Bluffing the Devil(18)

I jumped out of bed and padded around the room touching everything I could get my hands on as Devin laid back on the bed and just watched me.

"I have other things you can touch, you know?" he offered with a twinkle in his eye. Ah yes, seeing him was always a good time for me. Those eyes were calling me back to him, but I had a mission and needed to stick to it.

"I will get to that in a moment. Where is your patience, sir?"

"I'm afraid I have no patience when it comes to you, miss." He would have to answer really cutely and make me go all girly again, wouldn't he?

As I took my time walking around his room, taking in everything I could, I suddenly realized there were no windows in the room.

"You have no windows? Weird, don't you like to let the sun shine in sometimes?"

"I would love that, but alas there are no windows."

"What about in the rest of your house? Can we see the other rooms, kitchen?"

"Hungry, love?"

"Nope, I was just being nosey through your things. I’m learning about you. That’s all." He was avoiding answering my questions. I could see that he wanted me to change the subject, but was trying to also do as I wished at the same time. I wasn't going to get anywhere with this tactic and needed to change my plan of attack.

I leapt into the bed and on top of him. "Hi," I said sweetly and planted a tender kiss on his cheek.

"Well, hi yourself. How nice of you to join me. I was starting to wonder if I had somehow transmitted a vicious case of the cooties, that you were nervous to contract or something."

"Nah, your cooties would be worth catching, I'm sure." I laid my head on his chest and began drawing little circles and lazy patterns across his exposed stomach.

"Are you trying to drive me insane, love?"

"Yes and no."

"What sort of answer is that?" he asked playfully.

"The same kind you give me. No, yes, it's dark. Pssh!"

"Fair enough," he conceded. "You seem very lost in thought, are you okay?"

Before I knew what I was saying, I blurted out, "What if I were to say that I wish you were real?"

"You must be careful what you wish for, beauty. It’s dangerous and not always as it seems."

"How can wishing I could be with you in real life be a bad thing? That's just something people say to threaten or warn people away from things they really don’t want or need."

"You want me?"

"Ha! Don't sound so shocked, lover boy." Yeah, I can throw out some useless nicknames, too. I'm not above it. "It's been a very long time, since someone made me feel good. Of course I would want you, if given the chance. Any idiot would."

His eyes wouldn't meet mine, no matter how hard I tried to look at him.

"You seem very tired, love. Why don't you try to get some rest. I will get us a snack," he said and he left the room. His scent covered the bed, and made me want to wrap myself around him. I closed my eyes and began to feel relaxed and comfortable.

A moment later, Devin walked back into the room. I couldn't see anything beyond the door, but he had a plate of fruit, cheese, and crackers in one hand and two glasses in the other. Aww, he really did think I wanted a snack, how sweet.

"Well, hello there, love. Did you rest well?" he asked as he sat the goodies down on the table beside the bed.

"Well, hello… did I rest? I feel as if I want to sleep every moment, but I'm never actually resting. I feel very cozy, but I didn't fall asleep in the few minutes you were gone, no. You know what's funny, before you entered my dreams, I wasn't sleeping almost ever. I had insomnia really bad and usually stayed up most night all night playing online poker. Oh well, I got what I asked for. At least I know God listens to prayers now," I said before realizing it.

His eyes flew to my face, "What do you mean God listens to your prayers? What prayer?"

"I asked for you. Not you directly, but I asked God in a prayer the night before you started coming to my dreams. I said I wanted someone that would turn my world upside down, make me rest when I was supposed to, make my body do things I didn't know existed, push me to reach my goals and dreams, and be a constant source of encouragement and inspiration in my life. I knew it was a tall order to fill, but if I was going to care for another man again, he was going to have to be as good as the last one that had my heart. The very next night, I fell asleep really early and you came to my dreams. It was crazy, but I didn't put two and two together until just last night.

"What helped you to see it was a granted wish, and not just something random? Or maybe I am a form of punishment to you? How can you know for sure?"

"Rey explained some things to me about how this whole things works, so I guess I just assume now that God answered my prayer. Now I just have to figure out how to make you real, or get you out of this place." I covered my mouth with my hand and realizing the shock of what I just said. Great, kill me now. I just told Mr. Sexiness on a Stick that I asked God for him, amazing. Do I even have a filter? At the exact same time I did that, I divulged that I spoke to a demon, know he is also a demon, and that I realize that this was not just a dream. Way to go, Alexia! You can really drop the ball on things sometimes.

I heard him suck in his breath quickly, and then silence enveloped us.. His eyes were locked on mine so intensely, I was nervous that looking away might cause us both pain or we would combust or something.

Then, slowly he exhaled and murmured "I am not a gift from God, Alexia. I am a curse, a punishment."

I broke eye contact and huffed, "Oh God, here we go! A curse, someone that I can laugh with and that will rock my world, is a curse? Someone who always wants what is best for me, even if it denies him what he really wants, that's a curse? Well, sign me up."

"You don't even know what you're saying, stop being insane. I'm evil."

"Wake up and smell the brimstone, buddy. You are not here because of your wrongs. You are here out of the spite and anger of someone else. You wanted better in life and were taken before you could fix that. You're trying now. There is a lot to be said for true remorse and making amends in life. We all make mistakes. You're only human," I said then paused. "Well, you were human. Are you technically still human now? I don't care. You made a human mistake or two dozen, but that doesn't mean you are evil."

"Thank you," he said. His eyes were downcast to the floor as if he looked ashamed. "I am a demon, but technically still human. Everything is in working order."

"Yeah, I didn’t forget," I said sending him a little wink to accentuate my point. When he blushed slightly, I added, "And anyway, I did ask God for you. I saw you in my mind before and knew you were something special and drop dead gorgeous, so I asked. I figured that the worst thing that could happen would be me wanting you, and you not wanting me in return. Isn't that how normal bad dreams work? That or you would be a serial killer who gutted me and wore me as a skin suit, also not much fun for me."

Even in the face of what was going on, Devin laughed, a beautiful, hearty laugh. "Skin suit? Wow. Need some lotion for those elbows? They are lookin' mighty mummified." His laughter continued for the better part of a full minute, and he wiped his eyes. "Wow, I haven't laughed that hard in ages. Thank you, love."

"No problem! I have my moments. Anyway, and then, after you visited my dreams, I prayed for you. I continue to pray for you often, which is how I can get to you so easily now. I think God grants me those wishes.

"You.. you.. um.. you pray for me?"

"Don't sound so shocked. Being here in my dreams is much more appealing than how my usual days are spent, and I guess I feel better here, I don’t know. I like to be with you and want it more often than not, which is petrifying to me, because I am really not very girly and totally haven't been interested in a relationship in ages. But, yes, I guess I did pray for you and have asked for you. Is that bad?"

"No, beauty. No, it's not bad at all. Thank you. If I could ask God for favors, I would always ask Him for you."

"Awww, see you are getting all romantic on me. I might start to think you like me or something," I said as I swung out with my right leg, hooking it behind his left leg, and pulled him onto the bed with me.

He looked down into my eyes and said, "I liked you right away. Has my swag lost that much of it's umph, that you don't even know I care for you?"

"Ew! Please never use the term "swag" when referencing yourself. That's horrifying!" I joked.

"Okay, well my dashing good looks and charm are wasted on normal women, so you must be out of this world?"

"Did you just call me an alien? You're really bad at this…" My chest kept tightening from all of the laughter.

"Did you just not get that I called you "cosmic"? You're really bad at this too, fine. How about this? I will just say "Yeah, you're cool" and we can go up from there?" He tried to keep a straight face for more than ten seconds, but failed miserably.