The Devil and Gracie Lou Freebush
Disclaimer: I own none of this story accept for the character Juan Diablo and his black book (ha, ha, ha, ha). ENJOY. Sorry only one chapter for this one.
Gracie Lou Freebush (secretly known as Agent Gracie Hart of the FBI) paced the length of the gigantic swimming pool outside her hotel room in San Antonio, Texas. She was desperately seeking some form of relief from the daily torture of playing the part of a want-to-be beauty queen and the stress of trying to keep her job intact with the FBI. On top of it all, her forever nagging trainer, Vic, was practically shoving her off the edge of sanity itself. "It is always 'yes' never 'yeah'." This constant reminder that she was not allowed to show her true self in the eyes of the other girls, who she was steadily becoming friends with, vexed her. She slumped down onto a pool side lounging chair. It was all so overwhelming she felt like pulling out her automatic hand gun and shooting something until all the anger and frustration was gone or….
"Err, I feel like I want to kill some thing!" She wailed and cradled her head in her hands. "I wish that I could just rid myself of this retrograde operation. I mean, I'm not one to just avert from and operation like this but I just can't handle it any more."
"Thinking out loud Gracie?" A deep, amused voice, remarked. She lifted her head out of her hands and looked up into the handsome face of a man. He had a shock of jet black, spiked hair, bright green eyes and a Caribbean tan. His teeth were so white she could see them in the dark of the night. The man was clad in white shorts and a red hibiscus print button up T-shirt. He was so cute. She stared open mouthed at the man in front of her. He chuckled. He knew his disguise would entrance her, now was his time to act.
"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" Gracie stuttered. "When did you get here? I thought I was alone." The man chose this time to speak up and put his plan into action. "Well, to answer your question, it is my job to know everyone. I take names and make deals." He said, cunningly working his way through the conversation. "I guess you could say I am some thing of a therapist. I help people who have trouble deciding what to do with their lives, I even help students choose which College and its curriculum would best suit them after they leave high school."
"You look somewhat young to be a guidance counselor. That's what you are right?" Gracie said incredibly. The man nodded his head, "I am a little older than you though." Gracie began to speak but he cut her off, "Never mind that now, my name is Juan Diablo and like I said before I am a therapist. Your pageant director, Mrs. Morningside, hired me to help relieve the girls of their before-pageant-jitters. I could not help overhearing your ah 'little' problem. Sounds like you need a little help. Tell me what is going on."
Gracie told Juan everything. Everything from what happened the night Grant was shot to why she was sitting down by the pool brooding. "Well it seems to me that you are in a little bit of a pickle." Juan said with a chuckle. "It seems the only way out of it is to disappear. The only problem with that is the fact that you are an FBI agent. You are tracked every time you walk out of FBI headquarters." He said as he lifted his hand to cup his chin in thought. He glanced over at Gracie. She was definitely listening. She seemed to be hanging upon his words as he spoke. This was good all the more easier for him, some of the people he spoke to seemed to see directly through him, others like young Gracie, did not seem to see him for who he really was.
"I'll tell you what I will do for you." Juan said, dropping his hand and sitting down on a lounge chair. "If you will give me your word that when I need a favor, you and only you will perform it, I will whisk you away from this babe fest and send you to a place where no one will ever see, or hear from you again." He looked at her and smiled. He wondered what her decision would be.
Gracie sat on the lounge chair opposite Juan. His proposition was tempting but she was again struck with her colliding feelings both for her job and herself. Eric, what was she thinking! She looked up at Juan. "What kind of 'favors are you talking about? The usual go to the grocery store and pick up ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies right?" She said with a laugh. What could she possibly do that would benefit him and erase her dept.
"What ever I ask of you, at any given time or place. No exceptions." Juan looked serious now and he pulled out an old leather bound notebook and a red pen. "All you have to do now is sign." He held the pen out to her and gave her the book. She began to flip through it to find a page with some space to spare. Every single line in the book had a single name on it. She saw names like Ben Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Genghis Khan. Was this some hobby of his or some thing? "George W. Bush Jr.? I don't want to know." She found space under the name Brittany Spears and held the pen, ready to right her name.
She looked up at Juan. He was still sitting down on the lounge chair, still in his serious mood. She began to sign. She only got to the middle of her last name when suddenly she was whisked off to somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. Juan was standing beside her on the sand. She looked over at him startled.
"I was not finished signing my name." She yelled at him. How in God's name did she get on this little island in the Caribbean so quickly? Gracie had a short temper and her gun was in a holster strapped around her left leg. She bent over and took it out of its holder. She pointed the gun at Juan Diablo.
"Are you going to shoot me Gracie Lou?" He said.
"What exactly is that book for?" Gracie said.
"It is a book of dealings that I have made over the years with various individuals such as your self who wished to leave the pathetic little lives they led for something bigger and better." He said, a grin beginning at the corners of his mouth.
How could she have been so blind? "Diablo. Is that the name for the Devil in Spanish?" She said.
"Yes, very good Gracie Lou. You have signed my black Book of the Dead. I have your soul now in my service for all eternity." Diablo said with a grin. He crossed his arms like a conqueror watching his adversary crumble. She picked up the book off of the ground and opened it to the page where she signed it. She grinned.
"Diablo there may be a little problem here." She showed him the page where she signed her name. His face was red with anger. She had written the wrong name down 'Gracie Lou Freebush.' not Gracie Hart was written on the page. The contract was void. He looked up at the sky and shook his fist in rage. He crossed his arms and looked at her. He blinked and she was back on the lounge chair. "Maybe the operation is not such a bad thing after all."