Fic: Bedroom Hymns (Part I): SPN
Once Upon a Time in Mesopotamia, Ohio…
At a diner, not any different from most diners around the rest of the United States, there sat an angel. Her name was Naomi, not that the diners around her knew it or cared to know it. And that was fine by her.
A waitress-a young woman, in her mid-twenties who had already birthed two children and was clearly distressed to be working the night shift-arrived at Naomi’s table, smiling down at the angel who sat there. Naomi glanced down at the over-large, laminated menu in her hand, her blue eyes scanning it as if she had just freshly discovered a new Rosetta Stone. She pushed a lock of her blonde hair behind her hair, pausing for just a moment to consider its length.
“Do you need more time?” the waitress asked, not one ounce of impatience in her voice.
Naomi squirmed just a little in her seat, the fabric of her gray, ladies business suit causing the orange vinyl to squeak louder than she would have hoped for. She bit lightly at her bottom lip, freeing one hand to tap a finger on the brown, faux-wood grain table.
“What would you recommend?” she asked finally, glancing up.
The waitress-Naomi glanced up to see that her name was Sue, clear by the name-tag worn over her left breast-huffed out a laugh.
“Um… never been asked that before,” she murmured.
Naomi blinked. She didn’t want to stand out, quite the opposite. She wasn’t on any heavenly mission here, just trying to find a quiet place for peaceful contemplation. She flashed a sheepish grin-one she had practiced on mud monkeys before-and chuckled.
“I’ve been on a rather… strict diet. It’s been years since I’ve eaten... fast food,” she struggled for the right wording. “If you were breaking the rules, what would you eat, Sue?”
This brought a broad, genuine smile to the girl’s face. She leaned over Naomi, and the angel breathed deeply of the floral perfume she wore. The waitress flipped the page of the menu, pointing to an item at the very bottom of the right-hand page.
“The… Super Ultra Mega Fudge Sundae?” Naomi questioned, double-checking to see if she’d read that right.
“I’d skip dinner, and go directly to the most decadent dessert I could fine… If I was breaking the rules.”
Why not? Naomi snapped the menu shut, handing it back to Sue. “I’ll have that.”
The young woman assured her that her order would be right up, and she bustled back off to tend to the other patrons. Naomi sighed, folding her hands politely on the table before her. Then, after a moment of consideration, she moved them to lay flat, about six or eight inches away from each other. And after another moment, she dropped them to the sides. That felt more awkward than the first two moments, so she finally crossed them across her chest and huffed.
Free will was hard. She had only been experiencing it for one human month, but that was what she had concluded. She had no idea what to do with herself. Not since Castiel-God’s favorite, as he was being called now-had arrived back in Heaven after stopping the Apocalypse.
That alone boggled Naomi. Castiel and his mud monkey friends had stopped the Apocalypse.The Apocalypse… the omega to the world’s alpha. Who does that? Who just decides to stop the ending to all things? Naomi should have known it would be Castiel, as many times as she had “met” with him over the years.
But Castiel giving the angels free will proposed quite a problem for Naomi. After all, she was Heaven’s… programmer, for lack of a better term. Free will utterly and completely opposed everything that she did. With this new freedom came the end of everything she had known since God had given her life.
What does an angel do when her freedom means her lack of identity?
That thought circled her mind when Sue returned with her sundae. It was a massive mountain of a thing, with three huge scoops of vanilla ice cream; smothered in hot fudge; strawberry topping; banana topping; some sort of mixed berry topping; crushed walnuts; sprinkles-rainbow and chocolate; whipped cream; and three cherries-one for each mound of ice cream. And they had even slapped an American flag on top. Naomi blinked at the thing, thanked Sue, and lifted her spoon. She dug in as far as she could, trying to sample all the flavors at once. She managed, but with only a little bit of the actual ice cream on her spoon, and shoved the bite unceremoniously into her mouth. In all truth, it was her first bite of human food. And it was glorious. She moaned a little, going in for another bite, when the bell of the diner sounded.
She glanced up, turning quickly back to her ice cream, before she glanced again. Four demons had just entered this place. She could see them, their true faces-all warped and blackened from their stint in Hell. Naomi sat her spoon down, using her natural gifts as a celestial being to listen to the diseased things as they spoke using stolen mouths.
“He wants a werewolf now?” the first one, dressed like he was attending a business conference, asked.
The one dressed in red flannel nodded. “Yeah. Says that the vampire was going nowhere. He wants a break from the monotony.”
The next one, the only female in the group, rolled her eyes. “Then we better get him what he wants. Good thing I sniffed out a dog about a couple of blocks from here.”
The last one, this one built like a lumberjack, clicked his tongue once. “Then what are we waiting for?”
“I want a drink,” the female whined.
“This is a diner. The only drink you’re gonna find here is soda or water. Dumb bitch,” the business man huffed.
She grinned sardonically at him, her head cocked to the side. “Fine. Let’s go. But you call me a dumb bitch again, and I’m going to rip your heart out of your chest, ‘kay?”
The men of the group shrugged, turning and leaving just as suddenly as they had entered the place. Naomi clenched her hands, now dangling from either side of her. Was this her first test of free will? She could clearly just ignore the creatures, letting them go to destroy one of Eve’s creations. Or she could do as any angel should do, and burn them with all the power of Heaven at her command. Fire ran in her veins at the thought of burning the demons, and she could feel a small smile forming at her lips. She decided. She stood, throwing down a handful of bills onto the table for her partially eating ice cream, and left the diner.
She could smell the trail of sulfur left in their wake, as well as hear their chattering. She turned, easily, in their direction, and followed behind. It was easy to maintain a safe, unseen distance behind the abhorrent things, still listening to their complaints of being reduced to “hunters.” They spat out the word with such disdain. Naomi could just as easily fly and come in ahead of them, but… she had never hunted her enemies before. It was… exciting. Before this time of angelic free will, such a thing would have been completely inaccessible to her. But now she let fire fill her veins as she listened to a snarl in the distance-too far ahead for any human to have possibly heard. Scrapes and scuffling followed after, and Naomi knew that the demons had engaged their werewolf in battle.
What did these things want with a werewolf, anyway? What good could such a creature be for a demon? And who had the dirty things meant when they had said, “he”? He wanted a werewolf now.
But Naomi brushed her thoughts aside as she rounded the corner of a dark alleyway. She could see, despite the shadows, the werewolf hunkered down at the dead end, snarling. She could smell the blood, human and demon mixed, on its breath. And she could see the body, mangled and probably missing its heart, sprawled between the group of demons she had seen at the diner and the werewolf. The human blood was also scented on the hands of the female demon. Naomi made the note to herself. They had baited the monster, brought it to this alleyway. A closed off trap for an animal.
“Here, puppy, puppy,” the lumberjack demon mocked. “Come to Daniel.”
It was sickening enough as is. If this was free will directing Naomi, telling her to smite these horrid things, then she would gladly oblige.
“Enough of this,” she said, using her best, holiest voice.
Even the werewolf seemed to pause as the demons turned. The one in the suit grimaced.
“Who’s the bitch?” he asked, jerking a thumb in Naomi’s direction.
“Naomi,” the angel in the alley answered honestly. “Your destroyer.”
The demons guffawed and chuckled, and the werewolf saw its window. It leaped cleanly over the demons, clearly aiming for its new, larger threat: Naomi. But she was ready. She simply held out a hand, laying it flat on the beast’s chest as it came to her. A flash of blinding white light later, and, using the monster’s own momentum, she flung it to the pavement behind her. It moved no more. She turned now to the demons. They weren’t laughing anymore.
“Whore,” the female hissed.
“Not likely,” Naomi countered.
“Do you know how long it took us to find that damned thing?” the demon named Daniel growled.
“Too long, as this planet is riddled with creatures such as this, judging by your tone,” the angel grinned.
“We’ll find another one. Let’s get out of here!” the one in the business suit said.
But Naomi was faster. She stood before the female in a flash, placing a hand to the demon’s forehead. The light filled the alley again, and with screams, the demon burned away.
“Shit!” Daniel shouted, making it a few more steps before Naomi repeated her actions with him.
When the bodies of the two demons lay around her, she turned to the third. He was pressed against the back wall of the alley, frozen in fear he had likely not experienced since his first arrival in Hell. Naomi approached him slowly, knowing that he had reached the point of fear that causes a lack in motor function. She was less than a foot from him when she lifted her hand, ready to destroy, when she paused. She bit her bottom lip lightly, rolling a singular thought around in her mind. If she was a free angel, with truly free will, then why should she kill him? She didn’t have to follow the commands of another angel anymore. There was no point to this. The fire in her veins was gone. She dropped her hand, leaving the demon unharmed.
“Huh?” he said, clearly in shock.
“Leave. And thank whatever God you worship that I spared you. Go. Now.”
He vanished in a blink, and Naomi turned her eyes skyward. That was enough free will for one day. Tomorrow, on this planet, was another day, and she would think more on her dilemma then. But now, she craved her Heavenly home, and it was to there she would return.
#
Long Live the King…
Naomi chose the same diner the next day, choosing also to arrive while the sun was still shining. She chose the same booth, but had a different waitress-this one a bit older, named Karen. But the angel followed Sue’s idea once more, and skipped the savory items on the menu, ordering the apple pie a la mode. She did it almost immediately after sitting down, sending Karen on her way back behind the long bar that ran almost the entire length of the diner. Naomi had made a lot of choices recently, but she knew that she must have made little choices like these in the past. Back when she, occasionally, had to pop in on the humans. Why was it so different now? Why did they weigh more heavily on her? Just because Castiel proclaimed them free? Well, Naomi knew first-hand that that particular angel had always had a problem with authority. He had been to see her many times over his existence. Not that he remembered that. It was all part of her duty-her job, to put it vulgarly.
Karen arrived back with her pie, which was so warm and gooey it was melting the large scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Naomi thanked the woman, sending her away, and began to eat on the dessert. She quite liked ice cream, the angel had decided, just as the diner’s bell rang.
She was going to ignore it, given what had transpired last night. But her gut, something that Naomi had not gotten much use out of before, told her to look. And, in the spirit of discovering free will, she did.
The man that had entered the diner was a demon. Naomi could see his true face, appearing and disappearing beneath the surface of the meatsuit he inhabited. But on the outside, the body he wore, was a refined looking gentleman. He was dressed all in black in a modern-style leisure suit. He wore a long overcoat, despite it being a moderate temperature outdoors. The tie he wore underneath was a charcoal gray, and it only made the toothy smile he flashed Naomi as he caught her eye all the brighter. Running a hand through his dark, thinning hair and down his bare, rounded face, he made his way over to her as if she had been expecting him. He took the empty seat in the booth across from her, waving off Karen the Waitress before she could even approach.
“Now, I’ve heard tell,” he said, drawing out the words with a deep, English accent, “of an angel who killed two demons and a werewolf, only to spare the third demon in the party. And I wonder… if it won’t be the last mistake this angel ever makes.”
He was trying to frighten her. It didn’t work. In fact, if Naomi had to place a human reaction to his words, she would think that she found the attempt cute. She blinked once at him, smiling a small, guarded grin.
“Crowley, the newly appointed King of Hell,” she said.
Crowley’s brow arched. “You’ve heard of me? I’m flattered.”
Naomi gently shoved her pie to the side, shrugging. “We’ve kept a close eye on the politics of Hell since the averting of the Apocalypse.”
“Well, then, I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, darling. You seem to know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
She considered not giving it. Just flying away. She was angel, and he was but a demon. He was beneath her, and her leaving wouldn’t be a problem. Except, she was still contemplating free will. She was still trying to understand her place in a world where angels had free will. And she was still trying to understand how to use free will. So, tight-lipped, she answered.
“Naomi. And to be clear, about last night, you should be grateful I spared the unclean thing.”
“Doing me a favor?” Crowley questioned, a sly grin forming.
“Not in the least. It was a by-product of my… trying to understand free will.”
Crowley leaned in, and his entire demeanor seemed to have changed. He had seemed a fine mixture of defensive and offensive when he began this conversation, but now all that had melted away. He clasped his hands on the surface of the table, and now seemed only curious.
“An angel… trying to understand free will?”
Naomi cocked her head to the right. This was not at all what she had expected. After all, she had slaughtered two of Crowley’s minions just the previous night without even breaking a sweat. This was a fact that she was almost positive that the surviving demon would have mentioned. She expected Crowley to attack her, or to flee. But not this. Not this… simple curiosity. Caught completely off guard, she could think of no verbal response, so she just shrugged. Crowley laughed, leaning back and stretching out just a bit for comfort.
“You’re a funny thing, you know,” he chuckled.
“How so?” she asked.
“Castiel, God’s favorite, has given free will to angels-thus starting a civil war in Heaven… and all you can think to do with this gift is to let a demon go?”
Naomi went rigid, her lips pursed even tighter.
“It’s none of your business what my reasoning was. And it’s none of your business what I choose to do with my freedom.”
Crowley shrugged, and neither spoke for a time. Instead, they seemed to be eyeing one another, trying to figure the other out. Naomi searched the demon’s face, finding herself irked by the grin that was always ghosting just behind whatever expression he seemed to stare at her with. And she hated to even begin to think it, but he was right. As a first, real exercise in free will, letting a single demon go was kind of lack luster. But, therein was her problem. She was new to this, and had no idea where to start.
“What would you do?” she said before she had realized the words had even left her mouth.
“Pardon?” Crowley asked.
She rolled her eyes, not wanting to repeat the question, but did anyway.
“If you had a newfound freedom, what would you do with it?”
Crowley lifted both brows for a moment, before putting on a semi-serious face.
“You mean, besides what I’ve already done? Gee, let me think,” he said.
“Be serious.”
“I am. I would, in no particular order, eat the most terribly unhealthy things possible, destroy any and all possible and future possible enemies, party, and last, but not least, fuck my brains out.”
Naomi couldn’t control it, try as she might. She blushed, feeling the heat of it fill her from head to toe as her eyes darted downward. This had to be a by-product of free will, as it used to be difficult to get her to elicit any sort of emotion. She cursed herself for the weak move anyway, and she could feel the demon’s eyes on her. When she dared lift her gaze again, they were alight with a truly devilish grin. She found herself shrugging again.
“I… had considered it.”
“But you haven’t done it because… our little angel-girl is a virgin,” Crowley deduced.
She sat as straight as possible, meeting the King of Hell’s eye.
“Angels aren’t supposed to lie with man.”
“But what about demons?”
Naomi had never vomited. Angels didn’t have to eat, so vomiting wasn’t a possible reaction. But she figured that the convulsion that shot through her in that moment was as close as she was going to get to understanding what being violently ill felt like. She slid out of her seat, standing. She turned to glare down at Crowley.
“I believe it’s an understood rule.”
With no other words exchanged, she left.
#
The Ritual…
She could have gone somewhere else. She was pretty sure that that was a fundamental part of free will, being able to choose not to return to the same diner day after day. But she didn’t. Instead, Naomi returned to the same diner the next day, ordered another dessert, and sat in the same booth. This dessert, a lukewarm brownie that tasted burnt at the bottom with another scoop of vanilla ice cream was less satisfactory than the previous two. She ate at it idly, staring like a madwoman at the door of the diner. Her mind drifted, not something that happened to her often-if at all.
Her brain was humming, just buzzing, with ideas. Ideas about her new freedom, possibilities of things she could do with it-or not do, as that was just the same concept. Choice was hers, and she felt like a child in a candy store with a million dollars to spend. The brownie, once the ice cream was eaten, was left forgotten in the bottom of the dish. She just tapped her spoon absently, still staring at the door. So many ideas…
Naomi would be lying if she had said that the demon Crowley had had nothing to do with setting her aflame with these thoughts. But it was him, all the same, with his little list playing on repeat in her mind. Only, she was adding to it, clarifying it.Trying to decide on things she might actually enjoy-enjoyment having not been a top priority for most angels just a year or so ago. She could do them all, every little thing she thought about. Everything from take over the world, or just tossing this dish of half-eaten dessert into the floor like a petulant child.
But she didn’t want to rule the world. And she didn’t want to send this dish crashing to the ground. In truth, she was still unsure of what to do at all. It was then, almost as if in answer to a desire she dared not name, the door opened.
Crowley grinned at her and made no hesitation to take the seat across from her. He snatched the spoon from her hand, digging it into the brownie, and taking a large bite. He grimaced, tossing the utensil back into the dish.
“Well that’s just rubbish. They’ve burned it,” he noted.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered feverishly, as if her superiors-who were honestly questionable and too busy anyway-might see her dining with the King of Hell.
Crowley laughed. “I so enjoyed our conversation last time, I thought I’d continue it. Besides, my… newest company can be less than entertaining at times.”
He had a sneaky smile when he had mentioned his companion, but Naomi didn’t press. Instead, she glanced down and away.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Whatever do you mean, darling?”
She met the demon’s eyes, ignoring the corrupted monster that stirred within.
“I’ve been given free will, and I don’t know what to do with it.”
It was the truest thing she had ever said, she was sure. And she had just uttered it to Crowley. It was a strange world she was living in now.
“Well, I gave you quite a list last time,” he responded, and the cheek did not go unnoticed.
“I’ve thought about aspects of your list. Not all of them sound… appealing. I’m not sure what I’d find entertaining, as you say. I’ve studied what humans do for fun, and most often I discovered it was traveling. But I’ve seen this world from top to bottom, from creation on. Traveling seems redundant to me.”
Crowley huffed out a laugh. “Quite. So, what have you been doing with yourself?”
His curiosity in her was genuine, and she was sure it had everything to do with gaining some sort of knowledge that he could later use to his advantage. But Naomi didn’t care what he knew about her. She was a faithful soldier, and there was nothing he could hold against her.
“My heavenly duty is… well, I guess ‘re-programmer’ would fit best. And I’ve been doing my heavenly duty as best I can in these chaotic times.”
“You’re kidding me. You’ve got the world in the palm of your hand, and you’ve been working? Bloody pathetic if you ask me.”
Naomi felt herself bristle at the comment. Sitting rigid, teeth gritted together, she spoke her next words while moving her mouth as little as possible.
“I suppose you’d rather me… lie with man?”
“Such a virgin,” Crowley laughed. “Can’t even say it. Fuck somebody. Yes, I think you should fuck someone. Judging by the button-up way you always dress and act, I think a good fuck would do you a universe of good.”
He paused, eyeing her in such a way that Naomi could almost imagine a cat licking his whiskers as he eyed his next mousy meal. It made her skin crawl in a way that she wasn’t sure if she liked or hated. When he spoke next, she could tell that his words were chosen carefully.
“But you’re stuck in Heaven’s bureaucracy, unable and unwilling to dig yourself out. Just a sheep, an ant, serving a God who’s not even home. I wonder what you call someone who’d rather run a useless government that’s been long broken than trying one ounce of change?”
Naomi stood. “We’re done here.”
“I’m still on the table, figuratively speaking. Say the word, darling, and I’ll have you in my bed in a flash.”
Naomi chose not to respond as she left, going directly back to heaven. She didn’t care where Crowley went.
But the next day, she returned to the diner. Same booth, different order. And Crowley returned. They spoke for a time, mostly him mocking her proposed ideas to express her free will. And every time, he would press her. Call her a bureaucrat. Offer to be the one she, as he so eloquently put it, fucked first. The next day was the same. And the day after that. But, as the days dragged on with Naomi making no further action on her free will, she despaired. Maybe angels weren’t meant to know free will for a reason. Maybe this freedom of options would be her downfall. She would be forever stuck, visiting the same diner to speak with the same demon for all of eternity.
This weighed heavy on her mind one day during her conversations with Crowley. She had put forth a few more ideas, which he deftly shot down. Again, she thought on what having free will actually meant. The freedom to do whatever she wanted, rules or no rules. Right or wrong. That was the beauty behind it… the supposed beauty. She threw another idea out to Crowley, something about curing global warming.
“Such a pencil-pusher answer,” he responded.
She stood. He had insulted her for the last time that day. She moved to leave, walking through the door before flying away to avoid panic, as she always did. But this time, Crowley stopped her. He reached out, gently grasping her left arm. He looked up at her, earnest and wicked and kind and cruel all at the same time.
“I would do everything you could imagine to you and more,” he said.
There was no tongue-in-cheek innuendo in those words. It wasn’t needed. It was plainly stated, and Naomi knew he meant every word of it. She should have just walked away, but this seemed as good opportunity as any to employ free will.
“What if… what if I didn’t want to do everything I could imagine?” she asked, her voice coming out heavy.
Crowley grinned. “You’d be surprised.”
Her eyes lingered on him, for just a moment, before she exited as she usually did. That day, instead of flying straight back to Heaven, she paused, feeling the sun warm the skin of her body. Her eyes slid shut and she wrapped her arms about her middle. After a moment of just that, she left, not daring to look behind her. Not daring to see him watch her.
#
Sweetest Submission…
Nothing had suggested to her that the next day would have been any different than the previous ones. Not a single thing. But the world was random, as she had discovered, and instead of looking up to see Crowley when the diner’s bell dinged, she saw the Archangel Raphael instead.
Naomi must have looked either truly surprised, truly alarmed, or both because Raphael was grinning. Very little made the archangel smile, and she had found in her years and years of life that the uncomfort of others seemed to be the richest source of his humor. He was dressed in a black suit with a white undershirt and long black tie tucked behind the buttoned jacket. A very plain, very businesslike attire. There was no preamble to him taking the seat that the King of Hell usually occupied across from her, and Naomi tried hard not to fidget in front of her superior. But some deep, irrational part of her feared that Raphael could somehow sense that the King of Hell had been here, had been chatting with an angel who had not smote him on the spot.
Raphael was still smiling when he waved the waitress away. Naomi had not even gotten a chance to order yet. She lifted her hands to rest on the table, clasping them politely.
“Sir,” she said.
Raphael chuckled. “No need to be so formal, sister. My business here is simple, thus we will keep the words between us simple.”
She nodded. Things were dangerous now in Heaven for every angel. Everyone had to pick a side, Castiel or Raphael. Naomi had wished that she would have, somehow, been left out of it. But she was a fool to even dare to wish.
“What brings you, brother?” she asked.
“I ask for your loyalty to me, to what Heaven should truly be, in the battle to come. That is all.”
It had come too soon, the choice. But, really, it was no choice. It was choose Raphael or die. And she really didn’t want to die. But… in the first time in her existence, she had doubts. If Raphael won, things would go back to the way they had always been. The Apocalypse would be put back on track and angels would go back to being nothing but good little soldiers. Free will would’ve been a distant dream for the eldest children of Heaven.
“You’re silent for much longer than I had expected, Naomi. Tell me, what is it that you’re thinking of?” Raphael asked.
He sounded perfectly cordial. If they had just ordered a couple of cups of coffee, this meeting would be the picture of social. But it was anything but.
“I’m thinking on… Freedom.”
“Elaborate.”
He sounded less cordial now.
“Free will, to be specific. I’ve been… contemplating it for some time now. Ever since Castiel returned to Heaven. I feel as if I should experience it, but I’ve been hesitant. I don’t want to miss an opportunity, but I know that you would abolish free will for angels.”
“Free will has no place in soldiers,” Raphael interrupted.
“Very true, brother. And we are soldiers first. But… maybe… maybe we could learn from this freedom that Castiel has offered?”
Raphael laughed, and Naomi stiffened.
“It’s amusing,” he said when he finally calmed. “Of all the angels in the heavens, I would’ve never expected this of you.”
Naomi had still not relaxed. Instead, her lips pursed. Though tightened lips, she asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean you, Naomi, as you’ve always been. You’ve always been the soldier. Brave, true, and loyal. You’ve always done what was asked of you and more, living most of your infinite time in secret to the majority of our brothers and sisters. You’ve rewritten most of them more times than they will ever know, all because Heaven asked you to do so. You’ve even re-written the rebellious Castiel more times than can be counted on a single hand. I think it’s maybe every decade or so, whenever this ‘free will’ idea gets into his head again. And never have you wavered. You’ve always been the obedient, good little girl. I would have thought that there would be no question on where your loyalty would lie. But now… I ask. Is it me, or is it Castiel? If it is Castiel… then you know what you risk.”
Naomi hung her head low, deep in thought and unwilling to look Raphael in his dark eyes. He was right. Of course he was right. Big brother was always right. She was loyal to a fault. She had never had an ounce of freedom in her being for all of time and before. No wonder she had been idle since Castiel’s proclamation of free will to angels. She had never known what to do with it. And now here was the choice at hand, free will at its finest. But, again, it was no choice.
She had re-written Castiel, more times than she cared to count. She had dug inside her little brother’s brain and saw the truth of it. She saw the answer to the question long before it had been asked. Castiel was different, made wrong-God help her for even thinking it. But it wouldn’t be enough, in the end.
“You have my loyalty, Raphael,” she said, meeting his eyes.
Raphael nodded once, standing. “Good. I will be most required of your services, I believe. Farewell, sister, and rest easy. You’ve chosen correctly.”
She didn’t meet his eyes again. Instead, her head was face downward, her gaze locked on her own hands as she heard the exiting ding of the diner’s door. She just stared at her hands, at herself, for the longest moment, contemplating what Raphael had said. He was right, about all of it. She had never known what free will was. Not this entire time.
The bell to the door dinged, and she smelled the hint of sulfur that Crowley tried to hide behind expensive cologne as the demon took his usual seat.
“I had no desire to chat with an archangel today, so you’ll forgive my lateness,” he said.
She nodded. Crowley liked to talk, so if she was a little silent today, she was sure he wouldn’t care.
“So, what have you been thinking about today? Bungee jumping? Entering into medical research under a pseudonym and curing world hunger? You know, I’ve thought about it. Maybe you ought to do something tiny to influence history, something that Heaven would never notice. How about…”
But Naomi was ignoring him mostly. Instead, she still listened to Raphael’s words echoing in her brain. Good little soldier. Never doing anything different. Never understanding what free will was.
Until now…
“I’ll do it,” she said, looking up and cutting off Crowley.
The King of Hell arched a brow. “Come again, darling?”
“I’ll lie with you, sleep with you, have sex with you. However you want to put it. I’ll do it. Tomorrow night. Tonight. Now.”
Crowley held up a hand, grinning all the while. “Tonight. I’m glad you’ve finally come to your senses. I want this to be special for you, and for me. My first, submissive, angel. Here.”
He stood, tossing her a piece of paper. She opened it, spying an address written inside. She glanced up at him.
“Meet me at my manor tonight. Wear a black dress that cuts low and comes above the knees. Do your hair and make-up as well. I’ll see you then.”
With that, he left. Naomi stared down at the address, thinking about the demon’s last set of instructions. Was giving in to this demon, listening to him give her instructions on how to dress for this evening, really what free will was? She was having doubts again. But she had made this commitment. Standing, she left the diner to ready herself for the evening.
Part II