Victoria's Demon Lover - By Alia Bess Page 0,14
it. She took down the prescription bottle of a sedative the doctor had given her after the rape. She swallowed one without water and leaned against the sink.
She had the strange thought that being crazy was better than being sane. She looked at herself in the mirror. Certainly these sexual excursions were entertaining. Her hair was mussed and her make-up smeared. More entertaining than real life. She took the two steps to the shower and turned on the water. As she washed herself she tried to imagine washing away everything: the demon touch, the horror of the morning in the elevator, and the embarrassment of the mall parking lot. And yet there were so many reasons to believe this was all as real as paying bills, buying groceries and watching television talent shows while eating a microwaved burrito.
She toweled her hair and rubbed her face. But her demon had still not explained what it was that he wanted. He had said he needed a favor and then never asked for one. She stopped drying her leg. What could he possibly want from her that he had not already taken by force? She hung the towel over the curtain rod and stepped back into her bedroom. She was able to fumble in her dresser drawer for a nightgown without looking at it. She slipped it over her head. He appeared whenever he pleased, then pleasured himself and left. She had learned to enjoy most of his visits, but did not feel that she owed him a favor. If anything, he owed her one.
But what could a human woman offer a demon? She felt the warm cuddly sensation that told her the sedative had entered her system. She crawled between the sheets again, careful to avoid the wet spot. She closed her eyes and asked nicely for a good night’s sleep with no interruptions.
Her interruption came the next afternoon in the form of a visit from her sister and two nephews.
“Vicki. Tell me. How does it feel to be rich?” Sharon wiped the snotty nose of her two-year-old.
Victoria sipped her green tea. She felt better today than she had in a long time. It wasn’t just the sedative. Something had happened since the last encounter with the red demon. She shook her head to answer her sister.
“I’m not that rich. Come on.” She had signed a document promising not to reveal the size of the settlement. People imagined it was millions. It wasn’t.
Sharon set the little boy down and watched as he ran off to torment his older brother. The two little boys smashed toy fire trucks together and laughed at the carnage. “I know it is a lot to ask, but maybe we could move in with you.” Sharon glanced up at her.
Victoria had expected something was up. “Did Mom put you up to this?”
“Sort of.” Sharon lifted her own cup of tea.
Victoria sighed. “Does she think I have gone crazy?”
“Sort of.” Sharon laughed. “She watched you at the depositions and says you are ‘not right’.”
Victoria experienced the unusual feeling of agreeing with her mother. “What makes her think that living with you and two energetic preschoolers will make me ‘right’?”
Sharon shrugged. “I can’t pay my bills. Bob isn’t sending child support regularly. I already work two jobs and day-care eats up most of what I earn. I guess she just saw you alone with tons of money and me like this and put two and two together.”
Victoria was used to the way her mother thought. Everything was a puzzle that needed to be put together, regardless of what anyone else wanted. She sighed. “Of course I will help you out, Sharon, but I am not sure I am ready to live with these kids.” The boys had abandoned the car crashes and were now chasing each other, the fire trucks had become clubs.
“Me either,” Sharon sighed. “I always wanted kids.” She grinned at Victoria. “Before I had them.”
Victoria knew she was teasing. Sharon loved her little boys. But she nodded, remembering how she had wanted things. “When I was a teenager,” Victoria said, “I wanted a car. Then when I was eighteen, I wanted out of the house and away from Mom and Frank.” Victoria stretched out one leg and looked at the fuzzy slipper on her foot. “Then when I was in college I wanted to graduate. After that I wanted a job. When I got the job I wanted my own office. After that I wanted a raise.”