House Rules: the Other Side
Lucifer stared at his subordinate in mute disbelief. He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "What do you mean, rules?" he asked quietly. He knew he should be angry, that he should be destroying this idiot demon before him, but there was something about the confused look that gave him pause.
The demon's mouth worked for a moment, he frowned as though trying desperately to remember something and then shrugged. "That's what she said, Lord Lucifer. Something about no monsters in the house after midnight or before 9am and that because we were forty-five minutes past midnight, we had a hour and a half penalty so we couldn't come back until 10:30am. Sir." The demon wasn't particularly afraid, which was odd in itself, but it was completely bemused by what had happened. He met Lucifer's gaze with a weak smile and pointed out they could go back … in the morning?
"Let me get this straight," Lucifer said calmly. He decided he'd examine the calm later. "This woman told you to leave because it was past midnight?"
The demon nodded. "Yes, sir. Well, first she asked us what we thought we were doing." He looked at the other two demons who both nodded. "And then she said we were breaking the rules."
The grizzled blond man frowned and nodded. There were some rules about what demons could and could not do, although he was breaking those established rules as quickly as he could. After all, God was out of the building as was Amara and he pretty much had the playing field to himself at the moment. "We have no rules about time," he said carefully.
All three of them stared at him, eyes wide as the truth of this re-entered their heads. Now they exchanged bewildered looks amongst themselves. "No, sire. We … don't."
That meant that whoever the woman was, she was strong in magic and enforcing her will. He nodded. "Where was this?"
Hesitantly, they gave him the address. An older house in an older neighborhood in Santa Fe. He would give the three of them another assignment, if they failed that one, then he would unleash his wrath on them. For now, he wanted to see this sorceress who shut down three demons and tossed them out of her home.
Nancy Grande looked at the distinguished looking man in her living room and shook her head. She set down the brandy over ice and gave him a very old fashioned look and sigh. "Hi. Like I told your friends, you're breaking the rules. Go away."
"What rules would those be?" was the very dangerous question. Before he could gain momentum with his questions, she answered him.
"Simple. No monsters in the house after midnight or before 9am. You need your sleep just like we do." She consulted her watch. "Half hour penalty for every quarter of an hour past curfew. It's 2am. That means 1pm before you can come back. I'm sorry, but the family is very strict about these rules and they've been handed down for generations." She gave him an understanding smile as he felt a definite need to leave.
"This is … insane!" he finished his sentence in his own rooms in the house he'd commandeered. "What the ..."
A large stocky fellow looked up from the ledger he was consulting. "The Grande house?" he asked. Lucifer snarled at him and he flinched away from his King, but nodded. "I tried that place once. Came barreling back the next day and got exorcised by those pesky Legacy assholes. Took me years to get back. At least they don't exist any more."
There was that. And there was a world to get under control. He'd worry about the Grande place later.
Somewhere else: Dean Winchester downed the rest of his beer and scowled at his brother Sam who was looking a little out of his depth, which was saying a lot.
"There's a house that demons can't get into?"
"No, it's more that they're bound by … well, I hate to put it this way, but by the House Rules."
Fin