Making a Deal

"So you're like the Devil or something, right?"

Dive bar. Back room. Night.

It's a place called Roy's Chicken Shack. It doesn't serve chicken, doesn't serve anything really, except watered down Bourbon and cheap wine.

Hipsters like it. I'm sure Roy's spinning in his grave.

"No such thing, kid."

His suits too small, in an fashionable way. His eyes are crystalline circles of blue, flecked with hints of amber. Weird eyes, unnatural.

Either that or contact lenses.

"Of course there is. Where else do all the souls go?"

"Define soul for me..."

"You know, whatever it is that people like you bargain over. Our essence...our human...juice. Oh, I don't know. I'm not the one trying to buy one."

He shifts, slowly, getting close enough to touch foreheads with me.

He has no smell. None. Nothing. Not from cologne or sweat, not even the boozy scent you'd expect from someone whose spent the last hour downing Gin and Cokes.

"So you think I'm here for your soul, a thing you're willing to sell, but can't even define. What exactly do you take me for?"

"The Devil, I've told you that."

"Like I said, no such thing. And even if I was, why do you think I'd want your...juice?"

"For your collection? Who knows? Maybe a soul is like a deed to a house, if you own it, you can boss me around in the afterlife or live inside me or something...Whose to say how people like you get your rocks off."

"People like me?"

A shadow creeps behind his eyes. He leans back, crossing wiry arms over his chest. The jacket, tighter at the shoulders than anywhere else, is making his little show more difficult.

"You know, I shouldn't have said anything..."

"Alright, alright. I guess we don't have all day to play. I'm not the Devil, I don't want your soul, and I think the fact that you are willing to sell it when you don't even know what it is – says a lot about you than you probably meant it to."

"Are you judging me?"

He raises a pale finger. Blonde woman. Two more drinks. Not magic, just a very efficient server.

"Yes. I am. Now, let's get down to business. What is it that you want again?"