He collapsed to his hands and knees, dry heaving while his head spun. His eyes gradually cleared and he swallowed a couple of times before looking up. When he saw where he was, he wished he was still lost in the fog. Realizing he was still sprawled on the floor, he quickly pushed to his feet.
He felt like he was standing in the bottom of a bowl. Along the edge, seven silhouettes loomed over him. He shook when a cold chill traveled down his spine as the Tribunal frowned down at him. He clasped his hands tightly behind his back and felt his knuckles whiten as he waited to find out what he’d done to attract their attention.
“Jefftik, lower first class retrieval demon,” a scratchy voice thundered. “You stand accused of failing an assignment. You have been found guilty. Your choice of punishment is through the doors behind you. You are dismissed.”
Jeff turned on his heel and staggered to the indicated doors. What assignment had he failed? He pushed through the swinging doors and paused. In the small room he entered, there were two exits; one red and one black. He knew the red door led to the pit, but he’d never seen or heard of the black door. He couldn’t even guess where it went.
The red door gave off an ominous glow. It pulsed in time to his heartbeat. The pit was the last place he wanted to go. He didn’t want to spend an unspecified time strapped to a shovel trying to move whatever fell into the depths. But he didn’t know if the black door led to something worse. He knew it wouldn’t be something easier considering where he was.
His hand shot out and curled around a knob before he made a decision. He closed his eyes and stepped through.
Jeff sat up on the couch. He blinked at the rising sun and reached over to open the window. He’d stepped through the black door. He wasn’t sure if he should regret that step yet, but it didn’t really matter. He wasn’t going to the pit. If he failed here, he was gone.
He folded his arms on the window sill and propped his chin on his folded hands as he stared at the view out the window.
“Nice view. I didn’t know you liked to look at bricks,” Jasmine said as she jumped on the sill next to the demon and wiggled under his arms. “Are you going to feed me now?”
Jeff blinked at the cat inches from his eyes. He half smiled as he unfolded himself and lurched into the kitchen. He punched the button on his coffee maker and waited for the machine to start making noise. If he knew the Fury-and he was sure he did-she was going to want something complicated. He couldn’t face that without a dose of caffeine.
Jasmine followed, weaving between his ankles. She was hungry and she didn’t want to wait for a slow machine. “Feed me. I’m hungry.”
“I wasn’t expecting company. You’re stuck with what I’m having.”
“As long as I can have bacon and eggs, that’s fine.”
Jeff shuffled around the kitchen gathering supplies. He pulled the grill out from under the sink, plugged it in and waited for it to heat up. In one smooth motion, he grabbed a cup off the wall with one hand and the coffee pot with the other. By the time he’d poured the thick black stuff, the grill had heated up and was ready for the bacon strips. The kitchen filled with a sizzling noise and he turned to mix the eggs.
Jasmine pranced around the kitchen; nose high in the air, wishing she had a taller costume. Her stomach growled and she meowed at him to hurry up. How could he keep her waiting like this?
Jeff smiled in amusement as he piled eggs on top of the bacon already on the waiting plates. When he turned around, Jasmine was twining between his ankles again. Feeling a bit mischievous, and a little annoyed with her attempts to trip him, he leaned over and placed one of the plates on the floor before walking back into the living room without a glance back.
Jasmine stared at the demon’s back in disbelief. Did he really think she was going to eat off the floor like a common animal? Not now; not ever! She followed him into the living room. When he set his plate down on the coffee table, she jumped up and stuck her nose in it only to be dismayed at the pile of hot sauce smothering the eggs. She looked over her shoulder and frowned at his grin.
You think that will stop me? Hah! She smirked at him, turned back to the food and scarfed all of it down. She was licking the plate while Jeff was still bleating in protest. With a little hip wiggle that didn’t translate well in a cat suit, Jasmine turned around on the table and stare the demon into silence.
“Now,” she said. “Let’s get down to business.”
Jeff didn’t say anything. He just watched her tail twitch.
“Jeff? Jeff? Jefftik!”
He jumped and shook his head. He’d been mesmerized by the slap and twitch of the cat’s tail. He blinked at the Fury and shook his head again. “What?”
“Why are you here?”
“On the couch?”
Jasmine growled in frustration. Jeff was being unusually dense today. Maybe she shouldn’t have eaten his breakfast. “No, you dunderhead,” she hissed. “Here. On Earth. In this town. Where are we anyway?”
“A little town on the Oregon Coast. Does it really matter?”
“Would it tell me why we’re here?”
“I don’t think so. I know why I’m here, but you…you I don’t know.” He leaned forward and placed his hands on the table, surrounding the Fury. “Fury Girl, why are you here?”
Jasmine knew how to play that game. She sat up straighter on the table, wrapped her tail around her feet and blinked at Jeff, as if to say, “It’s none of your business why I’m here, but you should feel overwhelming gratitude that I am.” She didn’t have an endless supply of patience but she did have something that could mimic it. She had a high supply of being able to annoy demons. She watched with satisfaction as her stare started to unnerve the demon.
Jeff stared at the cat’s wide eyes and innocent grin, and knew he wasn’t going to get anything out of her. His only conclusion was that she had come to watch him fail. Or push him over the edge. Maybe she was determined to drive him crazy. For a second anger colored his vision. His eyes crossed and he had a hard time getting them to focus again. Slowly the red faded as he realized that was the Fury’s nature and there was no changing her.
Sighing, he sat back, crossed his arms over his chest so he wouldn’t do something he’d regret, and waited. The Fury wasn’t the only one good at staring. Of course she takes more pride in her staring ability.
The battle of wills continued for almost five minutes only to be interrupted by someone tapping on the door. Jasmine opened her mouth, intending to yell ‘go away’ through the door, but shut it with a snap when she saw the demon glaring at her.
“Not one word. If you talk to a human on this trip, so help me, I’ll boot your butt out the door,” he growled. “Do I make myself clear?” He stomped around the table and wrenched the door open. At least he intended to wrench it open. He forgot to unlock it first and only managed to pull his shoulder nearly out of its socket. Stifling a curse or two, he threw the deadbolt and opened the door. Gritting his teeth, he wrapped his fingers around his injured shoulder and blinked through his suddenly watering eyes to see his tiny landlady standing on his porch.
“Miss Ellie, what a surprise. What brings you to my front door?” Ignoring Jasmine’s gagging sounds, he stepped back and gesture, “Please, come in.”
Miss Ellie’s head barely reached Jeff’s shoulder, but that didn’t stop her from accepting his elbow when he held it out to escort her into his apartment. “Sweetie, I’m afraid this isn’t a social call. Do you know Mrs. Louise?”
“Across the road in 1D?”
Miss Ellie nodded at his question. “She has lost her cat. Again. Have you seen the poor dear?”
Jasmine poked her head out from under the futon where she’d hidden when Jeff went to answer the door. Could this be Jeff’s mysterious assignment? She ignored the conversation in favor of studying the stranger.
Miss Ellie looked like one of those collector’s china dolls; right down to the outfit. She even had the flawless porcelain skin and
the dark almost black eyes accented by high brows that Jasmine was sure were darkened by pencil. To Jasmine’s practiced eye, Miss Ellie’s outfit had not been bought off the rack. She had a fitted jacket, tight at the waist and flared over the hips, with a white, lacey, long sleeved blouse tucked into the waistband. A long skirt brushing the ground as she moved hid high-heeled, buttoned up the side shoes. The ten little pearl buttons glowed iridescently against the black velvet and white leather. A small imitation top hat sat nestled in a tumble of white curls. She looked like a lady lost in time.
Jasmine focused on the conversation just in time to hear Jeff promise to keep an eye out for the missing feline. She waited for the door to close before climbing back onto the coffee table. “What was that all about?” she asked the demon.
Jeff shrugged. “I’m guessing my crazy neighbor let her cat out again and was convinced someone kidnapped it when the beast didn’t return.”
“Does this happen often? Never mind. It’s not important.” She crouched on the coffee table; tail a fuzzy twitching exclamation point. “Why are we here?”
“We?” Jeff asked. He shook his head. There was no use arguing with the Fury. “Ms. Ellie is my assignment.”
“What? That little old lady?” Jasmine scoffed. There was no way that was Jeff’s assignment.
“She’s not that old, right around twenty. She just lives in a different century.”
“What did she receive in exchange for her soul?”
“Nothing,” Jeff sighed. This was not one of his prouder moments. “About twenty years ago, I was sent to collect on a due contract, but it didn’t go as I expected. Imagine my surprise when I found a baby attached to it. I’d expected the usual suspects. You know the type: big, burly and needing two wits to rub together.” He paused, thinking, “Or rat-faced and slimy.”
Jasmine nodded. She’d run into both types on her assignments. Slowly she walked to the edge of the coffee table. Eyes closed, she reclined in her sphinx position with her feet hanging off the edge and waited for Jeff to continue.
Jeff flopped against the back of the futon and lightly bounced his head off the back. “I assumed it was a routine collection.”
“What was the problem?”
“Babies have no concept of self, so how could she sign the contract?”
“They can’t.” Jasmine narrowed her eyes and stared at the demon. That explained absolutely nothing to the fury “Then how could you have any claim on her soul?”
“‘The sins of the father’ and all that hoopla. Or in this case, sins of the Mother. This woman had already lost her soul in an earlier contract and the only thing she had left to bargain with was the infant’s soul.”
Jeff rose and began pacing. He didn’t like this memory and he didn’t want to relive it, but he knew Jasmine had to know how much trouble they were in. For the first time, he wished he had sent her home last night, before she knew anything. Now, it was too late. If she tried to leave, she would still share in his punishment. At least I feel like I stand a better chance of success with her here.
Jasmine watched him pass the TV again. It was a small room and she considered shrinking him so he’d have more space. When Jeff kicked the coffee table again, she decided not to. As he hopped in place clutching his foot, she felt amusement, not caring that she was taking perverse pleasure in his pain.
As the pain ebbed, Jeff massaged his injured foot as he peered out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge how much patience the Fury had left. She wasn’t moving, but her tail was flopping and twitching. She was nearly at the end of her rope. He turned to face her, ready to catch her if she decided to pounce on him. Jasmine sat up and wrapped her tail around her feet. Her whole posture said that she was waiting.
Jeff shook his head. Why did he expect anything different from her? “How could they expect me to collect an infant’s soul? Everyone knows that an infant’s soul has no color. It hasn’t really formed. It needs personality before it takes on color.”
Jasmine snorted. Jeff is ever the master of the obvious. Sometimes I think he talks so he can hear his own voice. “Would you get on with it? How did this assignment get you in trouble?”
Jeff heard the irritation in her voice and decided that he should stick to the short version now. “I got in trouble because no one had told me that the ‘infant’ was twins and I ended up with the wrong soul.”
Jasmine stared at the demon. She’d lost track of this conversation. “W-what? You can’t take an infant’s soul!”
“I didn’t ‘take’ anything. The little tike died shortly after birth. I just swept up the leftovers. I don’t know what happened after I turned in my gleanings. The bosses couldn’t have expected much from that soul.”
Jasmine knew what the Tribunal did with ‘useless’ souls. Any souls they can’t give to Daddy Dearest was turned lose to ripen, to fend for itself. But they always have a keeper. I wonder what happened with its keeper. Before she could speculate, booming filled the tiny apartment. Jasmine jerked her head toward the door and watched in amazement as the flimsy wood jumped in the door frame.
“I know you’re in there, demon. Show yourself.” Jeff cocked his head to one side and listened with amusement to the noise on the other side of the door. Who here could possibly know what he was? He wrapped his fingers around the doorknob and flung the door opened, only to blink in surprise at Miss Ellie standing on the steps.
“What a pleasant surpri…” Jeff began.
With her finger pointing the way, Miss Ellie pushed through the doorway. She poked her finger into Jeff’s chest. “Cut the pleasantries. I know what you are and I know what you’re after. I’m telling you now that you can’t have it.”
Jeff leaned against the door jam, rubbing the sore spot on his chest. “What do you think you know?”
Miss Ellie narrowed her eyes. “More than you think, Jefftik.”
Jeff’s head reared back. No one outside of home knew his name. He never used it when he was on assignment.
“Leave her alone, demon. Try to take her soul and I’ll make sure you live to regret it,” Miss Ellie continued. She watched Jeff’s face as various emotions flew over it. She saw amusement and by the smirk knew he was feeling superior. When she called him by name, she bit back a smile at his dismay, but the confusion on his face now, confused her. Which part did he not understand? She glanced down at the floor, hoping there might be some answers there when she spied her feet encased in the most ridiculous shoes she had ever seen. Of course. They see Ellie. “I’d think you would remember me. I only haunted you for a decade. I’m Elizabeth.” She waited long enough to see recognition cross Jeff’s face before turning on her heel and slamming the door behind her.
Jeff leaned against the door, listening for the click of her boots to recede. Spinning around he spotted the Fury sitting on the back of the couch, staring out the window. He wasn’t fooled for a minute. Jasmine wasn’t interested in anything outside the window. He could see the questions crackling around her, making her fur stand on end.
“What was that?” Jasmine twisted around until she could look over her shoulder at Jeff.
“That was my own personal ghost,” he sighed. Nails in his arm pulled his eyes down to the cat’s level. He didn’t know that a cat could change the line of their lips. Jasmine’s lips had thinned into a line and her eyes glittered. Jeff gulped, knowing that the Fury was reaching the end of her limited patience. “She’s the soul I retrieved all those years ago.”
“Enough of this nonsense,” Jasmine said as she trotted down the back of the couch. When she hit the floor, she headed to the only blank wall in the place: the bedroom door. She pawed at her collar and a map expanded from her emerald. Immediately her blue dot and Jeff’s empty circle sprang to life on the map. Another couple of dots appeared, moving away at a steady pace. Either their owners were walking in step, or they were in the same body. Jasmine moved closer so she could study the map closely. There were two distinctive dots sharing one body.
One was a light pale pink, almost white, and the other was a purple so dark it was almost black. “There you are, you naughty little dot,” she crooned to the map.
“What are you looking for?” Jeff asked as he leaned over her head.
“That purple dot right there.” Jasmine stabbed a claw at map and felt it thud into the wooden door.
“Has this map ever been wrong?”
“What do you mean wrong?”
“Well, as far as I know, it always shows you your assignment, but this time, you’re not on assignment. So, why is it showing you a dot to collect?”
“Hmmm. I suppose it could be a trap. I’ve never had to question it before.” Jasmine shook her head. “No, I’ve got to go with the map. It always knows the assignment.” The words were barely out of her mouth when another dot appeared. This one was green and it was followed closely by a yellow and then a lilac one. As Jasmine and Jeff stared in disbelief at the map, two blue dots and a yellow appeared.
“Maybe you should rethink your assessment of the map.” Jeff turned away and headed back to the couch. Flopping in the middle, he swung his legs up on one side and threw his arms over the other end.
Jasmine cocked her head to one side and watched three more souls appear. “But there’s only one soul on the map that is too light to take home. All the rest are dark and ripe.” She tapped the gem with her paw and watched the emerald suck the map back in. She sauntered over to the couch and jumped, landing on Jeff’s stomach.
All the air left Jeff in a whoosh as he tried to fold in half. His arms closed around the Fury and he rolled to his side, trying to suck in a breath. Ignoring the cat’s undignified squeak, Jeff wrapped his fingers around Jasmine’s barrel and lifted. He held her over the side and opened his hands, dropping her to the carpet. “Thanks, brat,” he gasped.
Jasmine deliberately sat with her back to him. While the demon wheezed on the couch, she held up one paw and licked it clean. When she was satisfied there wasn’t a speck of dust on her paw, she stood up and with tail lashing sideways, sauntered into the bedroom.