Chapter One
Why does the phone always ring the second you finish painting your toenails. You have to do that stupid looking old lady shuffle across the room, because you are never next to the phone when it happens. Cussing under my breath I pick the phone up with careful fingertips and flip open with my chin to avoid smearing my still tacky fingernails. "Hello?" I tell the mouthpiece as I admire the half way decent job I've achieved. Bright yellow base coat with black tiger stripes over the top. What? I was feeling creative and watching the Eden channel.
"We.'re outside" came a silky smooth voice and promptly hangs up. I curse again, this time not so quietly. I hobble to the door in my ridiculous fashion in double quick time, impressed I haven't fallen arse over tit on route. I don't bother checking the eye hole first just unlock the front door and yank it open.
" Liza! Your looking hot and needy" Dax tells me as he walks in, without waiting for an invite. He heads straight into the main room of my little flat closely followed by his companion. I relock the door and hobble back from where I came.
"Your early,drop off wasn't until tomorrow Dax" I complain.
"You are sickening?" Dax announces watching me hobble in.
"Wet nails. Your early!"
"Not much happening in the underworld just now, things get moved up" he explains briefly, eyeing my nails with suspicious yellow eyes. I just nod and look bemused.
"This strapping chap is your new charge. Keep him, feed him, love him, train him" Dax reels off with boredom in his voice. He waves a hand in a general gesture at the man stood behind him. Strapping is right! The guy looks like he is all muscle, certainly not a guy who'd blow over on a windy day. I think I am detecting a hint of demon. His dark eyes stop scanning the apartment and focus on me. I feel the his gaze appraise me from head to toe.
"You got a name?" I asked flashing a friendly smile at my new companion.
"Baxter" his voice is hard and rough. He isn't used to speech yet though he sounds the word out clearly. It won't be his real name of course, your real name is currency down there in the underworld. I've never quite understood it all, but knowing a demons real name gives you the power to summon them to you. Of course getting them to help you once they are summoned is the hard bit, but finding their real name can be almost as impossible. "Pleased to meet you" I reply with another grin " first visit?" Mentally I am crossing my fingers that he replies in the negative. All otherworld creatures need help to acclimatize to living here in the middleworld. The more times they'd visited before the quicker it was. First visits are a pain, almost everything needs explaining, though they are supposed to study the human world before they arrive. Some arrive barely understanding their new human form and it's needs. That when an enabler really earned their money. "Second, but not for many years. Much is different" came the reply, in that same rough tone.
" well your getting together famously already, I shall leave you. If you need me call, anytime Liza" dax says, already on route to the front door. "Take a seat Baxter" I motion to the sofa behind him, and follow Dax to the front door to let him out. He drops a large holdall from his shoulder and sits awkwardly on the edge of the pale beige sofa. He looks on guard and wary. It's probably just adrenaline from transition between worlds but I make a mental note to be wary. He may be in human form but he is still a demon under that meat, deadly and dangerous as the next one. Though an enabler is generally safe, sometimes accidents happen. You don't want to go sneaking up behind an edgy demon, you'd be dead before you even knew they'd noticed you. Dax left without another word, just another look that made his lewd intentions perfectly clear. I double checked the door was locked before I returned to my new charge, though I doubt it would pose much of an obstruction to otherworders. Judging my nails were as dry as they'd ever get I padded back to Baxter, finding him where I left him on the sofa edge.
"So Baxter, the room on the right is yours, if you want to put your stuff in there" I pointed to one of the white painted doors on the left wall. He followed my gaze and nodded, grabbing his bag as he rose from the chair and entered the bedroom. I moved the opposite end of the room to the little kitchenette and started pulling out some cookware. "You hungry?" I call out over my shoulder in the general direction of his room.
"Yes" comes the reply from directly behind me, I jump what feels like 10 feet in the air and slap my hand over my heart. I glare at him.
"I forgot humans are jumpy" he mutters a smile dancing on his lips. Recovered slightly I moved to the fridge and pull out a couple of steaks. As soon as they hit the air he's purring in delight. My sneaky suspicions were correct, demons love there meat.
"Ah your a demon?" I ask slapping the steaks into a frying pan and popping in onto the hob.
"Chaos" he replies proudly. All demons think their type is the best. I've not taken on a chaos demon before, I can't say I know much about them. I tell him as much, and he shrugs to say he has no idea what to tell me. The steaks start to sizzle.
While I'm cooking I run through a few ground rules about living together. They are mostly about privacy, far to many demons have seen me in a shower or sat on a toilet. Privacy is non existent in the underworld and it takes them a while to get the concept. I explain briefly where important things are, and ask if he has any other questions. He shakes his head and leans back on the counter next to me. It's a struggle to keep my eyes on the meat in front of me. I make sure never to fall for my charges, it would be a complete disaster. Things get far to complicated and they nearly always go home after a while. There is no place like home as they say, and it's as true for them as it is for us. Sometimes we aren't that different. Saying all that though I can still appreciate a nice view. "Plates are in the cupboard behind you" I tell him as I flip the steaks expertly. They are nearly done, I like mine in the rare side and demons will generally like anything bloody. He looks at me a moment and I stare him down. I maybe his enabler but I will not be his mother. You need to keep and stay on top with demons from day one they are naturally inclined to dominate, it's in their nature. He pulls out two mismatched plates from the cupboard and holds them out to me. I picked them up in a charity shop a week ago with most of the other kitchen stuff. I've only been in this flat for 9 days. Enablers move a lot usually where the work is, I tend to leave everything behind each time and start again. It's just faster and means I can take jobs quicker than others. In the UK there are maybe a dozen of us helping the other worlds over, that's a lot of competition and we are always in demand. I'm sure there are some who try and come over alone but if you want success you need a professional. I learnt all this from my dad. He was one of the best enablers of his time, some of the biggest names were in his books. His name is still legend on both sides. I serve up the steaks alone, both of them are huge and a meal in themselves. Nabbing two sets of cutlery I motion him to follow me into the main room. He follows, grabbing one of the plates as I pass him politely. He's learning fast.
I hit the remote and we ate in front of some program on pandas and their sad excuse of a sex life. I feel a moments sympathy for them, pandas and I have that in common. It's been a long time since I had any love in my life. Perhaps after this job is over I can take a few months off, travel a while, hang with the humans.
"You are without a man" states Baxter as he polishes off the last of his steak. Can he read my mind or is this just coincidence? I nod warily, taking another forkful of steak. "You have no protection" he says, he's displeased it shows in his voice. I sigh inwardly, he is already thinking of me as his property, I can just tell. I wait for the offer.
"I will protect you, while here" he states not taking his eyes off the panda program. This is a typical demon gesture, as close to 'let's be friends' as you get in the beginning. Feminism did not reach hell. "Much appreciated Baxter" I smile at him. I pick at my steak a bit more but my appetite is gone. Baxter s is long gone so offer him the rest. He takes it gratefully and digs in. A glance at my watch tells me it's almost midnight, no wonder I'm not hungry. I decide to deal with the dishes tomorrow. "I'm turning in" I announce, getting up and taking our plates to sit in the sink. "You are turning?" He asks confused.
"Going to bed"
"Ah" he nods. I don't know if he will sleep or not. I don't ask. Some demons won't need it even in their human form.
"You need me just knock on the door okay?" I inform him as I slip into my room.
I sleep with one ear open just in case I have a visitor in the night.