It's funny how you can trip over loop holes and find the easy way to make your life better, but it helps when the race you live among is foolish enough to give their souls up freely.

The whole thing started out as a joke a few weeks before Halloween. I didn’t realize just how gullible the human race was, until I put it to the test.

First I put a posting up on MySpace, you wouldn’t believe all the fools who signed it. Next as a costume, I dressed up like a soul collector and took a scroll that I made, got some more people to sign it. When all was said and done that night, I had about 500 souls that were signed over to me freely. Keep in mind of course, Halloween was still two nights away and I only needed to find someone to get a demon for me to make the trade with, but before I did I wanted to put some thought into what I wanted for these souls.

I didn’t find any one to get a demon for me until the day of Halloween, who I did find was a girl in her early 20’s. Morgan, she was a novelist, but she was all set and ready to conjure up a demon for me as long as I gave her 100 souls to barter with. I had no problem with that. The summoning took place at her house, it was out in the woods, which was convenient, so we held the ritual in her back yard.

A large bonfire was set ablaze inside of a pentagram, I was sitting on a log just outside of the circle, she stood inside the circle dress in a black and purple robe. She removed the robe once the summoning began. She was standing in front of the fire sky clad, holding her Grimoire.

Not that I minded the view she had one smoking body, the fire’s reflection danced off her pale skin. The piercings through her nipples gleamed in the firelight. It wasn’t long before a figure formed in the fire.

A deep raspy voice spoke from the fire. “You summoned me, what do you have to offer child? You know flesh has no value here.”

“I am not offering my self lord of the darkness, I have souls to trade.”

“Do you now.” As the figure was speaking it stepped forth from the fire and took a more solid form.

She took a few steps back, not leaving the circle, to give the demon his space. He wasn’t what you would normally think of for a demon. He was a burnt orange color with black eyes, two large horns coming out the front of his head that curled off to the side, he had a deep raspy voice and was well built. His robe hung well over his frame. I stood up from the log I was sitting on to make my presence known. He looked over in my direction.

“You in the shadows come forth into the fires glow so I can see you better.”

I stepped out of the shadows into the light so he could she me better, turning to Morgan

“If this is the soul you have to offer it is no good.” said the demon

“He is not the soul, but if he was, why is his soul no good?”

“Tell her, I don’t care.”

“The dark lord doesn’t want a soul that is as troublesome as his is; and priestess your soul is now protected from being in his company.”

As I moved closer in I picked up Morgan’s robe and draped it over her shoulders to cover her naked body.

“As I said great dark lord we have souls to trade.”

“How many souls do you have child, show me your offering?”

I took the scroll out of my backpack opening it to show him, he never touched it but he did read it over to make sure there where no loop holes.

“How many souls does this scroll hold?”

“500.”

“And they where handed over to you freely?”

“Yes.”

“How many are you using for yourself Other.”

“400, and I give 100 to the priestess as payment, so you get all 500 for my dozen wants if not less.”

“Other, you know I can not break any boundaries that have been place upon you.”

“Yes.”

“Fine, who wishes to go first?”

Morgan spoke up. “I’ll go first.”

“Priestess speak your wants and demands, you have 100 souls to barter with.”

She only asked for about six things and most of them where pretty simple. Once she finished he turned is attention to me.

“Speak your wants and demands Other you have 400 souls to barter with.”

“I am not asking for much so I wont keep you long and you can go back to hell to show Lou what you got for him at a very low cost.”

“You're trying my patience Other.”

“Yeah I seem to do that.”

“If you do not speak of what it is you want, I am leaving and you will be left with 400 useless souls.” the dark lord grumbled

“Fine, this is what I want, my debt cleared and to have perfect credit, to get published, and to get my company and business off the ground.”

“Is that all?”

“Yeah, because every thing else I want you can’t give me because of those boundaries, but there is one more thing you can, I want an old mill and a Victorian on a few acres of land.”

“Done. Our dealings here are finished, please hand the scroll over.”

I did as he asked, once the scroll was in his possession he stepped back into the fire and disappeared. I found Morgan sitting on the log smoking.

In between drags she spoke up “that went well”

“It did, didn’t it”

“So when do you think it will all happen?”

“By sunrise.”

“Why by then”

“New day, New beginning.”

“So, now what, are we friends or just to business partners; when you leave that’s it and I’ll never see you again.”

I sat there and stared at her for a few minutes before I answered, I could tell she was lonely and just needed a friend, her home life wasn’t the best and I didn’t need any type of powers to see that.

“I'll make a deal with you, if I get what I asked for you can come crash at my place.”

“That would be cool.”

We got up and start to walk back to her house, she never bother to refasten her robe so as we walk I kept seeing glimpses of her pale skin from under her robe and the what little light there was kept catching the two piercing, the one in her belly button and the gauged hoop in her hood. We made it back to the clearing of her back yard, she headed for the back door that led into the house, as for me I stayed the path that led back to the front of the house, intent on getting to my car and heading home.

As I was driving home the static on the radio started to worsen, which was strange but I paid no mind to it till a voice came from my back seat.

“You found your loop hole I see”

As I looked in to the rear view mirror, there he sat, the dark lord himself.

“Hi Lou, what do you want?”

“Nothing really, but I am a little pissed off with you.”

“For what, what did I do now?”

“Your little priestess friend was slated to become a temp demon for me, but now I can’t touch her because of you.”

“You lost her and got 500 in exchange, what are you bitching about?”

“You're missing the point, in the long run I am the one getting screwed, 500 for the 5000 souls she would have gotten me. This isn't the only time I’ve lost a temp demon to you.”

“Lou the only reason you’re here, right this moment is to bitch at me, because you know if it was any other time I would hand you your ass.”

“You might be right, but I am here on business, I was looking over your request, and there is nothing here that is off the wall or even greedy.”

“I am not stupid Lou, your demon laid down the rules for me and I didn’t step over them.”

“Yes I see that, the funny thing is, your little friend Morgan didn’t either. Do you know what she asked for?”

“Can’t say I do.”

“For her life to get better, for her father to stop abusing her and to find a dependable friend.”

“What no money?”

“No, no money, just a better life, just like you.”

“You sound disappointed.”

“Every thing you asked for is on your own talents and skills, you just want the right person to look your way to catch your break, you could have had anything you wanted within limits due to the restrictions placed upon you, which is even more amusing. It's funny I know if you could have asked for what you really wanted a lot of things would change come tomorrow morning but you played by the rules.’

“Did I Lou, or are you not seeing the whole picture?”

“What picture would that be?”

“The one where I fuck the rules with style.”

“I must be getting old, I get what you did, very smart other, very, very smart.

At that he disappeared from the back seat of my car and I continued my drive home.

November 1st All Saint's Day

My cell phone was ringing and brought me out of my slumber, it was Morgan, she sounded like she had been crying or she was about to.

“Hey whats up?”

“M, I need your help can you come over?”

“Yeah I’ll be there in a bit.”

I hung up the phone and dragged myself out of bed, I didn’t even bother to shower, I just threw on what I was wearing last night and headed out for the eastern end of the state. When I arrived at her house she was outside waiting on me, her dad’s truck sat in the driveway, which was strange because the man worked early morning from what Morgan told me yesterday.

I got out of the car and walked towards her, she was sitting with her robe wrapped around her as I got closer I notice she had blood spatter on her face and her hands were covered in it.

“Morgan, who’s blood are you covered in?”

“That bastard that called himself my father.”

“What happened?”

“After you left I was in my room getting ready to take a bath and the bastard came in to my room and tried to rape me, so I put my athame through his chest; after I kicked him off of me.”

“Where’s the body now?”

“Still in my room on the floor.”

“Just tell me you didn’t call the cops”

“No I didn’t.”

“Good, now we have a few choices, we make the body disappear, or we do this the legal way, you tell me what you want to do?”

“I don’t know, I am just scared, he wasn’t my real dad but I don’t want to go to jail for a piece of shit like that.”

“You won't if you tell me what you want to do.”

“Can we make him disappear?”

“I can do anything you want.”

“Let's make him disappear then.”

“Ok then, let's kick that bonfire of yours up.”

“Why?”

“If you think the dozen things we asked for used up all those souls your nuts.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Come on and I’ll show you.”

We brought the fire back to life and she summoned another demon.

“What do you want?”

“I want to speak with your boss.”

“And what gives you the right to think the dark lord will speak to a mortal like you?”

“First off I am as far from mortal as you can get, and secondly, Lou knows I can make his life a living hell.”

The form disappeared from the fire, as a voice from behind us caught our attention.

“What Do you want Other?”

“I need something done about a body in her room.”

“Oh yes, that was a sweet soul she sent down to me.”

“I told you he was a piece of shit.”

“Child you have no clue what a piece of work he truly was.”

“Well do you want the body to go with the soul?”

“I have no use for his body, he’s not you.”

“Well we need it gone, so I am open for any ideas you might want to throw out.”

“I’ll use it as food for something in the lower levels of hell.”

“Well then, that sounds like a plan.”

“Next time you need a body disposed of get an Entity.”

“I would have if I could, but you work just as well Lou.”

With a wave of his hand the body and any evidence of it disappeared, and her room was just as it should be.

He disappeared but in the wind we still could hear his voice saying “you have no favors left; don’t summon me again unless you have something to trade for services.” Before it faded into the air.

“Kind of bitchy wasn’t he.”asked Morgan

“Yeah, but he doesn’t like me much.”

“I couldn’t tell; what do you have on him that the head demon came to your summons.”

“He’s scared of me.”

“Why?” she asked quizzically.

“Lets us just say a very long time ago we had a run in, and he didn’t fair too well.”

“So he is still sore about it?”

“Yeah, come on, let’s go grab some of your stuff and get out of here.”

“So I guess I am coming with you?”

“Yes you are; no reason to stay here any more.”

Even though the body was gone, her hands and face still had blood on them; once we got in to her room she stripped off her robe and put on lounge pants and a tank top with nothing under them, she pulled a gym bag from her closet and started to dump drawers from her dresser into it. It only took a few minutes for her to finish that then she reached under her bed and pulled out one more gym bag that was already packed and stuffed her robe in the top.

“I’m ready let get the hell out of here!”

I picked up the two gym bags and we left, she stopped and locked the door behind us and then threw her house keys in to the swamp that bordered her drive way.

“Why did you do that?”

“Because I don’t need them any more and it would be foolish to keep them, just one extra thing I don’t need.”

I put her bags in the back seat, walked around the car, opened the door to the drivers seat and got in, we left and never looked back, on the whole ride back to my apartment she didn’t say much except that her real name was Victoria and she wouldn’t mind if I call her by it, Morgan was the name her covenant sister gave her; for the rest of the ride she just sat staring out the window.

We pulled up to my apartment to find a courier awaiting us, I got out of the car and the courier got out of his van approaching me, “Mr Johnston?”

“Yes.”

“I have a parcel for you, I just need you to sign and show me your id to verify its you.”

I took out my license and handed it to the courier, he took a picture of it, then he took a picture of me and of my signature. He then handed me a large envelope with a letter attached to the out side of it. I open the letter first just to see what it was about. The letter stated the deeds enclosed belonged to the Johnston family that had died off back in the 1820’s before they headed to Texas. The deeds belong to an old mill some where in Cumberland and the other was to estate somewhere in Newport.

The letter continued on about how the house has not been use in over 100 years because it was used as a summer home, the estate itself was over 22 and a half acres and the house had 45 rooms. The keys to both were also included in the main envelope. I walked back to the car, reopened the door and sat back down in the drivers seat.

“So what was that about?”

“Well let's start it off like this, feeling like going for a ride?”

“Sure where to?”

“To check out my new properties.”

“Well yours is falling in to place, now what about me.” asked Victoria with a sigh

“Yours have started to fall in to place as well if you think about it.”

“I didn’t look at it that way, but now that you bring it up...”

“See the demon made good so far on his end.”

“Yeah I guess so.”

We headed to Newport first to take a look at this summer home that once belonged to my family. After finding it we pulled up to the main gate which was chained and locked. I did have the key to it, the lock unlatched with a clink and the gates pushed open with a loud creaking noise. It was an old crushed stone drive that led up to the main entrance. The grounds looked like something out of a horror movie, the house wasn’t in much better shape but it had no holes in the roof and all the glass was intact, so that was a plus. I put the car in park, we both got out and stood there for a few minutes staring at the size of the place.

“So are we going in or just going to stand out here?”

“Come on, lets go!”

We climbed the eight steps that lead to the landing in front of the main doors, I put the key into the hole and hear a click as I turned it, we pushed the doors open to let light fill the entry hall. That air smelled old and musty; cobwebs and dust covered everything even now most of the stuff had tarps over it. I found an old light switch and clicked it on, nothing, we were still standing in the dimly lit entry hall.

“The breakers must be blown.”

“Yeah, but I ain't going into the basement of this place to flip them to get the lights on in here.”

“Did I ask you to?”

“No.” Victoria stated, sounding a little hurt.

“Ok then.”

“So what are we going to do, this place is huge and I don’t know about you but I would like to see the rest of it before night falls and choose my room.”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to stay here tonight, it might have to wait a few days.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“I have one but this place is huge and it probably gets cold in here at night.”

“Yeah, and there’s got to be at least 10 fire places in here, we crash in the living room tonight, most of these old places have at least 3 huge fireplaces in the main living area and we can use each other for warmth.”

“Well I am all for it if you are?” I said, a little surprised at how certain Victoria was

“Lets do it then.”

“Fine, let go buy a few cords of wood, get some lanterns and candles and we’ll spend the night here.”

We found firewood on the grounds, then headed out to the store pick up the rest of the stuff we needed to get through the night. We also stopped back by my apartment to get some clothes for me and bedding for the night. We never made it up to the mill, it would be some thing we could get to some time later in the week. We made it back to the manor just before dusk.

We stocked the fireplaces well and made sure the flues were wide open, it only took a few minutes for the wood to catch and the room was filled with the fires warm amber glow on three sides of us, we shut all the doors except for the main one into the room, we left one half of the French door open to give us a clear view to the main entry. I made dinner over the fire for the two of us and V was warming water over one of the other fireplaces, she found an old galvanized tub to bathe in. I blocked the tub off with old wood changing screens so she could have some privacy. The room was full of old furniture. There were couches, chairs, lounges, a few coffee and end tables and a large desk.

I was looking through the desk when she spoke up from behind the screens,

“Hey M, whatcha doing?”

“I am going through this old desk looking for stuff, why?”

“Just wanted to make sure you where still in here, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure what do you need.”

“More hot water.”

“Ok, do you have any more heating?”

“Yes, its all set, all you have to do is pour it in, how’s dinner coming?”

“It will be ready once you are.”

“Cool!”

I walked over to her end of the room and came around the screens. There she sat in the tub with steam rolling off the top of it, there weren’t many suds in it, so her naked body was in plain view in the water, I took the kettle from the fire and added half of it to her bath.

“Why don’t you join me?”

“Thanks but no thanks.”

“Why not?”

“We’re still getting to know each other.”

“Yeah and we're going to be housemates, we can share a bath you know and it doesn't necessarily mean anything.”

“I don’t doubt that, but it just wouldn’t be right.”

“Why not?”

“Hell, I have like 10 yrs on you.”

“So, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Just don’t want it turning into something else and me taking advantage of you.”

“First off, I asked you to join me, not the other way around, and you only have 8 years on me.”

I put the kettle over the fire and walked away from her.

“Hey walking away from me isn’t answering. It's just you avoiding human contact.”

“I’m not avoiding human contact, just avoiding contact with your body.”

“You’re still avoiding contact, no matter how you put it.”

“Ok I am done talking about this with you.”

“That’s fine, but just to let you know, I sleep in the nude.” she said with a smirk on her face.

“Whatever.”

We stopped talking and I went back to the other side of the room to continue to look through the desk. It was a little bit later when I heard the water splashing around and heard it dripping on the floor as it rolled of her body as she dried off. She finally made her way down to the other side of the room to where I was sitting looking over some papers I found in one of the drawers of the desk.

“Find anything good?”

“Yeah these are old safe specs here with the combos, but these are wall and floor safes that are placed throughout this house, now I just have to get my hands on the plans for this house to see where they are.”

“The town hall should have the plans on file.”

“Well I guess that’s where I am heading after the lights get turned on.”

“That works and I’ll stay here and look around some more, hey do you have the gas being turned on as well?”

“Yes.”

“Good because I want to take a real bath tomorrow, or even a shower.”

“I hear you there.”

“Well if you want to clean up I can always refill the tub and you can hang in there for a bit.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“It ain't like you have any thing I haven’t seen, or is that it, its nothing to behold?”

“It's not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“Nothing, just don’t like my body or my size.” I muttered, staring at the floor.

“Oh get over it, no one is built the same.”

“I know that.”

“Well then what is your deal.” V said, getting increasingly more vehement.

“Can we stop talking about this.”

“Why, someone getting uncomfortable with this conversation?”

“Yeah a little.”

“Deal, I should strip you down and get a good look at you and prove that you are overreacting.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Or what?” added V, teasingly.

“I don’t know but don’t.”

She took everything from my hands and lap and placed it down on the coffee table next to me, I tried to get up but she pushed me back to the couch and sat on top of me. She opened the towel she was covered in and let it fall to the floor, next she pulled my shirt off, unfastened my belt and unbuttoned my jeans, pulling them down with my boxers. She started to run her fingers through my pubic hair and caressed my cock and balls to get me nice and hard. My manhood was now standing at full attention, she slid up on my thighs until her mound was rubbing up against my shaft, her landing strip was soft and felt phenomenal rubbing against me.

The amber glow of the fire warmed the room and we let human nature take its course and enjoyed each other throughout the night, multiple times. I woke the next morning to a banging on the door and the sun’s light pouring through the windows.

I found my pants and shirt and pulled both on my way to answer the door. I openrd it to find an electric company employee standing on the landing.

“Morning Sir, here to turn the power on for you.”

“Yes sure, I’ll be honest I have no clue where the breaker box is.”

“That’s no problem, I have the layout maps and I know right where it is.”

“He walked into the kitchen and opened a door which led to a landing that had steps leading down to the cellar. I followed him down them into a huge storage cellar.”

“This would be an awesome finished basement, have you thought about that.”

“Nope, I just took the place over yesterday.”

“That’s cool.”

We stopped walking at a cage, opened the door and entered, inside sat the breaker box, he threw a lever and the power came on. Dim light lit the hall ways of the basement. We made our way back up to the kitchen and I walked him to the door, as he was going down the stairs the gas company guy was coming up them.

Back down to the basement we went, so he could turn us on, which only took a few minutes, and he left as well. I made my way back to the living room where Victoria was still sleeping, the shadows from the sun moving through the windows and dancing on her back.

I stood at the door and watched her sleep for a few more minutes before I woke her to let her know I was heading into town to find the plans for the house.

“Hey V, heading for town, power is on and so is the gas.”

“Ok I'll be here.”

I took me a few hours to find the floor plans and make copies, by the time I got back to the manor, Victoria was already safe hunting. The ones she had found she opened and emptied the contents and piled them in the living room. There were stacks of cash, barrow bonds and gold bars as well as little leather bags with precious gems in them.

V was coming down the grand staircase with her gym bag over her shoulder.

“V, you found all this in the safes?”

“No, I robbed the neighbors” she said sarcastically, adding “Yes, you jackass, I found all this in the safes.”

“There has to be a small fortune here.”

“Um yeah, the barrow bonds themselves are worth about 5 million each and there is a lot of them, each gold bar is a 5 oz bar at 9999.9 pure. And cash there's about 100k. Those are just from the wall safes I found, so tell me you got the plans and we can find the floor safes.”

“Right here”

“Ok lets see them.”

I was watching her open the plans she was covered in dust and cob webs, she was wearing sweat pants, a half tank top and a fleece jacket unzipped, her blonde and black hair pull up in a messy twist. All in all she was a mess but sexy at the same time.

Highlighter in hand she was marking the rooms she had already emptied out.

“Hey this master suite has two floor safes and another wall safe.”

She grabbed the safe specs and found the ones in the room.

“Come on.”

With plans in hand she headed for the stairs with me right behind her.

We made it to the top of the stairs and headed down the hall to the master suite, she pushed the double doors open and hit the light switch. She stared at the blue prints for a moment before she spoke.

“The wall safe is in the walk in and so is one of the floor safes, the other floor safe is supposed to be at the foot of the bed, you want to see if you can find it.”

“Yeah sure.”

I moved the rug and found the pull notch to the floor to reveal the safe.

“I got mine how are you doing with yours?” I said with an air of cockiness, grinning like a fool.

“Got the wall, cant find that damn floor safe.”

“Ok let me open this one and I'll be in to help you find it.”

“Ok, I'll open this one while I am waiting.”

We opened our safes at the same time.

“What did you get in yours.”

“Just gold and bonds. You?”

“Bonds, the safe is full of them.”

I went into the closet and started to check the floor for the safe door latch, it was the whole closet floor. I waved V over to me and pulled it open. I worked on the combo to open the safe itself. The safe was huge, but it was no more then a foot deep, I heard the two tumblers fall into place. I grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, what was in the safe blew our minds. There were original works of art from Monet to Van Gogh.

I looked at V “Well that was not what I was expecting to find in there.”

“Yeah me either.”

“So with everything we have sitting down stairs and these 3 safes what would you say the net worth is?”

“I am no math whiz but I would say at least in the low 100 millions.”

“So I guess tomorrow I am heading to the bank and cashing in all the barrow bonds and gold and the straps of cash.”

“Yes, I think you are.”

“So do we want to keep safe hunting or do we want to save it for rainy day?”

“How about you do what ever it is you feel.”

I picked her up and carried her over to the end of the large master bed in the room and started to strip her out of what little she was wearing. The fleece jacket was the first to hit the floor then her tank top, I was kissing and nibbling on her neck. In between her heavy breathing she whispered in my ear.

“Now this is what I am talking about, make me a dirty little girl.”

It wasn't long before we were wrapped in the throws of passion and the manor was full of moaning and screams of sexual climax. I woke the next morning once more to the sun coming in the large windows in the bed room. I went and cleaned up in the master suites bathroom and headed for the bank in town with a few large rolling suit cases to loaded into the car.

“Hi I need to speak with the manager and I need a private room, I also need some help bring in two large suit cases.”

“Ok, sir just have a seat and she'll be right with you.”

The bank manager come over a few minutes later.

“Hi, I am Laura Green, the bank manager, how can I help you sir?”

“Well I would like to open an account.”

“Ok?”

“I also have a bit of money I need to exchange for current currency, barrow bonds to cash in as well as, gold and jewels to lock in a safe deposit box.

“Oh I see, were are all of these things?”

“In my car in two large rolling suit cases.”

“I'll have the guard help you bring them in right away, as well as a private room waiting for you, I'll have all the paper work waiting for you as well.”

I went to the car with the guard, we brought both of the cases in and rolled them into the private room, with the guards help we lifted both cases and placed them on the table, once there I unzipped them. The bank manager came in a few minutes later and almost tripped over herself when she saw what was on the table.

“Ok the first suit case is full of barrow bonds, the other has the money straps, gold and jewels.”

“Sir, its going to take us a week to verify those barrow bonds, the easy part of this is the cash exchange, which I'll get someone working on immediately, as well as your safety deposit box brought in.”

She took my I.D. and made a copy of it, I did the rest of the paper work while they were doing the money exchange, which took them over 4 hours. Once they finished I had over 75 million sitting in front of me, she also let me set up two Swiss accounts and two accounts in the Cayman Islands.

“Mr. Johnston, you might have to open up a few more accounts we don’t have the net worth of those barrow bonds yet.”

“Yes I know, I would also like to find a jeweler or a stone buyer to take some of these jewels off my hands.”

“Give me a few minutes and I'll see what I have for contacts in those fields.”

I parked two million in to the two large suit cases and had the rest deposited into my accounts, keeping four million stateside in 40 different accounts, the rest was transferred to the Swiss and Cayman accounts.

I returned to the Manor around 5.

“Long day?”

“Yes, and all they got done was the cash exchange, the bonds are going to take a week. Also meeting with a stone buyer on Monday to sell some of the jewels.”

“Whats in the suit cases?”

“Two million in cash.”

“Cool, well while you were gone all day I found the rest of the safes and emptied them moving their contents to the master suite, I also contacted an art dealer to come in tomorrow to appraise the paintings.”

I was listening but I was more staring at her and what she was wearing, which wasn’t much, but I think it was the first time in days I saw her in panties. They were charcoal colored boy shorts and a camisole to match. I was staring at her hard nipples poking through the top and the outline edges of her piercings were turning me on, with the way her shorts caressed her body I could see her hood piercing pushing against her panties.

“M, you listening to me.”

“Umm yeah, you found and emptied the other safes and an art dealer is coming in tomorrow to look at the paintings.” I said, snapping back to reality

She smirked at me and walked off, as she did she pulled her top off and let it drop to the floor behind her. She headed for the servant's staircase that was off the kitchen. Like a little puppy I wasn't too far behind her. Its funny no words were said but she knew where my mind was and I am guessing hers was there to. As I got up to the top of the stairs her shorts laid on the landing and the door to the master suite was open, I bee lined it for the open door and found her laying on the rug in front of the glowing fireplace. It was another night of passion filled great sex. At one point she had sweat dripping off of her as she rode me, between the heat of our bodies and the fire burning behind her. As she rode me she pulled her sweat dampened hair up with the hair tie from her wrist as she reached her orgasm. I pulled her to me and french kissed her, she dug her nails into my back due to the intensity of her orgasm, she squirted all over me and made a puddle on the floor under us. Then collapsed on top of me panting hard.

“Oh my god that was unreal. Give me a few minutes and lets do it again.”

I laugh, “Sure if you think your up for it.”

“Fuck yes. That felt really good.”

“So what are we?”

“Lets not put a name to it and ruin it. Lets just say where business partners with benefits.”

“So were bwb.”

“She french kissed me, shut up, ok and fuck me like that again.”

I rolled us over and had her on her back under me and had her legs resting on my shoulders as I started to slide in and out of her at a steady rhythm until we both climaxed and she was screaming “oh god yes”, as we climaxed she squirted once more, leaving me dripping and added to the huge puddle on the floor. She end up passing out at the end of it. I picked her up off the floor and carried her to the bed and covered her in the oversized comforter. I pulled on my sleep pants and my t-shirt and walked down stairs to have a drink and a cigar, but I realized I hadn’t bought any yet. I had a guest sitting in the library waiting for me.

“Hi Lou, what can I do for you?”

“Nothing, just wanted to see how things where going for you and the priestess.”

I sat down in the high back chair facing him, as I did he handed me a cigar and a glass of cognac.

“Looks like you could use this, got to give it to Castro, the man knows how to make one hell of a cigar, and this 80 year old cognac really compliments the flavor of it.”

“This is a Cuban cigar?”

“Yes it is right from Castro's private 65 year old aged stash.”

“Do you know how much this cigar is worth?”

“$550,000 a stick and the cognac is about $10k a glass. But you got to know how to enjoy the simple things in life.”

I punched the stick and dipped in the cognac, a flame lit up off of one of Lou’s finger and I was able to get the foot nice and red. I took a drag, it was smooth, earthy with a hint of vanilla and clove. The cognac was sweet and smooth.

“Ok I know you not here just to share the simple things in life. So what brings you to my home?”

He laughed, “you don’t think I'm just here to have a cigar and a glass of booze with one of my oldest pains in the ass. I'm insulted, I enjoy the finer things this place has to offer. Other, I like you! We all have our place in the realms, even though sometimes it's me getting screwed by you or Dark. I'll be honest out of the two of you I would take you any day, at least most of the time I know it will be less physically painful for me.”

Lou stopped taking when he saw Victoria standing at the library door wrapped in a blanket. He waved her in. She walked over to me and sat on my lap and curled back up.

“So you're having a cigar and a drink with the devil?”

“Yes enemies can sit and talk over drinks and a cigar child.” said Lou

“Whatever.”

“So other which is sweeter that cognac or her nectar.”

“Lou, we where having such a civil conversation and then you have to go and be a dick.”

“Sorry, you're right it was out of line.”

“Ok back to why you are here.”

“Just to see how your life is going now that you found your loop hole.”

“Its still falling into place.”

“Good, good. But remember everything comes at a price.”

“Lou what do you mean, I stayed in the rules.” I said defiantly

“Yes you did, but you forgot to ask for one thing. Enjoy the rest of your cigar and the cognac. And Victoria, tick, tick tick.”

At that he was gone.

“What the hell was that about?”

“I have no clue, let me finish this cigar and we'll go back upstairs to bed.”

“Take your time I am very content right here laying in your lap and arms.”

The next year flew by and life was good, until the day Victoria came back from her annual check up with bad news. She had cancer and it was in the advance stages, there was nothing the doctors here or in Europe could do, they told her to live life to its fullest and she passed a year and a half later. At her funeral Lou showed up again.

“Hello other.”

“Fuck you Lou.”

“Hold on I had nothing to do with this, this was already in motion before the trade of those souls. I tried to give you a heads up.”

“Lou, really you call tick, tick, tick a heads up.”

“We all have our roles and rules we have to go by. I couldn’t just come out and say it, that is a shit storm I didn’t want any part of. Unlike you, most beings have a price to pay for breaking the rules.”

“Fine, I am in no mood to get into semantics with you, but what was the one thing I forgot to ask for.”

“Lasting happiness.”

“Your telling me if I asked for lasting happiness Victoria wouldn’t have died?”

“Yup, all you asked for was happiness, and happiness can come and go throughout your life. So if you remember one thing I told you that night a year and a half ago, enjoy the simply pleasures in life.” Lou continued, “Other, remember no one makes it out of this realm alive, and sometimes you've got to remember how to enjoy the simply things in life no matter how short of a time you have them to enjoy.”

He was gone before I could say anything but in front of the picture of Victoria sat a glass of cognac and resting on top of it was another Cuban cigar from Castro’s private stash.

I took the cigar punched it and dip in the cognac, lit it and toasted Victoria and Lou.

“To you V, my best friend and bwb, and to you Lou for being the dick you truly are, but knowing how to enjoy the simply things in life no matter how short lived they are.”