The sound of the shop's bell chiming made me wonder who had arrived that early in the morning. It had to be one of my dear little helpers, because the shop had not yet opened. It was the booming voices that followed that helped me identify my visitors.
"THE HERO HAS ARRIVED!"
"SHUT YOUR TRAP YOU GIT! IT IS TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR THAT!"
I was happily smiling as I walked out of the kitchen to watch Arthur, Alfred, and Matthew walking into the store.
"Bonjour mes ami."
"Yo! Morning Franny!" Alfred came over to me to do the weird 'hand-shake-bro-fist' thing that he had spend hours thinking about and spent even more time teaching everyone who let him. The boy insisted on being greeted that way, and I didn't mind amusing him even if the hand shake took an entire minute to perform correctly. I thought it was kind of cute of him.
"Are you both done being idiots? I want to order and get back to work already." Arthur complained as usual. The man had always to be grumpy about something no matter what. He seemed to make a hobby out of it. I couldn't help myself from grinning and starting a little teasing to get him out of his grumpy mood.
"So jealous mon cher. Afraid I might steal back your little Alfred here?"
"I AM NOT JEALOUS!" Arthur's face turned to such an amusing shade of red when I teased him like that. I just wanted to keep pushing his buttons to see just how red he could get. A pity Alfred went straight to his rescue.
He went laughing over to place one of his arms around Arthur's shoulder, making Arthur turn a different shade or red for my amusement. "Don't worry Artie, I'll always be your partner."
"My name is not Artie, it is Arthur you wanker." Arthur squirmed on Alfred's hold but didn't pull the arm off.
"Come on Arthur, you are the best side-kick a hero could ask for and I am never letting you get away from me." He ended such a heart warming sentence with his usual million dollar smile, that sent poor little Arthur beside him to an even deeper shade of red and a sudden shortness of breath and words.
I just couldn't contain myself. "Should I bring some wedding cake samples for you two?" That got Arthur right back on track.
"SHUT UP YOU BLOODY IDIOTS!" He released himself from Alfred's arm red faced and fuming.
"I am not your bloody side-kick, I'm your senior officer and I am in charge. If anything you are the bloody side-kick." He then pointed his finger at my face. "And you frog, I should get you arrested for being a bloody pervert."
"If anything mon cher I should be arrested for being so sexy."
That sent both Alfred and I laughing while Arthur kept on with his usual bickering antics. Alfred laughed for Arthur's little antics, I laughed because Arthur had no idea of how true his statement was. It was the sick twisted feeling in my guts that brought me back. I clapped my hands and prepared myself to do some business.
"Alor mes ami, how may I be of service?"
Alfred was quick to answer. "We want two donut boxes, a bag of chocolate croissants, four éclairs and a couple scones for Artie. And Mattie told me you made those special meat pies a couple days ago. Are there any today?"
I felt my guts twisting again. "Non. But I have the rest of your order. Just wait a minute while I get them from the kitchen."
I left the both of them bickering among themselves to walk inside my kitchen, Matthew was already dressed in uniform and working. He was such a quiet and shy boy, so different from his brother. No wonder he often complained of being invisible when near Alfred, his older brother just knew how to claim attention.
I gathered up the boxes and bags of goods for Alfred and Arthur, and heard the door's bell chiming followed by the girl's voices greeting them. By the time I was back to the front of the store with their goods in hand, Chells was trying out Arthur's cap while attempting to flirt with him, but from Arthur's face I was guessing she was only succeeding in embarrassing him. Mona on the other hand was making polite conversation with Alfred.
"Bonjour me belle dames. Would you girls mind finishing this up. I need to go back and help our dear Matthew with the cakes."
"Not at all Francis. I'm always happy to serve officer Kirkland over here." Chells was grinning wickedly and winked at Arthur who was turning redder by the minute. I would have been jealous of her natural ability to make him blush hadn't I know I could make him blush harder and faster.
"T..tha-that's very kind of you madam." Arthur recovered his cap from her head and tried to hide himself under it. Mona and Alfred were snickering beside him.
I left them just like that and headed back to the kitchen to join Matthew in our baking. Alfred yelled his goodbyes to Matthew as they left and the girls open the shop to business. The girls were already attending customers when Matthew and I came back to place some of the freshly baked goods on the displays.
The morning business went as usual but the store became empty near noon and the girls decided to start talking and gossiping to take away their boredom so they went inside to join Matthew and I in the kitchen.
"So tell me Matt." Chells began while setting a few rolls on a tray. "Do you know if officer Kirkland is seeing anyone?"
Matthew was at the other side of the kitchen near the flour making more doe. "How am I supposed to know Chells? He spends his time patrolling with Alfred. You should ask him that."
Chells pouted displeased. "But you are always riding with them. They even pick you up from work."
"You mean when they remember me. And all they do when I'm in the car with them is bicker and argue."
Mona, who was helping me decorate one of the cakes, spoke up before Chells insisted once again on the issue. "Can I ask why you didn't become a police officer like your brother?"
"Oh yea! You weren't around when Alfred used to work here." Chells exclaimed and quickly started to explain. "Ok, so, basically Alfred always used to say that he was a hero and that his abilities were being wasted here at the bakery, so he joined the police force to actually start fighting crime and go against the bad guys."
"Alfred asked me to join in too to be his side-kick just like when we were kids but I like it here in the store. So I passed." Matthew shrugged and kept working on separating the doe to bake some cookies.
Mona also shrugged. "That's a shame. You would have looked just as good wearing a uniform." Matthew may have been on the other side of the kitchen but I saw the way that compliment had made him blush.
"Oh I know right. Every time I see those uniforms I just keep thinking of just how sexy they look." Chells sighed and placed the tray she was working on near the oven before she placed a new one to start filling. "Don't you think so too Francis."
Once I had also thought that police uniforms were sexy. But now all they did was bringing me fear and making me uncomfortable. The only reason I didn't tremble when seeing Alfred and Arthur wearing them was because I had know them for so long. They were there before the devil had arrived to turn me into the monster I am today.
"I'm not a uniform man myself ma cherie, I prefer my partners out of their clothes."
That thru the girls into a giggling fit as Matthew blushed a deeper shade of red from his place near the doe. The sound of the bell from the front door made the girls go back to their post as Matthew and I remained performing our duties in the kitchen.
The rest of the day ran as usual and we worked and flirted and played between ourselves and our regulars. Chells insisted that she had to keep practicing her flirting skills on every man she saw if she ever wanted to snatch a man in uniform for herself. She kept amusing me to no end with her flirting so I just kept indulging her and giving her tips. Mona was too serious for most of our silly flirting games, plus, she already seemed to be going out with some young man and had no need to practice such skill, but kept indulging the both of us none the less. Matthew was the poor victim as always, the way he got embarrassed and squirmed uneasily unknowing how to flirt back or even to counter our flirting just made him the perfect victim for such lovable teasing. Though by the end of the day I decided I would be giving him an entire batch of maple cookies to make up for all the flirty teasing Chells and I were making him go through.
We were about to close the shop when I felt my pocket vibrate. I took out my cellphone to check the number and instantly regretted it. I felt cursed for having to deal with such devil after such a pleasant day with my sweet children. None the less I headed to my office, away from prying ears and eyes, and picked up the call with a dreading feeling in my guts.
"Allo?"
"привет Francis, I was very sad when you didn't call me regarding our little bet. I assume you still recall it, Da."
The way he spoke sent chills down my spine and I had to sit myself down from fear of my knees failing me. That awfully tempting bet had never left my mind but everything inside me was warning me against it, there was just no way I could be freed that simple. And there was also what would happen if I lost, that was what most likely would happen when dealing with the devil. The terrifying memory of him pinning me to the wall and biting my neck just flashed before me and I shivered, I knew exactly how he wanted to own me.
"I remember."
"Good, and have you thought about it?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat before talking again. "How do I know if it will be a fair bet? For all I know you're playing with me for kicks."
He tisked over the phone and I instantly regretted questioning him instead of turning him straight down. "So distrustful Francis. I can't guarantee that it will always be fair play, but I guarantee you have the chance to win and that I will keep my part of the bargain if you do."
That hadn't comforted me, it just made me more distrustful. I just knew that there was something there, something I just couldn't see yet but that would surely doom me in the end. But the temptation of being released from those cursed sleepless nights of butchering corpses while those cold violet eyes watched me was just greater then my sense of danger. I spoke before I had processed the words in my head. "I accept."
"Good. Now, I would suggest you to ask that lovely blonde boy of yours to make sure your two sweet girls get home safely and close the shop, because you're coming with me tonight."
I was wide eyed frozen solid on my chair as the phone went dead and I processed what he had said. Next thing I know I was bolting up and running to the front of the store not knowing what to expect but knowing that I needed to get Matthew and the girls out of there and somewhere safe as fast as possible. I slammed the door open and almost crashed into the display counter. But when I was about to yell at them to run Ivan was already inside the store, smiling sweetly and pretending to look at the cakes on display and I felt like I had just sentenced all my beloved ones to death.
Ivan's devilishly sweet voice and smile was all I could hear and see. "Francis, it's so good to see you. I expect I'm not taking you from anything important coming so suddenly."
My mind was blank, I had forgotten to move, to speak, to breath. The only rational thought I had was that I needed to get that hell spawn thing away from my children as fast as possible. And yet I was unable to willingly move out of pure fear. It was with great effort that I managed to whisper Matthew's name.
"Yes Francis?" Matthew was beside me in instant, warily exchanging glances between Ivan and myself. He looked concerned about something and I just really hoped in that moment that neither he nor I would end up doing something stupid and condemn the others. I did my best to not let my hands tremble as I reached out for the shop's keys, and made sure I would seem to be acting normally and smiling as always when turning to face him.
"Matthew, please lock everything up and make sure the girls get home safely ok. I'll see you in the morning."
I placed the keys inside his hands and couldn't help myself giving it a reassuring squeeze. And as quickly as I could, I walked out of the store with the devil following right behind me.
I just walked ahead without thinking, listening to him following me. I had never expected something like that happening. My damned stupidity had just put the lives of my beloved in danger. Was Ivan going to harm then now? Had he already know of them? How could I have been so stupid? Was there a way to keep them safe from his hands? If I assumed my crimes and accepted to rot in prison for ever would Arthur and Alfred agree to keep them safe? What will happen to them if they discover everything? Was Ivan going to tell? Would they hate me when they figure it out? If I died or disappeared would that keep them safe? Would they be safe if I killed him?
My mind kept rambling about the possibilities at the same time as it kept reminding me that it was my entire fault and that I should have never bee that stupid to take a second deal from a devil. And I was so busy blaming and loathing myself that I didn't even realize that Ivan had grabbed my arm and was guiding me somewhere. It was only much later, when I noticed movement and the loud voices of people walking beside us that I had realized it.
"Where are we going?" I got scared. All of a sudden I was very aware of people seeing me walking besides Ivan.
"There seems to be a bar up ahead. I figured we could go there to have a little chat. Da" He looked way too happy to me. That creepy smile of his somehow just looked that much scarier and walking besides him made me realize just how bigger and stronger he was compared to me. That unnerving feeling in my guts just grew bigger and I was almost expecting him to throw me in an ally and stab me to death. Only I knew he wasn't going to do that. He must have seen I was scared.
"Don't worry Francis, I wont do anything you don't want me too." He opened the bar's door and motioned for me to get in. I did, and he followed after me.
