• Sabriel was an angel. Laschka was a demon. Both were raised from birth to despise the other. Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe it was fate that a juvenile delinquent of an angel and an infamous demon should meet.
    Both were called to collect the soul of a dying human from Earth. When Sabriel arrived to collect the mortal’s soul, Laschka was already there calming down the human. The Separation of soul from body goes much easier if the human is calm.
    “What’s your name miss?” Laschka asked the human girl, who couldn’t have been older than sixteen.
    “My name . . . Is Dominique.” the girl forced out. According to her File, Dominique Harvey was the victim of a robbery gone bad. Dominique had seen the mugger’s face and he decided he didn’t want Dominique going to the human authorities. So he shot her. And now she lay dying in an alley.
    “Well Dominique, I need you to come with me, alright?” Laschka smiled and held out his hand as he said this. Dominique was reaching for his hand when Sabriel shouted “Get away from her demon!”
    Sabriel flew closer and landed at the human’s side and gave Dominique her sweetest, most trusting smile. “Don’t go with him sweetie.” Sabriel said, “He wants to make you a demon like him.”
    Laschka sighed and stood. “Looks like I’ve lost this one. Oh, well. You can have her. But I want something in return.”
    “Sorry. I don’t make deals with demons.” Sabriel said. But as she said this she thought of how much this type of thing would enrage the Elder Angels. “Out of curiosity,” Sabriel said, “What did you have in mind as payment?”
    “Oh, nothing too big. Just a kiss.” Laschka said, and flashed her a mischievous yet sexy smile. Sabriel looked down at Dominique and made up her mind. “Alright. You’ll get your kiss.” Sabriel said, smiling a mischievous smile of her own. At that Sabriel took Dominique’s hand and released her soul from her body. Before Sabriel and Dominique’s soul could fly to the portal to Heaven, Laschka grabbed Sabriel’s wrist and pulled her into him. “You didn’t think you’d get away without a kiss did you?” Laschka said before he took his kiss.

    After that day it seemed Sabriel and Laschka ran into each other almost every time they were called to collect a soul from Earth. Finally one day after Laschka let Sabriel have a human’s soul in exchange for another kiss, the two decided to meet that night on Earth for a date.
    At 8:55 Sabriel arrived on Earth in New York City. She landed in an alley so that she could glamour herself to look human. She colored her hair black with bright green highlights. She kept her facial markings for she had seen humans with facial markings. She made the area around her eyes black as night. Her clothes consisted of black fishnet arm sleeves. A black strapless corset with a cross on the front. A flowing black mini skirt. Black spider web pattern thigh-high stockings. And black knee-high combat boots with skull buckles.
    She loved dressing Goth.
    With her glamour taken care of, she walked out of the alley and down the street to a coffee shop.
    Once inside the huge coffee shop called The Two Worlds Café, she looked around. One half of the café was Heaven based. The other half was Hell based. Oddly enough, more people occupied the Hell-based side of the café than the Heaven-based side. And in a corner of the Hell-based side was Laschka. Sabriel walked over and sat in the chair opposite him.
    “Wow Sabriel! I almost didn’t recognize you in that glamour. You know, in that get-up you could actually pass for a demon.” Laschka said smiling, as he took a sip of his coffee. Laschka was dressed in his usual Goth/demon attire of black shirt, black leather jacket, tight black leather pants, and black combat boots. Well at least he covered up his facial markings, Sabriel thought. But he still looks hot.
    “What would you like to drink? I’m paying.” Laschka asked.
    “Hot chocolate please.” Laschka raised an eyebrow. “What? Coffee makes me irritable.” Laschka stood and walked to the counter to order the drinks.
    For an infamous demon known for his cruelty, immorality and ruthlessness Laschka is being quite a gentleman. Sabriel thought as she watched Laschka lean against the counter. He winked at her and she gave a flirtatious wave. I wonder if he has ulterior motives.
    Laschka walked up then with two big mugs in one hand and in the other a plate full of chocolate chip cookies.
    “I don’t know whether you like chocolate chip considering your choice of drink I thought I’d take a chance.” Laschka said as he set the cups and the plate on the table and sat down.
    “Oh, I love chocolate chip cookies. “ she said as she took a sip of her hot cocoa and licked the whipped cream off her lip. She watched as Laschka took a sip out of his mug and caught a whiff off what he was drinking and was surprised. She smelled lemon tea and…was that cinnamon? She didn’t take the demon for a tea drinker. She expected something more along the lines of really strong black coffee.
    “So how old are you? I mean, a demon with your reputation must have been around for centuries and been in quite a few battles to get it.” she grabbed a cookie and took a bite while she waited for his reply.
    “I turn 816 next week and I’ve been in more battles than I can count. What about you? You can’t be that old if your sitting in a café drinking hot cocoa and eating chocolate chip cookies with a demon. Much less one as notorious as me.” he put down his mug and rested his elbows on the table.
    “I turned 456 a month ago so I’m not fresh out of training. And as for drinking cocoa with a notorious demon, I’ve always been kind of a rebel when it comes to rules and standards.” Sabriel said with a shrug and took another sip of her cocoa. She watched his eyes from behind her mug, trying to find some hint of mischief in their dark red depths. But all she could find was interest, amusement, and the sense of being totally at ease.
    “I understand completely. I mean who wants to abide by rules made by a bunch of old farts who probably haven’t put a feather outside of heaven in the last two millennia and have no concept of what it means to just enjoy life.”

    to be continued...