MHOS Part 13: Deal or no deal

I grab the arm around my neck and pull it off me while using it as leverage to get back up as I turn around to face her. The girl I saved on my way to Lust. Meek, unassuming, wearing a white lace dress, with raven black hair and soft golden eyes. She almost reminds me of me back on earth. I hand her the knife and watch what she's planning on doing with it.

She walks up to the terrified lump of a man on the ground and says "Power is based on influence. You are getting more powerful with every kill you have under your belt, but if you really want to grow, you need to sow fear. Killing can do that, but what works better is a deal." She says as she kneels above his head and gently places the knife at his throat. "You can kill him slower, or you can let him live another day in exchange for a favor, a mission, or even his soul"

I straddled his chest again looking her in the eyes as I said it "I have no use for predatory men but fertilizer, there is no deal he could strike with me that would want me to let him live" I put my hand on the back of the blade and leaned into it. We could both feel the blade lowering into his throat, I could feel him wriggling under my thighs and it filled me with a satisfaction only topped by her soft lips pressing against mind as the writhing below me began to slow.

I let go of the knife, surprised by her reaction, she puts one of my hands on her waist as she deepens the kiss and I forget in that moment that we're straddling a dead guy we just killed together.. I pull her in closer she mumbles "That was so fucking hot" and as her body slides closer, we hear a guttural moan being let out beneath the both of us and suddenly reality sets back in. Our dead guy isn't dead.. he's almost dead..

I get up off of him, pulling the girl I still don't even know the name of, up off him as well and ask him "Hey, are you dying, dying or do we still have time to strike up a deal?" A pained look of "Too little, too late" washes over his face as we watch the life begin to fade from his eyes.

"Ugh, sad, now we have to find another one" I say as I stand up and begin looting his body. She chuckles and says "It's Hell, I'm sure we'll come across another one soon" her chuckle wasn't really a chuckle though, it sounded like a cover for the growling her stomach just did. Time to head back to the tavern, feed her & pump her for information. She's the second person to talk to me about deals, I need to know more.

We head on over to Alastor's tavern, I smile at Husk as I walk the girl to the same booth I saw her at last night and an adorable little redhead with a short attention span and a blood splotched apron on asks to take our order. We both get burger platters and a drink and as the very tiny waitress walks away the woman across from me says "You were so close to making a deal with that guy."

I look up at her and say "Deals are all well and good, but I've saved you from three men, given you a ride to a safe space, eliminated a remaining threat to you, and you've kissed me as we killed a man together and I still don't know anything about you" She blushes and says "What would you like to know?"

"Your name for starters Peaches.. I've never kissed a person I didn't know the name of before. So I think your name would be a good place to start."

"Peaches" she says with a smile "I like that. You can absolutely call Peaches"

I was just about to ask for clarification when "I lost my name when I was reborn as hell spawn. I know what my name on earth was, but it doesn't feel like mine anymore so I have just been wandering around nameless since I got here. As a woman in white it hasn't really been important anyway, the men that approach me aren't looking for a name." She can see the concern on my face and shifts the topic back to me. "What was your name on earth? and what is it now?"

I give her a blank stare for a moment.. "Ella, my name was Ella back on earth. I haven't thought about changing it, but you're right, it no longer feels like me anymore. I just never thought to change it."

Before I can think about it any further the tiny waitress returns with drinks for the table. There are only two of us, but she sets a third drink down next to mine. A whiskey sour I never ordered. With a note on a napkin that said "I like when a woman knows what she wants"

The waitress says "Your secret admirer is Husk" and she giggles as she toddles away not saying a thing about the food we ordered. I take the whiskey sour and raise it to the bar to see Husk busy at work. I could tell he saw me raise my drink to him as he worked by the smile that grew across his face as he dealt with his next customer.

I turn my attention back to Peaches and say "So tell me about these deals I can strike up" Peaches looks up at me from behind her beer and says "Anything can be a deal really. Just think about what you want & what you are willing to do for it. The person making the deal holds the power behind the deal so making deals is better for a person than accepting one unless you know what you are getting yourself into. Had that man lived you could have struck up a deal as simple as "I'll let you live another day in exchange for useful information" if none of the information he provided you was useful, you have no obligation to keep him alive, and even if he did, because of the wording used, the deal would only be for one more day. Hunting him down after 24 hours would be perfectly acceptable."

I look at her and have to ask "So how did you come to need my help if you already know all of this?" Peaches lowers her eyes "Power here is based on fear, deals & influence. I insight no fear. No one accepts my deals. I have very little influence. My only power is the ability to bring out the predator in men in the living world as a ghost so I can bring their souls to hell." That made my ears perk. "You can drag men to hell?" I say calculating what I can offer in exchange for fresh blood regularly from a woman literally built to bring it in from a place I can no longer access.

Peaches smiles sadly and says "As punishment for ending the lives of my children and myself when my husband left me for his mistress I became a woman in white. I spend my sleepless nights wandering lone highways hitchhiking and killing bad men to bring their souls back to hell with me."

As she said that I wanted to feel bad for her, but Shawn's face flashed through my mind and suddenly I had a deal for Peaches.

"Teach me everything you know about Hell, find me the man who killed me back on earth and drag him to Hell so I can finish what I started, and I will help you build your own power." I say to her as the tiny waitress comes back with 2 burger platters.

"Deal" Peaches says without hesitation and puts her hand out to shake mine. I pull her closer to me and lean in and she kisses me and as she does, a purple light swirls around us, lighting up the entire tavern, catching everyone's attention in the moment, as it created a purple smoke chain & collar around her neck before disappearing into nothingness.

The waitress says "Ohhhh, murdery" giggles, pulls a chefs knife from out of her apron and runs away stabbing at the floor in a zigzag motion as she says "Stab, stab, stab!"