Emmanuelle’s Choice

Not one, Not two, Not three But Four

He chuckled. “It is all right. It is humans perception of demons that has caused this type of stereotypes. To answer your question, yes, I have friends. I only have a few true friends. We are actually a lot like you, I suspect. Would it surprise you that most demons are demons not by choice, but through a sort of…” and he struggled for the right word. “Loophole, in a contract between us and the devil, that made us eternal servants of him.”

His words made her feel a wave of warmth towards him, and then, as if he realized he revealed too much about himself and became too vulnerable, he smiled and said, “the perks are pretty insane though.”

Emmanuelle could only shake her head. “Gracious.”

His thumb stroked softly across her wrist, and she hated feeling what she felt. Weak! She hollered at herself. “It appears all your court is staring.”

“My court? I do not know what you mean.”

D jerked his head toward the three men who stood glaring at D.

“Oh my. They look angry.”

“Probably because I did what they refused to do.”

“And what was that?”

In answer he twirled her around, causing a little thrill to course through her veins. “Oh my.”

“I grabbed the most beautiful woman in here and took her onto the dance floor.”

Just a little light headed from his spinning her, D had no idea who he was dealing with. “Then it is a good thing that I am aware that you did not.”

For just a second they paused their dancing, then D must’ve realized it and continued. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

“That I am not the most beautiful woman on the dance floor here? Most certainly. I know it to be a fact.”

However, D was not about to give up just yet. “Show me someone here who you believe compares to you. Go on. Pick anyone.”

Emmanuelle sighed. She grew tired of these games. Mama had told her all her life that she was not special. That there were many of her. Emma was aware that it sounded harsh, but she knew her mother meant well. Deidre Coldbrook simply was trying to prepare her eldest daughter for the struggles of the real world.

However, at the moment, she would indulge this demon who she did not even know the name of, who she was to refer to as D. “Very well,” she said and motioned with her head to a woman dancing in the distance. “That one there with the gold mask.”

D looked and motioned to the same woman. “You mean that woman over there dancing with the elf, the very one who asked to dance with you, even though I swooped in and stole you away from him and the two others?”

“Yes, her, and fear not, demon, I do intend to dance with him. I do intend to dance with all three of them.”

Twirling her once more, he said, “I never doubted you would. Now on to your female, for that is as kind as I can get. She is a vampiress, and thereby a hollow of a figure she once was. She, and forgive me for being so blunt, is a vampire’s w***e and used up. She is here in hopes someone, anyone, could take her away from her life as the vampire’s, ah, slave I will say, even though b***h would be more appropriate.”

Emmanuelle’s eyes grew huge and she could not believe her ears. “I’m sorry, but did you just call her his b…bitch?”

“Yes. That is why I am so surprised you started with her, but in all fairness you did not not know her when she was human, but I will tell you something, even then there was nothing impressive about her.” D cleared his throat, an unnecessary action for sure, and said “go on. Choose another.”

Bristling just a bit, she lifted her chin, looked around the room, and attempted to find the most beautiful woman here. Then as if a candle was lit from within her, she smiled triumphantly and said, that woman there with the golden curls dancing with General Greenstone.

Boeing his head ever so slightly to concede a possible victory, or so she thought, F said, “a very good choice. But before I begin, I must tell you that the only reason young master General Greenstone is even dancing with her, is because he wishes to stay close to his real target,” he said this all whilst eyeballing the other male, “which is you, and it is not only because you are the only eligible unwed woman here, but because you are the most beautiful woman he has ever met in a long time. Now, as for his dancing partner, she definitely is a bit of a looker, quite pretty. Yet, she doesn’t have what you have and in buckets full.”

Fine she would indulge him. Chin up, she looked him in the eyes and asked, disbelief radiating from her glare. “And what is that?”

“Honesty. Integrity. Virtuosity. An inner beauty that shines through so much, it takes what outer beauty you already have and increases it to a 100. You know the humans of centuries ago used to grade everything on a scale of one to ten. If you got hurt it would be ‘on a scale of one to ten how much does it hurt’. If you were, for example, judging someone’s hairdo one might say ‘on a scale of one to ten, one being hideous and ten being no competition, what do you think of my hair’ and then the other person would have to give them a number between one to ten. If I was to say that about your beauty, just your putter beauty, I’d give it a ten, but factoring in your inner beauty, I’d give it a one hundred.”

Emmanuelle shook her head. This was all talk, and she knew it. But what was he doing? Why was he doing it? Demon’s did not take a bride. If they did, they had to serve for another millennium. So what was his purpose? “Why are you saying all this, D? The little that I know of demons is that they do not take a wife, or they must serve again for another millennium.”

“This is true. Did you know, Emmanuelle, that demons can be in servitude to other demons? Yes, I have served over eight hundred years already, it would be asinine to take a wife now at this point. Yet…some women are worth it, however, in my eight hundred years I have never met anyone who I would consider even remotely worth it…until now.”

That gave Emma pause. “You must be joking. Me?”

“Possibly. I definitely have never met someone with such a purity about herself, that it makes her ten times more beautiful than she already is. Even if I never see you again, I must thank you for the privilege of meeting you. You are a remarkable woman, Emmanuelle.”

The music stopped, and taking her hand he pressed his lips to the tips of her knuckles. “I bid you a good night.”

The other three men who had reached for her, all crowded in on her and when Emmanuelle turned to see where D went, he was gone.