DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ghost Rider nor Marvel. These are not my characters.

Chapter 2-Macabre, Yet Pure

"Do you mind if I join you?" Lilith asked, clearly amused by Johnny's being dumbfounded.

"Oh, sure...", Johnny trailed off for a minute. "Actually... I'm supposed to meet somebody here, and they may not be the company...-Johnny looked over his companion's deliciously feminine body, perhaps a bit too long-...someone like you should be around."

"Someone like me?", Lilith probed. "And who, or what, may that be?"

"From where I'm standing a tall glass of lady", Johnny said through an amorous grin. "I'm a little old fashioned in some ways, and think that there's some folks that ladies should be spared the trouble of dealing with."

"That's very chivalrous of you", Lilith said back with a smile. "But I'm a big girl, so I think I can take care of myself."

"Is this person you speak of the one you implied I was holding the joint open for?", Erron interjected.

"I had my suspicions", Johnny said through an irritated glare. He had forgotten there were other people in the place besides him and Lilith. The young vixen had quite a hold over him it seemed. "But I'm starting to reconsider." Johnny took a glance around the place again, and this time noticed that the two drunks in the corner had perked up and were giving Lilith lecherous looks. "I guess I was punked", Johnny said as he lingered on the drunks for a minute before turning back to Lilith.

"Wouldn't surprise me", Lilith concurred. She noticed Johnny's attention to the drunks. "Those two bothering you?"

"Well, they're certainly giving you the goo-goo eyes", Johnny answered. "Perhaps I'm being a little presumptuous, but guys like that tend to not be too interested in asking if they can indulge in the treasures a lady can offer. They just take it."

"You mean "goo-goo" eyes like the kind you were giving me just a few minutes ago?", Lilith knowingly said back, a kittenish smirk on her face.

"Oh, well, you see, about that...", Johnny stammered, having been caught in the act.

"It's okay", she reassured him, putting her hand on his thigh, and rubbing up softly against his side. "I wouldn't have dressed this way if I wasn't proud or aware of how I look and how it affects people, so you're cool."

"I bet you are", Johnny shot back, feeling a little less guilty about ogling her. "What I'm wondering is why someone like you is hanging around a bar an hour after it was supposed to close? Shouldn't you be prowling about when there's a bigger crowd hanging around? Gives you more options that are on your playing field, I imagine. That, or more worth your time."

"Hmm...", Lilith seemed to be considering everything Johnny had said. "Maybe I'm more interested in who's hanging around after hours. The lost souls who may need me to brighten their evening. They tend to be the more interesting people to be around anyway. Well, unless they're complete losers..."

"Plenty of them around when things are busy", Johnny pointed out.

"Exactly", Lilith smiled, appreciating the connection the two were making. She then looked down at Johnny's choice of cup, and the drink within. "Rather colorful on the outside, but plain on the inside I see."

"I like to think of it as macabre on the outside, and pure on the inside", Johnny countered. "Tortured, yet genuine."

"A reflection of who's drinking it, perhaps?", Lilith proposed.

"Maybe. I used to put jelly-beans in a wine glass, if that tells you anything", Johnny revealed. "Drinking gives me nightmares. I was reminded of that not too long ago when I was living outside the states...", he trailed off. "Guess I was truly insane there for a little bit, expecting different results out of things I'd done before, with bad consequences," he said with a sad half-smile.

"Sometimes it takes doing the same thing more than once to realize it's bad for you. Or maybe a part of who you are", Lilith said, sympathy in her voice.

"I'd hope it'd be the former", Johnny mused.

"Most do, but that's not always the case, is it?", Lilith said back, engaged in the conversation at hand. "See? How many, if any, of the jocks and rednecks you see here at Happy Hour would provide such stimulating conversation? That, or how many of them drink water out of a skull-cup, or eat jelly-beans out of a wine glass, hmm?"

Lilith's interest and comforting demeanor was lifting Johnny's spirits, he had to admit. He had all but forgotten that he was supposed to meet Mephisto by now.

"So you're saying you prefer people with brains in their heads, more or less?", Johnny asked with a grin.

"Aren't those the people worth being around?", Lilith asked back. "That, or the soulful bunch? The ones who desire something more than simple pleasures out of life? The ones with something they want to fight for, by any means necessary?"

"I suppose you're right", Johnny concluded. "Say, what you drinking? Don't let my safe choice influence yours."

"Don't worry, it won't", Lilith smugly told him. "Hey Erron, I'll have a Long Island Iced Tea."

Erron complied, fixed, and then brought her over her drink. "I guess it won't", Johnny said with raised eyebrows.

The two continued to talk for hours. All the while, the two drunks sat in the corner, more attentive than they had been when Johnny arrived, their attention fixed on Lilith. They discussed something quietly among themselves, while Johnny and Lilith seemed oblivious as they enjoyed each other's company.

Finally, a couple hours before dawn, Johnny decided it was time to go.

"I could say I just wasted three hours of my time, but I'd be lying", Johnny said, again with an amorous grin. "Came to talk to a devil, and found an angel instead."

Lilith purred at the compliment. She had taken her time with her drink, but it had been long enough for it to take effect.

"Well, you seem to know our host here", Johnny told her, gesturing towards Erron. "So I guess he can take you home?"

"He could...but I was hoping I'd be spending the rest of the evening with someone else...", Lilith said with a slight slur that came across as sultry. She looked up at Johnny, who was standing now, ready to leave, with a lustful gaze.

"It'll definitely be the rest of the evening, as it's almost Dawn", Johnny joked, all the while feeling slightly mesmerized by Lilith's gaze. He again ran his eyes over her. It had been so long since he'd been with a woman. He had missed the joy one could find only in their company. But most of all, he missed the allure of womanhood, and the completeness it gave him. Lilith desired the same it seemed, only in the sense of manhood instead.

"We've had a good time, haven't we?", she quizzed with a coquettish tone.

"Yeah...", Johnny answered with a relaxed, longing sigh.

"Then why don't we finish the night with a bang?", she proposed, the double entendre presented not so subtly.

"I'm game", Johnny answered, the anticipation of getting laid giving him a sudden boost. He gently helped Lilith stand up as they made their way to the door. Erron watched as they left, and stopped his cleaning of the bar, preparing for something.