Page 22 of One Hell of a Deal

She giggles as the vendor shouts obscenities at me, and her innocent excitement makes me smile. I really don’t want her to go. “What do you say we head back home? It’s been a long day.”

Her face drops, but she nods. “You do have work tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Unfortunately,” I say as we walk off toward home.

“I might be wrong,” she says, “but you don’t seem to like your job very much. Why do you stay? Why not do something different?”

“It’s not that,” I say, touched by her thoughtfulness. “It’s just that since I’ve taken on Garrett's old position, my workload has doubled. I suppose things will calm down once I settle into it.”

“Hope so,” she says, and we continue the rest of our walk home, silently observing the sounds and sights of the city.

Returning to the apartment, we decide that pizza and a movie would make the perfect ending to our day. She selects a murder mystery that I’ve never heard of, and I order us a large pepperoni. As we start the movie and wait for the food delivery,I take a second to check my emails again, and my heart skips a beat when I see two replies from last night's inquiries.

The first reply is from a demonologist who says the only way to free a crossroads demon is to receive a pardon from the devil himself. He lists rituals that have been performed to call upon the devil to request a pardon, but he also says there is no record of it ever being successfully done. Hopefully, the next reply will offer more value.

The Second email is from Dr. Jerome McLantis, a theology professor at Ledgemont University. I read the body of the email out loud, and under my breath.

“Your project sounds very interesting, and I am happy to help in any way that I can. From what I have studied about demons, particularly, of the crossroads or soul-bargaining variety, my understanding is fairly limited. It is my opinion, developed by the ancient texts I have studied, that a demon of any status may only be freed by an act of the devil (Lucifer) or through direct divine intervention (God).

That being said, I believe in the complexities of defining the word “God.” According to Abrahamic belief, in the Bible, and all of its translations, there has been a consistent agreement among the scholars on one concept: God is Love. Many of us believe that the two are interchangeable words. Therefore, going back to the ancient demon texts, one may surmise that a demon could be freed by an act of ultimate unconditional love. Perhaps sacrificial love.

This is all of course, just a theory, but I hope it helps you in your creative venture. Feel free to reach out with any further questions.”

I sit back and glance at Daphne. I wonder if an act of absolute love could save her. But even if it could, it doesn’t help our situation at all. I care very much about her. But do I love her? I don’t know. And even if I do, I don’t feel like I am willing to sacrifice my own life, and be forced to serve as a crossroads demon, to free her.

“Hey Daph?” I ask softly.

She pauses the movie and turns to me.

“I just got some information from a pretty reliable source that an act of absolute love can free a demon from its contracts. But the thing is, if that’s true, wouldn’t that have been enough when I freed you? I was there to avenge Garrett, who I loved unconditionally.”

“True,” she says and nibbles on the inside of her cheek. “But you're forgetting that the deal you made was to save your own skin. The deal you made had nothing to do with your love for Garrett.”

That makes sense. “I wonder how that would work then? How could an act of love save you?”

She eyes me suspiciously. “Don’t you be getting any crazy ideas.”

“No, no,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m asking rhetorically.”

“I suppose someone would have to love me enough to take my place. I don’t know. Sounds like a bunch of human conjecture to me.”

“You're probably right,” I say, as the buzzer sounds from the front door. “That must be the pizza.”

“Can’t wait. I’m starving.”

“Same,” I say as I go to collect the pie. But I wasn’t starving. I have lost my appetite. My mind is now consumed with what to do about this new information.

I pay the guy and set the food on the coffee table, barely sitting down before Daphne grabs a slice. I watch her dig in and moan with pleasure with each bite. She really is quite a find. She laughs at the murder scenes in the movie. She’s so beautiful and doesn’t even know it. She's charming, inquisitive, and intelligent.

As I finally scoop up a slice for myself, a realization punches me in the face: Idolove her. I love her completely. But do I have the courage to sacrifice my own life for hers?

My cell phone rings, startling me enough to drop my pizza, luckily onto my plate. I look at the phone, surprised to see it’s Lulu. She must need something.

“I got to take this,” I say, getting up as she points at the movie with her eyebrows raised and mouth full of pizza. “No need to pause it. I won't be long.”

I answer as I step into the bedroom, closing the door behind me. “Hello, Lulu. Is everything okay?”

“You're the one that’s gotta tell me that!” I have to pull the phone away from my ear, she is shouting so loudly.

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