Devil's Soul

Chapter 24 (what you're missing out on by going to bed a reasonable hour)

***Hey guys! I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to post another chapter, but you can't say I didn't warn you! Thank you so much for sticking with me! I wish I had less homework so I could write more often. It might be another long wait until the next chapter. Your support will encourage me to squeeze in more time to write. Seriously. Even the thought of just one person waiting for the next chapter motivates me to put it out faster. So please don't forget to vote and comment! If you don't, I will have no choice but to prioritize my homework, and I don't think any of us want that to happen.***

Somehow, meeting Remy made me start to like Desmond. Okay, so maybe I always kind of sort of liked him deep down, but after meeting Remy, I was able to acknowledge it and feel okay about it. I had immediately felt a kinship with Remy because we were both human beings that had fallen victim to the Devil’s irresistible deal. And now we were both demons, doomed to spend the rest of our lives repaying our debt to the Devil. Even without knowing her very well, I was able to empathize with her.

I had never viewed Desmond as a fellow victim. When I met him, I didn’t yet consider myself to be a demon. I saw him as an agent of the Devil, and I immediately distrusted him. I didn’t realize that we were the same. Meeting Remy made me realize that the three of us weren’t so different from each other. We were all in the same boat. The Devil was the real enemy.

I wish I could say that meeting Remy had the same effect on Chung. I didn’t expect it to since he would have had to be a demon for the effect to work, but a girl can always fantasize, right?

Actually, Remy’s introduction to Chung went like any other ordinary introduction to Chung. He made eye contact with her long enough to say his name, shook her hand, and then retreated into himself to observe her behavior as she interacted with the rest of us. Later he told me he thought she seemed alright, so that was a good sign.

Honestly, at the time, I didn’t think it would matter if he liked her. I introduced her to my friends only the day after meeting her because she had texted me earlier that day, wondering if I wanted to hang out that night. I invited her to join my friends (plus Desmond) and me for a few beers. I didn’t predict that she was about to become the newest member of the gang.

Anyway, we spent that night laughing and playing with fire (Don’t worry. I never figured out how to make the flames grow taller than three inches.). Abhinav and Chung were quite amused by my new ability. Chung never voiced his amusement out loud like Abhinav did, but I could tell by the way he watched me that he was compiling a mental list of all the things he’d ask me to try when Remy the Stranger was gone. Remy also enjoyed watching me struggle to perform tricks with the flames, laughing every time I failed to perform a feat I had promised.

Desmond was laughing along with Remy and making jokes at my expense. And that’s when I realized it. The two of them weren’t so different, which meant him and me weren’t so different either. And I realized that he was actually kind of a little funny. Even if his jokes were pitted against me.

Something else occurred to me that night too. I wondered, just for a moment, if he really always followed me around because he had to. Maybe he was just as human as the rest of us, and he longed for the companionship of a few friends.

I was glad that he and Abhinav seemed to be getting along, at least. The two of them must have had a few more beers than the rest of us (or, considering we were in Abhinav’s room, they slipped themselves some whiskey) because they decided they simply had to go out and steal a street sign. This, I was less thrilled about.

First, I tried talking some sense into them: “Come on, guys, stealing street signs is illegal. You’re adults, so you should act like it.”

Reason was not to be had among the drunken idiots.