A demon has to Eat...(Lachlan)

[luka]

When I walk into the room
People stop and stare
It's like nobody else is there
You know it's me not you
Who said anything about you
Wearing

The deal had been made and he sealed it with a kiss. Alice couldn't help think that humans were such weak and pathetic creatures. They would do anything to get what they wanted. Even if that meant selling their own souls. She giggled as she blinked just around the corner from the diner. If they weren't, she might have been out of a job.

The night air blew through her chocolate locks. She could smell the burgers still cooking on the flat grill. It made her hunger rise even more. She had waited on that sniviling little twerp for two hours. He had caused her to miss dinner. All of making a girl fall in love with him. Alice had been generous and gave him twenty years with his 'beloved'. She had wanted to tell him things would not work out. Things would go horribly wrong before his time was up, but she remained silent and let the lad think whatever he wanted. She got hers. Another soul for the collection plate and 'upper management' would be pleased. She had already placed fourteen on the list this week alone. She wanted some time off. The demoness felt she earned it.

She strolled into the near empty diner. A few patrons took instant notice of her. She was beautiful and had an aura of sensuality surround her. Her lips curled upward when she noticed all the attention she was getting. She could feel their eyes, as she walked over to the counter. She sat down, picking up a menu. She knew what she wanted from the smells that emanated to her sensitive nose. She wanted a cheeseburger. It wasn't like she had to worry about getting fat. If this body started to pack on the pounds, she would just set up shop in another pretty face. She waited patiently to be waited on.

The timid server approached. She seemed intimated by Alice. "Umm..What can I get you?", she rattled off, holding her pad and pen in her hands. Alice looked up at the girl. She was pretty...if you liked plain. There was little that appealed to her senses. So much wasted potential. The hair could do with a bit of color and those shore were hideous, she thought before smiling a very convincing, yet fake smile. "A cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake...please", she spoke sweetly. She had learned over the years you win souls over with soft and sweet words far better than with forceful tones. The girl scampered off to the back to place Alice's order, leaving ageless demon alone.

[lachlan]

Lachlan sat in a booth toward the back of the diner. There was a newspaper opened on the table in front of him and a cup of coffee sitting beside it. He looked up briefly as someone walked in, a demon from the energy she gave off. He went back to reading, sipping his coffee carefully as he stared at an article about the President's plan for the war. Nonsense, all of it. Humans hardly ever had a plan.

The energy of all the patrons and workers in the diner shifted as the woman approached the counter. The men seemed drawn to her while the women seemed put off by her. She ordered something and waited. Lachlan watched the woman behind the counter react to her, becoming sheepish and a bit nervous when a few minutes earlier she'd been laughing and joking with the few men seated at the counter.

The newcomer didn't seem to mean any harm, so he stopped paying full attention to her and continued to read the paper.

[luka]

When I walk into the room
People stop and stare
It's like nobody else is there
You know it's me not you
Who said anything about you
Wearing

The silly little waitress placed Alice's plate of food in front of her. The smell was welcoming and pleasant. She had to hand it to the humans. Their food was delicious. She picked up a fry and took a small bite. She chewed thoughtfully as she closed her eyes enjoying the crisp fried potato.

Breathing in, she felt and interesting energy. One she hadn't felt in a very long time. Not since her decent from Heaven. She looked around the room casually. Her hazel eyes scanned the few patrons. She mentally checked each one off the list from smell and auras. They were all human...all but one. It was something she had not felt in ages and almost forgot what true neautrality felt like.

Picking up her plate, she walked over to the booth. He appeared as an attractive human. But she knew far better, that look were deceiving. She placed her pate on the table and slid in the booth, without asking for consent. "Isn't this a surprise", She smiled sweetly "Its been a long time".

She doubted very much he remembered her. At the time she was just a mess he had to clean up. Her love for the mortal, that caused her to fall, was an abomination. It threw off the natural balance. He had taken care of the situation on Earth. It had been dangerous to the balance to allow Brenen to continue to know of her existence. She didn't know what the creature in front of her had to do to the mortal...but she really no longer cared. "Don't remember me?" Alice gave him a mock pout.

[lachlan]

Lachlan sensed the demon coming closer, but did not look up from his paper. He encountered all sorts of creatures on a regular basis and had been doing so for a very long time. A demon presence didn't phase him any more than a human presence did unless the demon was doing something nasty.

He glanced up as she put her plate down on the table and slid into the seat across from him. Only his eyes moved.

"Isn't this a surprise," she said, smiling with her human shell. He had to force himself not to see the true face behind it. "It's been a long time."

He sat back, leaving the paper spread out on the table and focusing on the demon for a moment. He was thoughtful. It was never a surprise if a creature knew who or what he was. Angels and high ranking demons would most definitely know and some other receptive creatures could sense his true self. But this one seemed to know him personally, or at least think she did.

"I'm sorry?" he said, his eyebrows raising slightly, as if he hadn't gotten the gist of what she said.

"Don't remember me?" she said, pouting.

It wasn't a genuine pout. It was a fake pout, a demon wearing a human mask of emotion. He studied her a moment, trying to find a familiarity in her energy. There was something different about it compared to typical demon energy. It was like there were several layers piled on top of one another to create this creature he saw before him. This was something that had possibly lived more than one life, or that had taken several different forms. He often saw this with humans who had, for one reason or another, died and returned to their bodies, certain demons and spirits, skinwalkers, and a few other things. He couldn't pick up any sort of familiarity. He was an old Mediator and had come across many, many different beings in his lifetime. His memory wasn't easy to navigate when it came to remembering names and faces, or more accurately energy.

"I'm afraid not," he said. "You'll have to refresh my memory."

He took a sip of coffee. To an observer he looked quite human. Really, he wasn't inhuman, but humanity amplified and leveled out into something that was supposed to be neutral and unbiased.

What a trying task it was to pull off 'neutral' when he had more emotion and conscience than every human being on the planet combined.

[luka]

I got what you want
Its Just,
Don't stop
Wearing

"I'm afraid not," he said. "You'll have to refresh my memory."

It was a shame he didn't remember her. She had hoped her falling had made a bit more of an impression. Her fake pout faltered to a soft but true frown. She sighed and stirred at her milkshake. She was sure her human shell or demonic aura was masking her original energy.

Their meeting had really only been in passing. But Alice remembered. She remembered everything. Well everything up until the pains of Hell damaged her mind. Being a woman who spoke her mind and didn't really care who she offended, she got right to the point. "Really how many fallen angels do you clean up after?" She stopped to take a sip of the cold milky liquid. The taste was wonderful and she let out a contented sigh. "You might have remembered an angel named Ahava?...But I go by Alice now."

There was no mistake she knew him. The energy coming from his was unique. She'd never met another like him, She couldn't remember the his name. She didn't even know if she had ever heard it before. It really didn't matter either way though. She give him his own lovely little nickname, the further the conversation progessed....if he allowed it to go that far.

[lachlan]

"Really how many fallen angels do you clean up after?" she asked.

This surprised him a bit because of both the frank way she conveyed this information and the abrupt delivery. The fact that this demon had once been an angel explained the strange layered energy he detected.

"You'd be surprised, actually," he said with a short, dry laugh.

Really, it was anything but funny. With the way angels tended to operate as a whole, it wasn't surprising they fell from grace. Still, they were supposed to be truly Good creatures. When that changed, it made Lachlan's job more difficult. And now there was something very wrong on Heaven's end of the war, and he didn't like it.

She took a sip of her milkshake, taking a moment to enjoy it. "You might have remembered an angel named Ahava?...But I go by Alice now."

He thought a moment. Ahava... Ahava... The name did strike a cord within his memory.

"Ah, yes," he said slowly as history unfolded itself in his mind. "'Forbidden love', correct?" He nodded slowly. "They called your love... an abomination."

He gave 'Forbidden love' a slightly over-dramatic tone, almost wanting to roll his eyes at the term. Love was so valuable and rare an emotion - true love, in all its forms. To consider any love forbidden, to punish anyone for feeling such an emotion, now that was the true abomination.

He didn't remember what his name had been back then. He had so many of them, it was difficult to keep track.

"At the moment my name is Lachlan," he told her. "But you may have known me as something else."

He kept his expression neutral, but he was deeply frustrated by the nature of this creature. Once she had been an angel, one who had served faithfully and diligently in Heaven for an incomprehensible amount of time. But the moment she'd allowed herself to feel anything other than obedience and loyalty she'd been cast out. A rather nonsensical consequence in Lachlan's opinion. But his opinion didn't matter. She'd been cast out of Heaven and he'd had to deal with the young human man who had caused this upset. He sighed heavily. Sometimes he greatly disliked the things that needed to be done to keep natural order.

And what had been gained? Another demon walking the earth and an inbalance in Heaven that grew more lop-sided every century. He closed his newspaper and set it aside.

"And now you stand on the other side," he said. It was a statement, not a question.