Soul Guardian - Chapter 58: A Night on the Town
While the lasagna was cooling, Bael fetched the adoption papers. He didn’t feel like waiting until after dinner to tell Six the good news. Both guardians had already signed their parts. But these were very special papers and needed one more signature to be valid.
He set them down on the table. “Hey, Six. Come take a look at these and tell me what you think.”
The girl cocked an eyebrow. “That will be five dollars.”
“Five whole bucks?” Bael asked, trying and failing not to smile.
“Yep, legal advice doesn’t come cheap.” She crossed her arms and made a point of looking away from the documents.
Bael turned to his wife. “Hey, honey. Do you have five dollars? I gave all my cash to you know who.”
She shook her head. “All I have on me are cards.”
Bael sighed and summoned a gold coin, it had a hole through the middle and delicate engravings of dragons chasing their tails. He flickered it her way. “I hope you have change.”
She caught it in her left hand and reached for the paper. “Nope, I’m fresh out.”
“Darn,” Bael said as he sat down next to her. “Well, what do you think?”
There was a clattering sound of metal on wood as Six dropped the coin. “Um, I think there might be a small mistake. According to these, you and Maharet are adopting me.”
“Darn.” Bael shook his head and pulled out a pen. “We were actually adopting Titan, but they must have made a typo. Oh well, what’s done is done. I suppose once you sign your part then there’s nothing we can do about it. You’ll officially be part of the family. Woe is me.”
Six took the pen and continued looking over the document. She went through it line by line, occasionally looking up words in the dictionary they kept by the kitchen table.
Eventually, Bael got impatient. “Well, are you going to sign, or not?”
She looked up at him, her face completely serious. “Bael, you’re a demon and you just handed me a contract. Of course I’m reading through it. What do you think I am, an idiot?”
A warm smile covered Bael’s face and tears glistened on the corners of his eyes. Yeah, she’s definitely my daughter, he thought, And I couldn’t be more proud.
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***
Lucy was doing some experimentation. Most of her powers were gone, but she was still a fallen angel. That meant she was stronger than anyone her size had any right to be. Which would also explain the series of bent metal poles, busted parking meters, and cracked stone walls left in her wake.
As she reached downtown she sniffed the air, catching the familiar scent of evil wafting off two men at the mouth of an alley. The smaller of the two was wearing a women’s leather jacket.
“Hey handsome,” Lucy said as she approached, “Give me all your money and valuables.”
The larger man looked at the woman in front of him like a lion inspecting a rabbit. “Are you out of your goddamn mind?”
“No, I’m just in a hurry.” She held out her hand. “Come on, I don’t have all night.”
***
Lucy walked into the wine bar wearing her new black leather jacket and Rolex watch. Surprisingly, both were real. She took a seat at the bar and perused the wine selection. There were all the usual suspects along with a house red that seemed incredibly popular.
By the time the bartender got to Lucy, four people had already come up for refills of the house red. “What can you tell me about the house wine?” she asked.
The bartender was a tattooed hipster in his 30’s with a full beard. When he heard her question, he laughed. “It’s good, it’s cheap, and it gets you hammered.
Lucy was sold. “I’ll take a bottle of the house red and whatever tasty bites you recommend.”
“That would be the garlic fries or the jalapeno poppers. Which do you want?”
“I’ll have both, please and thank you.” Beating the snot out of those two men had made her hungry. Punishing evil people always did.
While she waited for her food to arrive, Lucy sipped the surprisingly good wine and engaged in some people watching. There was a mix of couples and singles spread out through the wine bar. Unfortunately, none of the regulars smelled particularly evil. (Lucy thought she caught a whiff of corruption, but it turned out to be Axe body spray.)
Her plan of finding someone terrible and going home with them was falling flat. Normally when she was visiting the mortal realm, Lucy liked to hunt down some free-range evil to entertain herself and save on hotel rooms. It was also a convenient way to send messages back home.
Somehow, in defiance of social norms, not one sleazy asshole approached her. She looked like an attractive woman in her 30’s and she was drinking alone. Men with bad comb-overs and worse manners should have been lining up to talk to her.
Just as Lucy was about to give up hope (but not for the human race, it apparently had improved immensely) she caught a hint of evil. A tall, lean man walked in the door. His very sweat smelled of dark deals and worse deeds. He was perfect, absolutely perfect for her purposes.
She smiled at him as he approached the bar. When he returned the smile, Lucy extended her hand to him. “Hi, I’m visiting from out of town.”
The man’s smile grew even wider. “Well then, I’d be happy to show you around before you disappear.”
“Oh, would you?” Lucy asked, practically salivating. “I’ve been so lonely since I got divorced. Now I’m all alone, no friends, no family.”
“You poor thing,” he said as he sat down next to her, “You should come back to my place and tell me all about it.”
“That’s so sweet. I’d love to,” Lucy said, almost laughing at the wannabe serial killer seated beside her. He had no idea who he just picked up.
She turned and waved down the bartender. “Hey, can I get some more of those jalapeno poppers to go?”
Lucy had the feeling that she was going to work up an appetite later. She smiled at the man next to her.
He smiled back. “I always did like a woman with an appetite.”
Lucy laughed. “Oh, sugar. You have no idea.”
