Oh! My Demon! by R. Zane Richards Chapter 11 All OMG characters (Belldandy, Keiichi Morisato, Urd, Skuld, etc) copyrighted and owned by Kosuke Fujishima. Main character and Jen belong to me. Don't sue(author holds up sign that reads "Poor college student"). ****** I cautiously looked at Mara, who was intently studying me like some kind of interesting new find. The little smile on her face did nothing for my state of mind. "Errr...hi...Mara...hey, what's up?" I stammered, trying to sound casual with absolutely no success, not that I was expecting to have any. "Oh, you're gonna find out...but first we have to talk." She sat down on one of the beaten old couches in the TV room. She patted the seat next to her. "Have a seat, won't you. I won't bite." She cocked up an eyebrow and patted the seat again. I could hardly refuse, there was nowhere to run to. I slowly sat down keeping my eyes on her. "Don't trust me, do you?" "Well, to be perfectly honest...no." I said. She leaned forward and with that smile on her face, patted me on the cheek. She began winding a finger up the side of my cheek, then gently slid her hand into my hair as she spoke quietly. "I don't blame you." She said, catching me off guard. "After all I *am* a demon. I don't even trust most, if not all of my own kind." "Huh?" I blurted, staring into Mara's dark red eyes. I felt sort of weird, beginning to lose myself in them. "That very distrust is what I like about you. It'll serve you well once we recruit you." Her voice began to drop into a low purr between words. I began to fall deeper into those eyes...her voice...wait. "Wait!" I yelled "Wait a minute..." I shook my head, trying to clear it up. When I had finally regained some composure, I noticed her looking at me rather sharply. "Just hold on a minute here." I said "Stop with the tricks and just tell me what's going on here." Her head dropped for a second and I heard her mutter something, then she looked back up at me. "Okay, you want it...fine." She snapped, "I don't know why, but you have been picked to fill an empty position in our ranks. Normally this would have been done the usual way. That is, some idiot mortal would have actually asked for this or someone in the lower ranks would have filled in the job." I just looked sideways at her, not trusting to look her in the eyes again. "But for some reason, unknown...certainly not explained to me." She sounded very irritated at that point. "Because of your friendship with Jen, you've been chosen...and I mean to get you." "So you've been sent here by..." I trailed off, waiting. "I have been sent here by Kami-sama, not by Lucifer." She continued grousing. "And that's the part I don't understand myself. Damn, if my bosses ever found out about this..." She trailed off turning her head, speaking that last part more to herself. What? The floor in my mind suddenly dropped down a few hundred feet. "So...what am I supposed to do?!?" I was getting a little upset now. "Just say yes." "But I thought that this sort of thing was handled by the goddesses." "Not this time...this one time I have been...'granted' this peculiar power." She explained. "I'm as much of a pawn as you seem to be." "So there's no telling what will happen when I do make my so called wish?" "I don't have the foggiest." She shrugged, standing up and turning to face me. "I don't like it either. But a job is a job..." She shrugged again as if none of what she said really mattered. She rested her hands on her hips, and looked at me expectantly. "So I'm supposed to make a wish for this...job, not knowing exactly what it is...or what I need to say...doing whatever." I looked at her this time sharply. "Does that about cover it?" "Yeah, pretty much." "Shit...this is the biggest load I think I've ever heard. I don't believe a word you've said." I said now beginning to laugh. "I think you're full of it. Besides you've tried 3 times now and nothing, You've tried the direct route, the indirect route...I mean, what's next?" A grin began forming on my own face. "Why, Mrs. Mara, I believe you're trying to seduce me." She looked at me for a second, then her eyes grew narrow, her little smile now turning into a snarl. That's when she grabbed me by the neck of my shirt and yanked me up. "Listen you little peon smartass mortal." She hissed, "If it wasn't for the fact that I have to make this contract with you I would've turned you into a little superdeformed rodent by now!" I looked her right in the eyes, her tight glowing red eyes that were now full of anger...I was trying to control myself, really! "Snrk!" I really was! "Snrf!" "Huh?" She looked at me like I was something new. Seeing that, I couldn't hold it any longer. "Bwahahahahahah!" Right in her face. It wasn't a great move. I could tell she was at the end of her patience now and was getting ready to do something that could and probably would hurt pretty badly. I still couldn't help myself. I was at the end of my tether, It seemed like it was all a bad dream, or at least some sort of dream I would blame on eating something right before going to bed. But all of that aside, before Mara could do anything we were interrupted again, this time I was more than a little glad for it. "Mara!!! You let go of him now!!" I was nearly blinded and almost deafened by the lightning blast that ripped just behind Mara's head. I was dropped on my rear, and promptly hit the floor. Shaking my head, I moved away from Mara quickly, looking for cover. I glanced to my right and saw Urd coming out of the TV and Bell running up from the downstairs floor, where she must've come through one of the bathroom mirrors. I hoped there wasn't any poor guy in the when she did, I thought. And that little thought was all I needed at this point to break up again. "What are you laughing at?" Urd asked irritation in her voice, as she kept Mara back. I stood up, I'd had enough. Trying to keep my balance while I was laughing so hard wasn't easy. My laughter tapering off some, I went up to the three of them. Wiping my eyes, I asked Mara if she was really serious about what she'd told me. She said she was. "Well, alrighty then." I stood up straight. "Let's do this, get it over with." Belldandy turned with wide eyes, "No, Zane you *don't* have to do this!" Urd shook her head, "Bell, I know you feel responsible for all this, but I agree with Mara. I think it'll be okay." Belldandy didn't catch the wink at her, but I did. What was Urd up to? Didn't matter, I thought I wouldn't be at any kind of peace until this matter was settled. I knew that much. What would come after would have to be dealt with in it's own due time. "No." Bell said firmly to Urd, "Not until I can ask Kami-sama why this is happening to him." Mara spoke up then, "Well you can ask Him afterwards, but first comes business." She turned to me "Sorry kid, but I'm under orders and any questions come later." "So what do I need to do?" "Zane, please don't!" "Bell, don't try to stop it." Urd put a hand on her younger sisters shoulder, not to restrain her so much as a moment to pause and think. She looked at Urd, then lowered her head. Urd made no real move to comfort her. Why was that? I thought, does she know something? Mara came and stood in front of me. "Say it." was all she said. "Say what?" "The first thing that comes into your mind." I almost began to panic, now all sorts of crap were zipping back and forth in my minds eye. I tried to sort the images out...but no luck. Then, I heard a soft low voice, I had no idea whose voice it could be. And then the words came to me. I knew what I needed to say. "I accept your offer." And that, dear friends and neighbors is when I was hit with this sudden surge of power, blacked out, and I was told later that I had gone through a brick wall... careful what you wish for, eh? As it turns out, what I got was nothing that anyone had expected. ******The End Chapter 11 Wrote this one in almost record time...care to guess where this is going? Chapter 12 should be soon, but no promises. As always flames, fans and fluff can be electronically wizzed off to me at r_zane@yahoo.com. hooray. Flames will be dealt with by a house call from the knights who used to say "Ni!" Interested in OMG? Visit Dark Horse Comics website www.darkhorse.com or see your local (friendly?) comic book store. until chapter 12, ja mata ne!