The Fall of Nyx

The devil chose and laid out the Tarot card she hated most: The Lovers card.

“Why are you showing me this?” she asked, blowing out a breath as if she could get rid of it through pure dislike alone.

A laughter fluttered out of the devil’s lips. “Don’t they look familiar?” he asked.

She peered closer at the card—and, as soon as she did, the card erupted into flames as if she had conjured a spell to get rid of it as soon as she had glanced at it. “I don’t really know,” she said, wrinkling her nose as the charred remains of the card fluttered to the tabletop, away from the devil’s hands.

“They were once us,” he said, “in another life.”

She stared, and the devil stared back placidly. She reached for her cup of tea. He watched. Then she threw the—thankfully cold, for him—tea at him.

“Oof,” he murmured, dabbing at the stain of tea with a cloth napkin. “Good thing I’m not wearing one of my favorite shirts.”

“Where the hell do you get off saying something like that?” she asked, furious, and he allowed a laugh to filter through his lips.

“You would have been a fine student,” he said, “but you’re too rash.”

“We’re not lovers,” she hissed.

He sighed, and it was so long-suffering that she wished she could have hit him. “In another life,” he made sure to maintain—though there was a gleam in her eye that told her, if things had been different, he wouldn’t have minded trying to sway the tide in his favor.

What was she to do? What could she do?

“We could make love—if you like,” the devil offered, and she wished she had more tea to throw at him. “Just to see what it feels like.”

She fiddled with the empty tea cup as he stared at her hand as if he were certain she would have conjured more tea if she could have. “I thought you were androgynous,” she said. “Or—what’s the word? Asexual?”

The devil wrinkled his nose as if she had offended him. “Let’s just say I have rare tastes,” he said.

“Right.” It was her turn to laugh. “I think it’s better if we stay as friends.”

The devil shook his head. “You aren’t curious why I showed you the card? Not even a little bit, Nyx?”

“I figure you have your reasons,” she responded. All to the tune of manipulating me or someone else, she added in the back of her mind.

“I think you should have looked at the card closer,” he said.

“Why? So you could try to convince me it was us I was seeing?”

“No,” he said—and this time he sounded a tad angry. “More that…ah, hells, I don’t know what I’m saying anymore.”

“You wouldn’t,” she said. “Now, can I get some more tea in peace without you making me feel the urge to throw it at you?”

“Do what you will,” the devil said—and his smile was all knives.

She stood, taking her cup with her, but she felt him watching her the entire time.

Whatever his “rare tastes” were, she had a feeling she was the kind he liked, no matter how he tried to protest.

To follow more stories like this, consider using the subscribe button below to be notified whenever I post a new rendition.