Devil

-22-

-Goddess-

After I was off my high of flying down potholed streets, I dumped the car and called for someone to come and pick me up.

Imagine my surprise when I saw it was Nico pulling up with a scowl larger than the moon on her face. "Get in." I jumped into the Jeep as she pulled off, barely giving me time to get myself adjusted in my seat like a bus driver who hated his job. "Sorry," I mumbled, which was something Goddess would totally say and not me.

Nicotine only let out a heavy sigh, passing by the car I had my fun adventure in and turning down the same street I had raced down. "I have a few people willing to test out my weed," Nico said after awhile. I rubbed my forehead, trying to force out an impending headache.

"I think I forgot to tell you. I tried it on this little girl and shawty went buck wild," I snickered.

"Goddess, you are evil," Nico chastised.

I decided I'd allow Nico to keep calling me that name.

"Well, we need to try it out on other people now, and ima pay them a bit," she informed me. "And I already called yo niggas and yeen got shit to do today, so you coming with Big Papa to the weed trials."

"How ima come with myself," I smirked at her.

Nico only rolled her eyes, stopping softly at a red light. "You coulda went," I rubbed my forehead some more. "I got some Tylenol in here." She rummaged around in her car until she produced a pill bottle. I read it carefully then looked inside. "Shit, had to make sure it wasn't the fake Tylenol you was tryna sell in New Zealand. Always scamming people."

"Always making money," Nicotine corrected me.

"Next thing you know it, you gon have fake plastic surgery and fake wisdom teeth removal."

"You know, if they pay beforehand and they're sedated afterwards, that actually might work," Nico told me with consideration. "I want my cut," I grumbled, tired of her antics already.

We turned and started heading down a street I hadn't seen before. The area was slowly building up, letting me know we were probably nearing the suburbs part of town. I spotted a Jason's Deli, then a Starbucks, then a credit union. That's how it always started off when you were right on the feeder.

"Wait until you see the product I'm working on next. I'd like to think it's the sequel to my new weed. I'm seeing red speckles in my money's future," she grinned.

"Ughhhh," I groaned.

We arrived at another random building Nicotine had illegally claimed. I got out of the car slowly, wishing I hadn't been attacked yesterday as I felt the movement of my bandaids over the various scrapes across my body. I scrunched up my nose as soon as I got out of the vehicle. It smelled like burnt unions and a nearby fast food restaurant somewhere nearby. "You let people come to one of yo locations? I'm surprised," I commented quietly as we went around the side of the building to an entrance.

"Yeah, this building rarely gets used anyways," Nicotine shrugged. "Ight, what you need me to do?"

"Just catalogue the names of people coming in and handle the money giving part," Nico instructed me. "We should be out of here before rush hour."

I nodded and let her open the door for me, suppressing down any emotions that might want to arise. This might not be my business but it was business time now. I cracked my head from side to side, watching my best friend's demeanor change.

"Hello," Nicotine called out to the room filled with adults in all stages of life, asserting her dominance in her stance. The crowd responded back enthusiastically, probably ready to get their hands on the new strand. "Y'all can call me Nicotine. My partner Devil here will be cataloguing names and paying you," she told them.

"You'll be led to separate areas for about five hours to see the effects of my new strand on you all. If you don't make it out, your family will be reimbursed," Nico told them dully. Some people shifted in their seats as if they regretted the decision they made, but looked to terrified of us to leave now. I sniffed in the strong scent of fear circulating around us, my mouth damn near watering.

"Who wants to go first?" I called out, letting my voice project across the sparsely furnished building.

A man timidly stepped forward, looking like he was dressed more so for New York and not Houston. "Missed your flight?" I asked him with a smirk, starting to walk down a hallway. He caught up with me, his large boots echoing on the old floors. "Yes actually. Then I heard about the free trials." Hmm, he didn't have a New York accent. Matter of fact, I couldn't really place a particular accent on him.

"Name?"

"Edward Fisch."

I wrote it as neatly as possible on my notepad.

"Where are you from?"

"Hey, you tell me, pretty lady," he flirted with his gruff voice. I wrinkled my nose at him and slammed the room door in his face. He seemed unfazed and went to sit down on a metal bench. I believed part of this place had served as a makeshift jail for Nico at one point, but I wasn't entirely sure. It could've been a holding area for the people she smuggled to Houston or Louisiana.

A few minutes later and I was on my last person to get signed in.

"Who's next?" I asked the last person boredly, more so asking for her name rather than to see if she would come forward.

A black girl walked up, with the look of someone who was young and older at the same time. She curiously joined me as I led her down the hallway, quiet but bubbling with energy. Hopefully her hopes wouldn't be up when she was hooked on Nico's shit and her hair started falling out. Or whatever Nico said the possible side effects were. She looked about high school or early college age, and maybe could be a stud. Goddess would have told her to turn around and don't ruin her life like this- maybe even would have still paid her. But I wasn't Goddess anymore.

Let the trials begin.