holy ground's really bad for demons." Everyone noticed Rob's sudden attempt at not reacting. "Just gotta find a place that's actually devout."
"What happens there, Robbie?" Drew asked. He grabbed Rob's hair to turn his head so he could look the demon in the eye, but Rob pointedly kept his eyes shut. "Nothin' good, looks like. So where do we go?"
"Does it matter what religion?" Jason asked.
"I don't think so," Alex said, shaking his head. "Lorelei and Rachel have both kind of said that it's about how much faith there is, not specific denominations or whatever."
"You'll never find a church pure enough in this town," Rob hissed.
"No reason not to try," Wade said. "Can't bring him in my car, though. Not enough room for us to watch him."
Drew promptly put his knee into the small of Rob's back and began patting him down. He pulled out a wallet and keys. "This looks like an SUV."
Wade took charge from there. He had everyone pull off their belts to put together restraints, then got the dismembered parts of Rob collected into a trash bag. He scrounged up disposable latex gloves from the kitchen and got everyone to wear a pair. Together, they hauled the battered and wounded demon to the front of the pool hall, unlocked the door, and watched for a moment to drag him out to the only SUV in the parking lot without being seen.
Jason took the driver's seat with Wade riding shotgun. Drew and Alex, after taking a moment to fold over and shove back a couple of the seats, pushed Rob to the floor and took up spots on either side of him where they could hold him down.
As Jason hit the ignition, the Escalade's stereo blared:
"Sweeeeet Caroline!" (bam bam baaammm!!) "Good times never seemed so good!
"I've been inclined (bam bam baaammm!!!)
"To believe they never would!"
Jason quickly found the stereo controls and shut it off. Four pairs of shocked, horrified eyes looked down at the demon on the floor. "Tell me that was just a radio station," Drew managed.
"No," Jason breathed in fright. "That's a playlist. Neil Diamond is devil music." "Sick fucking bastards," Drew said.
*