Can you guess who was waiting for me when I got home?

You guessed it (or maybe you didn't) - good old Paul!

I knew something was up the moment I came home and my mom gave me that look that she's given me the last four times a guy came over. You know - the one where the eyes are all big and happy, and there's a big goofy grin? Yeah, that one.

"Suzie, honey," she said happily. "There's someone here to see you!"

I groaned inwardly, already knowing who it was. "Oh, really?" I said, trying to act surprised.

"Yes, really," she told me in a honeyed voice. "A boy…named Paul. Do you know him?"

I tried to smile. "Yes, we're friends. Could you tell him to come up to my room, please?"

My mom blinked at me. "You want to be a alone with him - in your room."

"Mom, don't worry - it's a project for school, and I've got all the stuff saved on my computer, so we've got to work upstairs."

I am such a good liar.

"Oh," my mom said, looking crestfallen. "Well, alright then, I'll tell him." She went to the kitchen where, I supposed, Paul was.

I went up to my room and shut the door behind me. I dumped my stuff on the floor, and sat down on my bed, mentally preparing myself for a conversation with Paul. Oh, Jeez, why couldn't I just be a normal girl? Why couldn't it be some other sucker doing this stuff besides me? But then again, if I wasn't a mediator, I would never have met Jesse -

Jesse materialized beside me.

"Jesse!" I said. I hate it when they sneak up on me like that.

He raised a brow. "Nice to see you too, querida." He looked as though he were about to say more, except that at that moment, there was a knock at the door.

"Hey, Suze, open up," came Paul's voice. "I got more info on that - uh - project of ours."

I looked pleadingly at Jesse. He looked back at me with a look of calm fury that scared even me. The mirror on my wall started to wobble. "What is he doing here?" he whispered.

"Uh…just - listen, please don't freak out. I need to find out some information from him."

"About what?" Jesse's eyes narrowed on me.

"Suze? I know you're there. Open up!" He knocked louder this time.

"I'll tell you after!" I whispered frantically. "Just go away right now!"

"Oh, no, you're not getting rid of me this time." He went to the window, opened it, and climbed out. "I'll be out here, listening to the whole thing."

"Promise not to interfere?"

"I promise, Susannah," he muttered resentfully. He ducked to the side, where he couldn't be seen. I couldn't be sure, but I was getting the distinct impression that Jesse was jealous.

I could seriously get used to this.

"Susannah! I'm not waiting any longer!" And the locked door flew open, without me laying a hand on it. The lock, which had snapped off, went clanking off into a corner of my room.

Whoa.

And there was Paul, looking pretty darned annoyed, glaring at me. I felt fear welling up in me. I pushed it back down, glancing at the window to make sure Jesse wasn't jumping in to "come to my rescue" or anything like that. Thankfully, he was keeping his promise.

"So nice to - uh - see you, Paul," I said, trying not to sound too horrified. He stepped into my room and looked around, the anger in his face slowly melting away.

"Very…girly," he said with an air of approval that annoyed me.

"Uh, yeah…" I said, walking around him and tried to shut the door, which, unfortunately, wouldn't stay closed, due to Paul's - uh - rage. "Well, I am a girl, you know - " I gave the one last hard shove, and with an unladylike grunt, I managed to jam the door shut.

"Yes, you are a girl…" Paul said softly, with a small smile playing at his lips.

"Right…" He was already starting to creep me out. "We need to talk."

"Yes we do," he agreed.

"First of all," I said, motioning towards the door and scowling at him, "you're fixing that."

Paul laughed. "Don't worry, Suze, I'll pay for the door. Sorry about breaking it - you know how it is." He winked.

"No, I don't know how it is," I said, sitting on my bed and crossing my legs. "Enlighten me."

Paul sighed and sat on my pink inflatable chair. "There's so much I want to show you, Suze. We are so powerful, the two of us. I don't know where to begin."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How about we begin at the part your freak dad, Mr. "Dark One", created you and set you loose on earth to find your queen and become Mr. "Unholy One"." I leaned back to watch his reaction.

He looked surprised for a second. "Boy, you have done your homework," he said in awe. "You will make an excellent queen…"

At that moment we both heard an odd thumping sound outside the window. Both of us turned our heads. Thankfully, there was nothing visible, though I knew exactly what had made that sound. I hoped to God he wasn't planning on continuing with the noises, either, or I would be forced to kick his butt.

"Excuse me," I growled, getting up to catch Paul's attention again. "But I don't think I'll be marrying you. I do have a choice you know. And there is no reason I can think of for wanting to marry a psychotic demon prince - thing - got that?"

Paul got up as well, looking me square in the eye. "There are a million reasons why any woman would want to marry me. You should feel honored."

I nearly laughed at that one. I managed to restrain myself, however.

"And," he continued, "I am so much more than that - that pathetic ghost that lives with you - so much more powerful - god, how could you possibly choose him over me!"
Paul was livid. "He is nothing!"

"How dare you!" I practically shouted. "Jesse is so much better than you! You - you're the one that's nothing! The only woman that would possibly want you is a hoochie mama! No woman could ever love you! Especially me! And besides - I - I already love Jesse!"

I regretted the words as soon as I said them. Because I remembered one second too late who was sitting right outside listening to my every word. I glanced at the window. "Dammit," I muttered. Why can't I keep my mouth shut?

Paul must have noticed my eyes flicker towards the window. "Oh…" he said suddenly, grinning maliciously. "It's your little boyfriend, isn't it?" his voice said inside my head. "The love of your life? The reason you live? The thing you wake up in the morning for?"

I shook my head defensively. No way was this guy learning anything about my non-existent love life. "You leave Jesse alone," I thought back to him. "He has nothing to do with this."

Paul's eyes glinted dangerously. "He has everything to do with this. You just don't know it yet."

Then I said out loud, hoping to get Jesse's mind off of what I knew he was thinking about right now, "Who was that demon I saw at lunch?"

"Oh, her," Paul said, dropping his leer. "She was just one of my underlings. They're not supposed to leave the Shadowland. She probably slipped through a rip in the dimension somewhere." He snorted. "She has some ridiculous plan to release the demons in Hell and lead them to overthrow the dynasty. I'm just letting her exist because she amuses me."

Cee Cee's words came back to me. She must be that female demon rebel she was talking about.

"What's her name?" I asked.

Paul grinned at me. "Thinking of joining her? She'll only make you all her slaves, afterwards."

"No, I just wanted to know her name."

"Her name Bianca."

So, now what? I had to stop her, too? Jeez, I needed to talk to Father Dom, ASAP.

"Suze," Paul said, taking a step towards me. "You will marry me. You can't say no. You will not say no."

And as much as I would have liked to scream, "NOOOOO!!!!!" right in his face, I just couldn't do it. Seriously, it was like my lips were glued together. And then I realized that my legs were walking towards Paul. Wait a minute - why wasn't my body listening to me?! What was Paul doing to me?!?

Paul just looked into my eyes. "Suze," he said, spreading out his arms. "Come to me."

And much to my dismay, I walked right into his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck intimately. What the hell…?

Paul smiled at me. "Suze…"

"I love you, Paul. Not that nasty Jesse. You." Wait a second, that's not what I wanted to say!

"Let's seal our love with a sacred kiss. Then you will be mine for all eternity."

Say WHAT?

His lips started coming towards mine, my head was tilting, my eyes were closing, my lips were puckering up…

No! I don't want this! No! I don't want to be married to Paul for all eternity!

JESSE!!!! HELP MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

"SUSANNAH!!!"

Jesse suddenly materialized next to us, and leaped at Paul just as our lips were about to touch. I fell backwards right on my butt (ouch!) and the spell broke. Great, I was in control of my body again! I crawled backwards until I was up against the wall, watching Jesse wrestling Paul to the ground.

"Stick 'em, Jesse!" I shouted supportively, watching as Jesse threw a painful punch to Paul's jaw.

Oh, no… Paul just shoved Jesse up against the wall and punched him.

Oh, no…Jesse's bleeding.

Oh, no… Paul's in for it now.

Oh, no…I mean, oh, YES! Jesse's shirt just got ripped off!

I know it sounds kinky, but as Jesse beat the crap out of Paul, all I could focus on were his huge biceps…broad, beautiful chest….the way his abs bunched and stretched as he punched…The way his back muscles looked so powerful…

Did I ever mention that Jesse is HOT?

Well, he is. EXTREMELY HOT.

"Go back to the garbage can that you came from, you - !" Jeez, when did Jesse start using English curse words, anyway?

"Ah, screw you!" Paul stumbled to his feet. He was bleeding all over. His previously nice face was totaled. Seriously - you should have seen him - I bet you would have laughed just as hard as I did.

"Get out of my room, Paul!" I said, still laughing at him. "And don't forget to pay for my new lock!"

Paul looked at me. "You - you will be mine!" Then he looked back at Jesse. "Next time we meet…" he smiled evilly. "You will regret ever messing with me."

He turned and stomped out of my room. I heard some gasps from downstairs - probably the Ackermans seeing Paul's face - and then the front door opened and closed.

Paul was gone.

I got to my feet, and looked back at Jesse. He looked back at me, a worried look on his face. He came to me, and grabbed my hand. "Susannah, are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"I - uh…" It was hard to concentrate with his…uh…shirtless torso inches from my face. "Yeah…"

Jesse noticed where I was looking…and blushed.

I am not even kidding.

And then I blushed, too.

So we just stood there, blushing at each other, him still holding my hand.

Until Mom broke the uncomfortable silence.

"SUSANNAH SIMON, WHAT ON EARTH DID YOU DO TO THAT BOY!!!!!"

Then me and Jesse blinked at each other, and we both burst into gales of laughter. And it was really funny, because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't stand upright - so without even realizing I was doing it, I leaned against Jesse's bare chest. His arms just kind of wrapped around me, and there I was, in Jesse's arms, and we were both still laughing hysterically.

"Oh - oh - " I said, my laughter finally subsiding. "That was so good!"

Jesse looked down at me, chuckling. "Yes, it was."

His head started lowering towards mine…my head tilted, my eyes closed…this was one kiss I wouldn't mind being enslaved by…

"SUSANNAH SIMON!!!!"

We both jumped.

"COME HERE NOW!!!!!!!!!"

"Oh, uh…I guess I leave you to handle this?"

I smiled at him. "I've fixed worse."

He grinned back. "Well then…I'll see you later, querida…"

"Yes…later…"

I gazed longingly at him as he started to fade away. I'll admit though - I did manage to sneak one last peek at his chest.

"SUSANNAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


AN- That was a funny chapter! Well, at least it was fun for me to write. PLEASE REVIEW!!!